The Beginning of the End [American Beauty Snippet]

“Cam was there right? Did she say anything?” He frowned and glanced at her as he started the car, letting it warm up. “Did he-” He knew Dean’s type. He wouldn’t put it past him to have taken advantage of Selene while she was drunk.

“I-I think.” She looked up at him and then down, unable to meet Lex’s expression. The man had the eyes of a doe and while they were very innocent, his words could be slightly judgmental. “I think… I think she drove me home,” she sighed. She stared at her phone a while longer when she noticed something tucked behind the case. Selene tugged at it, pulling it out to look at the small piece of smudged paper. “Or… Did something good?” She looked at Lex confused as she flashed Dean’s name and phone number to him. “What do I do with this?”

Lex shrugged. “Message him. I mean he wouldn’t have left his number if he didn’t want you to call him,” he suggested.

“What?” Selene stared at Lex, at the same freckle-faced boy who mirrored her own freckled skin. Her face paled a little at the idea as her gaze slowly shifted back down to the paper between her fingertips and she sat there to just stare at it. “What if he thinks I’m completely different from last night. I don’t remember what I said to him.” She felt her stomach wrench a little.

He sighed. “He’s the only other one who knows apparently, so there’s only one way to find out. Or you can just go on not knowing what happened.” He knew the last suggestion wouldn’t be as appealing, but Selene would worry herself in circles.

She groaned, “I-I guess.” Why didn’t Cameron say anything? She chewed at her lip. “Fuck me.” She sighed noisily, unlocking her phone. “I-I guess a message won’t hurt,” she mumbled, typing into it.

It didn’t take long until they were at her apartment, but Selene spent the majority of it repeatedly checking her phone between watching the line of fir trees pass them by. She blinked, a little amazed at how quick they’d pulled up to the apartment complex. Her gaze floated up over the ugly square building.

Stucco cream walls lined the front as outdoor halls littered the face of the building, creating square, narrow cuts of hallways decorated with the face of the building as makeshift railings.

“I’ll just wait here for you,” he said parking the car.

“Sure,” she told him, her gaze never falling away from the twelve-story mid-rise building as she climbed out of her Durango. “Thanks,” Selene mumbled as she pushed the door shut behind her and strode up to the building. She paused, finding herself gazing down at her phone again at the unsent message and mulled over it a moment before she paused a few steps from the car. “I shouldn’t be long.” She called back to Lex before making a brisk walk up to the stairs. She started up them quickly to the fifth floor, skipping a few steps with the help of the railing. Selene felt nearly out of breath as she finally climbed to the top, then came to a stop at one flight and bent over her knees for a moment.

The nagging feeling of that unsent text pressed in the back of her mind and annoyingly enough, she could hear Lex’s words repeating in her head. “He’s the only one- Cam knows too.” Selene grumbled as she whipped her phone out for a moment and slid down against the landing of the fourth-floor stairs, quickly pressing send and pocketing it. If it was bad. He wouldn’t answer. If it was good… Well, maybe he’d say something good.