Double Take [Sequel to Bound]

43. Try

Chapter 43—Try

Leah's POV:

The plane ride back home was, safe to say, awkward.

Dylan had, on multiple occasions, tried to talk to me after our encounter at the wedding, but I somehow managed to slink past him effortlessly. That, or Klara came in between us, and I appreciated her so much. I wasn't sure if Mum and Dad had noticed the tension that was looming between Dylan and I, but if they did, they were kind enough not to comment on it. At the moment, at least, because I was sure I'd be hearing about it once we got home. Hopefully not soon enough.

Thankfully, due to some tail wind, we had managed to make it back to London in less time than it took for us to get to Vienna, and once we had landed, we were off the plane and on to the tarmac in no time. There were cars already there, waiting for us, and instead of Klara and I going with Vin and Dylan in the same car, Riker, Wyatt, and Aaron had volunteered to do so, and I couldn't help but let out a quiet sigh of relief as I got in the same car as my parents.

Much to my pleasure, they didn't make any sort of comment towards me when it was just them, Klara, and I in the car. They kept quiet as Dad drove, the radio on to play whatever song was on, and I was grateful for that. If they detected something off about me—which they probably did, because parents were freaky like that—they were gracious enough not to sound their thoughts. But as I stared out the window, I knew Klara kept on shooting me unsure yet concerned glances, and I contained a sigh.

My mind, much to my chagrin, was focused on Dylan. His words had cut a deep wound and the more I thought about it, the more it felt as if someone was rubbing salt in it. I had been right to be dreading having a conversation like that with Dylan, because unfortunately there had been a part of me that knew there was a chance of it not going the way I had hoped for it to. And overhearing Dylan's conversation with Vin and Riker felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over my already rigid body. What had barely started had come to a crashing end, and it hurt like a bitch.

The entire time, I couldn't help but wonder if I had been too blind to even take notice of our situation? Had there been signs that Dylan didn't want a proper relationship out of this, and I had just been too elated by being with him to even realize? Granted, there should have been some warning bells to go off when I confessed to Klara that I was afraid of having the conversation of becoming official with Dylan, but when I heard his callous words, reality had slapped me in the face. My fears had come to light in an upsetting way, and suddenly I wasn't in control of my life anymore. It was like all the power I held was stripped away from me the minute Dylan stripped away any meaning that was held between the two of us.

In an attempt to distract myself, I pulled out my phone and went on Twitter, noticing that almost everybody was talking about Mum and Dad's wedding and pictures of the event were on practically every news and gossip website. Of course, that much was expected, and so I scrolled through the many photos that had made their way on to the Internet—either by guests who had posted them on their social media or low quality pictures people somehow snuck out. Unsurprisingly, there were a few pictures of Dylan and I that had more or less leaked, and instead of dwelling on them miserably, I skipped through them. I sighed. This was going to be hard.

*~*~*~*

Avoiding Dylan for the next few days was easier than I had thought—even given the fact that our lockers were right next to each others. Klara and I had ended up having several photo shoots and interviews scheduled throughout the week, being able to leave school early or arrive late enough to not be marked as only being there for half of the day. Our schedules had suddenly gotten so busy, not that I minded, because it got my mind off of things I didn't want to necessarily think about.