Scent of Love (Scomiche fanfiction)

Aftershocks

Scott was fuming.

Those thirty minutes were all a blur. What had Mitch exactly said? What had his own reaction been? How had he replied? Mind clouded over with anger, he couldn't recall the details of what had happened. He suddenly jolted to a halt when a car sped right past him, the driver screaming profanities at him while the loud honking cut through the silence of the night. Scott's heart jumped all the way up to his throat at the familiar sound. Last time he'd heard it so distinctively, it had been followed by a hit and the feeling of piercing pain spreading all over his body. He didn't particularly wish to feature in yet another hit-and-run episode within a span of two days, even if right now he felt like his life was meaningless. Was he overdramatizing? Possibly. Did he have the right to? Absolutely.

He put his body in motion again, literally forcing his muscles to do their work when his wobbly legs refused to co-operate, almost as if they had a mind of their own. He briefly entertained the idea of just slumping to the ground and burying his head in his hands like a five-year-old, but in the end he settled for leaning his back against the nearest wall, head spinning and chest heaving as if he had just run a marathon.

Betrayal. What a funny word. Surely one he hadn't been expecting to use to explain his emotional state after today's date with Mitch. Date with Mitch. Oh, the irony. What he had thought was going to be a date, was meant to be nothing but a harsh goodbye all along. He let out a chuckle, head moving from side to side in a mixture of disbelief and self-loathing. How could he be so blind, so stupid, so naïve? How had he missed all the signals, how had he not realized? It was all too good to be true, and deep inside he knew he had let himself fall too hard and too fast. Even though it was no use crying over spilled milk, he found himself unable to simply ignore the pain in his chest. Emotions in a jumble, he pressed his palms against the brick wall for more support, legs almost giving way under his weight as the events of the night kept replaying in his head over and over again. Right now, he didn't care about Mitch's reasons. Right now, he didn't give a single fuck about whether or not the boy's actions were justified. Right now, he felt betrayed.

It wasn't your regular kind of rejection. Granted, it would have still hurt if it had been just about Mitch lying to him all this time before finally admitting he had never had any feelings for him whatsoever, and he had just taken advantage of him, used him. What made it much more painful, though, was that Mitch had turned out to be that boy, the one who had been wronged seven years ago, the one Scott had been meaning to apologize to all this time. He deserved an apology, if not from him, then from a bunch of people he used to call his friends back in high school. But now, it was too late; now, it didn't matter anymore.

Then again, fuck it. Mitch was clearly overdramatizing. In all honesty, Scott couldn't comprehend what the boy's problem was and how in the world he could go as far as blaming him for the death of his parents. What utter bullshit. He had never caused anyone physical pain, or hurt anyone the way Mitch had insinuated. Sure, he was no saint and, like every teenager, he had made some mistakes he wasn't exactly proud of, but you don't become a murderer just because you're too scared to stand up to your peers or because you don't try to talk some sense into them. Right?

Wrong. He knew the video Mitch had mentioned was part of a very nasty plan. Yes, he was involved, but could he help it? No. Was it voluntary? No. Did it seem like Scott was trying to justify his actions and appease his conscience? Most definitely.

Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it. Why did it have to be him, of all people? Why did fate choose to play such a merciless trick on him and shove Mitch right into his arms after all these years? Why did Mitch had to be so smart, and sassy, and attractive? And last but not least, why did he find out the truth only now, when he had already given in and let himself fall in love with this insufferable, yet so endearing boy. Oh, wait, that one he actually knew the answer to.