Falling For Insanity

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten:

Rosie Mae's POV

I am utterly embarrassed.

The other day when Eric had dropped me off after we all went to the movie, I immediately puked upon entering my bathroom. Over and over again. By the time the movie, tons of snacks, and my moment with Eric was over, I was far past nauseous. The next morning I woke up with a hangover worse than any other one I've had.

I was drinking to make the unexpected day I was spending with Eric easier to get through. But by my third shot, I was saying f**k it to the rest that were poured and offered. I'm a couple shots kind of girl, anything past that and someone should just put me to bed.

Have I totally lost my mind? Betraying my boyfriends trust with not just anyone, but his own brother? Guilt consumed me. I've never acted like that, not even close to it. Blake and I don't even interact like that. What got into me?

I'm disappointed and disgusted with myself to say the very least.

I've been trying my best to suppress it, ignore what I did. Two days later, the memory is still as prominent as the morning after.

I keep finding myself checking my phone for calls or texts, for Eric's sudden appearance so he can push my buttons about what happened. He isn't going to let me hear the end of this one. But as days pass, I conclude to myself that he is playing a game with me. Eric knows I'm anxious and guilty, perhaps thinking it's funny to keep me waiting around for him.

Not that this should be a shocker since I played into his games. Of course he is going to get me back someway, somehow.

The interaction benefited me in a way though. Now I know Eric's weakness. It's me. My guess about him having a crush on me was only a joke, meant to get on his nerves. I never expected it to be true. Giving how he treats me, why would I have known that? Besides, what kind of way is getting a girl by letting them attend your murderous rage and hold onto your weapon?

Knowing this made things worse too. Now that it's out there in the open, it left even more room for Blake to hate me one day. Eric and I are only a couple weeks into knowing each other and I already had a long, detailed rap sheet that gave Blake all the reasons to break up with me. It also gave Eric another way to irritate the hell out of me. I can already see him enjoying it now.

"Did you hear a guy went missing close to here?" Faith asked me, chewing her muffin. "I think his name was...Jeremy?" She nodded, for sure this time as she said, "Yeah, his name was Jeremy. He was older though so we wouldn't have known him."

My stomach dropped at the sound of Jermey's name. Amongst the chaos, I had almost forgotten about that poor man's life ending right before my very eyes. Just another good reason to loath myself at this point.

I tried to keep my facial expressions controlled, not wanting to express any more knowledge on the topic than she had. In my head, I must have thought that I wouldn't have to hear the name again, that it was all over. Truthfully, I shouldn't have been shocked at all to hear Faith say she heard about his disappearance. Maybe he wouldn't be found, but obviously people knew he was lost.

"People go missing, Faith." Blake said, causing us to both look at him, a bit confused. On a subject like this, normally Blake would be all ears, asking questions and showing sympathy for the victims family.

He sat next to me, an arm laid over the back of the booth behind me as his other hand stirred around his iced coffee with his straw, lazily.

"Yeah, but this is the first person to go missing from here and not been found in four years." Faith pointed out to him. "At least that's what the news said."

My eyes stayed glued to the table in thought, connecting the dots. The first person to go missing and not be found in four years...

Four years ago, Eric was eighteen and still living here in town with his family. It only made sense that the undiscovered people back then were caused by him. Now that's he has returned...the first victim was officially named. The town had a serial killer and didn't even know it. But I do and that is weighing on me heavily.

"You really need to find other things to entertain you." Blake told her. His bad mood made the air surrounding the table thick in awkwardness. Faith and I exchanged a look. She was mentally asking me what the hell his deal was today. This wasn't like him at all. Even on the hardest of days, Blake kept a positive, cheerful attitude.

Blake's out right disregard made it appear that he actually cared more than he didn't. His angry, impatient tone was also a tip off. It made me feel eery, I'm sure Faith was feeling the same way.

"What's up your butt today?" Faith scoffed, eyes growing big as she took a sip of her Carmel latte.

There was a look in Blake's eyes that I hadn't seen before when they snapped up to glare at Faith. She shrunk back a little. To be fair, I would've too if I was the one on the receiving end of that death glare.

It was a look I had only seen one other person make.

Eric.

For a split second, Blake almost looked identical to his brother. My eyes widened and my eyebrows raised as I said, "Blake...calm down." My hand touched his leg under the table, attempting to relax him at least enough for him to not bite Faiths head off.

Blake's eyes flickered over to me, head turning slightly in my direction to see me. "Let's just find something else uninteresting to talk about. Like maybe how many people Faith has slept with in the past seven days."

"Blake!" I hissed

Faith's face turned a deep shade of red, embarrassed about being called out so coldly, especially by Blake. Coming from him, the insult was taken as truth, no matter if it was just out of anger. If anyone else were to say this to her, she'd probably tell them to mind their business, that she was happy her s*x life was their main focus in their own lives. Blake knew what would get Faiths attention the most and he went for it. Much like Eric has done many times to me.

Although it wasn't like the Blake we both knew...his attitude and actions are worn very naturally on him, making me realize just how unnatural the Blake I know is.

"What the hell was that?!" I almost yell at Blake once we had gotten into his car after our little coffee date with Faith. I turned in my seat to look at him as I buckled in. "You can't talk to my friends that way, Blake."

A barely audible scoffing sound left his lips as he started the engine and revered out of the parking spot. "Friend? I wouldn't call Faith that but alright then, Rosie."

I stared at him, dumbfounded by his behavior. Never had I come close to wanting to scream and go off on Blake...but right now I did. This wasn't the guy I started dating last year. To be fair, I'm not the same girl he started dating either. At least I was aware of this.

To put blame on Blake for anything at all right now would be hypocritical of me. How could I possibly reprimand him or get mad about anything when I'm doing all that I'm doing? Maybe I should just stay quiet and not make a big deal out of this.

"Is there something going on?" I ask. "You're acting completely different today." I was genuinely concerned about him even though I'm also pissed.

He let out a deep breath, hands beginning to relax on the steering wheel as he collected himself. "I've had a rough past week, okay? Even I can have my bad days."

"So why haven't you talked to me about it? You've been avoiding me and I don't know why." I blinked at him. "You bottling it up is clearly not the solution if you're going to be blowing up on Faith and I."

Blake always told me when s**t was happening in his life. I'm the one he goes straight to vent to about anything and everything. Maybe just like me, this was something he couldn't tell or explain in any way that would make sense.

"I'm sorry, okay?" He finally says after having to drag it out of him. "I won't take things out on you or anyone else. Let's just move on now?"

That's the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted to question him, grill him about what's so important that he can't even tell me. Then that would leave room for him to do the same to me. So I'll obey his wishes and change the subject.

"Are you going to the party tonight?" I asked, turning forward in my seat as he entered the road leading to my house. "I don't want you to miss it like you missed the last one."

The last one I went to without him is what got me into the trouble I'm in, in the first place. No way was I doing this a second time.

"Eric and I planned on going." Blake answers me.

I raised my eyebrows, a bit taken back by him stating he'd be going anywhere with Eric. The last I knew, Blake was making it a point to avoid situations that involved his brother. Now all of a sudden they're riding in a car together...to a party? Did I miss something?

"I thought you didn't want us to party with eric." I say, remembering back to the last day of school when he was very strict about the distance we would all keep from Eric.

"Well..." he glanced over at me before focusing back on the road. "The break won't last forever. Might as well enjoy it a little."

I laugh a little, still finding everything about Blake a little odd today. "You deserve it. It'll be good to see you having some fun."

"Lots of fun." He replied blandly.

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"Do you think Eric's rubbing off on Blake?" Faith asked me, touching up her red lipstick in the cars mirror. Her back was straight, head lifted and lips pursed. She wore a very tight, long-sleeved black dress. Of course, Faith wanted us to match somewhat so I wore a long sleeved black crop top and a pair of dark jeans.

Sliding my phone into my back pocket, I shake my head. "They don't spend enough time together for Eric to rub off on him."

Faith dropped her lipstick back into her purse before sliding it underneath the drivers seat she is sitting in. "Could've fooled me." She said. "For a second there at the coffee shop, I almost thought Blake was Eric."

I roll my eyes and playfully slap her arm. "Shut up. He was just having a bad day. I'm sure he's just fine now."

As she got out of the car with me following suit, she stated, "you're not giving Eric enough credit. I've known the boys a little longer than you." I stopped to look at her as we met at the front of the car. "Time spent together or not...Eric is always the commanding officer."

If she only knew.

"So you think Blake's attitude this morning was because of Eric?"

She smiled a consoling smile, as if I just didn't get it. "I know his attitude was about Eric. And if Blake's going to this party with him now?..." she touched my arm lightly. "Blake's going to be worse, Rosie."

"How do you know that?" I rubbed my arms, trying to warm them up in the cold breeze.

"I told you, I've known the boys longer." Faith restates with a shrug as she dropped her hand from my arm. "I've seen this all before, more than a few times."

I had known that Faith knew Blake before I had, having known Eric as well. I just assumed it was more of an acquaintance situation, not her knowing things about them that even I wouldn't know.

I guess that's my fault for not learning more about their friendship when I started dating Blake. But being that Faith is my friend as well...why wouldn't she go ahead and tell me that she knew Blake and his brother better than she was leading on? Now I could only assume that there was more Faith knew and it would all only come out over time.

It's beginning to feel as though everyone in my life is keeping things from me. As if I'm the one who's in the dark, where all this time I've thought it was the other way around.

"Best thing to do is just not poke at either of them." Faith said with another big smile before grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the party. "Let's go have fun!"