Lie To Me

Lie To Me-Chapter 27

(Harry's POV)

Walking in the door from meeting up with Niall for a drink, I groaned. I'd thought it would have helped to talk to someone about all this... Made me feel better... Something... But although Niall helped me to come to terms with what was going on in my head, I still felt like the world's biggest asshole...

According to Niall, this was all inevitable... With a woman as sweet, and funny, and genuine, and inherently beautiful as Riley, it was only a matter of time before I would start seeing her in a different light, before my thoughts of her would stray into sex.

I just had to remind myself that those feelings weren't mutual... She wasn't having the same thoughts I was. If I could just remember that, and keep from giving in to the overwhelming desire to touch her, to claim her, I could get passed this.

A yell from the living room shook me from my thoughts.

"You're in love with him, you idiot!! Stop lying to yourself!!"

What the...?

Leaving my boots by the door, I made my way in, and stopped dead in my tracks. There was Riley, sitting cross-legged on the couch in her pajamas, a half-eaten pint of Ben and Jerry's in her lap, discarded tissues littering the couch and floor like white petals, and an almost empty bottle of wine tipped on it's side on the coffee table next to a stack of DVDs.

I whistled. "What the hell happened here?!?"

With a loud sniffle, Riley lifted her head to look at me. She'd been crying... From the looks of things she'd been crying a lot...

"Harry?"

I tentatively stepped down. "Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?"

Her lips quivered as fresh tears came to her eyes. My heart dropped and I went to her.

"Riley, what happened?"

On a sob, her head fell into her hands. "I'm going to be alone forever!!!"

"What?!? No you're not!!" Brushing tissues off the couch, I sat down next to her, pulling her into my arms, ignoring the melted ice cream dripping onto my jeans.

"Tell me what happened, Lee. Please?"

She made a strangled sound in her throat and pulled away, turning back to the television, and I grabbed a hopefully somewhat clean tissue for my pants.

"I think Jeremy broke up with me. I finally found someone who doesn't care about your 'celebrity status'... A guy who wasn't more focused on who you were than who I was, and he still broke up with me because of you..."

"Me?!? What did I do?!?"

She shook her head. "No. Not you, but us. He thinks there's something more between us, and when I had the chance to prove that there isn't, I screwed it up and made things worse!!"

I swallowed the many things I wanted to say about Jeremy... That he wasn't good enough for her, he was rude and a jerk, and she deserved someone better than that. Instead, I simply asked, "How did you make it worse? What did you say?"

"He'd made a comment about the rich asshole always getting the girl, and instead of trying to make him feel better, I stood up for you... Cause you're not an asshole!! You're wonderful!! You're amazing!! You're my best friend and I love you, and I don't care who he is, I'm not going to let him say bad things about you!!"

Removing the ice cream from her lap, I pulled her in for another hug. "Thanks for standing up for me, Riley, though you don't have to do that. You don't have to try to protect me." I ignored her grumbles of protest, "What did he say after that?"

With another sniffle, she tried to pull away, but I refused to let go, tightening my grip. It felt too good to hold her like this... Different, and familiar all at the same time.

She sighed and gave up, leaning against me, letting me give her the strength she needed. "He told me that if I wasn't careful, I'd end up alone. That as long as I had you in my life, I would never be able to find love, I would never be able to fully give myself to someone... He said that maybe it wasn't those other guys that were the problem... Maybe it's me..."

Anger flooded my system. How dare he make her feel guilty for our friendship!! How dare he blame Riley for being used by the jerks that she'd given her heart to in the past!!

How the hell would he know anyway?!? He didn't know her!! None of them did!! They didn't know how grumbly and cute she was in the morning, the smirk she wore when she was up to no good, the way her eyes sparkled when she thought something was really funny, how she would do anything, and I mean ANYTHING to help someone in need... They didn't know her like I did!! They didn't love her like I did!!

Woah... Wait a minute...