Stalker!England X Reader- Always There

*~*~Six*~*~

Chapter Six

It felt as though every pair of eyes were on (Y/N) as she tried to think of an escape from the stupid game and the awkward position it had put her in. She could pretend to be ill, but that would be too obvious. She could pretend she had an urgent phone call, but she'd left her phone upstairs. There was no denying it- she was screwed.

"Uh, (Y/N)?" Alfred's voice took her from her desperate thoughts, "you're supposed to be in the closet by now."

"Yeah, don't leave the guy waiting," Gilbert said, referencing to Arthur who was standing calmly by the closet door, watching the scene unfold. Gilbert's arm was slung over Elizaveta's shoulder who was nodding encouragingly at (Y/N).

She sighed and nodded. Pulling her dress down, she gave Alfred the crumpled post-it note and headed for the closet door. She grabbed Arthur's hand, ignoring the shiver of repulsion which ran through her at his touch and opened the door.

"Start the timer now," she told Alfred as he gave her a supportive thumbs-up, "and tell me when it's over."

With a deep, shaky breath she closed the door, cloaking the pair in darkness.

"Well," Arthur's voice was soft and gentle as it found its way to her ears, "this is an interesting turn of events now, isn't it?"

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Arthur was finding it hard to conceal his emotions. He wasn't even sure what those emotions were but he knew they needed hiding. He felt happy that she was so close to him and in such an intimate way and this should have been the only thing he felt. Despite this, his happiness was eclipsed by jealousy. She had kissed Alfred and she had wanted more. He saw it in the way her eyes had widened, the way her body had leaned into his, the way her cheeks had reddened. It was obvious to even the simplest folk (that bloody idiotic Frenchman had spotted it) that his (Y/N) had strong feelings for Alfred and he was going to have to change that. He had six minutes left. Six minutes to convince her that Alfred was not right for her.

"Was that your first time playing Spin the Bottle?" he asked her, starting simple in order to avoid arousing suspicion.

"No, we play it whenever Alfred has a party." Despite their close proximity, her voice was quiet and Arthur was sure that she was stood right in front of door, as far away from him as possible. It made his heart ache slightly.

"Oh," Arthur nodded. "Have you ever had to kiss Alfred before? I suppose it was pretty awkward what with you being best friends and all."

"It wasn't that awkward." Her voice had gotten louder, tighter. She was defensive. "We'll get over it. It didn't mean anything."

"Not to Alfred, that is." They had five minutes left now. Arthur had to speed things up if he wanted to accomplish anything. "It meant something to you though." He took a step forward, closer to (Y/N). She tried to take a step back (he could hear her feet moving) but her back was already touching the door.

"You don't know anything about us," she muttered venomously, "and it has nothing to do with you."

"I don't want to see you get hurt, that's all." He tried to lower his voice, to make it softer and comforting. He tried to hide the rage he felt at (Y/N) falling for Alfred and not him. "Alfred's my friend. He doesn't love you in the same way you love him."

"Alfred's not your friend," she snarled. "You barely know him. You threatened to hurt him only yesterday. I'm pretty sure you're just using him to get to me."