Hurricane Love

Eighteen

'Oh god, turn around; go, go, GO!' I muttered to Abbie, as I spotted Mason coming our way in the corridor, quickly grabbing Abbie and spinning her around to walk back the opposite way.

'You're going to have to face him sometime,' Abbie said.

'Amelia!' Mason called, from behind us. 'Wait!'

'Oh shit,' I groaned.

'Just deal with it,' Abbie said, patting my back. 'Meet you at the gates.'

She quickly spun around and headed back up the corridor, giving Mason a small smile as he looked at her curiously and continued walking towards me.

'If you're here to start up an argument, save it,' I sighed.

'About what?' he asked.

'I know you've seen the video,' I said. 'Everybody has.'

'Yeah, I saw it,' he said. 'What the hell were you thinking? They could have done anything to you!'

'But they didn't,' I sighed, rolling my eyes.

'No, because it was cut short but they were definitely heading towards something,' Mason said. 'It was Ryker that intervened, wasn't it?'

'How do you know?' I asked, frowning at him.

'The video cuts off just as someone walks in the room,' Mason said. 'Not before you hear his voice start yelling for a split second; I recognised it was him right away.'

'Yeah, well, they were Ryker's idiot friends,' I said, shrugging. 'I'm your girlfriend, he knew it was the right thing to do.'

'My girlfriend?' he repeated, his face lighting up.

'Sorry,' I said, gritting my teeth in annoyance at myself. 'I mean ex-girlfriend. Habit and all.'

'Amelia, I really want us to talk and fix this,' Mason said, his face remorseful and desperate. 'Since we broke up you seem to just be acting up even more so than you did before. The girl on that video is not you and I think it's because of what's going on between us that you're acting this way.'

'Trust me, you didn't know me before we were together,' I told him. 'I was a lot worse than that video.'

'That's the past,' Mason said. 'We were good together; you were happy!'

'Exactly, past tense,' I sighed. 'Was happy.'

'Ryker isn't that bad, Amelia,' Mason said. 'He's certainly not bad enough that we should stay broken up because of him. I mean he saved you at that party; does that not show you that there is some good in him?'

'Sure,' I replied. 'That's the thing; I've realised Ryker isn't the problem. Ryker is Ryker and always will be and I can't change that but why would I? He isn't my boyfriend. He isn't the one that changes around his best friend. You will always put him before me and I'm tired of having this conversation now.'

'Give me the chance to show you it won't be like that anymore,' Mason said, in an almost begging tone.

'I don't want to, Mason,' I sighed. 'I just want to be on my own for a bit, okay?'

'Fine,' he replied, nodding quickly. 'That's okay. I know you'll come back to me. I'll wait because we are meant to be together.'

'Well, if we are meant to be together then we'll find our way back naturally,' I said.

'Then I'll give you the space you want,' Mason said. 'I'll prove to you that I love you by waiting and still being here when you're ready to start things up again.'