You, Always

Chapter Seventeen: I Love Him

After letting Mia cry some more, she's the one to finally break the silence. "He's never said that before, you know." She pulls away, looking at me, before sitting on the floor and I sit opposite her.

Okay... We're actually doing this. Sitting on a dirty bathroom floor.

I guess considering its not even first period yet, it should've been cleaned the night before anyway, right?

"We never got round to saying that to each other," I recall what just happened.

"Please, just believe me. I..." He hesitates and the way my stomach churns makes me realise I know what he's about to say. "I love you."

'I love you'

He told her that he loved her. For the first time? I presumed they had already said it, I guess I was wrong.

"Why would he tell me that, Ands? D-does he hate me that much? Why would he want to mess my head up so much, is he trying to make it even harder for me?" Her voice trembles and before she has a chance to shed more tears, I scoot over to hug her.

"I'm scared it's the complete opposite," I mumble to myself, not expecting Mia to hear me.

Unfortunately, she does.

Jeez Andie, think things like this in your head next time, not aloud.

"What? You think he loves me?" She asks and I look at the floor, not knowing what to say.

Maybe I should just shut up and not try and make this situation any worse.

"If he loved me then he wouldn't have kissed some other girl." I know the bitterness in her voice isn't towards to me, it's towards Josh.

I nod, "You're right, I'm sorry. Forget I even said anything."

I can't forget it though.

I can't forget thinking he was telling the truth.

I can't forget the voice in the back of my head screaming that something doesn't add up.

"It's fine. You know... For a second, I believed him too. All the sadness I finally managed to turn to anger just disappeared." She sighs,

"I just wish the circumstances were different. That he would've taken me to the place he always wanted to show me and told me there instead." She swipes the few tears away and continues,

"Maybe then I wouldn't be sat here thinking I wasn't good enough for him."

What she's telling me makes my heart ache, just for her, but I thought I knew what to do—what to say. Now, I'm sat here with no clue what to tell her.

I thought it was as simple as my cousin being a cheating bastard who just wanted to make the number of girls on his list higher. But now...

Now I'm not so sure.

The way he looked wasn't fake. No one can fake that. It was real. I know it.

I stay silent and she tells me a couple of stories about her and Josh. "Do you wanna know how we met?" I nod and she rests her head on the wall behind her.

"I tutored him. It was a day or two after I slept round, he asked me to help him with math. I agreed, god knows why I agreed." I can see the smile she's wearing and it's a painful one. The recollection of the memory must be hurting her.

I suddenly realise one thing in what she just said makes no sense.

"Josh didn't need help with math, Mia." Her head snaps towards me,