Evangeline Lawrence has a secret. A big secret. One involving her birthday, the player, August Griffin, who's (almost) like a brother to her, and a kiss the night before he ran away. No one else knows about it, aside from August, of course, and Evan...
He leans in and smashes his lips to mine. I'm surprised, but I kiss him back, loving the way his lips feel on mine. He's urgent, trying to tell me something that I don't understand. I start to pull away, but he hold my face in place until he's done kissing me. When he needs to breath, he pulls away and gives me three kisses; my nose, my forehead, and my hair.
Then he take four steps away from me. I open my mouth, but he beats me to speaking.
"I don't love you."
What? No. I'm imagining this. This isn't real. He's going to crack a smile in a second and tell me he's joking. He going to-
"I don't want to stay with you. You seemed to be getting the wrong idea from this. We were never anything but friends."
This isn't August Griffin. August Griffin would never say that to me. He loves me. He wrote me a letter, telling me he did. He just kissed me, for goodness sake!
"But we were so..." I start, then realize I can't finish. There's no words to describe what we had. Once in a lifetime doesn't even come close.
"You just kiss-" I try.
"Save it. I don't want to hear your complaints."
What the fuçk?
"August, this isn't you. Tomorrow you're gonna wake up and regret what your saying. Please don't do this."
"I'm not gonna regret shit." I throw my hands up in frustration.
"You're like that old Katy Perry song, 'Hot N Cold'! You like me, then you don't. You want me again, then you hate me. Make up your mind, for once!"
"You're right. I hate you. I hate the way you smile, I hate the way you laugh, I hate the way your so damn annoying. You're just my friend's sister that's obsessed with me."
"Piss off. Stay away from me until you can look me on the eye, tell me you love me and say you won't leave again."
"I won't ever come back. I have no reason to. I hate you."
I snort. "Even I have a hard time believing that. So, in the mean time, get the fuçk away from me and quit screwing with my feelings."
"I am not coming back to you, Evangeline." Evangeline. My full name. Part of me wants to believe him.
"Then this is goodbye, August Griffin."
"Goodbye, Evangeline Lawrence."
I turn my back on him, and walk away. When I'm about a block down the road, I run. I run until I reach an old playground. I run until I'm on a swing, pumping my legs to get higher and higher. I run my mind until I can't feel a thing. Information overload. It will take a few hundred years to reboot me.
Pov: August
Its been ten minutes since the...break-up? End? Whatever. Ben and Nathan look up from a card game when I enter.
"What did you-"
"I have to go," I interrupt Ben.
"Aug-"
"No, Nathan. I have to go before I change my mind."
"She-"
"She didn't cry. You're welcome. Now let me leave."
"NO!" Nathan shouts, surprising us both. "You have to tell us what you told her. We are going to be the ones that have to deal with this mess, not you."
"I told her I don't love her. There. I said it. You happy now?"
"Why did you lie?" Ben asks.
"I didn't lie."
"And that's another lie," Nathan adds.
"You love her."
"No, I fuçking don't." I'm getting impatient.
"Yes, you do."
"Shut up, Ben!"
"Ben's right." Not helping Nathan.
"No. I-"
"You do realize we won't stop until you admit it. You've already told us once, what so hard about doing it this time?" Ben presses.
"I didn't say it last time."
"You implied it. Same shit." Nathan shrugs.
"Fine. I lied. Am I done here?"
"Say the whole thing out loud," Ben coaxes. I want to punch a hole in his face. I grimace, and turn to Nathan.
"I-I still love her. There, I said it. Satisfied?"
Pov: Evangeline
The first thing I here when I enter the house is, "Ben's right."
I take a few more steps and peek into the kitchen. August is standing with his back towards me, Nathan is turned around in his chair to look at August, and Ben is staring straight at me, cards forgotten in his hands.
"No. I-" August starts, but Ben interrupts.
"You do realize we won't stop until you admit it. You've already told us once, what so hard about doing it this time?" He's looking straight at me, and I swear he winked. He's trying to get August to unknowingly admit something to me.
"I didn't say it last time." If there was water in a glass, August's voice would have frozen it solid.
"You implied it. Same shit." Nathan's seen me, too.
"Fine. I lied. Am I done here?" Lied? Ben seems to realize I don't have the slightest clue as to what they're talking about.
"Say the whole thing out loud," he coaxes.
"I-" he hesitates. "I still love her. There, I said it. Satisfied?"
"Yes." Nathan smirks.
Slowly, I walk into the bathroom right next to me. I look at myself in the mirror for the longest time. Why could August tell them he loves me, and not me? I kinda have the sense that he has to sort out a few feeling, but why couldn't he have just told me that. Why did he want me to hate him? Did he want me to hate him? How can one person be so damn confusing?
I groan and look away from my reflection. So, now I know for a fact that he was lying to me. Great. Part of me now wishes I didn't know. The other part of me just wishes we could be a normal couple. I don't know why we can't be. I also don't know if I want to wait for him to come around.
Is one guy really worth all this, even if he is August Griffin?
There's only one person I can ask.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
