Yeah, I Hate You Too, Sweetheart.

Chapter 29 - Laila

Laila

   Stumbling my way back down the stairs from my room for the first time since yesterday proved a lot harder than I thought it would be. I'd barely moved from my bed for over twenty four hours, so my legs were a little numb. I guessed that was only to be expected... I hoped.

   I was still a little lightheaded, that was for sure, but I was almost positive that I was going to feel better soon.

  Altitude sickness was a bitch.

 I stopped outside the doorway to the kitchen, a hand against the wall, when I heard low, intense mutterings coming from two very familiar voices. One husky and annoyed, the other smooth and silky. I had a sinking feeling I knew what was going on here.

  And sure enough, when I finally forced myself to round the corner into the kitchen, my fears were confirmed. 

  Justin had Maggie pinned against the pantry door, his fingernails digging into her shoulders, and she was trying to pressing herself up against him in pretty much every way possible. 

  That pretty much rendered me speechless.

But what rendered me immobile was that Maggie's mouth was on Justin's and they were kissing furiously. I was shocked to believe that  any other person kissing in the world couldn't feel a kiss like that.

  I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. 

I couldn't just stand there, could I?

   But I guessed that at one point or another I knew that this was all too good to be true. 

I should have known. A girl like me with a boy like Justin Richards?

   Tch. Yeah, right.

 I cleared my throat and walked to the fridge, opening the door to grab a water. 

Justin jumped back from Maggie and whipped around, looking completely shocked to see me standing there, leaning against the kitchen counter.

  "Laila, I - "

"Oh, don't mind me," I said, my voice surprisingly steady. 

  Even though I was practically shaking where I stood.

"Laila, this isn't what it looked like," Justin said, his voice wrought with emotion. 

  I shrugged a shoulder, inhaling sharply. "Why should it matter to me?" 

My heart plummeted in my chest when Justin looked as if I'd slapped him across the face.

  "See, Justin?" Maggie Petrolas said smoothly, walking forward to place a hand on his shoulder. "I told you she didn't mean anything."

  Justin didn't do anything to shrug off Maggie's hand.

I thought it was possible I was going to stop breathing.

  "That's not true," he ground out through clenched teeth. "This wasn't what it looked like."

"You don't have to explain anything to me," I said fiercely, forcing out a sneer. "It wasn't like we're together, Justin. You said it yourself."

  "Laila, don't say that," he said, looking stricken. 

 "It didn't mean anything," I muttered, adverting my eyes. "None of it meant anything." 

   It was all I could do not to burst into tears. 

Why on Earth was this happening to me?

   "Aw. Justin, look," Maggie cooed, leaning closer to him with a smirk in place. "She thought it was something more than just a fling." 

  I glared in her direction, suddenly very angry. "This isn't a game, Maggie," I snapped, acid leaking into my voice. "Obviously you think you've one, but I was never playing in the first place."

  Maggie pretended to look hurt, her honey colored eyes going all big. "So, Justin didn't mean anything to you after all?"

  "That doesn't have anything to do with this!" 

Even I was surprised at how harsh that sounded, if the look on Justin's face was anything to go by. 

  The look that Maggie gave me next, the glint that was in her eyes, made me absolutely dread what she was about to say next. 

  "You're in love with him, aren't you?"

Color rushed to my face at that statement and it took an insane amount of strength to fight back a choked sob. I couldn't even bring myself to look at either of them.

  But unfortunately, my lack of a response told Maggie everything she needed to know.

"Oh, how touching," Maggie said, a hand at her heart. "You really do love him. She loves you, Justin. Clearly this meant more to her than it did to you."

   "You've said enough, thanks," Justin snapped, glaring at Maggie over his shoulder.

She hardly recoiled at all. 

  "What?" she said innocently, eyebrows raised. "I'm just trying to help."

   That did it.

That was the final straw.

  "Help? Help?" I asked, my voice oddly shrill. "You just don't know when to give up, do you?"

 "I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about," Maggie replied in an oddly haughty voice.

 "You think Justin is just some toy, just some thing you can play with and toss aside when you're done with?" I demanded, blushing all the more. "He's more than that, you know. He's so much more than what you think."

 "Oh, I know," she smirked, giving Justin a sultry look.

 "Someday this is all just going to backfire on you and you're going to wind up with nothing and no one. You're a real piece of work, you know that?" I said, gnawing on my lip.

 Justin looked like he was about to say something else, but I found myself cutting him off, holding a hand up. 

  "Just forget it, Justin," I said, my voice cracking. "It doesn't matter. It didn't mean anything. We can just go back to hating each other like before and pretend like this never happened."

   Before he could say anything else, and before I could bring myself to regret what I'd just said, I forced myself to leave the kitchen. I grabbed a pair of sandals off the floor by the coat closet and slipped them on before stepping out onto the front porch, just about slamming the front door behind me. 

  Call it overdramatic or whatever the hell you wanted, but I had to get away from here.

I had to at least be myself so I could cry without fear of being watched, as pathetic as that sounded.

Dark and gray, ominous colored clouds were covering the early evening sky over Ouray and it would probably only be a few minutes before it started drizzling. 

  I couldn't bring myself to care, though.

I stepped off the front porch and started walking. Where to? I had no idea. 

  The only thoughts really swarming through my mind then was feeling like I had just made one of the biggest mistakes ever.

  But nobody said life was easy, right?

No, this was the right way it should've ended. I mean, I was going back to Seattle in a week or two anyways, so why did it really matter?

  What had just happend was for the better....wasn't it?

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