¹ two people, kate martin

32. chasing after me

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO.
twitter and narrative
not proofread

december 8, 2022: iowa city, iowa

clairejohnston tweeted !

"What the actual fuck?" Caitlin says from my couch. Kate, Caitlin, Leah, Florence, and I are hanging out together today. The Clark girl starts passing her phone around for us all to take a look at it. I watch as Florence's eyes go wide and she looks up at me before passing the phone to Leah.

Leah looks up at her girlfriend, giving the phone to Kate. I look over Kate's shoulder as she reads it. It's a tweet from Claire. She's spun the narrative to make it look like I cheated on her while outing Caitlin in the replies.

My throat feels like it's closing up as I read. Kate looks at me and I can't tell if she believe Claire's words or not. Her face is unreadable to me which isn't normal. She's usually an open book to me.

Kate passes Caitlin's phone back to her and we're all silent for a little bit. Caitlin runs her hands over her face as Leah presses her hand to her girlfriends thigh.

"I'm sorry," I say after a few seconds. I'm not sure what to say, but surely, it's my fault. My ex is the one who posted it after all. I sit up and scoot a little bit from Kate. She looks like she doesn't want to be around me right now. I shake my head, "I'm sorry," I repeat.

Caitlin stares at me, "Frey, it's not your fault. Connor probably told her. This isn't on you," the girl reassures, but I don't believe her. I look at Kate who can't meet my eyes.

"She's lying, Kate. I didn't-," I pause, trying to gather myself, "I didn't cheat on her," I say, my voice breaking as I stare at her. Everything was going so well. This was supposed to work out.

Kate just nods, "I have to do something for my aunt. I'll call you later," she says, getting up as she chews on the inside of her lip. I go to reach for her hand, but she pulls away, heading straight for my door without saying goodbye.

I can't blame her for not knowing what to believe, but she saw how I was at dinner in October when Claire was there. I don't know why I would have lied about that.

When the apartment door shuts, I get up and head for my bedroom. Before I leave the living room, I turn to the three of them on the couch, "I'll talk to Claire and get her to take it down, Cait," I tell her through tears. I mumble, "I'm sorry" before going to my room.

I close the door behind me and quickly break down. I don't know how to get Kate to believe me. I'm just going to fuck everything up.

After a few seconds, there's a soft knock and my door creaks open. I turn around to see who it is and I'm surprised when I see it's Caitlin. My heart only breaks a little more. I don't want to hurt her or Kate, I've never wanted that.

I shake my head, keeping the words "I'm sorry" in the back of my throat. I know Caitlin wouldn't want to hear that right now, not after she said it wasn't my fault.

"I didn't cheat on Claire," I say, crossing my arms over my chest. "Kate's so pissed."

I cover my face with my hands, tears falling on to my palms. Gently, I feel Caitlin wrap her arms around my shoulders, "If she's pissed, it's not at you," Caitlin says.

I shake my head, "She probably thinks I lied to her," my voice is slightly muffled, but Caitlin can still make it out.

"Kate will come around," Caitlin reassures, "She can't stay mad for long. I promise."

Caitlin hugs me for a few more moments before I pull away, wiping my tears. She just got outed. You're being inconsiderate.

"Are you okay?" I ask, my voice soft.

She nods, squeezing my shoulder, "We'll handle this together. Leah and Flo are here too, Kate will be back."

"What if she hates me?" I ask. I used to ask myself that question multiple times a day after Kate stopped talking to me years ago. It was a persistent nag that I did something wrong for her to hate me.

Caitlin shakes her head, "She could never hate you."

authors note
um so...
anyway- more of caitlin
and freya's friendship!