Riley
“You don’t fucking get it!” Nick comes back to life and frees himself from Ian’s grip.
“I should’ve seen this coming!” Ian yells at Nick. “I should’ve known what to expect from you.”
“I can’t believe this,” Nick says. “Do you really think I’d do that to you?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“This can’t be happening.” Nick says, backing away nervously. “I was just trying to give you a hand, for God’s sake.”
“A hand? Who were you helping, exactly? Let’s hear it…”
“You, you dick!”
“Me?” Ian laughs hysterically. “And how’s that? By screwing my girlfriend?”
“What?”
“Isn’t that what’s happening, Riley? Haven’t you already found someone else?” he turns to me, spewing all of his rage.
“Are you serious?!” I yell furiously.
“My brother, Riley, how could you? How you both?!”
“You…you…Go away Ian. Get out of my life right now.” I go into the house, trying to close the door behind me, but Ian sticks his foot in the doorway, blocking it. Then he slams it, coming in to my apartment, followed by Nick.
“What was I to you?” He pushes me up against a wall. “What?”
Nick grabs him by the shoulder and pulls him away from me.
“Calm down!”
“Are we already at this point?” he yells.
“Can’t you see that you’re scaring her?”
Ian looks at me and when he realises that I’m shaking the edge in his eyes vanishes, replaced with guilt.
“How could I?” I whisper to myself overwhelmed. “How could I have fallen in love with you?” I say it while holding his gaze. I say it without any other emotion breaking through, even though I’m crumbling on the inside. I tell him with pain in my heart.
Silence falls over my apartment. Silence which is broken only by our uneven breathing.
Ian doesn’t react, he stands in front of me looking at me without really seeing me, as if his mind were elsewhere.
“I am an idiot,” I comment out loud. “How could I have believed that behind your tough guy façade there was something else?” I step dangerously close to him. “How could I believe that you weren’t a liar, a bastard?” I say, backing him up against a wall. “Believe that you were different?” He lets himself be crushed by me. “How could I believe that you felt…?” but I can’t go on because my tears close up my throat. He’ll have no more from me.
“There’s nothing going on between us, Ian. I was just giving her a hand.” Nick tries to calm us down and bring us back some peace. “You didn’t answer my calls, I even tried calling you on her phone, but you ignored it. I never would have done that and she…” he looks at me smiling. “She wouldn’t have either.”
He puts a hand on his back but Ian doesn’t look at him. “She’s different, Ian. Just like you are.”
Ian shakes his head.
“I hope you’ll clear things up now and get back to your old self.”
Then he comes over to me and gives me a kiss on the cheek. I see Ian’s hands ball into fists.
“I’m sure it’ll work out,” he says. “He seems like a tough guy but in the end he’s just a teddy bear.”
