I watch through tear filled eyes as Aliyah heads towards Kira’s car, the last words she said to me spiraling around in my head.
“I hate you, and I never wanna see you ever again.”
Theo, Kira, Jennie, and Brooke, along with a few others, start piling up outside.
Brooke laughs a little bit, heads turning toward her. “Well this has officially been the best pre-homecoming party. Way better than last year’s.”
“Oh my god. Shut the hell up, Brooke!” Kira shouts. “Read the damn room! This isn’t funny!”
Brooke scowls at Kira, but she shuts her mouth. Kira then turns towards Jennie, who quickly looks down at her feet.
“So you’re really not gonna say anything, huh?” She takes a step closer. “You had sex with my brother, and not only didn’t you tell me, but you did it while he and Aliyah were together! What the fuck, Jennie?!”
Jennie stays silent, not even taking a glance at Kira.
Kira scoffs. “So that’s how it’s gonna be huh? Just gonna stand there and not say anything?” She took more of Jennie’s silence as an answer and let out a sigh, looking at Theo. “Theo, take Deion home.” Her eyes land back on Jennie. “When you get back to the dorm, don’t even bother staying. You can pack up all of your stuff and leave.”
That definitely got Jennie’s attention as she picked her head up quickly. “What? You can’t just kick me out!”
“I don’t give a damn about what I can’t do,” Kira says. “Like I said, when you get back to the dorm, don’t even bother staying. Maybe Brooke has some room in her dorm, since you guys are such good friends.”
“Kira, you can’t be serious.”
“I am serious. Either you pack up your stuff and get out or I’ll take your stuff and throw it out myself.” With that, Kira headed to her car.
Theo comes up beside me, patting me on the shoulder. “Come on, man. Let’s go.”
****
The car ride back to the apartment was silent. It was the type of silence where you could drop a pin and that was the only sound you could hear.
Eric sat in the passenger seat, the bright light from his phone screen shining on his face. Aaron sat in the back beside me, his body slumped with his cheek against the glass of the window as he slept.
I keep my head down until I decide to go on my phone. I take it out of my pocket and turn it on, starting to scroll through the feed of my Instagram when a post makes me pause. A video of tonight’s events posted from an anonymous account. My eyes moved downwards, seeing that the video had already gotten over a thousand views. I almost throw my phone then remember that I’m still in the car. Instead, I lean back in my seat and continue to look out the window until Theo pulls into a parking spot in front of the apartment.
We help Aaron out of the car then head inside, setting him down on the couch. I sit down next to him, running a hand down my face. Just like the car ride, the apartment was also silent, Theo and I not saying a word to each other.
“I’m sorry,” he says after a while.
I look over at him. “What are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything.”
“It wasn’t my place to say anything.”
“It’s not your fault,” I tell him. “You gave me plenty of opportunities to tell the truth and I was stupid enough not to take them.”
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
“I’ll get it.” Theo goes over, opening it. “Oh. Kira.”
I turn my head, seeing my sister step into the apartment. “Hey, Theo.”
“How’s Aliyah doing?” He asks. “Is she okay?”
“She fell asleep before I left,” she says. “I need to talk to Deion. Alone, if you don’t mind.”
Theo nods. “Sure. Eric, can you help me take Aaron to his room?”
“Sure,” Eric says. Him and Theo hoist him up and take him to his room. Kira checks to see if they’re out of earshot before turning to me, a look of disbelief on her face.
“I don’t even know what to say to you right now,” she says with a slight scoff. “How could you even think to do something like that?”
I sit there quietly on the couch, the disappointment in her voice making a lump form in my throat.
“I honestly don’t understand, Deion. I mean, were you just pretending to be in love with Aliyah this whole time?”
“What? No! I…” I lick my lips. “Yes, I did play the stupid game, but I never pretended with her.”
Kira lets out a laugh of disbelief. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. You mean to tell me that you're gonna sit here and say that you love her even after everything you did to her?”
“I do love her, Kira!”
“Oh please,” Kira says with an eyebrow. “Do you know how heartbreaking it is to have your best friend break down sobbing in your arms over a guy who she thought cared about her?”
I kept quiet, not knowing how to respond as the guilt inside of me kept growing at rapid speed.
“Aliyah loved you, Deion! She cared about you! Everyday, she would always talk about how loving and amazing you were! And what did you do? You sat here and stomped on her heart like it was nothing! Like she never even mattered to you!”
I couldn’t say anything back, because Kira was right. I hurt Aliyah. I hurt the one person who truly loved me and cared about me more than anything else.
“You’re right,” I say quietly, my head down.
“Toying with Aliyah’s heart. Sleeping with Jennie—”
“I didn’t sleep with Jennie,” I told her. “I would never go that far.”
“Then why did Jennie say that you two slept together? She wouldn’t have said it if it weren’t true.”
“But it’s not true, Kira. I understand that you hate me, but it’s like I said. I would never go that far.”
Kira sighs, moving her hair from in front of her face. “I don’t hate you Deion. I could never hate you.”
“Why not?”
”Because you’re my brother,” she says, sitting down next to me. “I love you. You know I do. But just because you’re my brother, doesn’t mean I can’t give you any tough love. I hate what you did, but I don’t hate you because of what you did.”
“But Aliyah. She…she said that she…”
“I know what she said.” Kira rubs my back a little, comforting me. “But can you really blame her?”
I turn my head to her.
“If I were you, I’d find a way to make it up to her.”
“She said that she hates me, Kira,” I reminded her. “She said that she hates me and that she never wants to see me ever again. How am I supposed to make it up to her?”
She shrugs, getting up from the couch. “I don’t know, Deion. I can’t give you all of the answers but I can tell you one thing.”
I glance at her. “What’s that?”
She turns to me. “That saying sorry isn’t enough. That telling her that you didn’t mean it and that you’re going to change isn’t enough.” She heads towards the front door. “If you want her to truly forgive you, then you’re gonna have to show her. Not just tell her.”
“How am I supposed to show her?”
“That’s for you to figure out,” Kira tells me before leaving.
I run a hand down my face, breathing out as I make my way upstairs. I didn’t know what I was gonna do to make it up to Aliyah, but I sure as hell wasn’t giving up on finding a way.
YOU ARE READING
Loving Knight: Book One of the Cresswell Series (COMPLETED)
RomanceFor nineteen-year-old Aliyah Mitchell, her freshman year of college was all she could think about. From rooming with her friends, becoming a member of the dance team, and all around enjoying the college experience, she had it all planned out. What...
