You All Along

Read Between the Lines

Bring it on? Yeah right, who were you kidding when you couldn't even bring yourself to match up with Colin's game. He was the devil's spawn for Pete's sake. But knowing yourself, you wouldn't want to admit defeat even if the odds were against you, because that would only mean lowering down your pride. However, no matter how much you try to curse and threaten him all you want, all it ever did to him was drawn between your friendship with Claire and worse of it all was his fickle attitude towards you — one moment he's being unapologetically friendly and the next he's being a complete asshole towards you. He wasn't anything like this before, so what has changed now? More importantly, what was he planning this time? 

    To accept his apology? It was certainly not that one time when he point-blank made known he was a royal evil when he purposely joined you and Claire in the cafeteria. 

    "So what's for lunch today?" he asked. 

    "You never eat lunch here because the food sucks, so why bother asking?" you hissed. 

    "Because you won't let me join you guys. Good thing sweet Claire here has invited me", he beamed a smile at her and you swear you want to slam his head on the table — not him and his pretentious ass trying to look good in front of people. 

    "You invited him?" you shifted your gaze to Claire. 

    "He was being persistent. And besides, it's only this one time because he said his friends were busy."

    "Claire, we're not some animal shelter who just keep a feral unless they try to be better than that." You eyed Colin, who was pretending to be offended. 

    "Whoa, you should chill Clemmings. We're all just trying to be civil here", he sits upright. 

"And we all just want to eat peacefully without getting someone stabbed with a fork. You should know that by now, Gregory."

    "You know what, Colin's right Rhy. It's not like you're gonna get an upset stomach just by sitting here with him and besides, I promise you this is only gonna be the first and last time. Please?" Colin pouted along, an insincere plea, more like mocking.

"Please?" Claire reiterated, more convincing this time.

There was no point in arguing because you always easily admitted defeat against your best friend, so you let it slide this time. You breathed. Claire's right, maybe I should just ignore this.  

    You got up from your seat, "I'm just gonna go to the restroom for a bit", you said and excused yourself. When you were out of earshot, Claire turned to Colin who was eyeing you walking out of the room.

    "So" Claire starts, "was Rhy always bitter towards you?" 

    He shifts his attention to her. "Nah, I wouldn't really say. We just —" he pauses "...know each other" there were no better words to explain how he would like to describe his relationship with Rhine. Even if he wanted to otherwise, he was aware not to cross the fine line Rhine drew between the both of them. He knew Rhine — in fact too well to be considering the things he didn't want and too little to say the right words to say to him. 

    "Oh so you already knew each other before?"  

"Yeah. We go way back." there is proud in his tone.

"Really? So what was Rhy like when he was a kid? Did he always get into fight?" Colin couldn't hold back but laugh — it was true in every sense. Rhine does often get into fights even then because he dared anyone who made fun of his friends, most especially Colin. He was about to give Claire an answer when suddenly her phone rang.

   "Sorry" she says as she stands up "I just have to answer this real quick. I'll be right back" she went outside to pick up the call and Colin was left alone sitting there. As if on some twisted cue, he pulls out a spoiled small carton of milk he's been hiding all along and pours a tad bit into Rhine's drink. It was only a couple of minutes after Rhine had returned from the comfort room and saw him enjoying his time alone at the lunch table. 

    "Where's Claire?" you ask, taking your seat right across him. 

    "Oh, she's picking up a call" he answers and you simply nodded. Claire came right before it was starting to get awkward between you two because, strangely enough, he was grinning from ear to ear, as if something great had just happened to him. You decide to ignore it, nevertheless, and so far the lunch you've skeptically shared with him turned out not to be so bad after all — except for that strange taste in your drink you didn't recall tasting before. Huh... weird?  

    However, it was too early to say that and you were a fool to believe Claire that nothing bad would happen to you. If truth be told, the word "weird" was an understatement because it was worse than that. It was far worse enough to be sending you to the bathroom stalls, which caused you to miss out all your afternoon classes because of that one drink you had. That one stupid drink, you surely knew that Colin had put milk in it. What else could it be when he was actually one of the few people that knows you are lactose intolerant. You wanted to lash out at him and bury him alive, but if that was only possible, then you wouldn't have to suffer the consequences you are facing right now. 

Fuck. I swear I'm gonna get you one day, Gregory. 

    That wasn't it. It was something else. If he had wanted you to accept his apology, then he wouldn't have done that. Then what? To make it up to you by being friendly? Yeah sure, but it doesn't make sense — not in the least bit when it poured heavily on that certain Thursday afternoon. 

    "s**t" you cursed the heavy rain. By the looks of the dark ominous clouds looming above, there was no way out of this. You blame yourself for not bringing an umbrella on a gloomy day when you could've just done so in order to save yourself from trouble. 

    "Here" a hand was reaching out an umbrella to you. 

    "Thank — " you were about to take it but when you look up to see who it was, you immediately withdrew your hand.

    "Take it" 

    "No" 

    "I said take it" he insisted; his tone steel and firm.

    "And I said NO."

    "Please just—" he let out a heavy sigh, "just take it. You're bringing your notes with you and I'm sure you don't want them wet. Besides, I heard you still have exams tomorrow, so please just stop being so stubborn and do yourself a favor". He wasn't wrong this time though, because to be honest, it would be literal hell if you took Mr. Cromwell's class again. Having to listen to him yap all day about history and giving you long ass quizzes that are unrelated to the topics he discussed made you want to rethink his offer. It makes you not think twice in consideration of the situation at stake. 

    "Where did you get that anyway? You never carry anything that will only bother you... for all I know", it was strange to you but you took pride in the little things you knew about him. 

    "Some girl who had a crush on me lent me her umbrella, and I figured you'd need it more than I do anyways, so here" he offers you once more. 

    "What about you?" 

    "Nah, I don't need it. I still have someone to meet up." I seriously can't imagine to be in this guy's shoes. Okay, Mr. I'm-not-sorry-because-I-have-it-all.

    You took the umbrella from his hand but you didn't have the courage to say thank you, so you tried to respond to him in a way that you knew. "Don't worry, I'll promise to return this to you right away."

    He smirks "The person you should be worrying about is yourself, Clemmings. Not me", he took a moment to catch your wandering gaze "I'll see you around then" he said, before going out in the downpour. You watched his scurrying back in the open until he was no longer in sight and you were left standing there dumbstruck. 

    What in the freaking hell was that all about? 

    You were usually the type to quickly catch on to things. But this? this was different. None of it ever made sense to you because just about a few days ago he actually tried to poison you to death by putting milk into your drink, but now he's acting up like he genuinely cares when it wasn't even none of his business. You made it clear that you were nothing more but arch enemies, so why was he going out of his way to help you? Was this some part of an evil scheme he's on to? Or was he just making things worse than they already are? Worst of it all was that your best friend, Claire, was now involved and if there was one thing you hated the most, it was reading between the lines. It made you mad because he knew your weaknesses and he was effortlessly making you anxious and disturbed.

Okay, but think about it. Maybe you're probably just overthinking things.

"I think you're just stressing out a little too much, Rhy. He's hitting on Claire, so why would he waste his energy bothering you?" Luke said. Tonight was yet again one of those drinking sessions he would organize on the balcony of their house every time his parents weren't around.

"That's the point! He is PURPOSELY doing all of this to break our friendship! Because that shithead knows all too well that I'd lose my head the moment he brainwashes Claire, that all he did was do me good to allow them to date, but I'm an unwilling ass because I hate him and wouldn't accept his help!"

"And?"

"And that would make me a BAD GUY! And you are a pushover who can't even defend your love for her!" You exclaimed, flailing your hands all over.

Luke looks at you like he'd taken your comment on him to the heart. "Umm... O-kay?"

"No offense intended. But basically, he's just doing whatever the f**k he wants to mess with us all."

"Are you sure about that?" he gave you a quizzical look.

"Trust me, I know." You huffed. Luke grabbed both of your shoulders to make you sit down for a while — to help you calm your nerves a bit. He offered you an opened can which you took.

"You know what, you're probably right. But the way I see it, you're only letting this 'shithead' into your head too much" he grabs another can next to you, "And yes, while it is true that I'm up against him with Claire, I don't see why I should be threatened when you yourself said that I'm..." he starts to finger-count, "one, not a jerk, two, pretty amazing and good looking, and three, I'm me so I guess that should be enough reason to be confident." He winks at you.

"Plus, he's also a worthy opponent" he adds and it made you feel like your words just backfired right at you. He was, in fact and once again, right.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just overthinking things a lot." Your shoulders slumped.

"Look, I know that you still have some unresolved things with him and I get it if you don't want to talk about it. And I know that as much as I like Claire, you only want the best for her too so what I'm trying to say it's fine if you're feeling anxious but if you're too worried then maybe you should try confronting him."

Yeah, right.

Me?

Him?

Talk?

I don't think that's a good idea.

But what Luke said to you was spot on though. You debated with yourself countless of times on what to do when you knew exactly what you should do. You knew and yet you were holding back. The endless bickering wouldn't come to an end unless you actually tried to talk to him without thinking of strangling him to death.

"I really think you should consider it." He pats your shoulder before going down ahead. His words left you conflicted for a moment you sat there alone. The light breeze that nipped at your face and the cold beer you gripped felt scant to you, disparate to the reality that doused you. Your thoughts seemed to be louder and clearer this time.

The dark pitch black sky hanged low and no stars were on sight but as deep as your thoughts had gone so was the night. Contemplating was not your cup of tea, nor it ever was in your list of options. No. You are just not the type of person to second-guess things nor beat around the bush. You are straightforward, clear, and unrelenting — whatever troubled you, you faced it head on. You see to it that things are, must be in your control, just beyond your reach. Nothing ever fazed you, but Colin was different. He always have been an exception and you subconsciously gave him this privilege. Perhaps because you couldn't bury the fact that he was once the person you trusted everything with your life or the fact that he had been the only one you could run to. Either way, you wouldn't turn out to be the person that you are now if only he had not done what he shouldn't have. You never really listened from his part because you chose to hate him instead. You avoided him ever since then for God's sake! But ignoring him was not an option anymore because it's plain to see that he doesn't plan to stop. That being the case, your only solid option is to have a decent conversation with him. No insults, no pranks, just pure talk. You steel your resolute to put an end to all of this.

It has to...