I wipe the tears off the corner of my eyes, catching them before they run down my recently blushed cheeks. Rebecca steps out of the bathroom all ready to go but her smile fades when she sees me. She rushes over and sits down next to me on her bed wrapping her arm around my shoulder, hugging me.

She sits there patiently, waiting for me to open up. I tilt my head back to stop to flow of tears. My throat burns, but I get myself together and take a deep breath.

“I was just thinking of Alex is all.” I tell her, my voice shaky. His name off my lips squeezes my heart, and my throat clenches. Beck nods in understanding and grips my hand.

“It’s okay to cry Annie.” She states firmly. “It’s okay to miss him.”

“I know” I bob my head. “It’s just really hard. Not a day goes by when I don’t think of him. It got easier when James came along.” I smile at the thought. “But then this stupid bracelet reminded me of him, and now i’m the freakin Niagara Falls over here.” She giggles at me.

“He gave that to you?” She asks inspecting it.

I nod, “Yeah, on my sixteenth birthday.” I smile as the memory floats in my head. “He saved so much money, we were supposed to run away, but then it just didn’t work out. I think my father threatened him. I wasn’t allowed to see him, even talk to him. But on my birthday this was laying on my bed.”

“It’s beautiful.” She states and I agree. We sit there for a few minutes before she mentions the elephant in the room.

“So, when are you going to tell James?”

“I have no idea.” I said shaking my head. “I don’t want to. When I’m with James everything is so different. I’m happy! I don’t want to bring all this baggage into our relationship. Frankly, I’m not too sure he could handle it. We could handle it.”

“You have to at least give him a chance Annie. You can’t keep hiding this from him.”

“I know, I know.” I nod, “Just not now. Not during vacation. When we get back to Pitt and things get back to normal, then I’ll tell him.”

She nods agreeing before pushing me off the bed.

“Enough crying for one night! Let’s go have some fun!” I giggle at her but allow her to re-touch my makeup and then lead me downstairs where the guys minus James are waiting all ready to go.

“Oh my gosh! You guys look so cute all dressed up!” I gush and they groan. “Let me get a picture!!” They make a fuss but eventually line up together and I’m able to snap a nice picture.

I send it into twitter right away.

@AnnieAldridge: Hitting up some clubs with these studs! Can’t wait to see their moves! #lol #oldschool #ladykillers @pete_neal40 #mikeneal #nickneal

We hear a honk of a horn and know James is waiting. Mike slides into shotgun so I don’t even get to greet James. I’m expecting some sort of acknowledgment but I get nothing. He doesn’t even look at me.

I brush it off and chat with Nick until we pull up to the club. We all pile out and I expect James to be waiting for me, but he’s already headed off into the building. Now I know somethings up.

“What’s up with him?” I ask Nick quietly as we walk in. He just shrugs his shoulders in response.

I find James at a high table in the corner and make an exit towards him as the others break for the bar. As I get closer his eyes slowly trail up my body but before we can make eye contact his jaw clenches and he looks down.

I’m completely shocked and confused. When I reach the table I slide onto the stool next to him.

“Hey, are you okay?” I ask concerned.

“I’m fine.” He spats out. I flinch in shock, I’ve never seen James mad, especially at me. “Fuckin perfect actually.” I recoil from him quickly.

“What is your problem?” I ask with a bit of attitude. I have done nothing to deserve this. And even if I had pissed him off today, I don’t like the way he’s talking to me.

“Who the fuck is Alex?” He demands hotly. My face pales at his name and my mouth hangs open.

“That’s what I thought.” He states smugly. “We’re done Annie. I never want to see you again. I packed all your shit it’s back at the house. I want you gone by the time I get home tonight.” With that he storms off his stool making a load screeching noise as he pulls away from the table.

I am stunned into silence. I can’t move. I feel water pooling in my eyes and I rush out the back into the ally. I cover my eyes with my hand and squat down towards the ground as I bawl my eyes out. I’ve never been so humiliated, so belittled, so offended, so excused in my life. The James I saw in there is not the James I know.

I think about everything he said. He thinks i’ve been cheating on him. With Alex, but he’s my brother! God, this is so fucked up. As I play the conversation over in my head the tears cease and anger builds up.

How dare he? How dare he assume and not let me explain. He had no right talking to me that way, calling me a bitch, a gold digger. He should have confronted me, in PRIVATE, and asked me what was going on. But no, he takes me into public, treats me like a whore, and doesn’t even let me explain.

I stand up, wipe my eyes and storm into the club. I push through couples, trying to find him. Just when I’m about to give up, I see him. One half tattooed arm wrapped around some blonde as he practically dry humps her in the middle of the dance floor.

I stop abruptly causing the guy behind me to spill his drink down my back. But I don’t care. The scene before is all that matters. As I watch his body grind with hers I’m sickened, horrified, betrayed. I fight back the tears and make my way over to them. I rip the girl off him and push him back. His face is smug, like he planned it all out. Of course he did.

“My brother!” I spit at him, fuming. He looks back at me shocked at my outburst and confusion overpowers his smirk.

“What?”

“My brother.” I repeat. “Alex? He’s my brother.” I cross my arms and watch as his face pales, his shoulders slump. Hi mouth opens and closes like a fish underwater, but no words come out. Now he’s the one stunned into silence. He reaches for me as he realizes his mistake but I rip my hand away.

“Annie..please--I-”

“Screw you, James Neal!” I state before grabbing the keys out of his pocket and walk briskly out to the car.

I hear him calling out to me, begging me to stop, but I can’t stop moving. I hop in the car and start it, I fiddle with the seat belt before throwing it off and squealing out of the parking lot, watching James in the rearview mirror.

I storm into the house, glad his parents are away for the night. Peter got a last minute business trip proposal and decided to take Deb with him. They’re currently on their way to Winnipeg for the next few days.

I head upstairs into James’ room and sure enough my bags are packed. I sit on the bed and run my hands through my hair wondering what my next move is. This is all so irrational. There’s no way I’d get a way out of here at this time of night to Pittsburgh. And even if I could, I can’t afford it.

I’m running through my options when I hear the front door band open.

“Annie?” James’ booming voice fills the air and makes the tears start again. I don’t answer but I hear his pounding footsteps on the stairs and seconds later he’s standing before me. Looking a bit out of breath and completely relieved.

“You’re still here.” He states.

“I have no where else to go.” I sniffle. “If you lend me some money for a hotel for tonight I can send the money back to you.”

“I don’t want you to go Annie, please.” He begs, “Just listen to me, I-”

“I think I’ve listened to enough.” I state bravely interrupting him.

“You’re right.” He swallowed hard. I thought he would continue on but instead he fell silent, allowing me to call the shots.

I sat on the bed focusing on my breathing figuring out what had to happen next. I look up at James and hold his gaze for a while. So many emotions flick across his features before a look of determination forms and he strides toward me. I’ve seen that look before, but tonight, I want nothing to do with it.

I hold out my hands causing him to stop barely a foot in front of me.

“Don’t” I say with a shaky breath. “Don’t you dare kiss me after what you’ve done.”

“You practically were dry humping that girl” I told him. “Right in front of my face.” I look away and bite the inside of my cheek.

I feel him sink to the ground in front of me but I don’t turn towards him. I can’t. The feeling of his hands on my legs causes my body to stiffen. I try to move away but his arms wind around my legs and his head rests in my lap.

I look down at his head and my body is torn. Part of me wants to rip out from underneath him and the other part wants to run my fingers through his hair. The feeling of wetness on my thighs makes me freeze. His grip tightens and his voice shakes as he speaks, the sound muffled.

“Please, Annie.” It’s an absolutely heartbreaking sound. When he lifts his head my heart shatters upon seeing his beautiful blue eyes stained with tears. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I never wanted to be that guy. Especially not with you. I wanted to be better than that. I just need to know everything will be okay. Please tell me it’s all okay.”

Is he kidding?

“It’s not okay James!” I say frustrated and finally push out of his hold pacing the room as he took my spot on the bed, watching me with destroyed eyes. “And frankly the fact that you think it’s okay is completely not okay!”

I run my hands through my hair and spin to face him.

“The moment you overheard my conversation you should have talked to me! You should have pulled me aside and asked me what was going on. In private, James! Do you not understand you have an image to protect? God forbid anyone overheard you talking to a girl the way you talked to me, or saw the way you acted. That would detrimental to your career James. Do you not understand that? On top of that, you embarrassed me! How dare you talk to me the way you did, but in public? You treated me like a whore! How do you ever expect me to look at you the same way again? Do you honestly think we can just move past this?” I let out a breath after my rant and waited expectantly for James.

“I know I messed up Annie, I know that! If I could go back and change the way I handled things I would, but I can’t! I’ve never been in this position before Annie! I’ve never felt this way. I’ve never been so jealous, hurt, and crazy in one sitting. I know I was wrong but when I heard you talking to Beck it felt like my heart was being ripped from my chest. I thought you were in love with someone else, Annie.”

I shake my head. I know this is all a huge misunderstanding but I can’t handle it. The way he behaved is unacceptable and if that’s what I have to look forward to in this relationship, then I’m done.

“I moved too fast” I say finally breaking the silence. “We moved too fast.”

“Annie, don’t say that.” He begs.

“It’s true, James!” I insist but he just shakes his head. “You’ve never been in a relationship before, and I was ready for something serious. Serious and real. You weren’t ready, and I can’t handle this. I care about you, I really do. But, I’m not going to sit around and wait for you to figure out how to be a boyfriend James.”

http://www.polyvore.com/annie_whitby_first_night_out/set?id=85636216