Spare yourself, 'BadBoy' ...

Chapter 53:

MUSIC: Dead To Me - Melanie Martinez (don't play until Ryan's P.O.V)

Amelia above^

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Amelia's P.O.V:

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It had been a few days since Ryan and I traveled to see his Mum. He'd been AWOL since. It was odd. It wasn't like him. We hadn't argued, we hadn't fought. I didn't do anything that could have embarrassed him. I just sat there, being a perfect girlfriend. After all the questions were asked and answered we sat, we ate, and we chatted briefly. It was only small talk, really. Not that small talk was a bad thing, in fact, it was probably a good thing. Ryan and his Mum wouldn't of been able to jump straight into being the best Mother and Son duo. It just wasn't possible. As much as there weren't any secrets between them, there was still hurt. She had hurt him in the past, and Ryan had, unknowingly, hurt her too.

But they were working on it which was all that mattered.

I had text Ryan, I had called him, but there was no response. I even took it as far as asking Lilly to ask Cindy if she knew why he wasn't responding.

She didn't know.

Apparently all the family had gone home a day or two after Ryan and I visited his Mum. I didn't even get to say goodbye to Summer since Ryan had suddenly disappeared.

Then it happened.

I was sat in my bedroom when a text had come through. My phone was on charge on my desk and I was watching TV.

I'd gotten a new one, finally.

I jumped up, excited, I thought it would have been Ryan.

It wasn't.

It was an anonymous number. Unknown. Blocked. I couldn't ring it, text it back or anything.

All it said were four simple words.

'I know you told.'

That was enough to get my stomach churning and my head spinning.

It was Gilbert. It had to be. No one else would've had a reason to message me something like that. No one else knew. No one else cared enough. I had sat there, and I had stared at the number for ages, before I gave up.

The paranoid thoughts started to creep into my brain; they were trying to make excuses as to why Ryan had gone AWOL so suddenly.

What if Gilbert had done something, said something, hurt someone?

What if Ryan held me accountable for his actions?

But then the rational side of me tried to argue the paranoid side.

Why would he turn on me after so long of knowing? Why would he hate me suddenly when we'd known everything about each other for so long?

Why would he leave when he said he loved me?

I couldn't think of any reasonable excuse. I knew he wasn't hurt or had actually disappeared because Lilly had been talking to Cindy. It hurt me to know that he would disappear on me without so much as a trace.

Of course I could have visited him. I could have gone to his house demanding for him to talk to me.

But Cindy had asked Lilly not to let me.

That meant that Ryan knew the way he was ignoring me would hurt me. He knew it would mess with my head.

So why would he do it?