Can You Keep A Secret?

Chapter Ninety-Eight

-Mikey's POV-

"You can't exactly blame me for having mixed emotions right now," Liv said. The boys were being noisy around me, so I put one hand over my free ear and left the room for the kitchen, where I could hear without distractions.

"That doesn't mean I have to be happy about it," I finally replied once I was alone.

"I just kind of wish you'd be a more supportive boyfriend about everything," She sighed.

"What?!" I exclaimed, genuinely shocked. Out of all the things I might've expected her to say next, that certainly wasn't one of them. "How much more supportive could I be?"

"Well, let's see," and I could imagine her laying back and ticking everything off on her fingers. "You don't want me to go to university. Not only do you not notice when I'm having a panic attack, but you get at Andy when he does. You're acting jealous when you have no good reason to be, and I'd much rather have a shoulder to lean on right now than someone who goes mad over a bloody mistake!"

"Liv-" I started, but she didn't let me continue.

"Did you even care that I almost died? Or was it just an easy excuse for you to patch things up quickly and not have to be held accountable?"

"Okay, well, you didn't almost die," I said, on the defensive now. "You said yourself that it wasn't fatal."

"Hmmm, did you ever think that maybe I was downplaying how I felt out of concern for Brooklyn? Because I actually care about the others? But that clearly isn't something that you can relate to. I was fucking coughing up blood!" She nearly yelled. "But you wouldn't know that, would you? Because you weren't there."

"You say that as if I had a choice," I said, my blood beginning to boil now – She had touched a particular nerve within me. "All I fucking want is to be there for you. But you don't know that it kills me that I couldn't have stopped you from going to Slough Station, or stood with you when you were having a panic attack, or carried you to the hospital. I didn't tell you because I've been trying not to weight you down with my problems while you're still trying to deal with your own." I was breathing heavy now, on the borderline of angry tears. "I'm human too. I don't have perfect timing. Not even when I want to, I can't predict the future. I don't know what you expect of me."

"Mikey, I'm not asking you to do any of that shit. I don't expect you to be superhuman. But is it really too much to ask that you keep your promises?"

"What do you even mean by that?"

"Andy?" Her voice suggested that I was an idiot for not knowing that in the first place.

"He kissed you!" I cried out.

"Yeah, that's it! An accidental kiss! It's not like he shoved his hand up my dress or anything! And you acted as if you were about to fucking kill him!"

"Are you seriously mad at me for being a little protective?"

"A little?" She scoffed. "Your reaction was completely unwarranted, and it wasn't about me at all. You didn't even think of me. It was all to do with you, with your manly ego and all, to prove you're, like, the bigger man. That you're more worthy of me or whatever. Well, let me tell you this: Treating him like that was the biggest act of cowardice you've ever done."

I thought that I might pass out from all of the adrenaline that was coursing through me.

"I didn't mean to hurt him. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"That doesn't even matter, because you did."

"You're not even going to let me explain?" My steam had run out. Every time that we'd fought, I had known that we could work it out. True love could make it through anything. But now, I really couldn't tell whether or not this was the end.

"I don't know. I don't really wanna hear it right now. I'm really, really mad at you."

"Don't you love me anymore?" I asked, gripping onto the phone like it was a lifeline.

"I don't know," She repeated.

"I love you," I said, but it was to an empty line – She had already hung up. I let my phone drop to the ground, not caring if it broke. I sunk down to my knees, placing my head on top of them. I waited for tears that never came – I was feeling too much, all at once.

I didn't know how much time had passed before I was no longer alone – Rye had entered the room. He cleared his throat before speaking to alert me to his presence.

"Uh, I don't really know what's going on here," he said awkwardly. "But something's really wrong with Brook. I think we might need to take him to the hospital."

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for some reason, the trailer wasn't working when i attached it last night! check it out in the previous chapter x