Deal: Fake Dating The Badboy

Chapter 18

Chapter 18
Sapphires POV
Liam held my hand the entire drive, which confused me immensely. I wasn't sure what he was doing, whether he was just trying to keep up the act, he forgot, or, the option I really hope it is. He simply wanted to. Though I doubt it is the latter of the options, one can dream.

The store was almost empty when we came in. There were a few families and employees. I grabbed the cart, Liam still holding my hand. "You know you don't have to hold my hand I doubt there will be anyone we see here, there's barely anyone here," I commented.

I didn't want him to let go of my hand but being on the premises that it was all fake I felt bad. "We can't take any chances Fire," he twirled me around and took the cart from me.

"That was smooth," I gaped at him.

"Only the best for you," he pushed the cart towards the grocery section, "So we need Pineapple, Strawberry's, chocolate, and whatever we're gonna cook,"

We ended up deciding to cook pasta. Something simple and easy to make. After getting everything everyone else wanted we headed over to the pasta isle to get spaghetti sauce. "Okay but on a serious note, what makes spaghetti: the pasta or the sauce?" Liam asked with a serious face.

"What kind of question is that?" I laughed, "it's obviously the noodle,"

"Is it though? If you're eating spaghetti alfredo you call it alfredo but if you're eating spaghetti with spaghetti sauce you call it spaghetti,"

I took a second to think, "Well alfredo is actually called fettuccine alfredo going off the sauce and the noodle,"

This conversation was getting way too serious for the topic. "So then are we supposed to call it spaghetti marinara,"

"Speaking of which, what kind of sauce?" I ask pointing the the array of choices.

"That one," he pointed, which wasn't very helpful.

"This one," I grabbed a jar.

"No to the left,"

"This one," I grabbed a second jar to my right.

"No you're other right," he laughed.

I grabbed the first jar, "This one,"

He gave me an annoyed face. "The one three jars to your left,"

"Ohhhh this one," I picked up the jar he was talking about.

He laughed and smiled while I turned to grab the jar. My eyes locked on a figure a few isles down. I felt my chest tighten as a lump formed in my throat. The jar slipped from my hand landing with a loud crash. Glass shards flew threw the air, striking my leg. My hand began to shake as I backed away trying to get away from the figure. I pulled my hand to my chest as tears welled in my eyes. Bradley?

I was brought back to reality by Liam's voice, "Sapphire? Sapphire!"

I looked up at him, still about to cry. His face was full of concern. He rubbed my arm in an attempt to comfort me. Thankfully he was blocking me from Bradley's view, so even with my breakdown he wasn't able to notice me. "Hey, what happened?" He whispered.

I looked down at the broken glass and red goopy sauce splattered all over the floor, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I didn't meant to I-" I dropped to the floor rushing to pick up the glass.

I was waiting to be yelled at, as I would have if I was with Bradley, but it never came. "Ow," I pulled my hand back revealing a fresh cut, "I'm sorry!"

Liam pulled me back up to my feet and turned me to face him, "Hey, hey look at me, it's just some broken glass, it's okay. You don't have to be sorry,"

I looked him in the eyes. His face was kind and gentle, he didn't look angry at all. "You're not mad," I whispered.

"Of course I'm not mad! You didn't do anything wrong. I'm more worried about you, what happened?"

I didn't know what to say. What was I gonna tell him: that I saw Bradley and had a pubic breakdown. I wasn't even quite sure what happened myself. Did I really see Bradley? Did he move back? I checked to where he was standing but he was no longer there. "Sapphire? Hey Sapphire, look at me, it'll be okay,"

He pulled me into a hug and rested his chin on my head. He played with the ends of my hair as we just stood there. I tried to gather my composure. It reminded me of the first time I freaked out in front of Liam, after talking with Tara in the bathroom. I pulled away and wiped the tears from my eyes. "I'm okay, thank you,"

"Are you sure?" His voice was gentle.

I wasn't sure but I was already making a huge scene. "Yeah,"

An employee came walking down the aisle and stopped immediately in his tracks. He didn't seem too pleased to see the mess. "Do you need any help here?" he was referring to the broken jar.

Liam gave me one more hug before going and talking to the employee. Liam took care of everything and the employee got someone to help clean up the mess.

I was on edge the entire rest of the store trip. I kept feeling like Bradley was gonna be right behind us at any moment. I was thankful when we finally got back to the car. I just wanted to go home but I told them I would stay for dinner. My head was pounding from all my thoughts. I wanted so badly to tell Liam, but I didn't want to bother him.

Liam rested his hand on mine, "Do you want to talk about it?"

I hesitated, yes but should I? "I saw Bradley at the store," I rushed through the sentence.

He held still for a second and I immediately regretted telling him. He squeezed my hand, "I'm not gonna let him get near you,"

His face was still as he concentrated on the road. His entire composure was stiff. "There's no way he's coming anywhere near you. That guy should be in jail,"

I didn't really feel like talking the whole rest of the way back to Liam's. Thankfully Liam respected that and didn't push the matter any further.

Having dinner with Liam's family took my mind off of Bradley but as soon as I was home all the memories came flooding back.

I tried to hold back my tears. I wasn't gonna cry over him. I didn't want to. Grabbing my phone from my bed, I dialed Athena number. She picked up after two rings. "So how did things go with Liam?" She sang.

"They were great," my voice was wobbly from the tears.

"Oh no what happened? Did he hurt you? If he did I'm gonna personally skin him alive!" Her voice was filled with much aggression.

"No no it's not that," I looked down at the floor and started playing with the carpet, "Bradley's back,"

"What? How? When? What do you mean?" She was just as confused as I was.

"I don't know, I saw him at the store one moment and the next he was gone. I don't even know if he's here for good," I examined the cuts on my hand and legs.

They were small and were more like a paper cut. "He better not be. If he does anything to try to hurt you, I swear I'm gonna kill him,"

I let out a forced laugh. "I can't believe he's back, I never thought I would have to see him again,"
We sat in silence for a moment. Neither of us wanted to think back to that time. Athena and I truly went through it all together. She was there for everything. She told me not to be with him but I never listened. I know I should have but I was young, I was a small freshman. I thought it was so great to be 'in love' when I didn't even know what love was. I'm still not sure. I was terrified of what would happen if I got on Bradley's bad side. I still am. That should have been a huge give away that our relationship was toxic.

I dreaded going back to school. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to see Bradley again. I mean, had he changed or was he exactly the same as he always was? I didn't know what I was supposed to do: acknowledge his presence or hope I can avoid him forever. Right now running from my problems was all I wanted to do. I didn't want to have to face him if by some chance he was back. He was gone for two years. Why would he come back? How was Tara gonna react? She might just kill me. I couldn't deal with more drama. I was already stressed out enough.
"It'll be okay Saph, me and you always remember," a phrase we hadn't said since we were kids.

"Me and you always," I replied.