Tight Strings: Rules Were Made To Be Broken (COMPLETED)

21: the truth hurts

"You've been looking at me for a really long time now." Ash points out as I blinked a few times and sighed, placing my juice down as the blur figures in the small restaurant moved about.

"No I wasn't. I was thinking." I said as I glanced to my side, staring out the large windows to the street and its cars and pedestrians.

"What about?" He asked and I clenched my jaw as I reconnected our eyes.

His eyes didn't have any current emotion and they didn't feel dead either, so it was safe to say he looked normal.

"About you." I admitted, knowing I had to ask him one away or the other before our date ends in less than six hours.

"What about me?" He asked, his eyes remained emotionless as though he wasn't surprised.

"Did you ever go through a heart break?" I asked and he widened his eyes at me, looking completely taken aback. "I can tell you might have suffered a heartbreak at some point in your life."

He was silent as he stared at me for a moment before retreating his eyes to the cap of cola in front of him as he jabbed the inside with the straw.

"You could say that." He cleared his throat as he shifted his eyes to the floor. "It was a long time ago."

"What happened?" I asked, now a bit anxious. "Did you call it off?"

"No. My ex called it off. She told me she didn't really like the way I was, how I acted, it bothered her so much." He sighed before reconnecting our eyes. "But... That wasn't the reason. The reason was because I caught her cheating but forgave her, but she didn't want me anymore just because I lacked everything a guy has."

"And that is...?" I asked and he shrugged his shoulders as he shifted his eyes back to his drink.

"How the hell should I know. She literally told me I'd never be good enough for anyone." He sighed and I noticed him clench his jaw. "I'm starting to believe she's right."

"You're great on your own." I said as I reached up and laced our fingers on his left arm. "I'm actually glad we met. By the way, take that as a compliment, I don't normally say that to anyone." I chuckled and he smiled slightly as he lifted my hand to his lips and pressed his lips against my fingers, sending a small chill down my spine.

"I'll take it as a compliment." He chuckled only to frown deeply. "Sh**.... Speak of the devil." He sighed as he glanced behind me then instantly let go of my hand as he looked out the window. I glanced over my shoulder only to spot a girl looking back at us.

She instantly got up once our eyes met and skipped towards us.

No doubt she was a goddess.

She had long black flawless hair teaching down to her waist. Her body was petite but curvy and her face itself looked like it was carved to perfection.

She stopped by our table and I couldn't help but glance towards Ash who tightened his hold on his cup.

"Hi." She smiled down at me but I couldn't return it, knowing too well that that was Ash's ex girlfriend. "I'm Riley Copper."

Oh my....

You have got to be sh***ing me right now.

"Riley Marker." I said slowly before looking back at Ash with a twisted disgusted face.

He was trying to replace me with her. Trying to erase her image when in actual sense he was head over heels for her instead.

".... What an ugly coincidence." She chuckled before glancing at Ash who clenched his jaw again. "So I guess you haven't gotten over it Ash."

"It has nothing to do with you." He bit back and I rolled my eyes.

"You seriously went that far to pretend to like me just so you could feel what you couldn't with this Riley and not me?" I asked and he tensed as he glanced at me in shock.

"I... I really like you. Not because you have the same name." He explained and I frowned a bit.

"So it's just a coincidence huh?" She asked as she shot him a nasty glare. "Oh right. Let's believe it. But personally thinking Ash, you have a very bad habit with wanting to force people to be the way you want them to be. If she doesn't like you, deal with it like a man. Just because she's also Riley doesn't mean you can get another chance. Me and her are different. You hurt people without knowing it and that's wrong. Learn to grow up."

Yaiks. She must have had that bottled up in her.

Ash redirected his eyes to me with a hint of concern in his eyes and I looked away, staring down at the transparent lid of my juice cup.

"Anyway." Riley sighs before leaning from the table after noticing the tension in the atmosphere. "Just wanted to come and say hi and meet you, Riley Marker. I hope you... Uh... Have a good day. You too Ash." She said before spinning on her heels and left back to her table.

I began to chuckle as I leaned back into my seat, getting a curious glance from Ash.

"Just for you know Riley, that's not the reason. I liked you even before I knew your name-"

"I'm very aware of that." I sighed and took a sip from my straw.

"Then... Why suddenly get angry at me?" He asked and I smirked as I glanced at him.

"I was just playing along to her." I said as I softened my smile, seeing the relief emit from his body. "You know, I don't like picking fights that are useless. So if I tried to deny her, she would throw useless facts and just embarrass herself. No one wants to see that right?" I asked and he smiled slightly as he tilted his head to the side a bit.

"Sometimes I forget how excruciatingly smart you are." He chuckled before leaning back. "Though, do you think what she said was true?"

"What about?" I asked as I sipped some more on my juice.

"That I force people to be how I want them to be and that I hurt people without knowing." He pointed out and I shrugged my shoulders. "I want an answer from your lips not your shoulders Riley."

"She's right." I said as I clicked my tongue and glanced out the window, not typically avoiding him. "You do have a way of forcing people to become a certain way. I'm the victim in this. You want me to start liking you out of the blue. Not to mention you want Peter to somehow act in some way to hate me so I should like you and without knowing, Ash, you do tend to hurt people. By not letting Peter talk freely with me, you hurt me. And you might be hurting Peter if he likes me." I pouted my lips only to notice him frown deeply and glance from my eyes to his fingers.