Everything You Never Had

Phony promise

"Cate, Y/N," His voice is rapid and worrisome. "I don't know how but there are pictures of you together spreading like wildfire. Hold on..."

A moment of silence. Your eyes still linger on Cate's. This time no amusement can be seen from your expressions. Rather bleakness, as you've both hang on every word that has been said. You barely get the chance to say anything before Noah speaks again.

"...there. I've send them to you."

And what you see when you open his message, is you and Cate, standing on that lonesome beach, your bodies intertwined, your lips molded as one.
.....

You look from your screen down to Cate, feeling unstable. She grabs the phone from your hand and sees, before shifting her eyes back to you.

Your eyes linger. Stunned. Unsettled. Disoriented.

"Y/N?" You hear through the phone.

Time stands still. There is a strange silence that fills your apartment, like the whole world is holding its breath.

"Cate?" Another attempt for reaction.

"We were alone on that beach." You say in a soft voice, a sound only audible for Cate.

"Apparently not." She mumbles back.

For the first time you break your magnetic eye contact with Cate, and switch your focus to the phone. "How many people have seen it?"

"These photos are everywhere online! About every major news site, social media, I won't be surprised if I'd be shown on the news tonight, -"

As Noah rambles on, your eyes find each other again. The silence deafening.

You think, thoughts scurry through your mind, but you don't process any of it. And when you look into those blue eyes, you see the same bewilderment.

"Are you two listening?" Noah asks, because it's obvious you're not.

You take the phone from Cate's hand. "Noah, I'll call you back."

"Wait! Y/N, you can't just-" Before he can finish his sentence you hang up, and put the phone on the coffee table.

With legs on either side of her hips, you look down at her and sigh, before you get up. You grab her bra and shirt from the floor, and sit back on the couch next to Cate, who's already seated.

"What are you gonna do?" You ask.

"You mean what are we gonna do? You're in those pictures as much as I am." She says as she struggles to clip the bra behind her back. "Shit." She mutters as her fidgity hands fail to do so.

Instinctively, your hands reach behind her back and assist. "There." You whisper as you manage.

She sighs, and leans back on the couch. "This is just terrible."

You sit beside her, your arms brushing, your eyes aimed at the floor-to-ceiling windows. This time it's you, who chooses not to speak.

She sighs again. Differently inflected.

"People were going to know eventually." She tells you, surprising you both, and the whole moment hardens, stops, as her eyes hold yours. And then you soften, and shift in your seat.

"They were?"

"Yes. Are you kidding? I want to be with you. I thought we already had that talk." The timid smile on her face has a reasuring effect.

"We did..." You linger. "It's all just going fast."

"It is." She sways into you, and puts a hand on your thigh. "I'm sorry."