Heartstrings ✓

Chapter Twenty

Mallory

The rain was pouring outside the glazed windows of the Italian Restaurant, and Nina was here. Here, where Reid and I were currently on a date. A date that I fled, because I realised just how wrong I was.

"I need to talk to you." Nina repeated, her straight dark hair soaked with rain. I stared at her in utter bewilderment, my mouth parted. Only Tony knew that I was on a date with Reid. But of course Nina weaned that information from him. She had Tony wrapped around her little finger.

"What do you want?" I asked, straight to the point. I tilted my head, studying my best friend. She looked stressed for some reason.

She closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry I followed you on your date."

That put me on my guard. Nina was obviously hoping to catch me without Reid. But her body language was evasive, completely unlike her brash, honest nature. While Nina talked, her eyes avoided my own. She was hiding something big.

"It's fine." I said awkwardly. "I'm going to leave in a few minutes anyway."

That was a mistake, which I regretted when Nina seized hold of that information. "You're leaving without Reid? Did your date go badly?" she asked. I couldn't hear any pity in her voice.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "It didn't go badly. I just feel sick."

"Oh." Nina replied monosyllabically. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, looking at the wall behind me. Anywhere but at me.

I sighed with irritation. "Nina, what's going on? We both know that you want to say something. Say it."

I saw her temper flare, and I knew that once Nina opened her mouth, she would burn me.

"I'm in love with Reid." she burst out. It was the last thing I expected to come from her. But once those words escaped Nina's heart, they hung in the air before us. Bright orange letters, screaming out into reality. Not an infatuation. Not a simple crush, but in love.

If I was confused before, this made the ground open from under my feet. It was an echo of Reid's accident, those few weeks ago. But this was so ridiculous that it felt like a joke. A torment.

I was faintly aware of a ringing sound in my ear, but there was absolute silence in the wake of Nina's statement. Her breath shook faintly as she stood, staring me down. 

I broke the silence by laughing faintly. "You have to be joking. Reid? My boyfriend of two years?"

She nodded, and I knew in that fragment of time that it was the horrible truth. Nina avoided my boyfriend because she was avoiding these supposed feelings. Maybe she thought she was in love, but it was obsession at most. Wanting what she could never have.

Nina closed her eyes. "I was scared before, Mallory. I loved you. But I love Reid more, now. I'm in love with him." she said. I was frightened by the guarded certainty in her eyes. I couldn't tell if it was delusion or conviction that was driving her.

"Have you told Reid that you love him?" I asked, ignoring the way my heart was constricting in my chest. Even if I thought Nina was crazy, I couldn't know what Reid thought about her. Ever since the accident, I lost that connection to him.

Nina opened her mouth to speak, then closed it in thought. Then, slowly, she nodded in confirmation, her lips tightened at the corners. My world crashed down around me.

Reid was supposed to be on a date with me. Before this date, he must have known that Nina loved him. Reid had a history of keeping secrets from me. He didn't tell me about Brent. It wasn't a stretch to believe that he was hiding Nina's secret. What if he returned her affections and laughed at me for mine?