The Only Exception | W2S

THIRTY THREE.

He's not finished yet. "As I've said, she's a very insecure person. Every time she'd come to the States, she'd become paranoid, accusing me of things I hadn't done. There was no trust there, despite my multiple attempts to reassure her. In the end, I told her I couldn't do it anymore. I told her we should announce it, to get it over with, but she was too scared. I mean - look, I'm a nice guy, so I didn't want to force her to do anything, so I went along with it. Sure, it was unfortunate that there were pictures of me and Evie kissing, but it was just bad timing. But of course, Holly went down the cheating route, an obvious strategy her PR team had put together. It was just an attempt to turn me into the villain rather than admitting she was the one to blame for our relationship..."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," George says lowly, shaking his head. 

"Why would he lie about that?" Hattie asks, reaching a hand across the bed to grip mine, which we both discover is shaking. Either with anger, or perhaps devastation, I have no idea. 

"How is there still another five minutes left?" I groan, pure survival instincts kicking in to avoid me crashing down onto the floor in a wailing pit of despair. 

"We don't have to -" George starts, but I shake my head. We absolutely do. I need to. 

"- not only did she lie about you - technically both of us, for nearly a year, she's also now latching on to a very popular UK YouTuber group! Did you see the way she was practically moulded into the Sidemen back in London?" Evie talks, and I now completely share George's rage. 

Matthew nods. I don't understand how he's able to lie so easily. About something this big. It's psychotic. Surely no one in their right mind would believe any of this. 

"Public sympathy, for sure. She's trying to protect her image whilst having no issues defaming mine. Always the centre of drama, that girl. I think she lives for it, somewhere. Perhaps it makes up for her feeling so insecure. Why else would her friend punch me in the face at that event?" Matthew reveals, and it feels like all the breath has been stolen from me. 

I wasn't oblivious to the way he'd said friend. Neither would the thousands of people watching.

I wasn't okay with him talking about me - of course I wasn't. But I really wasn't okay with him bringing up Harry, despite everything I'd put him through. This wasn't fair. 

"Perhaps she's interested in violent guys now," Evie giggles, and it's sickening. I feel sick. I might even throw up for real. 

But wait. They hadn't said his name. No one knew it was Harry - not yet. That felt okay. It was like the one silver lining in this entire situation. 

The video ended, and whilst the rest of it was full of them shittalking me - I now felt like I could maybe handle it. 

They hadn't mentioned Harry. 

Sure, they'd revealed that someone had punched Matthew on that night, no one seemed to know who. 

"Holly?" George asks, him and Hattie still sat in my bed in complete disbelief. "Are you okay?" 

Obviously not. But I definitely could feel worse. 

"Manageable," I stammer, getting out of the bed, which is slightly awkward because I have to climb over both of them. 

"Where are you going?" George calls out, also leaving the bed. 

"I just - I need a second. Alone," I clarify, leaving my bedroom, feeling eternally grateful that George and Hattie remained stationary in my room, and that Jess and Arthur were out for the evening. 

I leant against the countertop in the kitchen, my phone still buzzing in my hand as I squeezed my eyes shut. 

It was just one thing after another. And even despite this video - my main focus was Harry. Feeling so glad that he hadn't been dragged into this mess. My mess.