Broken

| 17 | Exposed pt. 2

"Then take the clothes off."

"You're kidding." I tell him as my face burns from embarrassment. I feel Haley looking at me with wide eyes, but I have to ignore them or else he'll catch on.

"Yeah, I'm kidding but come in the water."

"No."

"You know what.." he says as his hands press on either side of my legs and he pushes himself up to the point where me and him are face to face. My mouth drops open when I take a look at him. He's only supporting himself up by his hand and arm strength. All of his muscles are right in front of me, and I could touch them, but I can't. That's driving me insane. He's so close to me that I fear he will actually hear my heart racing in my chest.

"Get in this water or I'll drag you in here myself." he says to me in a warning tone. My breath is gone.

"You wouldn't dare." I fight back, but that was the wrong move. He slips back into the water, pulling my legs down with him.  Thankfully I don't go all the way under before I push myself back up. I feel the water surround my body, and it gives me a rush that shoots up my legs straight to my neck thanks to the cold now surging through me. Tyler pushes himself up so we're face to face now.

"I hate you, ya know that." I tell him as I struggle to get a breath thanks to the cold water that has taken my warmth from me.

"No, you don't." he says with a small laugh as he swims closer to me. So close our chests bump. I don't know what game he's playing. I don't know why he feels the need to tease me every chance he gets, but it hurts. It hurts really bad that I'm so close to him right now, but I can't have him at all. I can't even kiss him right now. I can never know what it feels like to have his lips on mine.

"I'm getting out now." I say, but my voice comes out weak as I swim around and get ready to slip out of the water.

"Is it so bad that I want to have a midnight swim with my best friend? Just come on in." he says from behind me and the lump in my throat rises until silent tears stream down my face, and Haley notices.

She wears the look that I dread. Pity. She helps me out immediately as she leads me away from the pool side, leaving Tyler clueless. He's always so clueless.

She turns me so my back is facing him, so he can't see my cry. I refuse to let out any sobs. I refuse that, so the tears just fall. They fall while I press my lips into the firmest line they can go, and the pain in my chest feels like it will never go away.

"You see what I mean?" I say to her in a whisper, and she looks at me, heartbroken. She pulls me in for a hug, but it doesn't last long. We don't want to attract attention from the one person I'm trying to avoid.

"Grace, are you ok?" asks Tyler, and suddenly he's right behind me. I quickly wipe my tears from my eyes and turn around to face him with a fake smile on my face.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just tired." I say trying my best to keep from crying again.

"You are not ok." he says in a hushed voice and Haley rushes away to give us privacy, but I wish she wouldn't. Now there's nothing stopping him from asking any questions.

"I'm fine Tyler." I say biting the inside of my cheeks so hard I taste the iron like taste of blood.

"Grace, you forgot to wipe a tear away." he says as the soft skin of his thumb swipes one tear drop from under my eye. I can't do it. I can't keep it all in. The tears fall fast from my eyes, but I keep smiling. I keep smiling despite all of the damn pain I'm feeling right now. How can he be so clueless? That little smile on his face, the simple contact of his thumb to my cheek sending me into a pit I can't get out of. He is so beautifully clueless.

"I'm perfectly fine." I say, trying to sound more convincing.

"No, look at you, Grace. You're not ok. What did I say? Did I say something?" Yes.

"No, you didn't do anything. This is my problem. I was just stupid to think something was good when it never was."

"What are you talking about?"

Screw my feelings. Who cares about them anyway. I can get out of this. I just have to lie a little first.

"I can't swim because I'm on my period and that makes me really upset." I tell him as I fake a laugh, and he chuckles just a bit as he looks at me with eyes glistening with humor.

"Well that explains all the crying over a silly little thing. That's ok, Grace." he says as he cups my cheeks with his hands. The tears only fall faster as I realize he's too stupid to see that I'm lying.

I love you, why can't you see that?

"It's fine. I'll take you back to Lindsey's ok?" he says and all I can do is nod. The words I really want to say never leaving my mouth.

~*~

Ok, so this chapter was ok I guess. I hope you guys liked it at least. Keep reading. I plan on putting a lot of drama in the next few chapters.

*cackles like a witch*