One More Mistake | ✓

42 | Burn Me

"You don't understand;
it's not that she can't love
it's that she's afraid"

One More Mistake
Chapter forty-two

. . .

She didn't know it but I sometimes wondered what she was thinking. Like right now, as she stared off at the angry clouds, I wondered. She didn't even realize I was watching her with the urge to demand her to look at me instead. She was left clueless to my attraction/fascination towards her.

. . .

❱ "What are you thinking about?" Rory asked, his voice soft. I removed my eyes from the beautiful dark clouds and towards the boy who was leaning onto the door. His eyes were staring back at me with intensity, catching me by surprise. He seemed different with me and I'm not sure if I liked it or not. He had his arms across his chest, showing off his lean arms. His lips slowly warmed me up with a small smile.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked back.

He seemed like he was in thought as well.

"About you." He said back, without blinking.

"Do you tell this to everyone you hate?" I asked, ignoring that feeling I got when he said it.

Laughter roared around us and suddenly I realized that it was Rory. I've never seen him laugh before, it was odd seeing him bringing down his walls with me. He was always so cold and shut off with me before, what changed?

Nevertheless, I stared at him with curious eyes. I felt my lips lift up to a smile when I saw his face bright up. He often felt like a stranger but when he looked at me like this, I felt like I've known him forever.

He started to make his way out and towards the balcony, soon standing next to me. His laugh faded but the way his eyes looked at me didn't fade away. In fact they got even more intense. It didn't help that I felt myself doing the same.

"Hate is a strong word," he whispered, his tone coated with something I couldn't figure out. He was now standing a few inches away from me and realized his smile was long gone, replaced with a frown. He stared at me like he was expecting me to add something to that, but I stayed silent.

"Is that how you think I feel about you?" he asked, taking another step towards me.

I breathed in.

That was a loaded question. Why couldn't he have asked a simpler question, one that I could actually answer without feeling like I was lying to myself?

"I don't care about what you think about me" I said, turning away from him and trying to focus on my breathing. He was clearly serious about this question but I didn't know what to do with it. I tried to remind myself that he wasn't on my side, he wasn't anyone important. Rory was just a boy who was trying to burn me like everyone.

Rory was like everybody else. I repeated.

"I hate when you do that," he confessed and I knew exactly what he was talking about. His voice wasn't soft anymore but heavier.

"I do, too" I whispered so quietly, hardly audible.

He sighed, and it felt as if he was tired of trying, finally realizing that I was not worth his time.

"Sterling asked me to call you. He wanted to talk to you" he told me, and I turned to look at him but he wasn't even looking at me anymore. He had his hands in his pocket, staring off at the dark night.