Imaginary Boyfriend

Chapter 17: Rhys

"Are you sure?"

                     "Yes," he repeated with a sigh. "Go!"

                     "I feel guilty," I said, pursing my lips. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay?"

                     He stared at me flatly. "Go. Have fun, I'll be fine."

                     "Are you-"

                     "Yes."

                     Saturday nights was when me and Sam usually went out together, but that night he wasn't feeling well. I had offered to look after him, but he didn't want me to miss out.

                     "Alright," I mumbled, "I'll be back soon. Be good!"

                     "Yes, mum."

                     Ignoring that, I shut the door after me and headed towards Sarah's apartment and knocked on her door. Since Sam couldn't go, she was going to keep me company instead. Even she had insisted on nursing him, but Sam refused again.

                     The door swung open and Sarah stepped out, causing me to go green with envy. Her blonde hair was tied back into sleek curls, her face applied with heavy make-up, and she was dressed in a short black dress that contrasted oddly with her pale skin, but still worked.

                     No wonder Sam was dating her. He was one lucky guy.

                     "Hi," she chirped brightly. "You look great."

                     "Thanks," I said, grateful for her polite lie. "You too. You ready?"

                     "Yep, let's do it."

**

                     Loud music blasted as we stepped inside. The place was more packed than I had expected, especially the dancefloor. I took it all in with a grin. The school week had been tiring and this was exactly what I needed: carefree fun.

                     Sarah strode over to the dancefloor and immediately started shaking her arse, making me burst out laughing. I soon sobered up when a guy wrapped his arm around her waist and whispered something in her ear, and she did nothing to stop it.

                     Perhaps Sam wasn't as lucky as I thought.

                     I took a seat at the bar, keeping my eyes fixed on her. If I confronted her there and then, she would've just waved me off, saying it was only a bit of fun, but I was still going to watch her in case it went further.

                     "Kat!" she cried, strolling over to me and breathing heavily. "Why aren't you dancing? Come on!"

                     I smirked. "Tired?"

                     "Yeah," she responded, laughing. "This was your idea and you're just sulking at the bar! Come on! Dance!"

                     "No thanks," I said. My eyes widened when she grabbed my arm and started dragging me towards the danceful. "Ow! Get off me, Sarah!" I cried, swatting her hand.

                     We waded deeper and deeper through the grinding bodies, me basically kicking and screaming, until she let go. Immediately, I tried to escape, but I was surrounded by people basically having sex with clothes on.

                     "Dance," she insisted and just to make her shut up, I did.

                     At first, all I did was sway from side to side awkwardly, but then Sarah started grinding her body against mine, causing me to burst out laughing, and soon I was doing it too.

                     I soon realised how tiring it was and I had to shove people out of the way, apologising as I did so, to get back to the bar to sit down.

                     After a while, I started feeling quite lonely. A few guys had offered to buy me a drink, but I declined them politely, thoughts about Sam buzzing through my head. Did I like him? All he had done was kiss me on the cheek, and I kept thinking about it as if it was more than that. I glanced at Sarah and sighed. Of course it didn't mean anything. He was dating someone else, there was no way he could like me.

                     But then again, he had so kindly offered to pretend to be my boyfriend... Was that just being a good friend or maybe something else?

                     I shook my head. I didn't like Sam and he didn't like me. End of.

                     "Katrina?"

                     I looked up and my eyes bulged out of my sockets. 

                     "Rhys?" I said incrediously. "What are you doing here?"

                     He shrugged. "Craig's at a friend's house, and I, uh, just got some bad news. So... I just came here."

                     "Bad news?" I asked. "Like what?"

                     "Nothing."

                     I nodded. "Do you... want to go outside?"

                     He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "Sure."

                     I glanced at Sarah and saw she was still grinding up against several different people. Knowing she wouldn't notice I was gone, I led the way out.

                     The cold air hit my face and I rubbed my arms to warm them up.

                     "Here," he said, shrugging off his jacket and wrapping it around my shoulders. I smiled at him gratefully.

                     "So," I started, "bad news, huh?"

                     He cleared his throat nervously. "Uh, yeah. It's Craig's mum."

                     My stomach felt queasy. "W-what about her?"

                     When he looked at me, I saw a tear in his eye. The look said it all.

                     "I'm so sorry," I breathed.

                     He shrugged again. "It's fine. I'm not even sure why I care so much. We weren't in love anymore."

                     I reached out and held his hand. "You still cared for her."

                     He looked down at our hands and then quickly looked away. "How am I going to tell Craig?"

                     I thought back to his papers that I was grading. Craig was already improving. How was he going to pass his exams if he knew? His grades would go back down to F's...

                     "I don't know," I admitted.

                     I suddenly realised we had stopped walking.

                     Rhys glanced at our hands again and then gently pulled it away. "I can't believe she's gone."

                     Without even thinking, I stood on my tiptoes, wrapped my arms around his neck, and pulled him into a hug. He seemed taken aback by my gesture because he stumbled back slightly, but then he wound his arms around my waist and hugged me back.

                     "Thanks."

                     I didn't even have to ask what for.