Forbidden Love (Tristan Evans Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty Six

Chapter 26

My heart sunk the minute the words escaped James' lips and I wrapped my arms around my middle, short breaths escaping my mouth.

I felt like I was about to have a panic attack.

"You can't be serious." The sudden revelation was too much of a shock for me.

It was just too much.

"Trust me, I wish it wasn't true myself." James looked down at the table, complete sadness consuming his facial features.

He must have been able to sense the amount of questions I wanted to ask, so he attempted to explain what he knew a little bit more.

"I saw her Dad yesterday," he started, running a frustrated hand through his already messy hair, "I'd just spoken to Grace not minutes before, and we'd tried to sort it out," he looked at me and laughed harshly, "Well I'd tried to sort it out anyway, but she feels like it's pointless."

So Grace wasn't willing to try then.

"Anyway, I came downstairs and her Dad came home," he continued, "We spoke for a couple minutes and then he just...he just admitted it to me."

I looked away from him as tears pooled in my eyes.

How could I not have noticed the complete agony my supposed best friend was going through?

I felt so selfish.

I raised my eyes to his as he spoke again.

"You don't really understand the amount of guilt I feel." He whispered, a lone tear dripping into the corner of his mouth.

He pushed it away roughly as I looked at him sharply.

"James you are not the reason Grace does this." I forced his eyes to meet mine, "You are not the reason Grace feels this way. Go see her now and I bet she'd be willing to say the same thing."

"She doesn't even know that her Dad told me." He said, sinking in his chair.

That is so unhelpful right now.

"You need to tell her you know." I stood up suddenly, "No. She needs to know we both know. She can't think we're all keeping secrets from her." I dragged him up, "She needs to able to trust you again James. She needs to know you're her best friend again."

He forced himself out of my grip and glared at me.

"She doesn't care Mia! I've tried okay? I've tried everything and she's just completely given up! What am I supposed to do when the person I love fucking hates me!"

I stumbled away from him as the words exploded from him, washing over me as I held my breath.

"You love her?" I asked incredulously, staring up into James' tear stained cheeks.

"I always have," he whispered, "And I always will."

--

After careful discussion, me and James decided that the best way to approach this subject was to see her when we were calm and collected, and when we knew we wouldn't do anything rash.

It was difficult to decide whether telling the rest of the group was what we needed to do.

She had to know that she had plenty of people there for her - people who loved her dearly and didn't want to see so much self hatred in her.

I understood her problem.

I have constant issues with feeling self loathing, and I also have major self confidence issues.

But I was willing to help her.

She needed me and I would do anything to help her.

After a stressful day, we decided that we'd go and see Grace in the morning, and would try and get her to be more open with herself.

We were hoping that she'd be the person to tell our friends.

They did deserve to know after all, and I only felt like I was betraying her by revealing her secret to our group myself.

So she had to do it.

Whilst crawling into bed, I couldn't help but stiffen the moment I heard a patter outside my window.

It was absolutely chucking it down, the rain traveling down the window like silent tears.

I hesitantly approached the door, worried he would be there.

Worried he'd come back to my house again.

Yet when I peeked through the gap in my deep grey curtains, I couldn't stop my heart from fluttering when I saw Tristan's blue eyes staring into my own.

His grin was contagious and I pulled the window open, ushering him inside from the cold and wet outside.

Water droplets dropped from his hair and he shook his head out, purposefully getting me wet.

I glared at him playfully.

"I might not let you in anymore if you continue doing this!" I stepped away from him when he reached out to grab me and he grinned.

"I can never take your threats seriously when you're staring at me like that."

Before I could ask him what he meant he covered my mouth with his own and cupped my cheek, kissing me deeply, enough to have me begging for more.

He pulled away.

"Well that was a better welcome than I was expecting." I said cheekily, pecking him quickly on the cheek before moving towards my bed.

I noticed his drenched clothing and gestured towards the bathroom.

"There's a towel in there, I'll try and find a spare shirt from Connor's room." I said before leaving him to go into the bathroom.

I grabbed a plain black shirt from a washing pile by his door and prayed he wouldn't notice the missing shirt.

When I returned to my room, it was difficult to not choke the minute I saw Tristan's bare back to me as he ran a white towel through his damp hair.

His back muscles rippled as he took a breath and he let the towel drop before turning round to face me, his naked chest currently in my face.

He smirked quickly, but I threw the shirt at him before he could speak his perverted thoughts.

"Feisty woman..." He whispered huskily as he pulled the shirt over his still damp hair.

The shirt was slightly too short and hugged his figure more than it should, but it was better than the damp mess crinkled on my bedroom floor.

Once his chest was officially covered again, he pulled me towards him by grabbing my hand and interlocking our fingers.

He pulled us towards the love seat in the corner of my room and we both collapsed on it, my head resting in his lap as he ran his fingers through my hair.

I sighed heavily and closed my eyes.

So much was going on in my life write now - it was becoming difficult to function properly.

"What's up princess?" Tristan mumbled under his breath, his old nickname for me bringing a smile to my lips.

"What makes you think something's wrong?" I asked, looking up at him as his fingers continued their assault on my hair.

"I can tell." He said simply, before looking at me expectantly.

"I just have a lot on my mind, I'm struggling to cope with my thoughts properly." Tristan looked at me concerned, before moving me into a sitting position and locking our hands together.

"You having second thoughts about us?" He asked with almost a wounded look, his eyes clouded with confusion.

I laughed before running my fingers through his fringe.

"Stupid, it's not about us." I said whilst keeping my fingers in his hair.

I really did love his hair.

"Then what's bothering you? I want to help you." He kissed my palm when I moved it to his cheek, "I want to be there for you - whenever you need me."

I leaned in and planted a kiss on his nose.

I don't know how I'd found someone so special.

"Trust me. I know you're always there for me. And I'll always be here for you too ya know?" I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my head on his chest, his heart beat a regular pattern under my ear.

"That still doesn't explain to me what's wrong though." He pushed a lock of hair behind my ear and forced to me look at him.

I couldn't relent when he was looking at me so deeply.

"It's just...Grace." I uttered out finally, the statement weighing between us like a heavy rock.

His look of confusion did nothing to ease the mood.

"Oh...erm...well," He ran an awkward hand through his hair. He obviously wasn't expecting that to come out of my mouth.

I smiled secretly at his adorable reaction.

"Well is she okay?" He asked suddenly, concern gracing his features.

Even without knowing Grace that well, Tristan still cared - and it made my heart soar to think that the reason behind that was because she was my best friend.

Because he cared about me.

And I cared about her.

"Yeah...she's fine." I said, as an attempt to ease his concern, "Well she is for now anyway." I looked away and frowned.

I had no idea what was involved with these sort of things.

"Whats happening? Whats bothering you so much then?" Tristan grabbed my chin and I looked at him blankly.

"She...she...Grace..." I closed my eyes, not able to look at him as I said, "She has an eating disorder."

I felt Tristan's hand leave my chin as the words travelled out of my mouth, the bombshell knocking the air out of him.

"Jesus." He muttered quietly as he dragged a hand down his face, his eyes seeming suddenly more stressed.

"What...When...How did you find out about this?" He finally stuttered out.

"James - he told me this afternoon. He said he'd come from her house where her Dad felt the need to confess it to him." Tristan grabbed my hand and kissed it softly.

"I'm sorry Mia. I know you care a lot for her." He said, his eyes filled with utter sadness for her well being.

I understood completely how he felt.

But I was determined to help Grace.

And I was going to do whatever it took to overcome this.

--
sorry as usual for the late delay! I just have writers block all the time and never feel like I've wrote enough.

anyway I'm going to try and wrap this story up soon - I want to start a new 5sos fanfic to write over summer and want to solely focus on that as I have big hopes for it. I'll be posting the plot summary soon I hope and I have big ideas for this story so keep an eye out !!

okay please ignore any grammar and spelling mistakes.

till next time my lovelies,
all my love,
beth x