Broken Fantasy

Chapter Twelve

               His hands brushed my collar bones until he reached to the back of my neck. He pulled me closer to him since I was standing in front of him. 

C H A P T E R      T W E L V E 

Audrey's POV

I sat down on the couch as he sat down in front of me on the other couch

"Grandpa, I can't get married to him," I pleaded as I looked up at him. Sighing, he looked at the window that was beside us.

"I don't have a choice, Audriana, trust me when I say this I didn't want it to happen, but I am in a position where I can't," Grandpa says as he looks at me.

"What position? Please consider it grandpa. The reason why I can't marry him is because...because-" I stop as I tried to think of an excuse. Got it.

"I have a boyfriend." He raised his eyebrows up at me and nodded.

"Who is it?" He questioned slightly amused and I smiled trying to act as if I just remembered my non-existent boyfriend.

"Aaron Axel." I simply said. Oh, god if he makes me call Aaron hopefully he plays along with me.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked. Playing along with my lie. I need him to believe because I could tell that he doesn't believe me.

"I was scared, but now I'm not." I smiled and he nodded.

"I'd like to meet him." I should have told Aaron before I told Grandpa, but maybe if I ask him, he will help me. If this works, then I won't have to marry Connor and then Sarah won't have to be mad at me anymore. Everything can go back to how it was before.

"Really?! Thank you so much grandpa you will love him," I said excitedly.

"We'll see, I better get going. They probably are wondering where I am," Grandpa said and I quickly gave him a hug before he left. Once he left, I couldn't help but jump up and down. I should tell Sarah. Just when I was about to leave Sarah stood in front of me. This is it I should tell her.

"Sar-" before I could finish she slapped me really hard. I felt the warmth on my right cheek radiate off my face. I felt the hot tears filling my eyes, I tried to blink away as I held onto my cheeks. It was stinging and it hurt so bad.

"You are so fake. Connor told me what happened today, what are you trying to do? You want to get him to marry you?. He almost believed you but thank god he told me about what you were doing. You almost got him Audrey. You are pathetic, stealing your bestfriends boyfriend?" I looked away and closed my eyes tightly but she grabbed my face with her hand making me look at her. I bit my tongue as I felt my cheeks burn under touch. My stomach swirled in pain and I wanted to push her away but I froze. I couldn't move my body. She gave me a smile, it's like she's enjoying my pain.

"Sorry, ex-best friend. You know what? It doesn't even matter anymore I was never your friend. I pitied you because you didn't have any friends. I made a big mistake by playing along with this bestfriend nonsense, " she spat out angrily.

"Why are you mad at me! I don't even know this guy. You knew me longer than him, you should know me by now why don't you trust me? I was going to tell you that I found a way to convince my grandpa. Also, what did you say? We were never friends? That's a low blow Sarah af-" before I could finish she slapped me again.

"What the hell- '' She slapped me again and I took a couple steps back as my cheek stung. It hurt so bad and I didn't want to cry but my inner self wouldn't let me.

"Pathetic." Her eyes should guilt for a second but it washed away. She looked at me in anger.

"What's going on here?" Connor asked. I stared at Sarah through my blurry eyes as my cheek screamed in pain.

"Nothing. Isn't that right, Audrey?" She smirked at me and I nodded lifeless.

"Right," I whispered. I turned slightly trying to catch my breath, but it was really hard to. No one has ever slapped me in my life and she did the ultimate thing that really hurt me. She knew my fear of getting hurt by someone else. I never thought that my best friend would do it this the whole time.

"Sarah, your mom is calling you." He said. I turn my head a little to find him staring at me. His eyebrows raised up in confusion as he stared at me. I put a bit of my hair to cover my left side of the face so that he couldn't see the red hand mark.

"Okay, lets go," she said as she kissed his cheek.

"I have to use the bathroom, I'll be down in a bit," Sarah nodded and he gave her a warm smile. He caressed the side of her head giving her comfort. I turn around and put my hands on the table trying to catch my breath.

"What's in the bag?" Sarah asked.

"Not sure," Connor said.

"Okay, come quickly then." With that, I heard the door shut. My body finally allowed me to breathe. The tears ran down my cheeks irritating me. I clenched my heart tightly, it hurt so much.

"Are you okay?" He asked. I nodded and waved him off so that he could leave but I felt footsteps creeping towards me. He can't see me like this. I quickly walk away, but he grabbed my arm, stopping me, and whipped me around so that I was facing him.

"What happened to your cheek," he whispered as he held me closely to him. I looked away as he touched my cheek that Sarah slapped me. I flinch, getting out of his hold.

"You need to ice it, is there any in that refrigerator?" he asked and I nodded slowly. He walked towards the small refrigerator that grandpa bought, took out the ice pack, and walked towards me.

"It's going to hurt okay?" He put the icepack on the side of my cheek. I grabbed his hand trying to pull it away because it was hurting me, but he caressed my hair, shushing me.

"Just one more minute okay?" he said softly. I looked at him to see him already staring at me. He shouldn't be here, helping me like this.

"Audrey, I don't want you messing with my head. I-I'm just- just don't use me anymore okay? And-" he stopped and looked away frustratedly.

"I-I'm sorry this isn't the time. Now tell me what happened? Why is your cheek red?" He asked once again and I kept quiet. There isn't a point telling him what his girlfriend did to me because he won't believe me.

"Nothing happened." I said and he sighed nodding.

"Okay, I respect your decision. I won't force you to tell me, but just break the marriage," he said and looked down, slightly chuckling.

"What do I have to do for you all to believe me, huh?" I questioned.

"Break the marriage," he answered.

"This isn't the first time I'm saying this but I will say it again Connor. I am trying okay?" I said calmly. His hand caressed my cheek again and the stinging slowly disappeared, soothing me.

"It doesn't seem like it. It's like you want to take your time and bail out the last second. It seems like you want to marry me." He said and I raised my head and stared into his eyes.

"After everything that has happened you believe that I'm that type of person who would do that?" I asked him.

"Y-Yes." He said hesitantly. It seemed like he wasn't sure himself. He could have just said he didn't know, but it seems to me he made a choice.

"You don't even know me so how can you think that I'm like that?" I asked. He seemed a bit taken aback by my question, but that didn't matter anyways. At the end, he will believe Sarah. I wanted to tell him what I've done and how I've tried, but it was useless. There is no point.

"Okay," I choked out. It was the only thing I could manage to say.

"You aren't going to say anything?" He asked.

"There's nothing to say, you won't believe me anyways, but what I don't understand is why she won't believe me. I knew her all my life and just because of this she is throwing it all away. She won't even believe me" I sighed. Why did I tell him? I'm so dumb.

"You knew her when you were little?" he asked. I had one job and that was to stay quiet. Just kill me, maybe all my problems will be gone.

"You're right," he said and I looked at him confused. Did I say that out loud?

He took a step closer to me and I looked at him confused. He grabbed me and spun me around so that my back could hit against his chest. His right arm headlocked me not too tightly. I tried to remove his arm but I couldn't. He wouldn't move. He moved the strands of my hair away with his left hand. His lips hovered over my left ear and he whispered, "Should I do it?" He wrapped his arm around my stomach, pushing me against him. My breathing slightly got heavy. What is he doing to me? Out of nowhere he let go of me as if my touch burned him and took a step back.

"What happened you actually thought I would choke you to death?" He asked.

"I did, but if you aren't planning on it, I'll choke you to death instead," I said.

"You're too short for that." He snickered and put his hand on top of my head. Reminding me that I am indeed shorter than him. I glared at him and wacked his hand away. This is the Connor I liked and it confused me even more. It's like he is fighting himself internally whether he should be nice to me or rude.

"Really? Watch me. You won't say that when you are unconscious," I fired back. He laughed at my remark and I couldn't help, but laugh along with him.

"You should laugh more often."

I stopped laughing realizing that I shouldn't be talking to him. I coughed slightly and took a step back away from him. My heart saddened at the thought of being away from him and I wasn't sure why.

"Connor, Mom is calling you," Chloe yelled out.

"Uh-you should go," I said and he nodded confused as to what just happened because we were both out of character. Chloe walked inside and he coughed awkwardly. He put something on the table and walked out, but stopped and looked at me.

"My mom wanted to give you that," he motioned towards the bag and walked out.

"I'm not taking Connor away from Sarah. I postponed the announcement to buy some time." I told Chloe so that she wouldn't yell at me either.

"That's not why I'm here. My mother told me to help you get ready." She grabbed her makeup box out and put it on the table. I didn't realize that she was ready. She looked beautiful.

"Let me do your makeup, then you'll change and I'll do your hair last," she said.

"I'm sorry." I felt the need to tell her.

"For what?" she asked me as she did my face.

"Coming into your life and ruining it," I told her honestly. If I had read the contract, then we wouldn't be in this situation right now.

"But I'll figure it out." She moved my head slightly as she examined my face.

"Go put your dress on." She cleaned the table, ignoring what I had said. I grabbed the dress that was covered. Apparently it was a surprise from Lauren. I opened it up to find a gorgeous dress, but couldn't help but feel insecure about it. What Chloe and her grandmother said was all true, my body isn't made for anything. I will look ugly in this, maybe I shouldn't wear this.

"Are you done?" she asked. I looked at the door and back, hesitant if I should wear it. Will Lauren be upset if I don't wear the dress she gave me?

"Do you need help?" she asked.

"No." After taking my clothes off and putting it in the bin. I put on the dress and without looking at myself, I walk out.

"You look gor- a bit better than before. I did a good job so don't ruin it." What was she going to say? If I didn't know her better I would have thought that she was going to say that I was gorgeous. Even if she did, I wouldn't believe her because I could never be beautiful.

"I don't want to turn fat, just like Audrey"

"I agree with you"

I tried to shake off the old memories that flowed back but I couldn't. I sat down as she fixed my hair.

"I'm sorry that you had to put a lot of effort on me." She looked at me with an emotion that I couldn't comprehend. Chloe looked away and grabbed the bag and handed it to me.

"The shoes are in the bag." I put the heels on and I tried my hardest not to look at myself in the mirror, but failed to do so. I was a couple inches taller but not tall enough. There is no point because no matter how I try I will never be beautiful and I've accepted it.

"Do you know where Sarah is?" I asked.

"She's getting ready with Kylie in the bathroom...why?" she asked. A sad smile played along my lips. I excused myself and walked towards the bathroom. I would have been happy, but after the incident that happened in the room I was hurt. I heard Kylie and Sarah laughing behind the door as both my best friends were getting along. I mean ex-best friend. I can't imagine losing Kylie too; I shook my head back and forth trying to forget. I went back into the room and sat down on my bed. It has been a long day. I look up at the ceiling and put my head against the headboard. I tried not to press back too hard because it would have ruined my hair.

"You have about twenty minutes, I'm going to go to the guest room that's across the room. If you need anything just scream out my name I'll come." A small smile made its way on my face and she left awkwardly. I wanted to relieve my stress and so I got up and grabbed my violin and sat down on the other side of my bed. I sat there and peacefully played the violin until I heard the floor creek. I wasn't sure who it was, but I was too tired to care. I continued to play my violin and I felt the bed creak. My back was against them so I couldn't see the person. Once I was done I put the violin down beside me.

"How long have you been playing for?" Connor asked. A small smile played along my lips as old memories of me trying to play the violin. Ignoring his question, I asked, "What are you doing here?"

"My mother told me to keep you company." The tone he used made me realize that he didn't have to be here. I turn slightly to the side only to see his back.

"Sarah is down the hall." He turned around slightly and looked at me. He looked beautiful. He was wearing a tuxedo which fit him perfectly and his hair was a bit messy but the good kind.

"She's getting ready; I don't want to disturb her." Connor said and I nod staring back to his grayish eyes.

"Chloe is in the guest room."

"Do you not want me to stay?" he asked. I looked at him confused as to why he was asking me that.

"When you said that your mom told you to keep me company. It seemed like you were upset about it so I was giving you options as to where you should go. I didn't want you to think that you had to stay here and that you didn't have a choice."

He looked at me weirdly and his grayish eyes turned into a dark green color. He got up and I turned around, he probably is going to leave now. I looked down at my violin and did I say something wrong- Black dress shoes caught my sight and I looked up to see Connor standing in front of me. He bent down slightly making direct eye contact. My breathing slightly hitched and he grabbed the violin that was beside me. A small smile made its way on his face as he held the violin.

"Can you teach me how to play?" he asked. I get up and quickly take a step back creating a good distance between us.

"S-sure." I picked up the bow and handed it to him.

"How do you hold it?" he asked as he tried to figure out a way to hold it without making it fall off. .

"That's not how you hold it...here let me help you." I grabbed the violin and tried to place it on him, but he was too tall. I put both hands on either side of his shoulder and pushed him down so that he could sit down.

"You could have just asked you know." I shrugged and placed the violin on his shoulder and put his head to the side. So that he was closer to the violin. I gave him the other bow and he held it. He tried to play it, but he flinched back and yelped, "Ow, I hurt myself."

"Where?" I asked worriedly and he chuckled. I slapped his arm really hard and he jerked back a little back.

"Hey! What was that for?" he asked as he rubbed his arm and I laughed. He had a small frown on his face and resembled a little boy who got hurt. I have to admit, it was adorable.

"You're so cute,"Connor siad. I looked away blushing as he smiled at me. I heard someone knock on the door and I looked up to see Lauren.

"Connor, I need to talk to Audrey. Can you go out for a bit?"

Connor plopped on my bead and put his head against the pillow.

"I'll put my earbuds on, I don't feel like getting up." Connor put his earbuds in his ear and went on his phone.

"Connor," Lauren said.

"Can't hear you," Connor said as he crossed his legs.

"It's fine," I said and she rolled her eyes and looked at me.

"Did you check the bag that Connor gave you?" Lauren asked. I nod my head 'no'. She grabbed the bag that was on the table and opened it up to show me a beautiful diamond necklace, bracelet, and earrings.

"Lauren...I can't take this-"

"It's a gift and what did I say call me mom." I hugged her tightly, not letting her go. My eyes slightly teared up as she held me in her arms. If I could get these types of hugs every single day then I'd give everything I have away. It made me feel happy and wanted.

"Thank you." Mom. I wanted to call her mom but I couldn't because I knew that if I do call her that, I'll get attached to her. I would kill to have her as my mother but she never will be because Sarah has the right to call her mom...not me.

"You look beautiful, dear. Don't cry you will make me cry along with you." I laughed and nodded. I blink away the tears that threatened to come out and smiled.

"Anyways, come down at five o'clock we are about to leave." She left the room and I felt my heart drop. If only my own mother would give me hugs like she did because then I'd never complain ever.

I walk towards the mirror and sit down. I tried to hold the tears in but they wanted to come out.

"Why do you look like you are about to cry?" he asked.

"I'm not. It's just that Lauren is really nice. You're lucky to have her as your mom." I smiled.

"I mean your mother is nice also." What he said made me laugh a bit. Sure she is... if only he knew that she was only nice to Rachel. I put the bracelet and earrings on. It matched my dress perfectly, I wanted to wear the necklace as well but wouldn't it be too much? Let's see. I tried to put the necklace on, but couldn't.

"Come downstairs." Chloe yelled out from the first floor. I put the necklace back in the box, maybe it was a sign that I shouldn't wear it. Just when I was about to get up Connor stopped me. 

"Why aren't you wearing the necklace?"

"I couldn't-" He grabbed the box and took the necklace out of the box and pulled me towards him. He moved my hair with his cold hands making me flinch. His hands brushed my collar bones until he reached to the back of my neck. He pulled me closer to him since I was standing in front of him. I could feel his hot breath against my forehead. People would think that what he did was romantic but not for me. I was trying to contain my laugh but failed to do so.

"Why're you laughing?"

"It tickles," I giggled out. He brought his hands back down and ruffled my hair slightly.

"You look beautiful, shorty." He smirked trying to provoke me.

"You look handsome, long-john," I said without thinking.

"And hey! I'm not short," I told him.

"Yes you are," he said.

"You probably had surgery to make you tall. I think those legs are fake, here let me check." I kicked him in the shin hard and immediately I regretted it because my foot was stinging. Oh, and I was wearing my heels.

"If I were you I'd run," he said angrily. I zoomed out of the room without thinking twice. I turned around to see him running towards me as I ran down the stairs only to trip on the last step. He grabbed my arm and pulled me up so that I wouldn't fall. Then, he picked me up and we ran off into the sunset just like in those cliche stories

But he didn't do that. Instead, he stood there and watched me fall down. He stopped and laughed at me as I sat down on the floor.

"I-I c-can't-" he said in between laughs and I glared at him.

"Are you going to help me up?" I said gruffly and he clicked his tongue.

"Connor, come on my feet hurt." He sighed and I grabbed onto his hand and pulled him down harshly. I took the chance and got up and stuck my tongue out at him.

"You lit-" I put my heel against his neck and his eyes widened at my boldness.

"You were saying?" I asked.

"You wouldn't da-" I press my heel against his neck slightly not trying to hurt him but to prove my point.

"Okay, you win, just move your foot," he said and I moved my foot back and laughed. He got up and glared at me.

"You just wait."

"Since we are going to just sit here and watch them, I'm going to go get some food," someone whispered. We look up to see everyone staring at us. Connor walked away as his ears turned slightly red and I made my way towards Kylie. She raised her eyebrows at me, but I shrugged her off. I look around to find Connor and Sarah's friends here as well. What are they doing here?

"There are two limos parked outside and we adults will take one and kids will take the other one." There were ten of us.

Nothing can go wrong, right?