Chapter 49: Chapter 49

Blake's POV

When I met Rylie, I was not at the best place in my life. I'd caught my girlfriend, Kristen Harper, a girl who I thought would never betray me, a girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, having sex with my best friend. To make things worse, it turned out that it had been going on for a while.

I was, in a word, devastated! I'd never felt so betrayed and broken in my whole life. To deal with my heartbreak, I did the only thing that made sense; I broke other people's heart. I called it being a player but that was what I was really doing. Kristen broke my heart so I broke other girl's heart to get over my heartbreak. It was pretty easy. I had the looks, the fame, the money too.

I was basically a jerk and I knew it. Then we moved here and I met Rylie. At our first meeting when she ran into me getting a blowjob in the girl's bathroom, I really thought she was cute. Her expression was funny to say the least and she was as red as a tomato.

Then she turned out to be infuriating and seemed to hate me for some reason. I hated her too so let's just say I had fun thinking up various new ways to prank her, if only to see her cute flushed face when she was angry.

Then came the business with the kiss. I remembered trying to push the door of the janitor's closet open only for me to slam right into someone and boom, my lips were on hers. It all happened so fast, I don't even know how it happened exactly.

But I can still remember how soft her lips felt against mine, the wide-eyed shock in her eyes, how badly I'd wanted to wrap my arms around her waist to deepen the kiss. Sadly, before I could act on my impulse, Rylie pushed me away from her so hard, I landed on my butt!

I tried to act like I wasn't bothered but as I walked away and even as I played the game that night, all I could think of was Rylie and how badly I wanted to kiss her again.

After that night, I, of course had to go back to acting like I hated her, had to go back to ignoring her at school when all I wanted was to kiss her silly every time I saw her. I didn't like her back and I still thought she was annoying but something changed after our “kiss” even if I didn't know it yet.

When my Grandma came to stay with us, I was in a panic. I'd already assured her that I had a girlfriend even when I didn't and I had no idea how to even get one. Then Rylie came that day and one thing led to another and boom, we were dating, or at least, fake dating.

Dating Rylie, or even pretending to date her was not an experience I looked forward to but I was prepared to make it work, if only for my grandma's sake. The result was the best thing that ever happened to me. I found Rylie to be a breath of fresh air. She was funny, smart, feisty, cute, terrifying at times and absolutely beautiful.

My feelings for Rylie perhaps budded the day we almost kissed in the library after I invited her to Logan's party. I convinced myself it was just a physical attraction but with time, I found that I genuinely cared for her.

The day we confessed our feelings for each other was perhaps the best day of my life. I never thought that I would ever be able to love someone after Kristen but Rylie changed all that, at least that was what I told myself.

Grandma's death was unexpected to say the least. I could still remember my mom shaking awake late at night, tears streaming down her cheeks as she told me that Grandma wasn't moving. I could still rushing out of bed to Grandma's bedside while screaming for someone to call the ambulance.

When Grandma didn't make it, I wanted to just die. After Kristen's betrayal, I never thought I could ever get so hurt again but I was wrong. I could still remember laying on my bed, tears streaming down my cheeks as I mourned for my late Grandma.

During that period, I had a lot of time to think and I constantly blamed myself for allowing my grandma to believe a lie about me. I should have just told her and she would have understood but I hadn't and I felt terrible. My grandmother, the person I was closest to, died believing a lie. A lie I started.

I was hurt and I cursed myself for ever allowing the lie to begin in the first place. It'd a mistake and I was certain that this was a repercussion. And so, in that muddled state of mind, I made a decision.

Looking back, I realized that I wasn't in the right state of mind to make the decision I made. I was still grieving and I let my emotions get the better of me. I acted selfish and only thought about myself.

It was only after going through with my plans and having Rylie hit me that my eyes cleared. The fog in my mind dissipated and things suddenly seemed clearer.

I knew then that I had made a terrible decision but it was too late for me. Rylie was gone, taking with her, my heart.

Just then, I looked over to her window to see the lights in her room come on. I could hear her voice even from where I was. She seemed to be in the phone with someone and she sounded happy.

"Happy without me," I thought sadly.

Still on the phone, she stuck her head out of the window and I caught sight of her face, the cool breeze blowing in her face, making her look even more beautiful.

"Sure Sky. I'll see you again tomorrow," I distinctly heard her say as she moved back into the room and pulled the window shut.

My jaw tightened and I looked back at the sky. Sky. I'd always known he liked her. Not surprising considering that it is Rylie but now, having to face the reality that she was really moving on hurt to say the least. Hurt even more since I caused it.

I still longed to make things right again with Rylie. If I could turn back the hand of time to that day, I would. If I could take back everything I said, I would. But it was too late for me. I'd lost her and I couldn't get her back.

***

I was at school, having to deal with yet another girl's attempt at flirtation. Since it was now common news that Rylie and I were no longer together, I'd been forced to deal with this all day everyday now. I was at least thankful that this was the last day of school before we went on winter break, not like it would change anything... Ugh!

I forced myself to look back at the petite black haired girl standing in front of me with just a little too much cleavage showing. She was supposedly a fan and while I wanted nothing more than to excuse myself, another girl would just take her place. Besides, she wasn't that annoying. Just a bit too chatty.

"So would you like coming to my family's Christmas dinner then?" she asked in an overly sweet voice.

"I don't know about that- uh, Stacy, Chelsea-"

"It's Grace," she interjected, still smiling.

"Yeah Grace. I'm not sure I'll be available then..."

"Really? Then how about after Christmas? We can go sledding or skating or-?" she went on and on and on. I fought to keep from groaning and leaned against the wall.

As if on cue, Myles appeared all of a sudden, cutting her off. "Hey. I hope you don't mind but I have to steal him away from a moment."

"But we were talking-" she whined.

"I won't be long, I promise," he said, already pulling me with him. Grace pouted but only said, "I'll be waiting for you, Blake!"

I sighed and looked away from her then to Myles. He was still pulling me to God knows where and while I wanted to speak out, I wanted to know what this was all about. We hadn't really spoken since Rylie and I broke so I was kinda curious as to what he would possibly want to talk about.

He pulled me with him into an empty classroom and once ensuring that the door was closed, he turned to me, his face straight.

"So- having fun?" he remarked dryly.

"Yeah. Yeah. I guess," I muttered under my breath. "So did you want to talk or something because if it's about Rylie-"

"Yeah. What's up with you breaking up with her? I mean, I know you lost your grandmother and all but Rylie had nothing to do with that and you have no right to do that to her. I literally watched my sister put everything on hold for you! Rylie was a mess while you sobbed it up and for what? So you could dump her?!"

His tone was harsh, his words direct and they made me feel even more guilty. I sighed and said, "It's not about that, Myles. You… It's very complicated."

"What? You mean because you and Rylie were never dating but pretending the whole time?"

"Yes. Th- Wait, how do you know about that? Did Rylie tell you?"

"No actually. I always kinda knew. I mean, Olivia did tell me but she just confirmed it. I never bought the whole ’we were secretly dating’ thing. And if you remember, I did watch the video where you guys kissed and I know it wasn't planned. Plus it was kinda obvious. I never would've bought that you guys were dating. I'm not stupid. But that's beside the point. The point is, you and Rylie might have not been dating at the beginning but at the end, it was kinda clear just how into each you guys were, so why did you end it?" He fixed me a steady gaze.

"I really don't know. My reason at first was that I was guilty for lying to my grandma but that was selfish and not fair to Rylie," I sighed again and looked away from him.

"That's understandable. I can understand why you would think that but why the breakup?"

"I don't know. It seemed like the right thing at the time. I guess I just made a mistake. A real stupid one that I really regret now but can't do anything about."

"But what if you could? I know for a factthat Rylie's not over you yet so what if you could get her to forgive you?"

"I'd want to give it a try because I miss her but it's too late for me. She's with Sky now and he'll make her happier than I ever could. It's probably for the best that way," it hurt me even to say it.

"Blake, don't kid yourself. Sky's my friend but he's not for Rylie. I know her. I saw you two together. You're meant to be," he stated as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

As I looked into his eyes, I desperately wanted to believe him, believe that I still had a chance with Rylie but thinking about everything that has happened so far, I decided otherwise.

"It's too late for me, Myles. I've lost her and I can't get her back."

"You'll never know if you don't try," he remarked, removing his hand from my shoulder and stepping out of the classroom. I stared at the door in thought for a while before breathing under my breath, "Maybe Myles, maybe..."