i h8 u (seriously)

13

In the morning, the first thing I did was check my phone. There were five texts from George, and I opened those immediately.

iMessage

my bffl <3

Isla

That fan we met posted the photos we took

Everyone's analyzing them and found out that we were together

People are going crazy and we're trending together

I'm sorry

The texts were confirmed when I hopped on twitter and my entire timeline was about George and I. They even found a way to surpass my muted words and the photos popped up every other tweet. I scrolled for a few minutes before finding everything repetitive and went back to respond to George.

iMessage

my bffl <3

it's fine

I should've asked them not to post it

it's my fault

it's no one's fault Isla

im gonna come over

if that's okay?

yeah

I continued to lay in bed, answering other people's messages about the photos that seemed to go viral in the minecraft twitter community. If George and I started to be more open about the fact that we've gotten closer, I genuinely don't think people would have cared as much about us being together. They don't know where I live in England though, so maybe it's more of a shock to them if they think I've gone out of my way to visit George.

Fifteen minutes later, without even realizing that much time had gone by, George had knocked on the bedroom door and peaked his head in. I must've forgot to lock the front door last night and he let himself in. I poked my head from over my phone to make eye contact with him and acknowledge him before going straight back to my screen.

"You okay Isla?" He asked in a gentle tone, approaching me on the bed after closing the bedroom door.

I sighed, "Yeah, just have a lot of anxiety."

He sat down on the side of the bed that I wasn't occupying and shimmied his way under the covers. I quirked an eyebrow at him but he didn't seem to notice or care. We stayed silently doing our own things on our phones, but I'd notice George glance at me like every thirty seconds, as if he had a mental timer on.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" I finally let my curiosity out.

"I, well, I'm just, uh," he stammered, "I'm just making sure you're okay."

"Oh c'mon now," I chuckled, "Don't act like you care now. You never have."

"And what makes you think I've never cared about you?" He questioned, locking his phone and putting it face down on the bed.

"I--What?"

"You heard me."

"We never got off on the right foot; we've always hated each other. Thought it was obvious that you didn't care about me."

"Right," George said, "Well I'm gonna go get some food. Have you eaten today?"

I shook my head, still shocked that he changed the subject and brushed over that topic like we were talking about our favorite colors. How am I supposed to react when someone I've had a "rivalry" with for years just challenged the fact that he might actually care about me. It's a whirlwind of emotions right there.