Mine (Book-1)

~Chapter 71~

[Song for the chapter:
When the party's over - Billie Eilish]

Tori's P.O.V

"That wasn't so bad right?" I ask Ian.

"You're kidding right?" He laughs, "You greeted my dad with a 'Good Morning' it's almost eight pm."

"That's how we greet the principal!" I say.

All I had to do was say 'Hi' to his family or else it would've been extremely rude, and I messed that up too.

"What the fuck is wrong with me?" I sit down on his bed and pull my knees up to my chest.

"Hey, it's okay." I feel him sit next to me and rub my arm slowly.

"No, it's not!" I yell not loud enough for his whole family to hear, "I mess eveything all the time."

"No, you don't. Infact you're the thing that keeps me from being a mess." Ian whispers laying his forehead against my arm.

I raise my head from my curled position.

"Ian?" I look at him.

"Yes, Cupcake?" He looks at me.

"Do you love me?" I don't know why I asked him that, my head's all over the place.

"Of course I do. I love you."

Hearing that just made me break more, tears started to flow out of my eyes without any warning.

"You shouldn't." I shake my head.

"But, I do." He pulls me into his arms and I place my head against his chest.

"You won't, if I tell you what I did."

My heart drops as I think about how he'd think I'm just another slut and leave me soon enough because I'm not trustable.

"I don't wanna know, then."

"What?" I ask.

"If you don't want me to know, I don't wanna know."

I move away from him and look him in the eyes.

"But you deserve to know. And so does Tyler."

He tilts his head, "What does Tyler have to do with this?"

I take in a deep breath and try not to overthink about telling him this. The sooner I get it over with the better. I should tell him. I will tell him. He deserves to know. I have to do this. For Harper. For Tyler. For Francesca. For Nathan.

"Remember when we went to The Midnight Sun?"

He nods.

"Well Nathan and I shared a tent together."

"And?"

"I slept with him."

His mouth falls, but he picks it up. And an unexpected smile slithers its way to his mouth.

"I mean, of course you slept with him-"

"What?"

"You shared a tent, you're supposed to sleep with him." His smile cracks, and I can actually see the fear behind his eyes.

"Th- that's not what I meant, Ian."

I can visually see him tense up but his face shows no emotion.

"Listen, I know I can't give any excuses and that whatever we did was wrong. I don't know what had gotten into me. I did whatever that came into mind in the heat of the moment. You know how Francy is, and how she treats Nathan. He wanted it too and I-I had feelings for him long before any of this so-"

"Tori, calm down." He puts both his hands on my shoulder.

"I know you might think I'm a whore, which is exactly what I am. I helped my own friend's boyfriend cheat on her-" All the guilt starts taking over me again and I clench my fists, "I'm a terrible person."

"You had feelings for Nathan?" I can literally see his heart breaking.

"Before he and Francy became official. I meet Nathan at a club. And we hit it off. We made out and danced. Believe me we both tried our hardest to move past it."

"What stopped you?"

"Nothing. I was going through a rough patch after Zayn cheated on me. And Nathan is always fighting with Francy. It was a slight crack that made us destroy everything."

There is a long silence before he speaks, as if he's thinking about something, "I still don't get what Tyler has to do with any of this."

"Terry. He saw Nathan and I kissing. And he recorded it." My voice turns cold talking about him, "He later used it to blackmail me. Or more like us."

"Us?"

"He said if Harp doesn't go on a date with him he'll show the tape to the entire school."

I can see him widen his eyes as realization hits him, "Fucking god, don't tell me-"

"Yeah. Harp didn't cheat on Tyler. She went on a date him him as a part of the deal. In return she got rid of the evidence. Big shocker, I'm the one involved in a cheat, not Harper. She took the bullet for me."

"It was part of the deal that he can't tell anyone that they went on a date. In a way, he did keep his deal. Instead, he told everyone they slept together. And Harper said he couldn't take any pictures so instead-"

"The napkin?" He asks.

"The napkin." I nod.

"That son of a bitch used you to go on a date with Harper and then he ruined Tyler's relationship." He grits his teeth as he gets up ready to leave.

I get up after him and put a hand on his shoulder, making him stop midway.

"Ian?" I don't notice my voice came out shaky until he looks at me with concern.

"Yeah?"

"Does this c-change anything between us? Because I understand if it does-"

"No it doesn't." He puts his palm on my cheek and rubs soothing circles with his thumb, "Whatever you did, you didn't mean to hurt anyone."

"But I hurt Harp, Ty and Nathan. And it's only a matter of time before Francy finds out."

"You didn't do it intentionally."

"How do you not hate me?"

"I couldn't even if I wanted to, Cupcake." He smiles a bit.

It feels so good to finally have this huge weight off my chest. I smile back at him.

"But do you still have feelings for him? Nathan, I mean."

"No. I love you and I honestly just want to move on from everything that happened. It's better for everyone that way."

"Then that's all I need to know." His smile reappears.

"So, you're gonna go to Ty's house?"

He nods.

Well, he knew what needed to be done.