Two Sides to Every Love (Gene x Reader)

Chapter 9~ Clothes and Soup

I shook myself off and splashed Dante before paddling myself over to another end of the pool, placing my drink down. Much to my dismay, Dante hopped into the pool and removed the floatie from beneath me. We got into a splash fight, before I noticed Dante's phone sitting on the pool's edge. I smirked as I rushed towards the corner. Just as I was about to reach it, Dante pulled me back by my legs, and I accidentally elbowed him in retaliation.

"OW!" he exclaimed. 

I turned around. "Oh my Irene are you okay?!"

He was covering his right eye before slowly removing his hand from it. "Does it look okay?"

I leaned toward him and narrowed my eyes. "Looks fine."

He splashed me before getting out of the pool. "Payback! Ugh, now I have to take another shower today."

"You started it!" I exclaimed.

He rolled his eyes before collecting his phone and walking away, leaving me alone on the rooftop. I shook myself off. So much for living the celebrity life...

*~o~o~o~*

While Dante was hanging out with Gene and Travis, and Zane was downstairs watching TV with Aph, Aaron, and Garroth, I decided to hang out in the guys' room. Well, until Zane came back, calling it a night and kicking me out.

I sighed, sulking out of the room until I almost bumped into a shirtless Gene. My shoulders jumped and so did my eyes out of my sockets cause dang Gene started working ou— I shook my head from both being dazed and my own shallowness. I'm way too swayed by appearance.

"Hey, I actually needed to ask you something," he said.

"Yes!" I blurted out.

"...What?"

I sheepishly laughed. "N-Nothing. Uh, what'cha need?" Idiot idiot idiot idiot idiot idiot idi—

"Wow, not barking at me. That's a surprise. Anyways, y'know how Dante and I were calling earlier today?"

"Yeah, you guys were pretty annoying. What about it?"

Gene rolled his eyes. "Dante didn't end up hanging up, so I overheard...some things. I hung up when he went 'ow'."

I grimaced. "I accidentally elbowed his eye."

"Why?"

"Well, in case you couldn't tell, we were in the pool, and while I was turned around, he grabbed my legs from under the water, where there was too much raining, and on reflex, boom, elbow to eye."

Gene looked appalled.

"...Okay, I get that it sounds bad, but you overheard our convo, it was just a splash fight."

"Hmm...alright. One last thing. Is he actually cheating on someone?"

I shrugged. "It's kinda complicated, but he's working on fixing things."

"That's good. Alright, thanks. It was nice having a civil conversation." He was about to walk into the bathroom when...

"Wait," I called.

He turned around. "Yeah?"

I met his eyes. "I'm sorry for the other day. I was just alarmed to see you and...I'm over it."

"You have nothing to apologize for." He gave a small smile, his lips quivering the slightest bit. "I'm sorry for the past eight years, dork." He disappeared into the bathroom.

I was left gazing at the bathroom door, feeling a mix of relief and hurt. Yeah, he's a jerk for never talking to me again, but we both lost a love, regardless of how young we were. He had his way of dealing with it, and even though it hurt me...I can't blame him. Being friends back then might've been torture for him, and maybe...I had to learn, at least once, what losing someone I loved was like.