The Before and After Project (An Emblem3 Fanfiction)

Chapter 22

Wes’ POV:

“I can’t do…” I couldn’t do this to her…I just couldn’t let the words escape from my lips proving to me that everything had ended before it had even properly started. But stand by and watch her get hurt? That would be even worse. “…us” I finished, so that was it. This was the end, I squeezed my eyes shut tightly. I was trying my best to hide the tears that were pricking at my eyes, I was meant to be strong in a situation like this. I was meant to mean the words that came out of my mouth, but I didn’t. I didn’t mean them at all. I couldn’t bear to open my eyes, I couldn’t handle seeing the emotions running through her own.

Why wasn’t she saying anything?! I could feel her presence there and each second that ticked by without her saying a word killed me that much more. I needed something, ANYTHING from her would’ve been okay. Right now I’d rather have her hate my guts than not hear another word from her. When I finally heard her speak it was a quiet whisper, no emotion slipped out whatsoever.

“Why?”

The word struck me like a tonne of bricks. How the hell was I supposed to say this without screwing everything up? A couple of words could just destroy all those years of friendship, all those years spent waiting for what I’d just thrown away. I gulped back the lump in my throat and attempted to speak.

“I can’t hurt you Gabby. I don’t want to hurt you, and I know that if we stay together that’s all that it’s going to result in” I tried to explain, my voice quivering noticeably as I opened my eyes to find her staring blankly at me.

“You can’t do this, you can’t do that! Apparently you can’t do a lot of things lately, and one of those is give me a straight fucking answer! What I want to know is the truth Wesley! The cold hard truth” she snapped bitterly. Anger was starting to form in her eyes and I could tell if I didn’t spit something out soon she was going to bite my head off.

“I’m not giving you a straight answer because I don’t want you to get hurt!!” I cried, unable to restrain the emotions flying around inside me. I used to be a chill dude, none of this bullshit would’ve ever gotten to me before. I would always be able to stand my ground, but with Gabby everything made me weak.  All I wanted to do was protect her and apparently the only way I could do that was by setting her free.

“Don’t you think this is hurting me enough already?!” she screamed, her eyes were cold and harsh as she stared straight through me as if I didn’t mean anything to her anymore.

“Gabby please…I’m sorry! You don’t understand how much it is killing me to do this! I hate myself for it but it’s the only way…” I trailed off not wanting to get into it too much. Hatred flared in her eyes when she spoke next.

“If you hate yourself for it then why are you doing it? Why are you ending everything at now of all times? Was this some kind of sick twisted joke you were trying to pull on me? You get me to fall in love with you, play happy families for a total of three days and then just break my heart?! Is that what you wanted to do this whole time?!” she shrieked, the tears finally spilling out of her eyes. They were angry tears, the kind of tears she had only gotten once before…when she thought she’d lost her dad. She wiped them away furiously as a couple tears of my own pricked at my eyes again. She legitimately thought I’d been playing her, after all this time she didn’t trust me one bit.

“Do you really think that everything I said was a lie? Every kiss? Every embrace?” I choked out. “I’m not like that Gabby! You’ve known me for my whole life yet you still think I’m capable of that! Fine, you want the fucking truth. Well here you go, I cheated on you with Kaylee. You happy now?!” I spat, the tears streaming down my face. She couldn’t know….she could never know what had really gone down, that would hurt her more than us staying together. She froze completely, her entire face going pale.