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Chapter Forty// I Do Care!

"I never asked for that to happen," I begin by saying, stepping closer towards him with my fingers interlocked behind my back. "I don't know what to say."

"Yeah, and you didn't know what to say back then either," he snaps bitterly. My eyes enlarge as he scrapes his foot over a tree stump.

"Pardon?"

"Back then," he continues. "Thanks for trying to stop your boyfriend." He scoffs, shaking his head whilst snapping a stick in half, then throwing it into the distance with a dramatic swing of his muscled arm. I watch without words.

"I... I... I did try. I'd tried to prevent this from happening all along."

"Oh really? By doing what? Face it Paige, you changed into a different person when you were with Josh, a person who didn't care about my feelings."

"I do care! I care about you a lot," my voice strains. He keeps our eyes connected with a piercing stare.

"You care?" He retorts. "So you cared when you lead me on, only to tare me down."

"What?" I gasp in confusion. He is getting it all wrong.

"You want to be with Josh, so just be with him and leave me alone."

"Nathan, I want to be with you!"

"Well you have a funny way of showing it," his voice deepens with a disbelieving scoff. I watch as his face darkens by the shadows casted from the trees blocking the sunlight from seeping in. A cool wind tints the air with a whistle as the leaves circulate around my feet.

"Nathan, believe me when I tell you this: I don't like Josh."

"Then why are you dating him?" Nathan rages, more powerful than any other time I've heard him shout. "Hey, why?" His volume takes me by surprise, but fills me with energy to yell back. "Tell me!"

"To protect you!" I emphasise. "I did as he said so he wouldn't do anything to you, so you were safe from harm."

"Oh, so you thought I couldn't take him? Ay?"

"You did just back out of a fight," I remind him.

"Because I felt as if I had no choice! You weren't trying to stop him, were you?" His words strike me, hitting me hard as I reflect on the past events and bow my head at how true his words were. The stone hard truth that not only did Nathan back down, but I was just as bad by not trying hard enough. The silence of my actions speak louder than what I did do to stop what had happened from happening. But I had not been unsuccessful, I lost, and I may have lost Nathan too.

"Please forgive me," I plead weakly.

His eyes rise and lock with mine. A grey mist clouds his once brown orbs, a dismal colour around his shrunken pupils. "You've changed." He states.

"Me?"

"Yes you, you tell me to be my true self, bit hypocritical if you aren't even being the real you."

"This is the real me," I say honestly, hand placed on heart.

"No, no its not," he disagrees, take a step nearer. "Lying to me, hiding your true feelings. That's not the Paige I know, the Paige I lo..." He pauses. Catching his breath, Nathan swings his head down to face the floor. He coughs before starting again. "This isn't you."

"You aren't being yourself all of the time either," I reply with my voice low, merely a whisper. We have never fought like this, never disagreed to this extent.

"True, but I don't even know who I am anymore. I feel lost..."

A thick silence separates us with only the wind and the leaves falling from above.

"Let me show you who you really are." I step forwards.

"Paige," his head rises. I am right in front of him. "It's over." My eyes follow him as he faces the opposite way and disappears through the jungle of trees then back across the grass. His body fades away with his every step, my eyes opening up and a single tear trails down my cheek.

I wipe my face with a sniffle and hold my hand on my chest to control my heart rate- but nothing works. All the weight drops to my shoulders and forces me to the ground. My legs give way and I feel my body collapse, my face buried into my palms as I kneel helplessly on the dirty floor. Hot tears stream down my face then collect beneath my chin.

My surroundings seem to fade away, the world empty without any meaning or love. My heart aches and my head spins. I let my forehead collide with the ground, my eye lids closing, the world turns dark and cold, resembling the place of where my heart once was.

I am nothing without Nathan.

A/N-

Wow, quite emotional towards the end there: Paige and Nathan don't even know who their true selves are anymore.

Is this the end for Pathan??????

Ok! Listen up!..

I know exactly how I want this story to end. However I would love to hear about how you guys think/ want it to end (quite a few chapters left till it finishes, don't worry!)

So please comment how you think/ want my story to end.

-Will Paige and Nathan end up together?

-Will Josh 'burn in hell'? lol

-Will their be an unexpected twist ;) *hint hint*

Thank you for reading.

More coming soon... xx