Different IRL

Chapter 21

Aela is...Shy? But how? Why? I don't understand. My heart racing, I tear out of his bed and grab my clothes throwing them on. Shy comes out of the bathroom and looks at me weird.

"Where are you going?"

"I've made my decision, Shy. No need for you to lose sleep."

"What?" he asks confused.

"We're through."

"What...why?!"

Shy grabs my arm to stop me from leaving, but quickly lets me go when my eyes narrow on his hand tight around my biceps. I grab his phone off the bed and hold it up displaying the AnimeSpeak notification. 

His eyes dilate, "I can explain."

"Are you Aela?"

"Luna...,"

"Answer me!" I scream, knowing the answer.

"Yes," he swallows hard.

"That's all I need to know," my voice wobbles.

"Stop. Please, Luna. I know I don't deserve anything from you, but I beg you to let me explain. Please...," his voice trails off.

My head hurts, my stomach hurts, my heart hurts. How could he do this to me? He's right. I need him to explain. I need to understand. There's nothing he can say that's going to change the decision I've come to, but at least he can give me an explanation so I can have closure. I cross my arms. The relief is visible in his entire body.

It's damn hard to concentrate with him standing in front of me with just a towel. He needs to put some clothes on, but I don't want to stand in his house longer than necessary. He needs to start talking.

"You have five minutes."

"The night I met you, it was hard for me to speak to you. You captivated me. I didn't want my friends to see how much you affected me. But they already knew. Carter accused me of not being able to speak with women because he's never seen me in an actual relationship. The rest of the guys agreed, and that's when they bet me to form a relationship with someone."

"I was a fucking bet?!"

"No! No. Please, Luna, I don't deserve it, but please let me finish."

I nod my head for him to go on despite the fact I feel like I'm suffocating. This sort of thing only happens in movies and books. How is this happening? I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying.

"I said I was unwilling to fool someone in real life. That's when Tyler suggested AnimeSpeak. His sister plays, and so he knew all about it. They set up my avatar and gave it a name. I was supposed to prove I had a conversation with someone and that would be the end of it. Except it wasn't. I met you. After a few conversations with Rose, I...I figured out it was you. Because of that, I never showed them our conversations. In fact, I think they forgot about the bet or figured I wasn't doing it. They haven't asked. Anyway, as I got closer to you on the app and in real life, I noticed that you never open up to me about stuff. But you have no problem opening up to Aela."

My teeth grit together. He's right. I don't open up to him. Aela kept encouraging me to, but I didn't listen. Little did I know Aela is Shy! I don't know how to feel.

"I figured if I kept Aela around, you would tell her things that I might be able to use to help our relationship. I know that's fucked up. I know. I just couldn't stop talking to you as Aela."

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

Shy runs his hands through his hair, his jaw ticking. He's quiet. He's looking everywhere except me.