Reputation: Book One

Tripp

Every Breath You Take- The Police

All Out Of Love- Air Supply

Million Reasons- Lady Gaga

I headed over to Autumn's place as soon as I woke up. I knew the earlier I could catch him, the more likely I was to even get an opportunity to talk to him. I had called him last night to see if he would tell me why he was so pissed off, but I was neglected.

"Hey, Tripp," Autumn grinned as she let me in. "Qrow is actually still asleep." She says, seeing me glance up the stairs. "In the meantime...Could you talk to me about last night?" She suggests, handing me a mug of fresh-brewed tea. I smirk. She knows me too well.

I nod, blowing on my tea. "Yeah sure. Where's Adrien at?" I ask curiously.

"He had an early shift this morning. Won't be back for a while," She sighs, sitting on the couch.I sit across from her in the recliner, staring at the liquid in my porcelain mug.

"Tripp!"

I look up to see Courtanney running toward me, arms opened wide. I forced a smile as she jumped into my lap. "Guess what?" She says, grinning. I him in response.

"I have a loose tooth," She giggles, showing me her bottom front tooth. Oh, it was wiggly alright; looked like it would fall right out if I flicked it.

"Ooh, can I pull it out?" I ask. She gasps, cupping her hand over her mouth. "No! Daddy wanted to do it," She tells me.

"Cori, Love, Tripp loves your wiggly tooth, but we're trying to have a talk," Autumn softly tells Cori. She frowns. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Autumn sputters. I look up and smirk at Autumn. She lowered her head as a warning, giving me the Mom Stare.

Cori heads for the stairs, gives me one last look over her shoulder with those big brown eyes of hers, turns and scurries up the stairs.

"Do you think I should apologize?" I ask as soon as Cortaney is out of earshot, looking up at Autumn. She sharply raises her eyebrow. "For what?"

I shrug. "I don't know what I did wrong," I tell her for the millionth time.

"Well, the way he put it was he got mad because he thought you had stopped talking to Jerzei," She tells me. "And when he saw that you two were still talking, he got a little jealous and thought you were using him when Jerzei wasn't there."

I roll my eyes. That man, I swear.

"I'm not using him, though," I snort. "I'm not that type of person."

Autumn runs her fingers through her long auburn hair. "Okay, and?"

"And... I've had a crush on Qrow for a long while now. As soon as I found out he was even slightly interested in me, I was excited," I point out. "I wouldn't hurt him like that on purpose," I tell her, standing up. Every word I said was true. I've ached for Qrow for longer than I can remember. I would never ever hurt him so badly on purpose.

"You guys haven't even done anything, so how do you know you two are so in love?" Autumn asks with a hint of annoyance. I flinch at her comment, but brush it off. She doesn't need to know.

"So if you two haven't even taken the time to touch eachother and have an intimate moment, how are you so sure?"

I bite my lip, my eyebrows snapping together. I open my mouth to speak, but I shut it again. It's between us. Not her.

"I'm just gonna go wing it," I mumble and walk up the stairs to his room. His light was off and his room was quiet. I figured he was still asleep, which was perfect. Who doesn't like a surprise from their lover as soon as they wake up?

I pushed open his door and walked in, pulling the dangling cord to his ceiling fan. The light flicked on, and when I saw him, I felt my heart shatter.

There he was, asleep underneath some random girl- shirtless.

My breath catches and I feel my throat close up. I tried to move, but it felt like my feet were nailed down to the floor. The girl stirs as Qrow groans, putting a hand over his eyes.

"Autumn," He whined in a raspy voice, rolling over onto his side. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. The girl's eyes finally fluttered open, and when she saw me her pupils shrunk. She quickly sat up, pushing the covers off her legs.

"Oh shit," She says, covering her mouth, still not breaking eye contact. She shook Qrow's shoulder and said his name in such a scared and worried voice, it made me feel sick. He groggily rolled over onto his back to look at me, and as soon as he did, he cussed and quickly sat up.

"What. the actual. hell?" I say slowly, pausing between words as I narrowed my eyes at him. "Impulsive much?"

He holds his hands out as far flickers across his face. "N-no, Tripp, I know this looks really bad but-"

I shake my head, feeling my nostrils flare. "I-I can't do this," I choke, my chest caving in as I turned for the door. My breaths became more laboured and strained as I swallowed the growing pain back down my throat. How could he do that? After what we did last night, he just turns around and sleeps with someone else?

"No Tripp, please!" He yells, jumping out of bed. I let my eyes quickly scan his body. He was pantless too. Oh, joy.

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back around. "D-don't leave," He whispers. I feel my eyes well with tears as I turn away.

"Nah, Qrow I-"

"No!" He cries, wrapping his small hand around my other bicep. He looked up at me straight in the face, pulling on my arms. "Tripp I know this is going to be hard for you to-"

I avoid his eyes and jerk away. He reached for my arm again, but my patience snapped. "Stop!" I yell a lot louder than I should have. He gasps, freezing. The young girl sitting on Qrow's bed flinched in surprise. My face softened as fear flickered in his icy blue eyes.

"Just...stop," I whisper, loosening my clenched fists. I looked over and the last piece of my heart fell to the pit of my stomach. Autumn and Cortaney had appeared in the doorway and I've never seen either of them look anymore scared. Autumn gives me an unappreciative look and I know that she knows. I tore away from her and tried to look Qrow in the face, but couldn't find the strength to do it.

"Tripp please just listen," He begs. I bite my bottom lip, taking my cool metal ring between my teeth. I shake my head. "I-I can't," I say in a low voice.

"No!" He sobs, smacking his thighs with his hands. "Just please, look at me!" He screams.