He walks away, but I follow after him. “Clayton, wait!”
“Leave me alone!” He yells behind him. People walking by us stare at him and me and my friends.
“Clayton, wait.” I ran after him. He picks up speed, but his legs are faster than mine. A bit longer, too.
Outside of the park entrance, he stops finally. “What, Maxwell?”
“Stop calling me Maxwell. I can’t stand the way it sounds; it sounds like hate.”
“I just poured my heart out to you. You turned around and threw it in my face!” His arms flail up and drop to high thighs. He winces because of the sunburn on his arm. “The last few weeks I’ve been spiraling and trying to shove my feelings for you down, down, down. I didn’t want you to know because I didn’t want you to leave, but now I know this was your plan all along. You wanted to hurt me, Maxwell? Well, good fucking job! I hope you're happy!”
“Okay, yeah, it was a dare, but it turned into something real for me. You’re real to me. I fell for you, okay? The dare doesn’t matter anymore. It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. It’s everything.”
“No, no. Don’t say that, please. It’s not everything. It doesn’t mean anything.” My voice cracks.
“If you can’t see that then that’s an issue. We only came into each other’s lives because of that dare. You never would have known me had it not been for it.”
“Maybe it was fate! Maybe it was meant to be this way.”
Idareto step closer to him, but he steps back, putting a hand up to keep me away.
“No, Maxwell.”
Chapter 14
Clayton
Everysecond,everyminute,every hour that we spent together was fake. It didn’t meananything.
It meant nothing.
Maxwell reaches out a hand to me, but I push him away.
“No, Maxwell.”
There’s pain across his face and despite him telling me it’s real for him, I can’t help but think the pain is from being caught. Caught red-handed. A red-handed liar.
And I was the idiot that decided to pour my heart out on the stupid Ferris Wheel. I think those rides ruin people’s lives. They’re high and slow and everyone seems to pour the truth out on them.Fuck them.
“To answer your question, I’m going back to Maine after graduation. I’ve made up my mind.”
The life plan I had is back in action. As it should have always been. God, I was so fucking stupid to think I could change everything forhim. Follow him around like some love-sick puppy. Pathetic of me, really.
“Please, you have to believe me, Clayton. When have I ever lied to you?”
“The entire fucking time!” I shout, letting my emotions get the better of me. I shove my glasses further up my nose, but it just make me more mad. Having glasses is the bane of my existence.
Maverick and Dax walk up behind him and suddenly, I feel alone. Much more alone than I ever have.
“Come on, Clayton. I’ll drive you back to campus. They’ll take an uber,” Maverick says.
“No thanks.” I pull my phone out, searching for the Uber app just to realize I don’t even have it. Sighing, I open the app store, but my phone is pulled from my hand.
“Come on,” Maverick demands.
I yank my phone back from him, but I relent. Heading to the car, I wait for him to unlock it before crawling into the passenger seat.
