She Wasn't You

Chapter 48

"Oh my god! I'm going to be wrecked. You didn't need to buy me the whole bottle!" You smiled as I sat down beside you again.

"Who said this was yours?" I winked. "Look it saves getting up every 10 minutes, so I'm saving you some energy."

You'd be needing all of that energy for later on tonight, if all goes as I had planned.

"You're sweet, thank you." You stroked my hand as I poured you a refill and it sent shockwaves through my entire body.

"You don't need to thank me, it was the girl behind the bar who suggested it. I think she thinks I like her so it's her way of getting me away from her. She's even offered to bring me new pints over when she sees me running low. Now that's customer service at its finest." I smile across at you as I place the bottle on to the table.

I still can't quite believe we're having this moment together again. I mean, I had put a lot of effort into making today happen and it couldn't have gone any more to plan but it still didn't take away how good it was to be back in your company again.

"So, Katie. There's something I've been burning to ask and it's bugged me for years and she's not around any more so I can ask and hopefully you can answer. What did Caroline say to you to turn you against me? And please don't say she didn't, because I know she said something bad enough for you to block me from Facebook and just become so distant from me."

Your face reddened slightly, the rosy tint in your cheeks made you look even sweeter. I could sense you wanted the ground to open up and swallow you and I'm sorry for asking and putting you in this position but I really needed to know.

You looked down to the table as you replied. "I know and I'm sorry, I know what Caroline is like but she seemed to be telling the truth and it was stupid of me to believe because I know you're not the person she portrayed you as. I can see that now but when she told me, I was angry, I was going through some shit in my marriage at the time and had lost all faith in the entire male population. She caught me when I was weak and now I can tell she took full advantage of my state of mind."

Okay, but what did she say, Katie?

"Don't hate me for believing what I'm about to tell you."

I raised my eyebrows and braced myself for what was coming. Trust me, Katie. Nothing would surprise me when it came to that woman.

You took a deep breath in and closed your eyes.

It couldn't be that bad? Could it?

"Okay, so like I said, she caught me at a low point and really dug the claws in. Basically, she told me that you had gone around telling people that we had slept together on numerous occasions and that you had also boasted to your friends and her that you slept with my sister, Kayleigh too."

For I think the first time in my life I was genuinely lost for words. We hadn't even kissed properly, let alone slept together and your sister was three years older.

Did she really believe that you would believe that? I would have been 15-16 then.

I looked at you, annoyed that you had bought this pack of lies but I was more angry at herb, Katie. That she would stoop this low. Then you continued, that wasn't the worst part.

"There's more. She also said that you had mentioned that you had had an affair with my mother!"

I spat the contents of the beer in my mouth back out into the pint glass from where it just came and choked, wiping my mouth. "Are you fucking serious?!"

"I know! And saying it all out loud makes me feel even more stupid for believing it all. I mean, I didn't believe that you did any of that for real, well I certainly know the part about us wasn't true but more so that I believed that you would actually say anything like that. That's not who you are, I'm so sorry! I know how messy your break up with her was and thinking back, of course she's going to make up shit about you but my head was so messed up at the time with other things going on that she could have told me the sky was yellow and I probably would have believed her."