Silently Falling (ORIGINAL): Chapter Thirty Six

I walk out of study hall with my eyes glued to my phone, and because I'm so absorbed into the latest Twitter fight, I run right into the wall. My phone slips through my fingers and lands on the floor, but I'm too busy rubbing my now bruised forehead to care. Thankfully my phone is void of any damage and I slide it into my back pocket after checking to see how red my forehead is.

"Do you want me to pretend I didn't see that?" Alyse asks, walking up to me.

I scrunch my face up at her, "That would be nice, yeah."

"Okay, I officially saw nothing." She chuckles, winking at me.

We walk down the cluttered hallway, and I have to dodge a group of band kids sprinting to after school rehearsal.

"Alyse, can I ask you something?" I ask as we walk.

"No." She says, smirking at my reaction. "Of course you can. It's in the list of best friend rules."

"I need to see this list."

"It's confidential."

I sigh at her. "You know that makes no sense, right?"

She ignores me, "So what did you need to ask me?"

I look down and fiddle with the straps on my backpack. "Would you consider jealousy a good thing in a relationship?"

She looks over at me and scrunches her brow. "I would say so. It shows that people care."

I nod thoughtfully as she continues.

"But there's a fine line between jealousy and possessiveness." She says, looking at me with a hint of concern. "Is everything okay between you and West?"

I instantly look up at her and nod. "Of course. I just...I've noticed him getting weird when Tyler's around." I admit.

She frowns, "Weird how?"

I sigh, "Jealous weird. He gets kind of quiet and turns into the brooding, scowling figure he is when I'm not around. But the past few days his jealousy has morphed into something different."

"Well it makes sense for him to be wary of Tyler since he admitted he liked you." Alyse reasons. "But jealousy isn't bad, Raine. Possessiveness is, but I haven't seen West become possessive."

I sigh and nod, "I know that. But is jealousy a good thing when he's trying to make Tyler jealous?"

Alyse recoils slightly in shock and stops walking. "Well that's different from him simply being a little jealous. How has he been making Tyler jealous?"

People grumble and mutter curse words at us for stopping in the middle of the hallway, and we scramble over to a row of lockers to be away from the hustle and bustle of high school.

I sigh and try to figure out how to explain it. "Like the other day at the lunch table. As soon as Tyler walked up, West glanced at him, smirked as if he had some bright idea, and then kissed me rather heatedly which he never does at school. And instead of keeping his eyes on me when we pulled apart, as he does when we're alone, he smirked over at Tyler and went back to eating his food."

Alyse purses her lips as she thinks through my example. "He's done the same thing different times too?"

I nod dejectedly. "I wouldn't mind if he was simply being a little jealous, I get that. But he's deliberately making Tyler jealous because he knows that he liked me and that he kissed me."

"Have you talked to him about it?" She asks.

I sigh deeply and shake my head.

She frowns and places a sympathetic hand on my shoulder. "I think that's definitely a conversation worth having."

Instead of responding, I let out a long breath and start walking to where the others are waiting for us. I wish I could say her help made everything crystal clear for me, but it didn't. I still don't know how to go about this.

Alyse follows suit and as we round the corner I see the four guys standing around. Gray is wearing a vest on top of some sweater, Tyler is sporting a hockey jersey over top of a sweatshirt, and Toby is wearing an old flannel that our dad got him for Christmas last year. West, however, isn't wearing anything new. He has his leather jacket on, dark wash jeans and dirtied converse, yet he's still the hottest one standing there. When I meet his dark brown eyes, I see them light up and my worries fade away for the time being.

"Hey Sunshine," he greets softly as I walk into his awaiting arms.

I smile, "Hey Loverboy."

He blows a burst of air out of his nose that could be considered a laugh and pecks my lips. The small action sends shocks reverberating throughout my body and I smile at him like the love-struck fool I am.

However, my smile disappears all too quickly when his eyes dart from mine to Tyler and they narrow in the slightest. He looks back at me and smirks/smiles, dipping his head back down to reconnect our lips, only this time he isn't going for a small peck. I pull away from him as he tries to deepen the already intense kiss, not feeling the passion that I should.

I glance at Alyse who was watching and I see her eyes cloud with sympathy as she realizes I was 100% right. West's smirk is yet again directed to Tyler and I come to a simple conclusion.

West and I need to have a talk.

OoO

We pull into my pitch black driveway and West shuts off the Jeep. Forcing a smile at him, I unbuckle my seatbelt.

"Thanks for the ride," I say.

West smiles and leans across the middle console as he expects me to give him a kiss, but at this point I'm too annoyed to kiss him. "Aren't you going to invite me inside?" West asks, grinning at me as I open the car door, completely waving off my lack of a kiss.

I pause and stare at him for a few seconds, deciding I need to have this talk with him now. I can't stay annoyed with him without an explanation.

"Yeah, come on." I say, grabbing my backpack as he follows me to the front door.

I throw my backpack on the couch and walk to the kitchen, not bothering to wait for West, and he takes notice. As he enters the kitchen he walks right up to me and frowns deeply.

"Hey, is everything okay? You're acting...weird." He says, his eyebrows scrunched in worry.

"Actually we need to talk about something," I say, crossing my arms.

I see concern flash across his eyes and he nods. "Okay, what about?"

I try to form what I want to say, but instead of leading into what's on my mind I come right out and say it, and it doesn't come out as a topic of conversation.

"Why are you trying to make Tyler jealous?" I practically snap.

West shakes his head and blinks in confusion at my accusation. "Whoa whoa whoa, what?"

"Why are you trying to make Tyler jealous?" I repeat sternly.

He scoffs, "Excuse me?"

"I feel like you've been trying to make Tyler jealous." I say, crossing my arms.

"How so?" He asks, tilting his head.

I hear his voice getting hard with anger and it makes my annoyance heighten.

I narrow my eyes, "The past few days you've been smirking at him and giving him these cocky looks after you kiss me."

"So you're complaining that I kiss you?" West asks, crossing his own arms as he tries to turn this on me.

Is he serious?

"No. I'm complaining that you seem to be making Tyler jealous. But I will admit it doesn't feel too good to have your boyfriend kiss you and to be up on cloud nine, just to see he was only doing it to make someone jealous."

"So what if I am?" West retorts. "You're my girlfriend, am I not allowed to kiss you around other guys?"

I scoff at him in disbelief. "West. That's not what I'm saying! I just want to know why you feel the need to make him jealous." I say, lowering my voice to prevent yelling.

"Because you're my girlfriend and he can't keep his eyes off of you." He says, his jaw set. "And you're here telling me I'm not supposed to kiss you around him?"

"You can kiss me whenever you want!" I exclaim.

"Then why the hell are you so annoyed right now?" He growls. "Just because it's that time of the month doesn't mean you can piss on me like this!"

Oh hell no.

"First of all I'm not on my period. And second of all I'm annoyed because I can tell when you're only kissing me to get under his skin, which seems to be all the fucking time, West! When we're alone you always place all of your attention on me during a kiss, you always kiss me with gentle passion, and then when we pull apart we always look at one another and share these unspoken words of intimacy. But when Tyler's around the kiss feels sloppy and rushed, and when we pull apart your eyes drift to him and you have this cocky smirk on your lips!" I exclaim, throwing my arms around to get my point across.

He glares at me. "Well excuse me for trying to show the guy that's crushing on my girlfriend that she's taken."

"Oh my god!" I practically scream. "West! You don't have to make Tyler jealous! He knows I'm yours."

"Well apparently he doesn't considering he kissed you!" He yells.

"That was before you and I even started dating." I say lowly.

"How can you be so naive, Raine? He obviously still cares about you and you're egging him on!" He exclaims furiously, causing the burning sensation of tears to tighten my throat.

"How?" I argue, "How the fuck am I egging him on?"

"Oh I don't know. Hugging him and going to his house without telling me sounds about right." West snarls.

I scoff, "I was hugging him because his dog died and I went over to his house to comfort him by eating ice cream. What ever happened to you trusting me?!"

"I never said I didn't trust you." He says lowly, his yelling gone for the time being.

"I'm pretty sure that's what you're saying right now!" I exclaim incredulously.

"Did you hear me say those exact words?" He retaliates.

"It was the connotation of what you've been saying, West." I spit.

"No, it's how you're inferring it. I never said I didn't trust you, you're just getting on my case for kissing you in front of the guy that's been crushing on you for who knows how long." He snaps.

"Are you being serious?"

"Are you stupid? Yes I'm being fucking serious! You're arguing with me because I'm kissing you around some jackass that likes you." He yells, his voice strained from his anger.

I take in a deep breath and close my eyes. I don't like arguing with West, and I certainly don't like him yelling at me. I feel tears burning in the back of my throat and I take another deep breath.

"Look," I say, keeping my voice calm. "You know you're allowed to kiss me whenever you want, that's part of this whole boyfriend girlfriend thing. But please stop trying to make Tyler so jealous! I'm with you, not him. I'm yours. Everyone knows that; I know that, you know that, he knows that. No one will ever take me from you, and I know the same is said for you. But it doesn't feel too good to know that at times you're only kissing me to make him jealous. So...stop." I end, keeping eye contact with him.

He doesn't give into anything I say, instead he just stares at me through emotionless eyes. And instead of responding or apologizing or bringing me in for a hug to make up for yelling, he just walks out without another word said and slams the door behind him, making the house shake from his rage and it causes me to wince.

I stare at the spot he was standing in moments ago, and I feel a single tear slide down my cheek.

What the hell just happened?

"Hey Raine, Alyse and I stopped at Sweet Frog on the way home and- why are you crying?" Toby asks, rushing to my side.

I shake my head and wipe my eyes, suddenly aware of the multitude of tears streaming down my face. "It's nothing," I whisper.

"Did West do something?" He presses, trying to catch my eye.

I bite my lip and keep my eyes on the floor.

"Do I need to go to West's house and have a talk with him? Yeah, I'm going over there right now." He decides, grabbing his keys from the table.

I shake my head and reach out to stop him. "Just...drop it." I say quietly, keeping my head down.

"No Raine, if he hurt you then he needs to get his ass kicked." Toby stays sternly. "No one messes with my baby sister and gets away with it."

I shake my head and swallow down more tears as I walk past him. "Drop it, Toby. It was nothing."

But it was everything and now my heart is cracked.