*Cries* I finished a first draft to the final chapter. I'm not ready to finish this fanfic. At all. It's a huge part of my life.
Here's another chapter. Enjoy, you guys. You're all absolutely awesome.
Lots o' love,
fluffie
Chapter 48 ~ Misty Cooper
Ian now held me in his arms, kissing me passionately. I was overcome, overwhelmed with emotions. It had to be some crazy dream, some hallucination- Ian didn't love me, I'd learnt that. But all I could do now was embrace the moment. I kissed back with all the emotion of the past six months. I kissed back with the love I seemed to lose. I kissed back with all the heartbreak. I fell away, knowing that I should be feeling reluctant to this, but I couldn't. I loved Ian. Having him hold me again made me feel human, as if this was all some nasty nightmare, and that we could return to how it was before.
'But Ian,' I gasped, coming back to reality, remembering the previous night again, and wondering why Ian currently embraced me in his arms, on the floor. He'd kissed someone else. Why would he be doing this if he didn't love me? It was sensitive topic which made me want to curl up into a ball, but it was something I had to address. 'You- '
'Misty, you have to understand...'
'So Jay was...'
'Jay! He was with, and- Misty, are you okay?'
'I...don't know,' I said, and my eyes welled up with tears, the emotion of the past day finally catching up with me. I held my head, feeling sensitive bruised skin. 'Lily hit me...and then I don't remember anything. Lily knocked me out.'
Ian stared straight into my eyes, but they were wide with shock.
'Jay was there, and he tried to rape me again-'
'He what?' Ian exclaimed, tears falling from his eyes at an alarming rate.
'And then I pinned him down and he said that...' I desperately tried to remember the events before my unconsciousness. 'He was with Lily...dating her,' I finished. 'And he wanted revenge for you guys- kissing...' The word still hurt me, as did the memory of Ian holding Lily in his arms.
'Misty, she kissed me, I promise that, she...she didn't do just that, either,' Ian said quickly, tears still rolling down his cheeks. 'I just can't believe I finally found you-'
'We'll make this work Ian, we'll make it all work out...Ian, I'm so sorry- I was just so angry. I thought you didn't love me.'
'Misty, that's anything but true,' Ian whispered, making me feel almost secure again. He held me close again, letting my head rest on his shoulder.
'I thought what all the haters said was true, and then-' I continued.
'Those haters- they aren't real,' Ian proclaimed.
I jolted upright. 'What are you saying?'
'Misty- Lily owned all the hater accounts. Every single one.' He pulled a white rectangle out his pocket- an iPhone, with a plastic peach case. Not Ian's. To me, he showed the phone's notifications. 'This is Lily's phone,' he told me.
'Look Misty.' Ian pointed at a notification. 'The one that said she was Anthony's cousin.' I squinted my eyes, trying to focus on the tweet- it was something dumb, directed to the @smoshlottie account. One of the worst. Anger flooded over me. It was her. Lily had told everyone that she was completely innocent, made everyone believe her. She spread the lies.
'There's others too,' Ian added, scrolling through and showing me other accounts with tweets directed to them. 'It was all her, and-' Ian paused and brought out his own phone, which was vibrating heavily. I saw Anthony's icon.
'I have to answer it,' Ian admitted. 'Anthony's been helping me, we all have.' He pressed the button. 'I've found her,' he said quickly. 'Go to where I went, and then travel a bit down the passage, through a door...she's okay. She's okay.' He hung up. 'Misty...' he said slowly. I looked up at him, and before he had time to instigate, I pushed him to the concrete floor and kissed him myself, wet, tear-stained skin against wet, tear-stained skin. I was wrought with emotions and overwhelmed with desire to be united with Ian once again- something was telling me to hold back but I simply couldn't. I loved Ian more than anything: my relationship with him had to work if I'd interpreted his current actions correctly.
Ian opened his eyes and looked straight into mine. 'I- I love you, Ian,' I whispered, wondering if the feeling was mutual.
'I love you, Misty,' he whispered back, holding my cheeks in his hands, and relaxing me instantly. I exhaled.
'Woah,' we heard Anthony's voice say, along with the push of a door, and we turned around. He towered over us, two desperate lovers collapsed on the floor. Ian stumbled up. 'Anthony, we've got her.'
'I can see that,' he said. 'Misty, you're- I'm so glad you're okay.' I stood up and hugged him tight, breathing in his familiar musky scent, slightly different to Ian's, but just as comforting.
'I'm so sorry-'
'No, Misty,' Ian said slowly. 'I'm sorry.'
'We've got you. You're safe,' Anthony reassured me, still holding me in an embrace. He held my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. 'Your forehead-' he touched it gently and I winced.
'That's where Lily hit me.'
'Lily came here?'
'Jay...he dragged me here and tried to rape me, Lily was coming over here too to meet him, and he wanted revenge for Ian and her...' I paused again, trying to face the memory. 'Kissing,' I finished firmly, clenching my fists.
'It was all-' Ian held my hand.
'I know.' I looked down. 'A set-up. So it wasn't real?'
'No, Misty- I'd never do that to you. Lily just- attacked me, really. She pretty much forced me into it, and for a second I just...it was like it was you. I forgot she was my ex-girlfriend-' Ian looked distressed, sweaty, streaked with tears. I didn't want him to apologise.
'No, I was dramatic. I just thought it was all true, everything I'd been told over Twitter. I'm sorry, I was so wrong-'
'No, I'm so sorry I did that to you- God, I'm so lucky you can forgive me after all this-'
'Look, Ian, we can talk for real about it later, alone. I'm just so glad I realised before I did anything too drastic.' I looked over to Anthony who was stood awkwardly watching Ian and I talk. I strode over and hugged him tightly. 'If you guys hadn't found me...'
'We wouldn't have left until we did,' Anthony finished for me, chuckling. 'Shall we tell the others? Actually, first, let's get inside. It's freezing out here, and we're all soaking.'
'Yeah,' Ian agreed, pulling open the door and letting me and Anthony in. Inside was warm, dry and welcoming. We stood in a small triangle, now seeing how truly wet we all were.
'This is ridiculous,' Anthony said, pulling at his shirt, which made a slapping sound as it hit his skin once more. My hair lay flat against my body, dribbling streams of water droplets down my hips.
'Let's all rendezvous back at the hotel,' Ian said. 'You call Kalel, and get her to tell Phil and call Chris and Kristie.' Ian gasped.
Were all those people out there searching for me?
'What?' I exclaimed, surprised they all cared that much. 'All those people?'
'We were so worried, and we ended up with more of a team than we expected. Forget that though, there's so much we need to explain.'
He was right. He didn't know what I'd found out today. Where do you begin with situations like this?
'Yeah, Jay and Lily, Jesus Christ. I wasn't expecting that. I can't-'
'There's a hell of a lot more,' Ian told me, squeezing my hand. 'Actually, Anthony,' Ian said, turning to Anthony, who was dialling numbers on his phone. 'We should head somewhere else first.'
'Where?' Anthony asked, a genuinely confused look on his face.
'Let's go face Jay and Lily,' Ian declared with a determined smile. Anthony looked back with wide eyes.
'Now?'
'Yes.'
'How do we find them, Ian? We can't.'
'Well, Misty spent the night at Phil's. They're next to Chris's room, where Kristie stayed the night. Chris's next to Lily and Jay's room- so if Misty could show us where Phil's room is... if they've ran back to the hotel, we gotta go find them.'
'Why?' I asked, feeling nervous but slightly excited at the same time that we were facing them altogether. I could never face them alone, particularly Jay. In fact, the thought of seeing him again was making me tremble.
'We're gonna go teach them a lesson.'
'All they did was-'
'Not all, T. They've done much, much more. Just you wait.'