063 | europium

                                    

                                          
× Mercury

                          


                          
The Courtyard Bar was pretty deserted on a Wednesday afternoon, which was good because I was exhausted from yesterdays practice. Ever since we got into the BUSA, Coach has push more and more during our practices, keeping us an hour after it was supposed to be done, making sure our muscles were stretched to their max before finally releasing us. I had blisters on my feet, turf burns on my skin, toes frozen from playing in the snow, and two dozen questionable bruises all over my body. I understood why he was pushing us so hard, but if I had to take another ice bath just to sooth my aching muscles, I might lose my mind.
                          
            "Are you going to the concert festival this Friday?" Annie asked me as she rounded the counter.
                          
            "What festival?"
                          
            Annie grabbed a glass and poured some liquor into the crystal. "The one in the stadium. You haven't heard of it? It happens every year. Local bands go on stage and perform; some of the performers are even from our school."
                          
            "Really?"
                          
            The last time I had been to a concert was when I went to see Fall Out Boy in 2009, seven years ago. I remembered the energy of that night and how wild it was. Maybe going to a concert would be fun...
                          
            "Yeah, it's like a little break from studying before finals, ya know? I go every year," she said with a wide grin. "Also, you should probably go in the back and look in a mirror. You're starting to show."
                          
            Then she was gone, bringing the glass of alcohol to a guy sitting in a booth in the corner.
                          
            My eyes went wide, hand automatically going to my neck to cover the bruises I knew were still there. I told Finn I was taking five and quickly went into the backroom, grabbing my bag and taking out my concealer before going into the bathroom and doing an ineffective job of trying to cover up the purple marks.
                          
            I was going to have to hunt Niall down and demand some money for this. Concealer wasn't cheap and I've been using a lot of it since coming to London, no thanks to him.
                          
            Once I managed to make the marks a little less noticeable, I went back out onto the floor and picked up where I had left off. I grabbed the coffee pot and refilled the white mug in front of an older man before moving around the bar to do the same with everyone else.
                          
            When I returned the pot to its base, the bell above the front door went off.
                          
            I turned to see who it was, surprised to find Jillian looking around sheepishly. When I asked Finn where she was last week, he told me that she had called and asked for the week off, but he never told me why. The last time I saw her was when I finally told her that her boyfriend, Alex, was cheating on her. That was almost three weeks ago.
                          
I watched as she walked over to the bar and took a seat next to a guy with a shaved head and tribal tattoos up and down his arms - the seat in front of me. I stared at her, not sure what was going to happen next. Our last conversations didn't end very well, after all.
                          
            "You were right," she finally said.
                          
            I knew instantly what she was talking about because she was giving me the same look I recognized on myself when I saw Bradley in bed with Lucy. She had the expression like she just didn't care anymore - like she once had everything planned out and the map of her life was suddenly ripped out from under her. I felt like that on more than one occasion.
                          
            "When I went to see Alex for our anniversary, I found him in his room," she said, her voice hollow. "Apparently he found it appropriate to celebrate it with another girl, in his bed... naked."