He's Giving Me a Reason, an Emblem3 Fan Fic (Sequel to Riptide)

Chapter 49

Adrianna POV

To say that I was feeling a little awkward about this date was a huge understatement. We hadn't even left my dorm yet, and we were already overcome by a veil of silence. I don't even know if I could classify this as a date- we weren't exactly together anymore.

"You look nice." Drew's hair whipped around in the wind, pushing it over his eyes slightly.

"Thanks, you too." I replied; and he did. He was wearing a gray Ethika t-shirt and a pair of mesh shorts. It was a nice change from his usual muscle tanks and snapbacks. But of course, the Jordans remained tied to his feet. Some things never change.

"So... it's pretty nice out today." In response I just nodded my head.

"Are we really going to be those people that just make awkward small talk the entire night?" I let out a nervous chuckle. This was completely ridiculous. If we wanted to fix our relationship we would have to do some real talking at some point. We weren't going to fix anything by sitting around, talking about the soft wind coming from the west. Before I had the chance to slip back into my own lonesome thoughts I heard Drew laugh- a real laugh.

"Oh wow, I hope not." He grinned. "As awkward as we happen to be, I hope we never get to that point."

"I think we should take some extra precautions, you know: to prove we're not boring." I grinned, pulling him by the shirt sleeve. He laughed and followed me as I dragged him down the sidewalk.

"So where do not-awkward people go to hang out?" He asked, intrigued. I bit back a smile as we rounded the corner.

"You'll see." I full on grinned this time. Just as we crossed the street, I saw one of the buses pulling up to the curb. "Come on!" I pulled Drew towards the idle vehicle. I flashed my transit pass and hitched a ride up to midtown. Trailing past 44th street, a smile spread across my lips: we were almost there.

"Come on Ade, where are we-" Drew swallowed his words as soon as he caught sight of all the lights. "Wow." He spun around in a circle, taking in each and every thing.

"It's beautiful." I admitted, inching closer to him slowly. I've never actually been to Times Square before. I've seen it in pictures, read about it on the internet, and have dreamt about visiting it many times before. And it was ten times better than I could have possibly imagined.

"M&M World?" He quirked an eyebrow at me, the excitement in his eyes equivalent to a six year old.

"Most definitely." I agreed. Chocolate was the greatest thing ever created- there was no doubt about it. I could live off of chocolate alone if I could. I've looked into it: apparently keeping up a chocolate based diet is pretty expensive.

Three bags of custom M&Ms and one Vanilla milkshake from the Shake Shack later, Drew and I were sitting outside a cafe back near the school.

"So hopefully this place is good; I found it online." Drew admitted, picking up his cheesburger. I lifted my identical sandwich up to my mouth to take a bite. And I'm glad I did. Screw the chocolate diet, I basically just had a mouth orgasm from this cheeseburger.

"Oh my goddddddd." I said with a mouthful of burger.

"Mhhmmm." Drew made a noise in agreement. I don't know if it was because I was on some sort of cheeseburger high, but I just had to open my big mouth.

"So where are we at, exactly?" I demanded of him. If my question managed to catch him off guard, he didn't show it. Instead, Drew placed his burger back down on his plate and cleaned off his hands.

"I was kind of hoping you could tell me." He said calmly. I didn't really know what to say to that. "You know I love you, Adrianna..." Drew took my hand in his fingers, but he didn't hold it. He just let it rest there in his palm.

"And you know that I love you." I sighed. "But I don't know if I can do it." My voice cracked slightly, and as much as I didn't want Drew to see me cry, the tears started rolling down my cheeks. "All the secrets, the lying. Avery might be able to live with her boyfriend pretending to be single, but I can't. In a relationship, I have to be all in, or not in at all. I don't do anything half way." I let out a shaky breath.

"I can't ask you to stay with me: not when it involves pretending that we're not actually together." Drew said, seeming equally as sad as I was. "It's not fair to you."

"I'm sorry, Drew. I just can't." I wiped away the tears that were running down my face. The only positive thing in this moment was the fact that I had applied waterproof mascara earlier.

"Where does this leave us?" He asked me, the answer to his question already looming in the air around us.

"I guess there no longer is an us." I said softly.

"Just promise me one thing." Drew looked away from me, fixing his gaze on the ground. "Promise me that we'll still be friends. Even though it may be painful at times to be around you, I will always need you in my life. I need to be with you, because I will never stop loving you." He said, looking me in the eye now.

So for the next forty minutes, we just sat together. We didn't talk, we didn't laugh- we just sat: hand in hand, waiting for one of us to gain the courage to leave first. And it turns out that person was me. So when I finally left, I got up and didn't look back.

D: D: D: omg guys I'm tearing up like crazy :'( This was such a hard chapter to write.

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