Misery Loves Company

By: theinkslingerr

Track 27: Truths

Why couldn't u just tell the truth??

I stared at Enid's text without blinking until my eyes dried up and my vision blurred. I closed and opened the messaging app over and over again, but the picture was still there. The words were still there.

I zoomed into the screenshot and noticed that it had been taken from an Instagram account called @DomTilDeath. I opened Instagram to search for it, but froze when I saw what was on my explore page.

Pictures of Dom and I kissing everywhere!

Filtered, manipulated, and reposted hundreds, maybe thousands of times. There were even memes!

My hands trembled as I typed in @DomTilDeath, and the name immediately generated a public fanpage. Dom was plastered all over it. Solo, with Blue Vendetta, clothed, half-naked, wet, dry, in bed with his dog...

The most recent post was the bathroom pic, and it already had over 300,000 likes. Each time I refreshed the page it got hundreds more.

The caption read: plan b. we shared something special, but you never thought to invite me, did you?

My stomach dropped.

Plan B?

Ruining my life was Plan B?!

If this account actually belonged to the girl that had taken the picture, and she'd posted it because Dom hadn't invited her to the pop-up after they'd slept together- she was insane. Fatal Attraction I'm-Going-To-Boil-Your-Pet-Rabbit insane!

But if she deleted the picture yesterday in front of Dom how could she post it? Had Dom been stupid enough not to make sure it was cleared from the recently deleted album as well? A picture could be recovered if it wasn't deleted from there too. Had she uploaded it to dropbox or something before deleting it in front of him?

There were so many different scenarios, but one thing remained evident- Dom had gotten screwed in that hotel room.

In more ways than one.

And so had I, by extension.

I began scrolling through the comments. I knew what they were going to say, but I had to look anyway. I saw each one through the eyes of my mom, classmates, and teachers.

bforvendetta: omg is that misery?????!!!!!!!!!

bluevenfan97's reply to bforvendetta: it has to be! I saw her in person at the pop-up and this looks just like her! but slutified.

invertedpyramids101: all i wanna know is who took this pic??? and what does the caption mean?

ultimatefighter555: CALLED IT!!!! knew good ol' misery was putting in "work" behind the scenes lol

anon302's reply to ultimatefighter555: yup, not surprised! she seems like the type of girl that'd go for it in a public bathroom.

I gripped my phone tighter with every cruel comment I read. The edges of my vision grew dark and each breath became harder to catch than the last.

This was it. Any sense of normalcy I'd hoped to keep, even with Misery Loves Company airing, was gone. Now people thought they knew me, but at the same time I wasn't real enough to deserve their kindness or understanding. I wasn't a person with feelings of my own. Just something for them to judge and abuse.

It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair!

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes and I put my hands on my knees, leaning forward to alleviate the intense nausea sweeping through me.

I heard a door slam, and within seconds Rocco was by my side.

"Hey, what'd that idiot say to you? Are you OK?"

I was able to straighten everything but my smile. It wobbled as I tried to assure him Josh hadn't threatened me.

When Rocco inevitably saw the picture, would he be mad at me and Dom for not saying anything? What if he thought we were secretly hooking up like Enid did, and stopped talking to me? Earlier, I'd gotten a small taste of what him being annoyed with me felt like, and I didn't want to experience it again.

What about Eli and Jae? How would they react to the picture?

I imagined Eli's brown eyes filling with distaste, Jae's hate for me intensifying, and Ji-Hyun's fury at baring a piece of her soul to a girl who'd made out with her ex and said nothing about it.

She'd definitely delete my number; maybe even think that I'd been trying to manipulate her. And since my own best friend wouldn't give me the benefit of the doubt, why should she?

"Miz?" Rocco tried again. "Are you sick? Do you want me to take you to the emergency room?"

"No," I whispered. "Take me to Enid's house."

~~~

By the time we pulled up to Enid's house, I was still struggling to breathe. My chest felt tight, and I'd picked the skin around my nails until it bled.

"Thanks for the ride," I mumbled, opening the door to climb out. The interior lights flooded the cabin and Rocco suddenly grabbed my elbow, pulling me back in. His grip loosened and slid down my arm until he got to my hand and held it up. He stared at the blood pooling around my cuticles then my face. His hazel eyes clouded with anger, and without saying anything, he opened the glove compartment, found a napkin and started dabbing at my fingers.

After a beat of tense silence, he said, "Wanna tell me what's going on?"

"I have to talk to Enid," I replied.

"About what?"

I sighed. I couldn't hash it out with him and Enid in the same night. I just couldn't. "I'll text you tomorrow." I tried to slip out of the car again, but Rocco wouldn't let me.

"Is talking to Enid when you're already upset a good idea?"

"Yes, she's my best friend." The sharpness in my voice surprised us both.

Rocco tilted his head, shrewd gaze examining me. "Is...this about Dom?"

My eyes widened. "No!"

"Did he..." Rocco closed his eyes like it pained him to say it. "Did he do something to you? He wouldn't tell me why you walked out on the date."

I glanced down at our intertwined hands, the napkin crumpled between them.

"Tell me. Please."

He was going to find out soon. Very soon. The minute he checked Instagram or any sort of news app, he'd know. But I couldn't talk about it right now. I had to save the last shred of energy I had for this conversation with Enid. "Tomorrow, Rocco." I pulled my hand away, and he finally let go. "I'll...I'll talk to you tomorrow."

When I got out of the Range Rover and shut the door, Rocco was still staring at me with the crumpled, blood-speckled napkin in his hand. He looked down, and squeezed it, jaw clenched.

I don't know why, but that image stayed with me as I turned around and walked up the Diaz's driveway.

As soon as Edwardo Diaz opened the door, I knew things weren't going to go well.

Enid's Dad was on my shortlist of people I wouldn't pee on if they were on fire. Stocky and balding, he took every opportunity to verbally cut down his wife and daughter.

And me. I was fair game too.

I was surprised to find him home, but then I realized it was past 10pm on a weekday. That meant he was on the couch drinking beer and watching whatever soccer game Paula DVR'd for him.

"What do you want?" Edwardo hissed, peering over my head. Was Rocco still parked at the curb? I didn't want to look or else I'd get back in the car and ask him to drive me home.

"Um...to talk to Enid? Is she awake?" It had taken over thirty minutes to drive from the Iron Barrel, so I hoped she hadn't fallen asleep.

"Not sure about the puta gorda's nocturnal habits- aside from eating her feelings. She's single-handedly keeping the Thai place around the corner in business." Edwardo headed back to the couch, but left the door open.

I followed him, and slammed it, anger boiling in my gut on behalf of Enid. My dad had left the minute I was born, but I'd rather not have one if it meant growing up with a verbally abusive tyrant like Edwardo.

"Don't slam my doors, Misery," he snapped. "It doesn't matter what Paula says- this is not your house."

I glared at the back of his head as I pulled open the door leading to the basement/Enid's room. I hadn't seen Paula in a couple of days, and I missed her, but she was probably sleeping.

"You know...I'm glad you and Enid are friends."

I lifted an eyebrow at Edwardo's reserved tone. He'd never said anything nice to me before.

"I want you to stick together, and be there for each other," he continued. "Actually, if you could just be lesbians, that'd get two guys out there off the hook." He started chuckling at his own stupid joke, and I gritted my teeth so hard, they felt like they were crumbling.

A reaction was what he wanted, so the only way to win was to ignore him. Which is what I did by simply opening the door and walking down the stairs.

At least I'd won one battle tonight.

Because a soldier is exactly what I felt like right now. A reluctant one slowly making their way to a fight they had no hope of winning.

Each step weakened my resolve, and I stopped many times, but never ran back upstairs like I wanted to. I hit the last step, took a deep breath, and turned to see Enid sitting on the floor with her back against the bed. Sure enough, Thai takeout boxes and soda cans littered the desk her iMac sat on, staining the mouse and keyboard. She didn't acknowledge me until I sat down cross-legged in front of her.

"I didn't lie," I tried to say calmly.

"Really? What's your definition of a lie?"

"There's nothing between me and Dom."

Enid shoved her phone in my face, already opened to the picture in question. "Then explain this! Is it photoshopped? A deceiving angle?"

"No." I scrunched my eyes shut. "We...really kissed."

Her laugh was devoid of humor.

"He kissed me, OK? After our date, he followed me to the bathroom and kissed me! I-I didn't know what to do!"

"Hmm...pushing him away would've been a good place to start!"

"I did! Right after this stupid picture was taken!"

Enid gave me a skeptical look before tossing her phone behind her. It landed on the far corner of the bed, dangerously close to the edge. She leaned forward and placed her head in her hands, gripping it like she had an ear-splitting headache. "I just can't believe you'd do this to me. You knew...you knew I was trying to- you knew I wanted him!"

I hesitated, then grabbed both of her arms, pulling them down, so she'd look at me. "I'm sorry he kissed me. I'm sorry! I didn't know he was going to, but it meant nothing!"

She still looked doubtful, but before she could say anything, I took out my phone, went to Jae's Instagram page, and found what I was looking for in his list of followers. I tossed the phone to Enid, hoping it would get through to her since my words weren't.

"Who's this?" she asked, studying the picture I'd pulled up. "I think we follow each other. Is she...?"

"Jae's older sister...and Dom's ex," I said slowly.

Enid's face paled as she looked from me to the picture. "What? But he never..."

"Told you they used to date? He's still pretty hung up on her from what I can tell. You should've seen the way he looked at her tonight-"

"I would've been able to if you'd told me about the pop-up!" Enid sneered. "I'd heard rumors, but I didn't know if they were legit. By the time Ackerman responded to my freaking texts, the show had already started, and he said the only reason he didn't tell me about it was because he thought I knew. He thought you passed along the invite from Rocco."

I swallowed the huge lump in my throat, and tried to come up with something close to the truth. "I wanted to tell you, but...I thought maybe it would be good for me to experience something by myself? We um...always do everything together."

"Do you think I wanna do everything with you?" Enid jumped to her feet, looking down at me with hard eyes. "Do you know how many times I've wanted to do something or go somewhere alone? Do you know how many things I've missed out on, because I'm stuck being your emotional crutch? And now you wanna tell me you didn't invite me to something I made you a part of because you wanted to be independent for once in your life?!"

"I'm sorry-"

"Are you? People are barely talking about the web show! Everyone's talking about whether you and Dom are dating or not!"

I suddenly felt stupid. Like I'd missed the bigger picture when all of the pieces were right in front of me. "This was never really about Dom, was it?" I stood up too, mind racing a mile a minute. "You're upset because people are talking about me. You're upset because people are going to think the rock star chose the awkward mess over you behind the scenes!"

Enid's vehement protests sounded sincere, but I kept talking right over her. "Misery Loves Company is about you fixing girls like me, but no one's actually supposed to like me, right? Especially not over you!"

"Don't put words in my mouth!" she snapped.

"I don't need to! I can read you just like you can read me."

"Oh yeah?" Enid's smile was grim. "Then I bet you know what I'm gonna say next?"

I braced myself for the worst, but nothing could've prepared me for what was said.

"I can't be your only friend anymore."

It was like a slap in the face. I didn't even know how to respond.

"It's too exhausting! You don't want to be friends with anyone else. When we hang out with other people, you only talk to me! You want me all to yourself and..." Enid let out a heavy sigh. "And it's suffocating me. It has been...for years."

Years?

Had she just been forcing herself to tolerate me? Afraid to say anything, because I helped her with Everything Enid, and she didn't want to lose the free labor? Maybe she really did view me as more of a helper than a friend.

My throat suddenly felt dry and scratchy. "I...I do try to talk to people, and make new friends. I'm just not good at it like you."

"I'm not good at it," Enid shot back. "Do you know how nervous I get when I meet someone new?"

"You used to, but now-"

"I still do! When I look in the mirror, I see that chubby little girl with the ugly bowl cut and the waddle. Sometimes I think that's what people see too, but..." she shook her head. "I don't want to be her, so I'm not."

It was that simple huh? Inside every shy girl was a social butterfly waiting to emerge with the help of puberty and a large social network following? Now it was my turn to scoff. "So, it's just mind over matter?"

"There's no other way. You just have to do it."

"Not everyone can!"

Enid rolled her eyes. "Do you know how long Sienna's been trying to be your friend?"

"What do you mean?"

"I saw her Instagram, so I know she was at the concert. I'm not gonna bother asking if you two deliberately left me out, but she likes you. She's been trying to get close to you since freshmen year, but all you do is ignore and avoid her."

That took me by surprise. Every time Sienna had invited me to her house, the mall, or the movies, I'd assumed it was because I was "Enid's friend." I didn't realize she wanted to be my friend too.

"And that's what you do." Enid crossed her arms. "Too afraid to let anyone in, so you just stick to me like...like those tiny fishes on whales."

I never watched Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel, but it sounded like she was trying to call me a parasite. "So, I'm needy and annoying, and now you're finally getting a chance to get it off your chest?"

She started massaging one of her temples. "No, I'm just saying-"

"Just saying what, Enid?!"

"That you need to try harder! Branch out a little bit!"

My hands curled into fists at my sides. "Branching out is exactly what I tried to do tonight, and you're angry about it! Guess I should only branch out when it suits you? And being friends with me is exhausting? That's funny, because I do everything for you! Before you got in touch with Ackerman, I was your manager, producer, cameraman, and assistant! Did you ever pay me? Thank me for it? No! Instead, you tell your fans I'm your little helper like I'm some kind of magical elf! What's worse is you don't even care what this is doing to me. Have you seen what people are calling me online?"

"Stop complaining. You're famous."

I stared at her in complete disbelief, tracing back time, and trying to pinpoint the exact moment we became so different. Was it the day she'd stepped foot in the drugstore and bought that red hair dye? The minute she hit 1,000 subscribers on YouTube? The second she looked Ackerman in the eye and agreed to name the web show Misery Loves Company?

My chest felt like it was caving in, and there was so much I wanted to say, but I realized that none of it would matter to Enid. To her, there was no such thing as bad publicity. I'd be the envy of every girl, because I'd kissed Dom, and that was something to be "proud" of.

I pressed both palms into my eyes, hoping to stop the tears leaking out, then shoved past Enid to get to the stairs. "I'm done."

"Done with what?" Enid asked.

"Everything."

"We signed a contract!"

"I don't care!" I screamed. I could hear her stomping up the stairs behind me.

"Miz!" she warned. "I know you love playing the victim, but you're not the victim this time. You're not! It's a contract, and there's no way you're getting out of it!"

I stumbled into the living room, searching for the front door. Everything looked the same. Numerous shoes in disarray lining the hallway. Pictures of Enid from Kindegarten until now holding up the walls.

Everything looked the same, but it felt like I'd never been here before.

"What contract?"

Enid and I turned to see a stone-faced Edwardo leaning against the back of the couch with a beer in hand. "What contract, puta gorda?" he asked again.

Enid took a step back toward the basement door, horror written all over her face.

Edwardo only had a vague idea of what she did, but now she'd put herself in the position of having to explain. There was also the tiny detail of Paula forging his signature on a legally binding document.

I looked at Enid's rigid stance. A part of me wanted to stay and help her weather the ugly storm coming, but I had problems of my own. Problems she had a hand in creating, that I had to get up and face in the morning.

I spun around and fled the house.

It was a little chilly outside as I walked home, but at least I wasn't in 5 inch heels and short-shorts this time. Plus my house wasn't far from Enid's.

The sound of screeching tires grew louder, and I turned around to see headlights.

A black Range Rover pulled up next to me, and Rocco rolled down the window. I hadn't seen him parked outside of Enid's house, but I guess he'd been waiting nearby.

"Get in," he said.

My house was literally five minutes away, but I didn't have the energy to argue. I walked around to the passenger's side, and climbed in, but he didn't start driving.

Instead, Rocco slid his phone into my lap, and I saw the captured moment that would follow me around for the rest of my life.

Dom and I kissing.

"It's tomorrow somewhere. Now tell me what's going on."

~~~

Author's notes: I've never agonized/had so much fun writing any other chapter in this story (maybe with the exception of the Rooftop chapter).