June In May

Chapter 21 - Not You

"Who was it?" I yelled, not bothering with their presence, and kept my eyes on Michael's blazing ones.

"Methane Jeff! It was him! He blocked Troy on your phone, and I'm pretty sure he was the one who threw away that watch because it was a present from Troy!"

I scoffed. "No, it wasn't. He never touched my phone, nor did he even—" I briefly recalled Methane's hand over my left wrist in the middle of dancing, but that didn't mean anything. "You are just saying nonsense. You have no proof."

"I may not have the proof right now, Junes. But just know that I gain nothing from this. All I want is the best for you."

"No, you don't," I said, my voice cracking. "If you did, you would have at least pretended to be happy for me." With that, I turned around angrily to leave, not before meeting the worried green eyes on my way out.

I called Methane just as I stepped out of Troy's house, and I heard a phone ringing nearby. Before I could snap my head around, Methane received my call.

"Did you ever touch my phone?" I asked immediately.

"Huh? What? What are you talking about?" Methane sounded surprised as expected.

"I knew it. You'd never do that." Methane had only ever been nice to me, why would he do something like that? "Some people think you blocked Troy from my phone."

"What? That's crap. I know how to respect my girlfriend's privacy. They are just jealous," he replied casually.

Jealous? Is that what they were?

"Why, though? Who are these 'some people'?"

I sighed and gave him a briefing of what happened inside with Michael.

Methane laughed. "It's obvious Troy put all that into Michael's head."

I didn't want to believe it. After all, Troy had never been a person to go behind someone's back to harm them. He rarely, if ever, got jealous of anything.

I was humming over the phone in front of my house when I saw Troy's house door open and Troy himself coming out.

"I will talk to you later."

"Why?" Methane asked abruptly.

"I, uh, have to go to the bathroom now," I lied and hung up the call.

"Can we talk?" Troy asked when he approached me, and I nodded curtly after folding my arms over my chest. "Perhaps, inside, if you don't mind? I actually feel being watched out here."

I rolled my eyes and headed inside the house, letting him in as well.

"I'm so sorry for telling Mike about the blocking and watch thing—"

I held up my hand, interrupting him in between his explanation. "I don't care, Troy. You ruined what you could. I can't believe you put all that into Mike's head to wreck my relationship with Methane."

Troy's face clouded with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You said to Mike that Methane is controlling me, didn't you?"

"Why would I say that to Mike?"

I had completely lost my temper, so I held nothing back as I yelled, "Because you like me, and you are freaking jealous of Methane!"

A hurt look flashed on his face. "How... how could you think that? I would never stoop that low." His hurt was soon replaced by anger. "If you want to stay with that toxic son of a bitch, that's all your business and none of mine. Yes, I may like you, but I'm not a jealous person. If Methane was a good guy, I would be the first one to wish you guys happiness." He scoffed in disbelief, "I can't believe you'd think that I was jealous of that lowly bastard."

"Don't curse my boyfriend in front of me, Troy!"

"June, he is a freaking psycho!"

"No, he is not!"

"Wait, you want me to prove it? Because I can. I have been sitting in my room since this afternoon and digging out information about Methane Jeff, and I can show you."

"How do I know they are not fabricated?"

"You will know once you see it." He took off his shoes and walked into the living room. "Do you remember that my dad installed a door camera a month ago?"

I nodded curtly. "What about it?"

"Look at this," Troy said and pulled out his phone. "My phone is connected to the camera, and here, you will see the real face of Methane Jeff."

He handed me the phone where a footage of a tall guy in dark clothes was roaming around my house. I noticed the date, and it was from the first day Methane and I met in the bookstore. Troy pressed the next button, and again, there was footage of a Methane-like person near my house, looking at my window this time. Like that, Troy showed me several images of that person outside my house in my absence.

Finally, he came to the night when Michael got beaten. There were five guys. All of them were wearing black masks, and they jumped on Michael to attack him the moment he was pushed open the house gate. My heart clenched for my dear friend.

"I will bet 100 bucks that these men were sent for me by Methane," Troy said, and I looked at him in disbelief. "I mean, look Mike had his hoodie's hood on, but when his hood fell off and they saw his brown hair, they stopped beating him." He replayed the video to make me see his point.

I stepped back, not wanting to believe any of it. "That's not true."

"It is, June," Troy said softly.

I shook my head frantically. "No, no, it's not. The face in the videos isn't clear. It's probably someone with the same physique as Methane."

"Fine, then look at this." He showed a video of Methane throwing my bracelet watch in front of Troy's house. This time, his face was clear. He was wearing the same clothes as the night of Neil's birthday party.

"But... no, it can't be him." My eyes welled up with tears. I fell on the couch, my faith in Methane wavering.

Troy sat down beside me and rubbed my shoulder. "I'm so sorry, June. I wish this wasn't him as well, but it is. You have to believe me. That guy is obsessed with you, and he needs to pay for what he did to Mike."

I buried my face in my hands and started to let my tears out.

Methane was supposed to be my savior, my partner, my silly boyfriend who carried candies with him. He wasn't supposed to be this... a stalker... a psycho... a person who hurt my best friend.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" I murmured.

"June, Officer Dalton asked me to hand him over the video footage of our house, which is the reason I thought of checking it this afternoon and found this out. I always found Methane suspicious, but I had no idea he would be this dangerous. And I'm sorry for my behavior last night," Troy said and wrapped his arms around me. I buried my face in his chest and sobbed harder. "I'm sorry, June. I'm so sorry," he whispered, and I knew it wasn't for last night; it was because he felt sorry for the boyfriend I ended up with.

"Please... please don't give the footage to Dalton," I requested.

However Methane was, he was still my boyfriend. I needed to hear it from his mouth if it was him and why he did any of it.

"But June—"

"Please, Troy. I really like Methane, and I just..."

Troy's arms around me tightened as he murmured, "Okay, fine, I won't give the footage until you say so."

"Thank you," I whispered.

I was hoping with all my heart and soul that it wasn't Methane. He couldn't be my stalker. He couldn't be the reason behind Michael landing up in the hospital.

Please tell me it's not you, Methane.