𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜... | ᴍᴀᴛᴛʜᴇᴏ ʀɪᴅᴅʟᴇ |

25.

25. proximity 
• • • 

I GLARED AT RIDDLE as he dragged me all the way to his dorm, kicking the door shut, making it slam against the frame hard, rattling it. He had said nothing and he was just breathing angrily, he kind of sounded like a wrestling mountain goat. 

"Are you going to tell me why you were about to use an Unforgivable Curse?" He demanded, finally letting go and pacing around his dorm as I just stood their with my red wrist and knitted brows. "You were about to torture him. You'd end up in Azkaban." 

"Why do you care?" I spat, crossing my arms, glaring at my wand which was still in his hand. 

"I'm sure Zara would have my head if I didn't. She still might," he replied through his teeth, gesturing to my non-stop bleeding nose. "How the fuck did you break it?" 

"What is this? A lecture? No, thank you. I'll have Z or my sister to do that," I scoffed, turning to leave but he stopped me, grabbing my wrist again and dragging back. I stumbled into his chest and immediately jumped back with a scowl. "What is wrong with you?" 

"What's wrong with you?" He shouted back. "Or do I need to list everything that you just did that could get your in serious trouble?" I rolled my eyes and I saw the muscle in his jaw twitch with annoyance. "Can you stop acting like this doesn't matter, you nearly turned into a criminal. Real fast. Is that what you want?" 

"Can't be any worse, can it?" Riddle pulled out his wand, pointing it directly at my face and mumbling a spell I've never heard before. I flinched, it felt like my nose broke all over again. 

"Fuck! What the hell?" I groaned, reaching for my face but there was no pain inflicted, just a lot of blood. "What the hell was that?" I demanded, stumbling back to sit on the bed. He carelessly tossed me a handkerchief and marched off to the bathroom, the cupboard doors banging against the wall as he flung them open. I scrunched my face in confusion as I held the white cloth to my nose, trying to collect all the spilt blood. 

"Come in here, Snow," Riddle demanded, not even bothering to sound the least bit concerned. I pulled myself up to my feet, trudging over to the bathroom where he was still rummaging through everything. "Sit." 

"Why are you so bossy?" I spat. 

"Sit," he repeated with more force, staring me dead in the eye, burning right into my soul. I rolled my eyes, hopping onto the counter, swinging my legs so that they kicked the cupboards. I could see the muscle in his jaw twitch again, clearly annoyed with everything I do. "Can't you be quiet for five minutes?" Ignoring him, I kept kicking with the back on my heels carelessly. "Oh my fuck!" He shouted, straightening up and grabbing my legs. They immediately stopped swinging. 

"What's wrong with you?" I uttered. 

"You. You're what's wrong. You're being loud and annoying, you're not giving any shits that you literally got a broken nose that is bleeding more than anything else, and you picked a fight with the boy for no reason." I jumped off the counter, getting in his face as much as I could, not being a naturally tall person. 

"You don't know my motives," I gritted. 

"Oh yeah, they must've been bad because you were about to fucking torture the guy!" 

"Why do you care?!" 

"I already told you!" 

We were both glaring daggers at each other and I dropped my hands to the side, not caring if the blood fell on my clean shirt, my hands were too shaky to hold it. "Why'd you do it?" Riddle finally asked, trying not to showcase his anger but failing miserably. 

"He fucked up my life." 

"How?" 

"I'm not about to share my personal experience with you. I never share anything with you." 

"I could report you. He could report you." 

"Why are you on his side?!" I began shouting again, feeling hurt that Riddle would rather side with a narcissist than me, a friend of his friends, he had no idea who Warren was. 

"Because I don't know why you did what you did," he said lowly, eyes growing dark. "But at least be content that I told him to fuck off. But now I need you to tell me what he did before I burn this place down." Before I could stop myself, words slipped out of my mouth without so much of a second thought. 

"Aw, you'd do that for me?" I gushed, venom lacing my every word. 

"Watch it." My back came in contact with the cold bathroom wall, there were only inches between us and I suddenly became very aware of my breathing and my heart beating. Trying to maintain my glare, I didn't relax my brows as I stared at him, pretending that we weren't so close together. The closest we've ever been. 

"What are you gonna do about it?" I asked, blurting it out again daringly. I groaned internally but completely refocused as Riddle came closer, even more than I thought was possible. "What do you want, Riddle?" I challenged, deciding I'd gone to the point of no return. 

There was nothing, no words, no gestures, no awkward shifts in his body movement, just silence and his eyes examining my face. I watched as his eyes never left my face, not behind him, not away, not down, just right at me. It was almost as if his brain was working endlessly, scrambling for something to say. 

I tried not to suck in too deep of a breath as he leaned closer, letting his hot breath brush against my skin. "I want answers." 

"I'm not going to tell you what happened to me, Riddle," I spat back, trying not to be phased by the proximity. "I don't trust you. You broke the little trust I had when you told everyone what happened between me and Lorenzo. You can't push for an answer, Riddle. I have my own boundaries." 

"Come on, Snow. Everybody knows you weren't sick," he whispered dangerously. "We can guess what happened." My breath hitched and I beat myself up for satisfying him with a reaction. "You wouldn't punch a guy over sickness, not unless he gave you something while you guys had sex." My jaw fell at the absurd assumption. 

"Absolutely not," I confirmed. "He gave me nothing." 

"You don't deny you had sex." 

"Why do you care?" 

"Quiet, I'm trying to figure out what has you fucked up. Fucked up so bad that you almost used the Cruciatus Curse on someone 'supposedly' innocent." 

"As if you haven't used it before. Look at you," I scoffed, "look at who you are. Look at your family." I could tell he was trying to ignore my hateful comments, but the jaw twitch gave it away once again. 

"I never used it, and never will. Because at least I have decent morals. I wouldn't post a picture of you online. Not like he did." I stopped breathing, I didn't blink, I didn't move a singular muscle, my heart stopped beating, the lights were beginning to get too bright. My knees became unstable and my fingertips numbed along with my face. "I know you don't want to talk about it," Riddle sighed, his voice muffled, but I could hear it become softer than it was before. "If you never talk about it, you'll never get over it." 

It took a lot of work to find my voice again, to vocalise what I was thinking even though all my thoughts and emotions were a fucking mess, tangled like a ball of yarn played with by a cat. "I would never talk to you about it," I whispered, stumbling over my words with a shaky voice. Keeping my eyes lowered, I pushed Riddle aside, rushing out the dorm. 

How does he know? 

• • • 
crying. 
um 
low key just kiss. 
UGH 
mattheo you're killing me (and i'm letting you <3) 
anyways 
opinions. on this chapter. 
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name a type of fabric 🧵🪡 
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MWAH 
kisses and croissants 💋🥐 
hope i didn't emotionally wreck you (yet) 🤎 

DID YOU WATCH DEH YET?