What If I Lived a Lie? [You Me at Six]

Chapter Nine: All that Glitters is Certainly Not Gold.

Oliver laughed breezily, “Are you breaking up with him, already?”

“No, no, no,” Olivia covered quickly, forcing a laugh of her own. Her next comment, however, was not by any means forced, “But if he kisses her, as he looked ready to earlier, I’ll deck him.”

Oliver nearly guffawed at that one, “I’m sure he won’t.” Though his expression did not convey that he was one hundred percent confident in his previous statement, “Let’s head back downstairs, though.”

Just to check, Olivia added mentally. She never was and never will be a fool—but Josh didn’t know that, obviously. The moment they came downstairs, Oliver, walking in front, he immediately wanted to turn back around. But it was too late, Olivia had already seen. Josh and Emma, making out, heatedly, with her pressed back up against his front door.

“Joshua,” the venom in Olivia’s voiced shocked her more than anyone else in the room, “what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Emma immediately shoved Josh away, laughing almost evilly—if this were a movie, she would be the evil stepmother or sister, Oliver thought to himself.

“Busted.”

“Busted?” Josh repeated, face inflamed and lips turned down in a frown.

“Honestly, I kind of just wanted to see what your new girlfriend would do.”

Josh felt his heartbeat increase, and then the entire muscle sunk into his stomach. He didn’t dare question whether or not he’d heard her properly, because he knew he had. She’d always had a mean streak but this was… far beyond that.

“‘Liv,” Josh breathed, his voice barely above a whisper, “may I please see you in the next room?”

“You read my mind, sweetie.”

He cringed at the falsely sickeningly sweet tone her voice had taken on, and didn’t dare to try to hold her hand as they walked into the next room. He desperately wanted to try, though. For some reason, he just felt like holding onto her in some way, in any way would make the ache in his chest just a little duller.

As soon as they were out of the foyer and into the kitchen, he was at it, “‘Liv, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened, I didn’t mean it. Well, I kind of did—I mean, she was my first love, you know? But at the same time, I would never want to hurt you in any way and don’t tell me I didn’t because I could see it on your face when you walked in. I’m so sorry, I—”

“Josh, stop,” her voice was soft but exasperated, “It’s not like I’m actually your girlfriend, right? I  just… you know, had to keep up appearances in front of Oliver and… Emma, was it? She’s very pretty, I can see why you like her.”

Oh. He wasn’t sure why he’d hoped for her to curse him out, smack him, something—it would prove that her feelings for him had not faded. But, maybe, they had. Like she said, she wasn’t his real girlfriend anyway, so why did it matter to him so much? Oh yeah, because he still had feelings for her.

“No, ‘Liv, you are… allowed to be mad at me. It’s not fair that I make you keep up appearances all the time and all that stuff, but don’t reciprocate.”

She didn’t say anything, though she felt compelled to agree with him. Instead, she nodded and managed a weak smile.

“Do you want us to be able to see other people, or not?”

“I mean… I think as long as it’s nothing serious, it should be okay, right?”

“So, nothing more than casual hookups?”

“Nothing more than casual hookups.”

Their voices were low, so low that they’d been able to hear when someone was walking toward them, probably within earshot. That’s when the show began.

“Josh, I don’t understand why you thought it was okay to be making out with some other chick, when I was right upstairs!”

“‘Liv, I’m sorry—”

“You’re damn right you’re sorry!”

“Baby, please.”

Her heart fluttered in her chest at the pet name, but she ignored it, in favor of keeping up their façade, “I cannot believe you, Joshua, that’s basically—”

He cut her off, by pressing his lips, firm and warm and sweet but slightly minty, against her own. He’d noticed, she supposed, the blush that came to her cheeks when he called her baby, even in the midst of their fake fight, because he started to smile right before he did it.

If this were a real fight between a real couple, the kiss might have been cute. But it only made tears well up behind Olivia’s now closed eyes—because she knew he didn’t mean it, and probably never would.

***

Life has a way of, well, fucking things up, doesn’t it?

The Kerrang Awards had arrived and everyone was donning their nicest attire. Sort of. The event was not quite formal, like a regular award show, but it was not quite casual. The girls decided on short, summer-y dresses, and the guys threw together ensembles of dress shirts and blazers with skinny jeans and boots or shoes of some kind—and that was fine. Everything was fine. At first. It was the after parties that were a… doozy.

Matt sat, stewing, at the bar, his eyes cast lazily in the direction of Dan and Hunter, their bodies moving together nearly seamlessly in time to the pounding beat of the music flooding from the speakers at the front of the room. The club was packed wall to wall, as was expected, with artists from the awards and regular populace. Matt viewed the place more as a chess game of sorts, though, and he’d have to get creative about his next move.  

He was enthralled by the fact that in less than three months, Dan and Hunter were attached at the hip, without seemingly a care in the world. Surely, there had to be trouble in paradise, a faulty wire in the bridge, right? She was giggling like a schoolgirl in front of him at one point in time, not Dan. Had her feelings for him really dissipated that quickly? Him being an asshole hadn’t helped, really, but honestly, he regretted it now—and was willing to admit that he fucked up, and was wrong. But she wouldn’t hear him out if he just said that, he had to… sway the odds in his favor, a little.

And the sight of Dan with a drink in hand gave him just the right idea on how to tip the scales in his favor.