Notice Me! (A Conor Maynard AU Fan Fiction)

Chapter 25 - Paranoia?

Conor’s POV

“No way.” I shook my head vigorously. The whole day at school had gone well and I came home feeling happy until I saw Sam sitting on my bed awaiting my arrival. He had that look on his face like he was confused and needed some help, but I wasn’t prepared for this.

“But I really like her!” Sam emphasised. He was beginning to get agitated, I could tell.

“You’ve spoken to her once! That doesn’t mean you like her at all!” I looked over to Zack who was standing behind me, ready to offer some helpful words if I needed him to, who just shrugged.

“Oh Zack and Olivia were lifelong buddies! Weren’t they?” Sam shouted with sarcasm obvious in his voice. “They had barely even spoken!”

“Is this still because of Beth? You can’t have her so you’ll settle for her best friend so you can still see her?” I could see all the puzzle pieces fitting together in my mind. I can’t believe I didn’t think about this before!

“No! Of course not!” Sam looked furious at me. “How dare you think that! I think Mandy is a great person, she offered me advice and help when all you guys were too busy with your girlfriends.”

“Pfft. Yeah alright then!” I laughed. “You’re still caught up trying to break Beth and me up! Look what you did only yesterday! You took a picture of your own inbox and pretended it was me!” I looked at him waiting for an explanation. I could feel the anger beginning to build up inside of me. He had no right to try and ruin everything because of his jealousy.

“Yeah, I’ll admit I was still jealous and still trying to make you two realise that you can’t just pretend I was never involved in all of this, but after speaking to her, I realised that she is nice, better than Beth was to me!” I clenched my fists. How dare he talk badly about my girlfriend! “It’s my opinion!” he said as soon as he caught sight of my fists.

“Look, mate, if he wants to go for it, what’s the problem?” Zack finally spoke, saying words I didn’t want to hear.

“A lot. He’ll be around me and Beth all the time!” I said with urgency in my voice. How could Zack not see he was going to use Mandy to break me and Beth up?

“So what? So am I!” Zack said, trying to be reasonable. How could he be falling for Sam’s lies? How could he go against me like this? “Conor, maybe he has finally found someone to distract him from the nonsense at school! Maybe he’s finally found someone that isn’t going to drop him for his brother…” Zack’s words cut through me like knives. The words stung. Is he saying I’m the bad one here? Is he going to be on Sam’s side?

“No! How can you believe him? He is manipulative! He’ll wrap you round his finger, he’ll use you like a puppet, do you not understand?! I know him! He’s doing this to get at me!” I shouted, gesturing angrily as I spoke. Zack looked taken aback by my outburst but I needed him to see that it was a ploy. He was out to get me.

“Conor…” Zack said in that tone that only meant he was going to say something I didn’t want to hear. My heart sunk quickly and instantly everything around me was forgotten, I was focussed only on Zack’s words. “Mate, I think you’re paranoid. I think Sam is finally beginning to get over this but you’re clinging on to it like it’s your only hope!” The words echoed round in my head for a little while. What was he talking about? I was fine!

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I spat, suddenly coming back into reality. “I’m fine. It’s Sam you need to worry about! He’s turning you against me!” It felt like the world was crashing down around me. My only best friend, someone I’d taken in and helped through everything was dropping me for my brother?

“I’m not doing anything!” Sam rejected my claims quickly. My blood was boiling, I just wanted to make Sam disappear and stop ruining my life!

“Conor, he’s okay now. No one is out to ruin your relationship!” Zack said in a soft tone which just sounded patronising. Was he taking the piss? I shoved him backwards into the wall without a second thought, crazy things going round in my head.

“If you want to go against me too, then fine!” I shouted in his face. “I don’t need you! You need me! I saved you and this is how you repay me? You turn against me and go to my brother’s side? Get out!” I pulled him forwards and shoved him back into the wall, making a picture fall off the wall and land on the floor with a soothing smash. Sam jumped up and ran towards us, grabbing me by the shoulders and pulling me away from Zack.

“Conor! What are you doing?” Sam, for the first time in a while, looked scared but it only made me happier inside. He wants to ruin my life, I’ll ruin his. I threw a punch at Sam but he ducked quickly out of the way. “See, you’re just as bad as me when you think something is going wrong!” Sam shouted at me.

“Sam, just get out of the room!” I heard Zack say from behind me. I grabbed a photo frame from my bedside table and lobbed it at Zack, missing him by inches.

“The fuck?” He exclaimed as he ran for the door. “Sam! Come on!” I ran towards Sam and shoved him towards the door but pulled Zack back and threw him towards my bed, the other side of the room from my door.

“Why are you turning against me? What did I do to you?” I shouted, although the stinging sensation in my throat was making it hard for me to talk. “I helped you, I brought you in when no one else would and yet you’re dropping me?” Zack had backed away from me every time I’d stepped towards him.

 “Conor I’m not dropping you! I’m trying to make you see clearly!  Sam’s moving on, so why can’t you?” The tone of his voice made me want to scream. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. “Sam just wants someone to love him! He showed his feelings to one girl and she just went for his brother without a word. He’s broken. You’re broken. We’re all broken, but you gotta see the truth when it’s spelt out in front of you!” I ran at Zack and punched him, he stumbled to the side and put his hand to his face. I ran at him again but he pushed me away, making me stumble backwards and fall to the floor. He got up and shook his head. “When did you turn out like this?” He stepped over me and walked out of my room, slamming the door shut behind me. I moved so my back was up against my bed and pulled my knees up to my chest. Was he actually being serious? Did he really think I was being paranoid? After everything Sam has done to ruin my relationship with Beth and after everything we went through Fiona, Zack thinks I’m being paranoid? Sam is out to destroy me, I know it!

I picked myself up and lay on my bed, picking up my mobile ready to text Beth – but what was the point? I threw my phone beside me but I couldn’t let what Zack had said drop. Was I missing the point? Maybe if Sam and Mandy were together it would stop him trying to ruin my relationship… Maybe it would make it all better…