Beneath The Lies | BWS

Chapter 7

I closed the door behind me and rested my back against it as I closed my eyes. A wide smile spread across my lips as I heard his car disappear down the street.

"Where have you been?"

My eyes shot open to see mum standing in the doorway with her arms folded over her chest.

"I was out?" I said more as a question than an answer as I lowered my gaze to look at the floor.

"It's 2am, [Y/N]"

"I know, I'm sorry" I mumbled

"Is he cute?"

"What?" I asked and raised my head to look up at her.

"The guy you were with, is he cute?" She asked as she smiled warmly.

"I don't really know if cute fits, but yeah. I guess he is" I said as I could feel a smile tugging at the corners of my lips.

❁ ❁ ❁

"Wake. Up. Now!"

I jolted awake when I could feel a pillow being thrown at my head. "I'm up, I'm up!" I exclaimed as another pillow was thrown at me.

"It's about time" Zach laughed as he plopped down on my bed.

"Zach, what are you doing here? It's like in the middle of the night" I groaned my voice coming out all hoarse.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and squinted up at him as I propped myself up into a sitting position and leaned my back against the headboard.

"It's actually past 12, and I don't know if you forgot but we said we'd hang out today" Zach said and raised a brow my way.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I must've forgotten" I exclaimed when realization dawned on me.

I quickly pushed my covers to the side and rushed over to my wardrobe to find something to wear, only to realize that most of my clothes were still in a pile by the end of my bed after I had pushed them onto the floor last night before I fell asleep. I sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as I crouched down in front of the pile of clothes.

"You know, I'm actually not that surprised you forgot. I saw Brad dropping you off late last night after all"

I stiffened in my movements when Zach's words reached my ears and the sweater I held in my hands fell down onto the floor. Suddenly everything that had happened last night flooded my mind. The fact that I had been to a party with Brad and later that night we had gone to a lake and, oh my god had I actually enjoyed spending time with Brad Simpson?!

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and turned around to face my best friend who sat crossed legged on my bed, his grey eyes twinkling with amusement.

"It's not what you think" I hurried to say as shame welled up in my veins.

How could I have enjoyed spending time with one of the people who bullied my best friend? It didn't matter that he seemed genuine when he told me he wasn't the way I thought he was. He was still someone I should hate.

"You know you could've just said you like Brad. I don't mind"

Zach's words made me snap my head up in surprise and I looked into his grey eyes in complete shock. "What?" I breathed out.

"I said I don't mind, honestly. You can be with Brad if you want" he smiled, clearly amused by my confusion.

"But, I don't understand. Brad is one of the guys who's been tormenting you for years. How can this not upset you?" I questioned as I sunk down on the bed and tucked my legs down under me as I turned to face him.

Zach flashed me a smile as he reached out and grasped my hands in his. "Okay, let me explain it all to you" he stated and proceeded to speak once I had given a quick nod of my head.
"Okay, so first of all. Brad is hot, I definitely can't blame you for feeling attracted to him" he joked and a laugh slipped past my lips.

"Secondly, I don't care about him nor his gang and all of their gay insults. I'm proud of who I am, and I'm certainly not going to let a pack of hormonal teenage boys change that. Besides I'm surprised you haven't even noticed" he trailed off as his eyebrows knitted together.

"Noticed what?"

"[Y/N], Brad never insults or bullies me. He actually interferes most of the time and tells Tris to lay off"

My eyes widened at this new piece of information. "He does?"

Zach nodded as a smile crept upon his plump lips. "You've never noticed?"

"No, I haven't" I mumbled as I looked down at our interlocked hands. "I guess I've always been too blinded by rage to ever pay attention to anything else than getting you away from them" I confessed as I glanced up at my best friend sitting across from me. I groaned in embarrassment. "I sure feel like a complete arse now. I just lashed out on Brad the other day because of how badly I thought he treated you"

"Then why did you go out with him?" Zach questioned as his eyes searched mine with curiosity.

"I told him that I'd go to a party with him yesterday if he promised that he would tell Tris and the others to leave you alone"

"Awe, that's so thoughtful of you. But you do know I don't need any help with defending myself right" he said as he arched both of his eyebrows.

"I know" I said as a smile uplifted my lips.

I left go off Zach's hands before I pushed myself up from the bed. I turned to face him again. "But you are my best friend after all, and I'm going to look out for you even if you don't need it"

"I know, but right now I want a large cup of coffee and a slice of chocolate cake, so could you please fix that bird nest of hair so that we can get out of here" Zach stated, quickly changing the subject as he began to search for my curling iron.

"What, does my hair really look that bad?" I asked as I raised my hands to my hair.

Zach spun around towards me with the curling iron in his hands. "Trust me, you do not want Brad to see you looking like that" he said and waved the curling iron in front of me as he scrunched his nose up in distaste.

"Oh, shut it" I laughed as I picked up a pillow from off my bed and hurled it at his grinning face.

A/N
My back is killing me right now because I just got my period😫
Someone save me!