The Rebound Agreement ✔

six

Ambers inhales sharply and starts muttering to herself under her breath. By the time we've reached them, Jaxon's thrown a punch at Liam's jaw and has the neck of his shirt gripped in his fist, pulling Liam up to his height where they both pant and glare at each other, each unwilling to break eye contact.

"Stop, stop," Amber yells at them, tears slipping down her cheeks. Jaxon's grip on Liam's shirt loosens some and they both look towards her, traces of guilt appearing on their faces. "I never wanted you guys to fight over me. Please, just stop."

Jaxon takes one last look at Liam before releasing him, punching him squarely in the stomach, and rushing over to Amber to comfort her. I manage to grab the strings of Liam's hoodie to hold them out of the way just in time for him to lose the contents of his stomach on the curb.

I patiently rub circles on Liam's back as he retches repeatedly, every now and then throwing up more of what used to be pizza. Inside, my head is spinning as I try to understand what happened.

After his stomach appears to have calmed down, I lead him to the truck and order him to not move an inch. I take his groan of pain as he grabs his stomach as his agreement.

I slam the door shut and leave him only after I'm confident that he won't lose more of his dinner that he already has, assuming he has any pizza to barf up left in him.

I find Amber talking to Liam in hushed tones. Aside from the purpling left side of his jaw, he appears to be unharmed, and I'm immediately relieved. I hated to see people in pain, even if it was Jaxon, someone who I was rapidly growing a strong dislike for. Amber makes eye contact with me as I come up to them, and Jaxon turns around. When he sees me, he says something softly to Amber before walking away.

Amber sighs as I reach her. "I am so, so sorry," she apologizes profusely. "Jax is usually one of the most easygoing people you will ever meet, but something got into him tonight. He just wasn't himself."

"It's okay," I rush to assure her, but she didn't seem convinced.

"But it's not," she argues. "They're both hurt, their friendship has been destroyed, and it's all my fault."

"It's not your fault," I tell her, even though somewhere in the back of my mind there's a voice that keeps chanting over and over 'it's all your fault.'

She smiles sadly as she shifts her weight nervously from foot to foot. "This isn't the kind of first impression I wanted to make on Liam's next girlfriend," she mumbles. "I'm honestly so sorry."

I study her. She seems genuine and that's the thing that confuses me about her: she's been genuinely kind to me my entire time knowing her. She's nothing like mean girl I had imagined her to be. I can't help but find myself equally happy and disappointed by this.

"Maybe we'll have to meet again sometime and get to know each other," I offer, partially because I truly do think we could be friends under better circumstances, but mostly because I'm curious what the girl who has Liam's heart is really like and if she'll continue to be this challenging to find fault with.

"Definitely," she agrees, and we exchange numbers. Soon enough, we head our separate ways, her to find Jaxon, and me to check on Liam.

I find him where I left him: the passenger seat of his truck. His eyes are closed as he slouches in his seat, one hand to his stomach, and another resting on his jaw. I peek around the side of his hand to get a glimpse of a bruise for forming on his jaw, already showing up in different blues, greens, and purples. I cringe at the sight.