Living Your Lie (boyxboy)

Chapter 7

A hand closed around my arm and yanked me roughly behind a corner of lockers. The wind was blowing slightly and the sun was shining brightly. I squinted to look up at the guy who had just grabbed me. I smiled at first when I saw who it was, but then I took in the deep scowl on his face, and my mood dropped.

"Hey..." I told Dakota. I watched his face. Those seafoam green eyes darkened. "What's going on?"

From what I could see, there weren't many people around us. And anyone who was, wasn't within earshot. Dakota didn't stand too close to me, but he wasn't so far away that I couldn't reach out and wrap my arms around his waist if I wanted to. Of course I wouldn't, though. Not in school.

"Look," Dakota said quietly. His face started to soften but then it went back to being serious. "What happened the other night was a mistake."

"What?" I think I was too shocked to understand what he was saying.

I leaned my entire body up against the row of lockers. I watched Dakota set his jaw. His nostrils flared slightly and I think I was just a little dazed by his behaviour. Only about half of his words got through to me. Unfortunately they were the ones Dakota was trying the hardest to get across to me.

"It meant nothing," he hissed. "Nothing. You get that? I don't remember everything I said to you, Sinclair, but I didn't mean any of it. Alright?"

As the words sunk in, I couldn't help that my jaw dropped a little. Or that my eyebrows furrowed deeply and my eyes lost all of their previous gleam.

"I thought--I thought you..." I stopped talking the second I felt my voice threatening to crack embarrassingly. "You don't like me?"

The fact that his face never showed him being anything but genuine, hit me hard. I had thought for sure that this was a thing. I couldn't even lie and say that I wasn't excited by the prospect of Dakota being into me. I had already iterated to myself a million times how attractive I thought he was. To have him stand there and tell me that the bit of attention he'd given me was all a joke, made me feel like shit.

"No," he snapped. "I don't like you. Not like that, at least. I was drunk, Sinclair. Don't you get that?"

I swallowed the unexpected lump in my throat. I nodded my head carefully. "Yeah, I...sure."

Dakota looked away from me briefly and I took the opportunity to breathe deeply. When he looked back, he fixed me with a steady stare.

"You've got Dante," he said, lowering his voice again. "Just go back to him and forget we ever did anything."

"Dakota," I said quickly. "Why are you saying this?"

"Because it's true!"

I shook my head. "But on Friday you said things and--and--and you looked like you were having a good time. I mean, I know I probably pushed you too far or something, but--"

Dakota's hands were abruptly on my chest. He pushed me tightly up against the metal behind me, and I instantly stopped talking. His voice was so low I had to strain slightly to hear what he was saying. "Shut the fuck up, Sinclair. Fuck. Okay, you're hot and all, but you're nothing more than that. Nothing."

I decided right then and there that I never wanted to hear that word again. I most definitely didn't want to hear that a guy I was interested in thought I was nothing. I didn't think someone's opinion of me had hit me so hard in my entire life. It ripped at my chest every time it echoed through my head. Not even Dante had ever made me feel this badly, and for some reason I thought that spoke volumes.

Dakota took his hands off of me and stepped back. My eyes and head turned immediately to the ground. I didn't even want to look at him right now. My reaction to what he said made me feel like an over-dramatic fool. If he saw me cry or even just tear up, I'd be humiliated beyond comprehension.