Heartbreaker

Chapter 21: Silent

(Name) had decided. She was going to tell Gold that she liked him, as well. It wasn't because she was looking for a relationship, no, but because she wanted to just get it out there. The girl was tired of keeping secrets and holding her feelings all to herself.

But as she tried to approach Gold the next day, he was talking to an unfamiliar girl. Her chest tightened with disappointment, and turned to walk away, but Gold called after her. "Hey, (Name), come here!" The female glanced back at the pair, and the girl was now looking at her.

She had long, dark hair and striking blue eyes. The girl smiled politely at (Name). "Hi, I'm Khaleesi."

"It's nice to meet you." (Name) was shocked at how fake her voice sounded. "I'm (Name), Gold's friend."

"Oh." Khaleesi looked at the ground, blushing. There was no doubt about it. She was interested in Gold. (Name) pretended to check her phone for the time, before saying,

"Gotta go; class is starting soon. You two should hurry along as well."

"Khaleesi has Professor Elm with us, (Name)," Gold spoke cheerfully. The female masked her contempt with a nod.

"Alright, let's all walk there together then." On the way to class, Gold and Khaleesi flirted shamelessly. (Name) felt her face flush irritably. It was a strange feeling. She had never felt so... jealous? Was that the right word?

She was tired of trusting Gold. (Name) had thought that for once, he was telling her the truth when he proclaimed his love. But it obviously wasn't true. She clenched the strap of her backpack and walked a little ahead, not wanting to disturb the two lovebirds.

Why are you always like this, Gold? First you play my heart into your hands, and then lose my trust, then you rinse and repeat. How many times has it been now?

"Today, we are welcoming a brand new student to our class," Professor Elm declared. "Khaleesi Adams, please raise your hand." She did. All eyes turned to look at her, and she immediately blushed and looked away. (Name) crossed her arms, disliking her a little more with each passing second. She knew she was being ridiculous; after all, she barely knew Khaleesi. But something about the brunette irked her greatly.

The class period passed by extremely slowly. Crystal, too, seemed annoyed at Gold's change in behavior. "If he's gonna lead you on like that, he should at least tell you that his feelings changed or something," she scoffed. (Name) only sent her a small smile. Crystal was so strong.

"It's Gold. What else could one expect?" She thought back to her HeartGram, which was sitting on her desk at home. What if I told him yes? Would he still be flirting? The girl frowned at Gold, who was having too much fun talking with Khaleesi. I guess it doesn't matter. Of course he would.

(Name) bit her lip in disappointment at her conclusions, as she returned to her work. Ir was getting harder and harder to focus. She had sent out her applications to IU and a few other colleges recently, and was anxious to hear back.

Crystal smiled at her friend and patted her reassuringly on the back. "Girl, don't be so stressed. He's not worth it." (Name) nodded, absentmindedly fixing her uniform skirt. She wanted nothing more than to fast-forward in life to the moment where she would receive either her accepted or rejection letter.

Gold appeared to be in an extremely good mood after school when he knocked on (Name)'s window. Of course, he didn't know that she too, had feelings for him, so she knew she had to act completely natural.

"Did you like the flowers I gave you?" he asked with a grin. (Name) nodded stiffly.

"They were quite nice. Thank you." Gold squinted in confusion, but didn't say anything about her behavior.

"Hey, are you coming to the shelter tomorrow?"

"Of course I am."

"Good, because Khaleesi's coming with me!" A knot formed in (Name)'s stomach, and she swallowed thickly.

"On second tho — " Gold didn't seem to notice that she was even talking. A lovestruck expression rested on his face.

"Khaleesi is really pretty," he commented. (Name) tensed.

"Yes, I agree."

"But." His copper eyes flicked back to (Name)'s. "Not as pretty as you." The (h/c)-haired female stared at him in shock as he uttered those words. Gold, as usual, was completely oblivious. "See ya." As Gold left, (Name) felt her features scrunch into a scowl. Stop messing with me!

The female huffed, turning back to her homework, but couldn't focus. Her thoughts kept wandering off. Her (e/c) eyes slowly landed on the picture frame sitting on the edge of her desk. It was a picture of her and Gold, taken sometime before New Years'. They were smiling brightly, proudly standing next the snowman she had built.

(Name) sighed deeply, before reaching over and turning the frame over. She didn't want to even think about Gold. (Name) put her head down on the desk. So it had really all just been some kind of sick joke? She hated herself for believing it all. But, as always, it was hard to be mad to Gold. She always told herself, 'This is the last straw' but it never was. Somehow, she would always find herself crawling back to him.

It was infuriating.

Khaleesi was chatting animatedly with Gold's grandparents when (Name) arrived at the shelter the next day. "Hi, (Name)!" She greeted. The girl smiled back politely, returning her greeting.

The horrible part was, well, Khaleesi was nice. Like, really nice. (Name) felt so guilty for disliking because she had been nothing but friendly.

"Hey, (Name)!" Gold called, oblivious as ever to her annoyed expression. The (h/c)-haired female ignored him, and began playing with Rod, an adult Golden Retriever who had been here since he was just a pup. Gold frowned, but he was distracted as Khaleesi entered the room. The dogs went over to inspect the newcomer, but Rod laid down at (Name)'s feet, waiting for her to scratch his belly.

Eager for a distraction, the female sat cross-legged on the ground and gently ruffled the dog's ears, before giving the dog the tummy scratches it wanted. Rod's back leg shook, and his tail began to wag. (Name) laughed softly, momentarily forgetting her stress about Khaleesi, until the girl herself came marching over to Rod.

"Aww, what's this cutie's name?" she asked, cooing.

"Rod," (Name) answered simply. Go away, I'm doing just fine by myself. But much to her dismay, Khaleesi joined her on the ground, and pulled Rod away from her and into her lap. The Retriever let out a small whine at being taken taken by a stranger, but immediately relaxed when the brunette stroked his ears.

(Name) was now extremely annoyed, now just awkwardly sitting there with nothing to do. The truth was, on quiet days like these, only two volunteers were really needed. The female knew she was probably wasting her time and space by staying here.

Forcing a smile, she told Khaleesi, "I've gotta go home. I got a lot of things to do." The girl frowned.

"Aww, well, see you tomorrow at school!"

"Yeah, see ya." (Name) muttered, getting to her feet, waving goodbye to Gold's grandparents, and exiting the shelter.

A while later, Gold entered the room, carrying bags of food. He raised an eyebrow. "Hey, where's (Name)?"

"She left a while ago," Khaleesi responded. Gold's eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh. I see."

"At least, now I have you all to myself," the girl giggled flirtatiously. The black-haired male grimaced slightly, but hid it with a cough;. He thought that Khaleesi would be the perfect distraction from (Name), but now that she wasn't here, it just made him think of her more than ever.

Gold knew he was a fool. God, he knew he was probably the hugest idiot on the face of this earth. But he also realized that he couldn't be with (Name). She just wasn't interested in him, nor dating. Gold knew he had to move past her, but it had been extremely difficult to even get her mind off of her.

Hell, he admittedly tried to make her jealous a few times, but (Name) wasn't fazed in the slightest, at least, according to his viewpoint. He found it kinda sad, how he was so damn desperate, while she remained indifferent.

"Gold!" Khaleesi called, bringing him back to reality.

"Coming!" He called.

~~~

"Well, aren't you a little ray of sunshine today," Silver commented on (Name)'s sour expression. The female scowled; it was her sixth or seventh episode in a row. She had been binge-watching and eating ever since she came home. (Name) was wrapped up in a (f/c) blanket and popcorn was scattered on the ground.

"I'll clean that up later. Go away, Silvy. I need my alone time." Silver raised an eyebrow.

"What happened this time?"

"None of your business." He frowned.

"Well, if you ever need something, I'm here."

"Yeah, yeah." (Name) scowled and aggressively scooped a handful of popcorn from her bowl.

Ding! A text from Crystal. Hey, (Name), did you hear about the new girl, Khaleesi?

Yeah, what about her? A feeling of dread knotted in her gut.

She and Gold are going out. (Name) pulled her blanket over herself and just laid there, not knowing what to do with herself. She was angry, not at Khaleesi, but at herself. I should've made a move earlier, (Name), you big fat idiot. Then she remembered. Oh yeah. It wouldn't matter either way. After all, I don't matter to him, right? He would've either broken up with me or cheated on me by now.

Gold was also quite furious at himself. The words, 'Will you go out with me?' slipped out of his mouth before he could even think of the consequences. It was like natural instinct. He asked so many girls out, that it was just the first statement he turned to.

He didn't even want to date Khaleesi. He simply wanted to use her as a way to stay distracted from (Name), and to make the (h/c)-haired female maybe a little jealous. It was selfish, he knew, but Gold just wanted her to love him back, even if it meant playing with her feelings.

Gold wasn't as dense as he appeared. He knew how girls worked, and he wasn't afraid to use it to his advantage. But then, why was it just so damn hard for (Name)? She was an average girl; she wasn't overly different in a way that Gold had never seen someone like her. He had dealt with her type before, but the difference was, he actually won.

He breathed a sigh of relief as Khaleesi drove off. The male went straight to his room, with Eggy trailing after him. Gold knew he had gotten himself into yet another mess, and didn't know how to get out.

(Name) was annoyed, he knew. When Gold knocked at her window, they had talked for a few moments, but she seemed up in her own world. It was as if he didn't exist in her mind, even though he was right in front of her.

The male curled up in bed, his trusty hat still placed firmly on his head. As much as he didn't want to think about it, when Gold went off to college, he wanted to leave (Name) behind. It was too much for him, simply too much. He wanted to savor these last moments with her, every single piece.

And he knew, that if he truly wanted to forget about every part of her, the hat would have to go. He didn't want that to happen. Gold wanted to stay attached to her.

But it was such a new experience, nothing like he had felt before. He wasn't sure what hurt more, the fact that she didn't care for him, or that he was just so unused to this all.

The mere thought of her poker faced reaction to his roses and card felt like a stab straight through the heart. It was then that he knew to stop pursuing her. It just wouldn't work out. So he once again turned to his flirtatious ways, even though somewhere deep inside him, a voice was screaming for him to stop.

Stars sparkled faintly in the cold winter night, as Gold thought to himself. How could someone possibly forget another who meant so much?

The answer; you can't.