The One and Only [COMPLETED]

Chapter 30

Song above is "The Only Exception" by Paramore.

This chapter isn't very long, but I already have the next chapter written, so hopefully I'll get to post it a few days after this.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 30

Andrew pulls away from the kiss first.

He has me pinned against the wall and we're both panting. His lips hover inches from mine, pink and swollen. An adorable crease is between his eyebrows, signifying that he's either confused or there's something on my face.

Let's hope it's not the latter.

Blue eyes drift down to my soft pink lips, a spark of electricity burning through them. He licks his bottom lip before he whispers against my skin, "Why did you do that?"

"I-I, uh..." I trail off, not knowing what to say. It's not official that we've broken up, although we know it's going to happen quite soon. Neither of us have the guts to say it though.

His eyes find mine, and for a moment he just looks at me. Then, as if a switch is turned on, he says, "I was ready to leave. To just get out of here and forget all about you, because that's what you want me to do. It was already taking every muscle in my body to walk through that door, and then you kissed me and now it's nearly impossible. So, please, just tell me why."

I release a slow breath and close my eyes. "I don't know," I admit. "All I know is that I really didn't want you to hate me for this, and so I did what I thought I had to do."

He chuckles humorlessly. "So you pitied me," he takes a step or two away from me. "That's why you did it."

I wanted to say that it wasn't pity, that I was just trying to help the situation. I wanted to say that I really did want to kiss him. I wanted to say that I love him and I wasn't ready for him to go yet. But the words never came. It was as if my mouth was frozen shut, and the only thing I can do is stare at him and hope he can read my mind.

"Oh wow," he says, hurt covering his features. "So it's true then." He musses his hair repeatedly, before shaking his head in disappointment and heading towards the door.

Finding my voice again, I once again find myself running after him. "Andrew stop. That's not why I—"

"Hailey, just stop it!" He whirls around to face me, fury replacing the hurt. "I'm not stopping this time. Not for you, or anybody else. I am my own person, and I don't need crappy love to get me through life. I've gone this long without it, I'm pretty sure I can get by just fine."

I don't think he's ever been this angry with me before. And the fact that all of this anger is directed towards me has tears blurring my vision. "Andrew," I release a shaky breath. "What are you saying?" Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have this gut-wrenching feeling that he's about to make this 'break-up' official.

"I'll be honest with you Hailey," he continues. "I have never believed in true love or happy endings, even before my parents died. But when I met you, you changed everything. And I thought that was a good thing. Because I was finally happy and I felt safe with you. But now... now I'm not so sure.

"You play with my feelings like a harp; pulling new strings to get different reactions. One minute you tell me we need to stop seeing each other, and the next you're kissing me. It's just really frustrating to have to deal with, and I'm tired of it. The lies, the cheating, the secrets, it has to stop!"