"The lie of the party" A Virgil X Reader -Part One-

Chapter Ten: "The past hurts"

Riley's P.O.V.

I stared at the television, trapped in memories of the past, a single tear ran down my cheek, as I then see Daniel at the end of the song, lift me up in his arms as I posed, my expression glowing with joy as he did so.

He looked so perfect.
I looked so perfect.
We looked so perfect.
Why couldn't that last?
Why did he have to--

My painful wincing memories of the past were suddenly jolted to a pause when I felt a hand suddenly grab mine and squeeze gently
"Riley? Rileyyyyy... Riley!!"
I shook my head with my hands in a fit of confusion as I mumbled aloud, in a daze "We looked so... Uh, I--! Uh...  Wha--?!" My head ceased its confused shaking when I felt two hands suddenly grab my cheeks firmly, as
I was suddenly gazing obliviously into Virgil's eyes. "Whoa whoa whoa..." he started, as he cracked a smile and parted the hair from my face, before adding with a chuckle "You good?"
As I was still entrapped in the daze for a moment, I was silent; but after a short pause of his amused expression sinking in... And as he slowly inched his face closer to mine, I suddenly pulled away from him,
"Wh-- what the fuck?!"
I leaned back into the couch and sighed deeply. Before gazing over at him and snapping "What the hell was that?!" his expression became annoyed, as he raised his brow and replied sassily "What was what?"
I glared at him in a meaningless rage as I responded "what was-- what you were just doing?!" He scowled at me.
I could tell he was disgusted, he replied in a slow, calm tone, as he looked back at the TV screen, "Oh, you mean when I was trying to snap you out of your little panicked trance you were just in a second ago to make sure you were okay?" his words stung. He knew that I'd just tried accusing him of... Something. Which didn't exactly make me look great right now. I stuttered an embarrassed response "M-My what?" he looked back at me, "Yeah, you were mumbling little scared sentences, your whole body was cowering at... Whatever memories it was you were reflecting on," he glared over at the TV screen, which was paused once more on Daniels face "I'd assume about him?"
I looked at the TV screen in a shameful silence.

I hate that he's right.
I thought to myself in a mixture of shame and denial.

I looked back over in the direction of Virgil, my head lowered. I felt his hand set on top of mine, gently as he whispered "you sure you're good?"
I fought back my burning urge to scream back at him "NO!" but instead, let a single, silent tear roll off of my cheek, and onto the couch, as I nervously pulled my hand away from his, and leaned against the opposite side of the couch from him, and stared a dead, pain filled stare at the TV screen, and as I began to speak I felt his intense gaze, fixate on me.

"He was my dance partner, we'd met through my dance teacher who'd said I had exceeded as much as I could on my own and told me I'd needed a partner to excel any further. Hell, I didn't believe her. But I listened. I was only fifteen when we met. We'd started practicing with each other right away and soon became quite decent. We were in sync with each other. After nearly six months we'd decided to date. He was such a caring, innocent guy. So adventurous, so...  charming. Then, after nearly a year of dancing with each other...
We'd decided to enter the state dance Championship,"

I paused for a short moment as I wiped my remaining tears from my face and cleared my throat, still staring intently at the paused TV as I continued,
"we didn't think we'd get anywhere, well, I didn't anyway. But Daniel... Ha.
He thought we'd win it from the start.
Next thing we knew, we won a state championship and started getting calls from top of the line dance studios, walked a red carpet and even performed at a Hollywood award show, "

I took a deep breath as I clenched my two, clammy fists together and continued,

"we won three state championships over the course of a four year dance partnership, that's pretty damn impressive if you ask me..."
I trailed off as I stared into the deep, glowing oblivion of the TV screen, 
"What happened the year in between?" Virgil's voice was laced with both curiosity and concern as he spoke, "that year in between, the third year of our partnership, that was the worst year of my fuckin' life. And all because the Fame rushed to his thick skull."