Walking a fine line✔️

40. Pretending

"So, what is it that you want to show me?" I asked as Noah and I walked down one of the school's corridors. 

"Like I said, it's a surprise," Noah replied. "Be open minded okay."

I wrinkled my eyebrows. "Why would I need to be open mind—"

"In here," Noah interrupted. He came to a halt and opened a classroom door. I stepped inside only to have the door shut promptly behind me. I reached for the handle and tried turning it but it wouldn't budge.

"Noah! What are you doing?" I called out.

"Rory," he said from the other side, "remember what I said, be open minded."

I rapped on the door. "Noah! Unlock the door now!"

"Be opened minded," Noah said one last time and then I heard his footsteps walking away. 

"Please don't get upset with him." A familiar and unwelcome voice said from behind me. "I asked him to bring you here because we need to talk."

I turned around slowly, my eyes finding him. "You."

"Rory—" Griffin began.

"We have nothing to talk about," I said coldly.

"You're wrong. We have everything to talk about, let me explain."

"There is nothing to explain!" I exclaimed. Seeing him standing there in front of me was opening up the fissure in my heart. "You kissed another girl."

"I—"

"You played with my emotions. You played me. And for some dumb reason I actually thought you cared about me this whole time!"

Griffin's eyes darkened and he took a few steps around a desk towards me. "I do care about you."

I finally took in his appearance as he stood before me. His dark hair held its familiar messy waves but dark circles existed under his eyes, and a sad look surrounded him. The bruise was still prominent on his cheek, another reminder of what he'd done.

"No!" I exclaimed, shaking me head. "No. No, you don't. Don't try and pretend again. Oscar told me the truth."

"He was lying," Griffin said without hesitating. 

"I saw you with my own eyes! I saw you kissing her."

"I never kissed Riley." 

"Stop lying!" I pressed my hands against my face, and whispered, "Noah shouldn't have brought me here. Please, just leave me alone."

"I can't do that, princess." He gently pulled my hands away from my face and wiped away the few tears that had broken free.

"You can't do that." My voice trembled and I avoided his gaze. "You can't pretend that you care."

"I'm not pretending."

"Yes, you are." I began pushing my hands against his chest, desperately trying to create space between us. If he stayed near me any longer I would completely break apart.

He caught my hands in his own ones. "I am so sorry you got hurt." Something in the tone of his voice made me stop. I looked up at his face to see his eyes dipped with pain. "I am so sorry for accusing you of wanting to mess with me. And I am so sorry that you thought I kissed another girl."

The lump in my throat grew. "But you did."

"No I didn't. Noah was the one who kissed Riley, not me." The words fell from his lips causing my breath to catch.

"What?" I said, taking a step back. I searched his face, looking for dishonesty in his words but found none.

"At the dance, Oscar spilt juice on Noah's shirt so I gave him my suit jacket," Griffin explained. "Brittney then asked me to help her bring in some boxes from outside. By the time I got back, you'd vanished."

"But that means..." I trailed off. It meant that I'd got the entire situation wrong and Griffin did care about me.

My pulse quickened as Griffin took a step closer. "Oscar lied to you. I never kissed anyone but you."

"But why did he lie?" I asked, confused. "How did he know that Riley was kissing Noah right then?"

"He never trusted you, not after what your brother did," Griffin explained. "He probably saw it as an opportunity to protect me." 

Things still didn't quite add up. I furrowed my eyebrows. The situation was a bit too perfect to be a random opportunity. It was too much of a coincidence that Brittney needed help the same time Riley was kissing Noah. "Are Riley and Brittney friends?"

"Yes," he replied. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"We got set up," I said, the realisation slowly hitting me. "Oscar deliberately threw juice on Noah. He knew you'd lend your cousin your jacket."

Griffin's eyes widened. "He wouldn't do that."

"He did it to help Brittney, she did say that she would get revenge," I said, more certain now.

"But that's just stupid. I've told her over and over again that I won't get back with her."

"It's the only situation that make's sense," I said softly.

Griffin was silent for a few seconds then ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I can't believe they'd do that."

Neither could I, but what was worse was that I had fallen for it. I looked down at the ground. "I've been such an idiot. I shouldn't have believed you'd do that to me."

I felt Griffin's finger under my chin. He gently pulled my head up, his eyes finding mine. "You're not an idiot."

"But I am," I breathed. If I had stayed longer or talked to him, none of this would've happened.

"You didn't have any reason to believe that Oscar would lie to you," Griffin said. "And Noah was wearing my jacket so no wonder you thought I was him. We already look similar enough in different clothes. Anybody could have made that mistake."

I ran a hand down his arm. "I'm still sorry."

"Me too, princess." He gently touched my cheek, sending a bolt of awareness through me. "I hated not being with you. I hated not being able to touch you or see you smile. I missed the sound of your voice and the way you made me feel."

His fingers drifted down and softly ran over my lower lip. My mouth opened and then suddenly he was there, his lips claiming mine. 

A/N:

Ahh they are back together! 

Vote and comment if you enjoyed, only a few more chapters to go :)

SouthernAlps over and out...