"Yes... I want you to leave me alone. I mean it."
The words leave a sickly taste in your mouth and you wash them down with even more wine, aware that the more you drink the more your resolve might weaken but you're not thinking straight.
"Do you tho...
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You'd played the scenario of getting found out over and over in your head many a time when you were tossing and turning and unable to sleep in the small hours of the morning, consumed as you were by that sickly, nauseating guilt that clung to you like a festering second skin. You tortured yourself with possible outcomes, forever switching up little details, agonising over doing the right thing before the inevitable happened and you got caught out just like the sneaky, conniving cheats that you were. You were determined to do the right thing, you really were... you just needed to pick the right moment.
But now you'd run out of time.
"You two..." Sophie's face is still a mask of disbelief, scorn and disgust etched into her features as her eyes flick between you and Van. "I can't believe it!"
"It's not how it looks!" Van protests, but the fact that he's still fastening his jeans with fumbling fingers tells Sophie all that she needs to know.
"Oh really? Then how is it? Because from where I'm standing it looks like you've just fucked your best friend's girlfriend."
She spits the last few words off her tongue like they're so repulsive she can't bear the taste of them in her mouth a second longer. It makes your stomach lurch, a gut-churning dread holding your insides in a vice, turning your throat so dry that when you try to talk your voice is choked.
"Sophie... please don't tell Larry... please. I didn't mean for this to happen... believe me... I really didn't mean..."
A shrill, cutting laugh bursts suddenly from Sophie, cutting you off. It's a grating sound, sharp and bitter with no humour. Her glare is glacial. If looks could kill you'd be six feet under right now.
"So what happened then? Did you just fall and land on his dick? Things like this don't happen by accident! How long has it been going on? How long have you two been sneaking around behind everyone's backs?"
A loud 'ding' sounds out followed by a mechanical voice telling you to 'mind the doors please' and for a moment you consider just letting the doors slide shut, riding back down to the ground floor and stepping out of the lift and out of the hotel. Away from Sophie and Larry and Van. Away from the shame and the guilt that's crippling you. You'd probably do it as well if you thought that those feelings wouldn't follow you. You can't run from them though. You have to face it. You've got no choice.
"Nothing's been going on," you lie shamelessly, the words scorching your throat. "I swear! We didn't exactly plan this!" You glance across at Van, your eyes meeting, the knowledge flowing between you that this union was in fact very much planned... despite not seeing each other for weeks it's all that you've both thought about.
"She's right," Van steps forward, his hand shooting out in the path of the automatic door to still it. "Nothing happened before tonight, you've got to believe us. And this is all my fault... I made the first move. You can't blame Y/N..."
