Take A Walk With Me (One-Shots and More)

No Lie (Merome)

I felt my body tense.

"Mitch?"

I couldn't face him again. Not now, not ever. He had seen through my lie. He had to have. He was mocking me.

He hated me.

"Mitch, please."

He had driven me home without another word. When we reached my place, I just grabbed my bags and ran. Nothing else had happened, not until he ran after me, saying we needed to talk.

"Adam can lie better than you, Mitchell. Why? Why would you lie about something like that? I know you're probably pissed at me for bringing it up, but this is serious."

"It just doesn't matter, Jerome," I sigh, unlocking the door to my room. It takes another moment for me to come back out.

I've never been so glad that the house was empty.

"C'mere, Mitch..."

"No. If you want to talk to me, come to me."

I hear him sigh, presumably from the end of the hall. His faint footsteps tap down the hall, and I see him round the corner, standing in front of me.

"Mitch..." I glance up at him, then back down, fiddling with my dogtags.

"What do you want me to say? That it was all some joke? That I was telling you the truth? If that's what you want, let me give you a dose of reality. I've been following you around for about a year now like a lovesick fool. I can't help it. I hate it. That's why I've been lying... I know so much about you, Biggums. More than you realize. You just draw me in."

He stares for a moment. "You fucking idiot. Are you that blind?"

I flinch. "I guess so."

"Mitch, I've known you've loved me for a couple months now. You're an open book. I had Ty ask you for a reason."

It's my turn to stare. "I... What?"

"You heard me," he laughs. "To be fair, I've told a few lies myself."

"Fucking hell. Like what?"

"Alanna didn't break up with me. She knew I was head over heels for you and started bitching about it. I got tired of it."

I take a step back. No. He's lying now, he's got to be. I'm not this lucky. Nothing ever turns out this well.

"You're serious?"

"As a god damn heart attack." There's a moment of silence. "Now, are you going to keep staring like you saw a murder, or are you going to kiss me?"

----

Two Years Later

"Yo, Ty."

It's been awhile since those few days that permanently changed my life. Most of the time, it's for the better.

"What's up?"

Team Crafted split, but we all knew that would happen. Jerome and I were working with a few other old friends in a group called The Pack. Every so often, though, the Team got together for a Skype call. It was good to reminisce.

"You were right," I tell him, acting clueless.

"Huh?"

I switch on the camera. I'm currently sitting in Jerome's lap. Not only was my computer broken, but this had become a normal thing.

Before the Merome jokes start, I grab Jerome's hand and hold it up, mine on top.

The shiny engagement ring glints in the light.

Yes, I could tell you

His favorite color's black

He's my gamer,

But he don't kill me

His sister's beautiful,

He has his father's eyes...

And if you asked me if I loved him

Oh, if you asked me if I loved him...

There's no lie.

---

This is way overdue.

I told myself it would come out for 10k reads, but it never did. Fantastic. 2k reads later, it's finally seeing the light of day.

I just wanted to thank you guys so much. 12,000 is a lot. A whole fucking lot. Quite honestly, when I posted I'd Lie, I never expected to get 100 reads on the book in total.

Now look what has more than 100 reads in of itself.

I'm getting back into writing, slowly but surely. I hate to make excuses, but I've been dealing with a lot behind the scenes and trying to make things work. It kinda gets hard sometimes... So I just want to thank all of you for sticking through with me for that, too, and all the support you guys give.

I also posted this for another reason. I wanted to ask if you guys would be good with a couple non-fanfic stories written and posted to this book... I've kind of been slipping away from the fandom (not entirely! No worries there), and writing my own things has been taking up more and more of my time. I know I posted Asterisks separately, but if you've read it, that's the style of writing I'm hoping to get into this book.

Anyways, I know this is dragging on a little long. I just want to thank all of you for this amazing journey, and what I hope to be the next chapter of an even better one.

Thank you, and I'll see you all next chapter!