Chapter 37: Drunk Confessions Part 1

JADE:

I started to recount what had happened to me right after Kix had left.

I sat by the table in a corner that Kix had directed. I saw him hover around the buffet table and get himself a plate.

I looked around nervously. I hated being in crowds because first of all, I am not a very sociable person. I hated the feeling I was being stared at even when I was young, and after what happened in high school, I hated it even more.

Anyway, Kix said he’ll be back shortly. I waited nervously at that corner for him, hoping he’ll come again really soon.

“You’re finally alone,” I heard someone said from the corner.

I looked up and my heart sank. It was Dianna again, but this time, Ally and Nina were not with her.

“What do you want,” I said weakly. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to her. I had already felt upset enough when she caused a scene at the entrance. I better brush her off quickly before Kix comes back.

“Look, Jade, will you talk to me just once? Why are you avoiding me?”

“Dianna, why do you think I’m avoiding you,” I replied just loud enough for her ears. “We’re in a party. This isn’t the right time to talk…”

“Well, how about we go someplace else for now? I really want to clear things up between us,” Dianna said.

“I’m with someone. I can’t just leave,” I said.

I positively wonder why Dianna was so adamant to talk to me. I was still feeling hurt that she called me crazy and dismissed all that Kix had done to me as a product of my delusions. If she had to live through that experience, would she have wanted her best friend to say the same thing?

“Alright, then, let me say this first,” Dianna continued. Despite my plea of talking about our misunderstanding on another day, it seemed like Dianna had no plans of listening to me...

“Look, whatever Kix tells you about me and my actions in high school, please don’t believe him. He’s not telling the truth. I was one hundred and ten percent on your side. I was the only one on your side back then, remember? So, don’t go around believing his lies.”

Her words got me curious to the max. Kix was certainly not the kind of person who would make up stories. “Just what kind of lies would he say about you?”

“W-Well… Just whatever! I’m sure he’ll make up so many fanciful stories, but Jade, remember, I was the only one by your side back then… Wasn’t I the only one whom you can confide to? We’ve been friends for many years, right, so you should trust me, not him!”

I looked at Dianna’s disturbed face. She had called me mad before, but as I look at her, it seemed like she was the one who acted out of norm as she nervously fiddled with her hands and habitually glance around us.

“Dianna, have you been sleeping well recently,” I asked. I tried to shove some of the hair that had fallen in front of her face into her ears, but she flinched as I did.

“It’s just that… It isn’t true, Jade. I swear what he’s saying isn’t true. I didn’t want to do it… No, I mean I didn’t do it… You understand me, Jade, right? I didn’t have a choice...”

I was stunned beyond belief after hearing her words. What does Dianna mean? What kind of thing did she have to do because she had no choice?

Before I could ask her more about it, a waiter went to our side of the table and began distributing glasses of water around for the guests.

I reached for a goblet, but I frowned seeing that it contained some sort of punch and not water.

“Um, excuse me, sir, I think you’ve given this as a mistake. We didn’t order this,” I told the waiter.

“It’s not a mistake, miss. It’s a complimentary drink given by the organizers.”

My eyebrows arched upwards in surprise. “And who may this organizer be?”

“Right over there,” he pointed to a certain direction in the center of the field.

I squinted. The person he pointed at seemed to be in a dark tuxedo, much like what Kix was dressed in, but that person didn’t look quite like Kix. Or was it him, and he was just under some bright lights, which was making it hard for me to see?

I looked once more at the red punch. I don’t like drinking anything from anyone, even if it was Kix who had given it or not… It just didn’t seem proper for me to take it…

As soon as I put it down on the table, however, Dianna snatched it away, and before I could say anything more, she drank it down like water.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry, Jade… I just feel so thirsty and nervous,” she began to say after drinking it. Sweat began to build on her forehead, and even though Dianna was wearing a sleeveless, lilac gown, she began to fan her hands on herself.

“Woah. Is it just me or did it get suddenly hot,” said. She stood up from the chair and began pacing left and right in front of me, her face turning flushed.

Concerned, I went over her and put the back of my hand against her face and neck. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, yes,” she said. All of a sudden, she began to laugh until tears started to fall down her eyes.

“You know what,” Dianna said in between fits of laughter, “I think I’ll go splash some water on my face. Or maybe I should take a bath!”

“Oh, um, okay, let’s go to the washroom,” I suggested.

I stood up and began leading her towards the eastern wing’s comfort room, the nearest bathroom from where we were.

All the while, Dianna continued to laugh hysterically.

“Isn’t it funny, Jadey?”

“What is,” I blurted out absentmindedly as I looked for some tissue so I could wipe away the profuse sweat that was beginning to flow down Dianna’s forehead.

“You… You’re funny. Gosh, who would have thought we’d still be together after high school?”

“Right, right,” I said, still not giving a damn about what my possibly drunk best friend was saying as I checked on the bathroom stalls for some tissue supplies.

“You really are so pure. How did you not know it after all this years?”

“Know what?”

“How can you be so naïve? Didn’t you know? I did it… I started all of those nasty rumors about you in high school.”