"Love is a ruthless game unless you play it good and right"
"You look...great." Draco grins at me as I sit at the breakfast table the next morning. Iris giggles at his comment, staring at the complete mess of a best friend she has in front of her. On the other hand, I roll my eyes at the two of them while grabbing any possible food on my plate and bringing it to my mouth. I am too tired to sit at this table, and I can not remember how I ended up here. But I did, and in some way, I regret not staying in my bed forever.
"Why are you in such a bad mood, Ro?" Draco asks before taking a sip of his coffee. Oh my, I really need coffee right now. I look around the table, not seeing the black/brown drink I love so much I would sell my organs for it.
"I am hungover. Do I have to say anything else?" They both turn quiet, and I enjoy my breakfast in peace for as long as possible. Yesterday was a mess. Sadly, I remember every single part of this mess, especially the one part where the brown-haired, scarred boy pushed me against the wall with his lips all over me. Like life wasn't enough, I also got a letter from my father, saying I had to show up at the manor today. The whole drama at Hogwarts has made me forget about the real-life problems that can actually put my life in danger or, even worse, Azkaban.
"Did you get a letter from your father this morning?" I ask Draco, trying to stay as quiet as possible so that others do not bring attention to our conversation. Thankfully, no one else is at our table, probably all sleeping or eating hours ago.
"Yeah, about that...." He stares at Iris, and I realise the day that couldn't get so much worse is beginning to have another turn.
"You have to apparate there with Riddle. I am going somewhere with my mother." Perfect, just perfect. I shove a full cup of coffee down my throat, wishing it was stronger than coffee beans.
"Why are you going with her? Can't I come with the two of you?" He sighs, shaking his head.
"Rosie, it has to do with you know what. Just go with him and pretend that it's me. Okay?" I sigh and nod slowly.
"Where did you go yesterday, by the way? I tried to find you at the party." I tried to find Iris after my big mistake, but she was nowhere to be found. And once I returned to our dorm, she wasn't there either. Not until I woke up this morning and saw her in bed. Iris looks at me with nerves in her eyes; she is hiding something from me.
"Oh, me? I had a headache and went to sleep early. I am sorry I didnt let you know." She forces a smile and sucks in her lower lip. Oh she is lying to me. She was nowhere close to being asleep once I returned to the room so where did she take a nap? Bathroom floor? She is lying to me, and I can't believe it.
"Right," I fake a smile before turning to my other best friend.
"What about you? None of you were there at the end." The only good thing about not being there is that they do not know about Mattheo and me. No one will bring it up, and I can pretend it never happened.
"I was there. I guess you just didnt see me." I nod, another lie. My best friends lie to me, and I don't understand why. But I won't bring it up until they tell me about it.
"Well, I guess I have to find Riddle. I will see you both later then." As I fake a smile, I look over my shoulder to find the two best friends talking, smiling. No matter how I will find out what it is, something is going on.
"Watch it," a cold, hard chest hits my head as I walk through the corridor, and my somehow invisible body slips to the floor. The voice is familiar, and I dont know what's worse. It was him or me falling to the floor.
"Great, it's you." Theo rolls his eyes, looking uncomfortable as his friends walk by us.
"A little help?" He reached out his hand to help me, and I accepted his help for once.
"Thanks," I mumble before brushing the dirty floors leftovers on my clothes.
"Where are you heading? Aren't you having breakfast with the others?" I look at him in shock; so we are talking now?
"It does concern you, does it?" He mumbles something that I can't quite understand, and I get frustrated thinking he said something rude about me.
"I can't hear what you are trying to say, Nott." "I said I am sorry." He stares at me, our eyes meeting seriously for the first time in years.
"Okay," I stay quiet as both of us look away. I dont think we know what to say about anything like this. I am completely lost for words and have so much to say to him, yet I have nothing. I dont know if I want to scream at him, or ask him to take me back into his life. It's a strange way of not knowing what you really want in life.
"I didnt mean what I said. I would never use you, Rosie. I didnt use you. What I felt, it was real. I had no right to say any of it." I feel uncomfortable, the knot in my stomach grows as he stares at me, and I suck in my lips before staring at the floor.
"I meant what I said that night... about loving you." His eyes meet mine as I look up in shock, and I feel them beginning to tear up. Please don't cry, Rosie. You can not cry right now—not in front of him, not in front of anyone.
"Dont say that..." I whisper loud enough for him to hear, and he steps closer. His eyes filled with care and pain at the same time as he touched my cheek faintly.
"I am sorry for how I ended things between us, Rosie." His eyes filled with tears, just like mine. I think it will always be different between us. It doesn't matter if we hate each other because the love we have is stronger than normal lovers; we have always been best friends. And a best friend's breakup is always worse than a normal one.
"I was so mad at you for always being with him. For smiling when I wasn't there. I thought you moved on. Then I saw you with him yesterday and-" I stop him, anxiety taking over me.
"You saw that...?"
"I wish I didnt; I got so mad at you and... And I ended up sleeping with her." Well that's one thing I didnt need to hear right now, but I guess it's fair. I deserve it.
"Oh... Was it good?" I cringe at my words; how did I end up in this situation?
"I feel like an ass, Rosie. I dont fucking like her, I dont love her. I was using her to cope with the pain I carried because of you. I am fucking using the girl I have to marry. Dont you hear how fucked up that is?" I dont know what happened to me at that moment. If I completely let go of everything and returned to the old us for a few months. But I did the last thing I expected myself to do. I hugged him. Tears roll down my cheek as I hold him tight. It's been weeks since I talked to him like this. Since we shared the real us, our real feelings. We were happy, but every story isn't meant to have happy endings, right?
"Dont cry, please dont cry. Love." His words make my heart ache, he really has that control over me.
"I need you, Rosie. I can't live without you any longer. I dont know if it's possible at all." I shake my head, knowing that even if I don't want to live without him, he can never give up because of me.
"Dont say that, Theo." He wipes the tears from my cheek with his thumb, before smiling faintly. I dont think it's a real smile; I think it's a sad upsetting smile.
"Give me a chance, as a friend. I need us. No matter what version it is, I need us." Our gazes meet; maybe that is what we need. I would lie if I said I lived a happy life without Theo. I hated him so much that I didnt dream about having him back in my life. Would everything have felt like before if we had gone back to our friendship? Probably not. Do I need him in my life? Yes, probably more than anything else.
"What do you say?" His fingers play with a single string of my hair and I suck in my breath.
"Rosie?" Another familiar voice says behind us, and we both turn to face him. Theo is standing even closer to me than he was before.
"What are you doing with him?" Mattheo glares at Theo, and I can almost touch the tension. What did I do for the world to play with me this much?
"Uhm, okay. Maybe we can talk later?" I look at Theo, whose jaws are tightened while staring at Mattheo, who looks irritated.
"Is that a yes?" He doesn't look away from Mattheo when asking, and I sigh.
"I guess it would work?" Mattheo shakes his head and rolls his eyes, looking pissed at the situation.
"I have to go." Theo smiles uncomfortably before walking towards the great hall, leaving me with Mattheo.
"What the fuck was that?" Mattheo pushes me against the corridor wall, in a corner where we aren't exposed to the rest of the students.
"That? That was me having a friendly conversation. And you ruined it, thank you very much." He rolls his eyes and looks down at me.
"That wasn't a part of the plan." He tightens his jaw. A plan? Since when do we have a plan for anything? Last time I checked, we didnt even have a plan for our task.
"What plan?" I ask. The irritation grows as he pushes himself closer, trying to make me feel dumb.
"Our plan. The reason you kissed me yesterday. We would make him jealous to play with him, not return to him." His eyes turn darker.
"I am not going back to him. For your information, I didn't kiss you because I wanted him to be jealous. I kissed you because I was drunk and I didnt know better. I could have kissed Draco if he was there." He bites his lips, hiding the smile I know he has behind that dark look.
"Do you regret kissing me, Rosie?" He looks down at me; being taller than me, I expected that to happen. I am not sure, but Mattheo is definitely way taller than me. I can taste his breath on my lips as he comes closer.
"I-"
"Do you regret how it felt when I did this?" His hands travel down to my ass, where they stop before giving it a little squeeze.
"Hmm? Answer me. Use that pretty little mouth of yours." I stare at him in complete shock. Even if I had an answer, I dont think I could word it with my mouth. I am completely lost in a trance by this whole situation. His hand approaches my face and brushes his thumb slightly over my lower lip.
"Open your mouth, darling." My body responds to his words by doing as he says, maybe because I am scared. Or because his touch makes me so weak that I lose control of everything I stand for.
"Good girl," he slips his thumb into my mouth, and I suck it slowly, a response to the sudden feeling. It's like the world stops around us for a minute, but it slowly comes back when he, for the second time, leaves me shocked by taking a step back.
"Come on, we will be late."
"Late?" I ask, not knowing anything happening in this world for a moment.
"The meeting with my father. Didnt you get the letter?" I look around, realising we are completely alone here.
"Oh, yeah. When are we leaving?" He smirks at me.
"You know, I like having this control over you." He grins and I finally return to my old self as I roll my eyes.
"You dont have control over me, Riddle." But my comment only makes him grin even more.
"Grab my hand," I stare down at it, still so close to me. Yet so far away.
"Why?" He sighs before grabbing my hand tightly.
"Because we are apparating now." Only a second later, the room starts to spin, and before I know it. I am back at the manor Draco, where I spent most of my childhood. The Malfoy manor.
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Currently going through the worst time of my life. Literally at the bottom of everything rn. Trying to cope w wattpad <3