Love Triangles

The Nightmare Dressed Like A Daydream

After our private alone time, me and Wade acted like nothing happened. We never even mentioned it once, and our friendship remained the same. We were still friends for three months until the day came where he asked me to become his girlfriend. He didn't ask me directly but through text. At that time, my feelings were still pretty nonexistent, even if it had increased for a tiny bit. The uneasiness that i felt before was also holding on into my heart, but then i remembered what Liz said about giving it a go, so i said yes. Since it was my first time, i didn't know what to expect, including the downfalls of a relationship. You see, the first few months, we were doing fine. He would sometimes ask me if we were really a thing and that he wasn't being pranked, which i thought was probably the trauma that resulted from his ex's betrayal. He even talked about marriage at some point, but since my feelings were not as strong, i didn't think of it too seriously.

Then, things slowly took a dark turn. There was a girl named Vanessa. She was Wade's classmate during freshman year, and they were really close. After he broke up with his ex, Wade grew closer with Vanessa, always partnering up or in the same group for school work. She was in the class next to ours, and apparently, they frequently chat with each other. How i knew it was very unpleasant. There was a time when he sent me a pic of a little girl. It was the year when the 10 year challenge was trending everywhere. I didn't know Vanessa, so i asked him who it was. Instead of answering, he commented that the girl was really cute and adorable, which i agree, but i felt uneasy. What was the point of showing me that? It didn't stop there. Wade once asked me to take a photo of my notes, and once i sent it, he trashtalked my writing while giving me the same note but written by someone else. There was a name at the top right corner, 'Vanessa'. He didn't downright insult me, but it was more like "why can't you write prettier like hers?". There were still no negative thoughts inside my stupid brain, so i just took it as constructive criticism and apologized. He threw in a little joke too like "Maybe you'll write better with me next to you" which made my suspicions die down completely.

I never protested with how toxic he was. Was that even toxic? I wasn't so sure, but what i do know is that i felt my world turned upside down. I had a friend who was also Vanessa's. She knew that me and Wade were dating, so she told me every single thing she found out. Apparently, Wade flirted with Vanessa numerous times. I may not know Vanessa personally, but just by looking at their conversations, i could tell that Vanessa liked him, and what Wade was doing added fuel to her fire of attraction.

"Don't worry, she's a good person. She didn't know that you and Wade were dating. I already told her just now and she sent me to apologize to you on her behalf as well" my friend said.

"....Does Vanessa like Wade..?"

"She did, but she promised that she won't get in between you anymore"

I was hurt. My feelings for Wade have grown, and yet this happened? I also hate sluts and whores so damn much. If killing wasn't a sin, i would annihilate them all one by one. However, Vanessa didn't count as one of them because she didn't know about us.  If anything, this was entirely Wade's fault for cheating behind my back. I then had a disturbing feeling inside. I was curious if there were more than those convos, so i stalked Vanessa's IG account and what i found only hurt me more. There were a few posts with Wade's comment and all of them were flirtatious.

'What a cutie'

'Yeah, and the angel is you'

'Where's your soulmate? Oh, right, it's me ;)'

'Tell your mom i'm coming to propose'

I cried and told Liz everything. She just sat there, patting my back. Even she didn't see this coming from him. To everyone, he was an angel, unlike the barbaric brutes in class, but turns out we were all wrong and misjudged him. True, he wasn't rude, but he was a snake, waiting for the right time to show its venomous fangs. There was this sudden burst of courage within me and i planned to confront him as soon as i could, so i asked him to meet me in private in an empty classroom after school ended. I had to play dumb before that and frankly, i was a pro since he didn't notice anything weird. Either that or he was dense as fuck. Once we got there, i locked the door and stood in front of it, preventing him from any kind of escape.

"Uh...what did you do that for?" He asked, slowly realizing that something was off. I scoffed and put the key into my pocket.

"How dumb do you think i am?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Stop pretending! How fucking brave of you to cheat on me! Did you really think my friends wouldn't tell me?"

He tried to find some lame excuse but i stopped him while rolling my eyes before he blurted out anything stupid.

"Wade, idiocy is so not your look, so stop stalling and give me the damn truth right now!"

"Babe, i'm sorry! It was a harmless joke! Promise! I was just training on my flirting skills so i can flirt with you better!"

At that point, i no longer knew whether i could believe him or not. He already broke my trust, who's to say he wouldn't do it again?

"Have i ever asked you to become such a flirt expert?! I would still love you even if you are the most pathetic human being at this school as long as you're loyal and honest, which apparently you failed at!"

I was so mad that i felt like i wanted to burst. Even deep breaths didn't work. I decided to just go home and try to move past this. I had nothing else to say to Wade either. I quickly reached for the key, my hands shaking for a bit from all the emotion. As i opened the door, Wade ran towards me and pulled my arm.

"Heather, please forgive m-"

Without any second thoughts, i slapped him right at the face. My tears were threatening to fall down my cheeks but i tried to hold it in. We both stood there in silence, Wade looking down with his hand on the cheek that i slapped.

"Let's break up" he said, his gaze still glued to the floor. I was even more shocked now. He was the one who fucked up, the one who cheated, and yet he was the one who broke things off between us. Isn't that just downright cruel? I could no longer control my tears and i ran away from him. I needed to stay the hell away as far as i can from this asshole. Once i got home and changed into my pajamas, i just sat on my bed and cried my eyes out for hours until a call came in. It was Wade. Stupid me decided to pick it up without saying a word, trying hard not to sob and sound pathetic.

"...Heather..?"

"Mm"

"Are you...still crying?"

I tried to laugh it off, but it wasn't enough to hide my shaky voice.

"N-No, i just have the flu"

"Look, i'm sorry"

I didn't bother responding to his empty apology. After 5 minutes, he ended the call and texted me.

'I was kind enough to call your fucking ass but you chose to complicate things, so goodbye'

I sobbed more and more until my eyes were swollen really bad. Good thing that i lived alone so my parents wouldn't see me in that horrible state. Sooner or later i ran out of energy and drifted off to sleep. He really was a nightmare dressed like a daydream.