What the Heart Wants

Chapter Eighteen

Cassie? As in his ex-girlfriend Cassie? As in the girl he had gotten pregnant Cassie?! This couldn't be happening to me. Why was she here? And most importantly, why was she chatting up my boyfriend? I continued to stare at her slightly dumbfounded. She was really pretty. Hell, she was stunning! It wasn't even fair, I couldn't compete with that.

"Hey, I'm Cassie," she said while putting out her perfect hand, that had perfect slim fingers and perfectly manicured nails. Ugh, my hand felt fat just looking at it.

"I'm Lucy," I replied while shaking her smooth hand. I mean seriously, how does she get them that smooth?! I glanced over at Alex who was still standing next to me. He looked super tense and not very happy. He was clenching his jaw and his hands were balled up into fists at his sides. I thought it'd be best if he and I just left but then Brian stepped forward and pulled me into his embrace.

"Hey beautiful," he whispered in my ear while hugging me tightly.

"Hi," I mumbled back a little distracted. I was too worried about Alex; I knew this must've been hard for him. I saw his lips move but I couldn't hear what he was saying because Brian was still whispering in my ear. Alex turned around and began to walk away and I instantly pulled out of Brian's embrace and followed after him. I muttered an "I'll be right back" to no one in particular and continued to chase after Alex who had now dramatically picked up his pace.

"Alex, slow down!" I called after him.

He ignored me and continued walking until he was in the forest behind the school. I caught up with him but he still had his back to me. Everything was silent. I knew I should give him some time to cool off but it was killing me not to say anything to him. I heard him take a deep breath before he started talking.

"You know, I haven't even seen her since that day," he said and I instantly knew what he meant by that day. It was understandable he didn't want to go into much detail about it. He turned around and looked me dead in the eye before continuing, "I thought the next time I saw her things would be different. I might've moved on, gained some sort of closure maybe. But it still hurts like a bitch every time I see her. I mean, how could she do that to me?!" he went on, his voice raising at the end. "I gave her everything! I was loyal and good to her which is far more than that slut deserves," he finally finished.

"Look I know this will be hard for you. You'll get through it though. She'll be gone soon, just ignore her and everything will be fine," I tried to reassure him.

"I hope you're right," he replied with a half-smile. "Come on, let's head back. They're probably all wondering where we are," he said while draping his arm around my shoulder. He pulled me in close and I inhaled his scent. God I loved the way he smelled. He kissed the side of my head and I felt my cheeks start to burn up. I buried my face into the side of his chest hoping he wouldn't notice. We began walking back round to where the group of others were, Alex's arm still around me.

The group soon came into sight and I was not happy at what I saw. Cassie was in Brian's lap with her arms wrapped around his neck and was playing with his hair. He equally had his arms around her waist and was making no effort to put some distance between them. A wave of anger coursed through me and I marched over to where the two were sitting. I stopped a metre or so in front of them and put my hands on my hips before clearing my throat rather loudly in an attempt to get their attention.

It worked and I was soon faced with a very shocked and guilty Brian. His eyes got wide and he quickly pushed Cassie of him. "Babe, let me explain..." Brian began but I quickly cut him off.

"Oh no, don't worry. I was clearly interrupting something, how rude of me! You two just finish up here and I'll talk to you later," I said dryly before turning around and stomping off. I went straight to my locker and found Sophie standing next to it chatting up some guy from Alex and Brian's year. Dan I think his name was? I remember him from the day we had lunch with all the guys. Those two had totally hit off and looked as if they were in the middle of something so I awkwardly stood back while I waited for them to finish talking.