Ashley

My shoulders tensed as Mrs. Martin's cries echoed in the car. She sounded so distressed that my mind immediately jumped to the worst. Had Bethany always been ill? Was it serious? What was going on?

I turned to look at Kris and my heart sank further. He sat completely still, face void of any expressions and eyes staring ahead at nothing in particular. It didn't look like he was processing any of this.

"Kris?" I called, gently touching his shoulder.

That seemed to break him out of his trance as he blinked back to reality. He cleared his throat and flexed his fingers around the steering wheel, still holding it for dear life.

"What...what happened?" he asked, his voice rough as if he had to force those words out of his mouth.

"I don't know," Mrs. Martin wailed. "She told me she had a cold, but I don't think that's the case. She sounded very sad. When I tried asking her about it, the call suddenly ended. And now she isn't picking up my calls anymore. I don't—"

Her speech was cut off by a sob. "She's hiding something from me again. I know it. Did she tell you anything? Anything that could have upset her?"

Guilt marred Kris's features as he struggled to find his words. He glanced at me and I knew exactly what was going through his head. He thought this was happening because of us. Because of what we were doing.

"I'm scared, Kris. Can you please go and check up on her? I just hope she hasn't done anything—"

"I-I'll go," Kris said, cutting her off. "I'll go there right away. Please don't worry. I'll call you once I get there."

"Yes, okay. Thank you so much, Kris."

As soon as the call ended, Kris pulled out of the parking lot and floored the accelerator. The sudden increase in speed plastered me to my seat, the seat belt digging into my chest. The tires squelched when he took a really sharp turn and I held onto the door handle with all my might.

"This is all our fault," he said and rubbed a hand over his face. He pulled up Bethany's contact on the screen and pressed the call button, his fingers nervously tapping against the steering wheel. The ring kept going for a few minutes, but no one answered. "This is all our fault," he repeated.

"Kris, please calm down. This is not our fault."

He shook his head. "It is. I know it is. Bethany never misses my calls. Something is wrong and it's our fault."

"Maybe her phone's dead," I said as I tried to reason with him. "Maybe she's sleeping. Didn't Mrs. Martin say she has a cold? Maybe she took medicine and is sleeping right now."

"She's not sick. I know," he said, his grip tightening on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. "She's upset because of what we are doing. Bethany wouldn't be in this state if we hadn't—I should have never listened to you. I should have never agreed to that stupid plan. Now, look what happened."

Where was this coming from? I understood that he was worried for Bethany's well-being, but it had nothing to do with our dating deal. He was acting as if we had caused her harm.

No matter how I looked at it, I couldn't find any logical reason for his behavior. He was fully on board with everything we had planned and now suddenly it was stupid?

"Nothing has happened Kris." I reached out to touch his arm in the hopes of getting through to him. "You are getting a little too worked up over nothing."

Kris glared at me. "I'm overreacting? Is that what you're trying to say?"

Another abrupt turn made my heart drop to my stomach. I'd never had motion sickness, but if Kris continued driving like this, I might just throw up my entire breakfast on the car floor. My gaze flitted to the speedometer and my stomach knotted further.

"Kris, you need to slow down," I said, tapping on his arm. "And, I'm not saying that you are overreacting. But you are speeding through campus. Bethany must be fine. It's common to catch a cold with the weather changing. I'm sure—"

"You don't understand!" he snapped and yanked his arm away. "It's not just a cold. Bethany's upset and there's no telling what state she's in."

A tiny bit of annoyance flared within me at his words. "Seriously? You are acting like this because Bethany is upset? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he yelled, making me flinch. "Didn't you hear Mrs. Martin? She's so worried and you are arguing because—"

"I'm arguing because it makes no sense Kris. She is an adult and is capable of taking care of herself. And honestly, this is probably another one of her tantrums."

From what I had heard about Bethany so far and seen for myself, I knew she could do anything to get Kris's attention. This wouldn't be the first time she used their parents being close friends to her advantage. She had done it before when she had Kris chauffeur her back home for their family brunch.

Kris had to know Bethany was perfectly capable of doing something like this. I hadn't known her long and yet, I could see right through her gimmicks. It was concerning that Kris still couldn't see that and kept falling for the same tricks again and again.

"It's not your job to drop everything and go running to her every time she so much as sneezes," I said.

Kris scowled at me. "How can you be so insensitive? She could be in serious trouble right now and all you can think about is that this could be an act?" He scoffed. "Not everyone is like you. Not everyone resorts to lying to get what they want."

"What even—You're calling me a liar now? You can't be serious right now."

"Well, you are one, aren't you? This whole thing between us is a lie. And now I'm a liar too because of you. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be in this situation."

If I was annoyed before, now I was simply pissed. And hurt. Out of all people, I never thought Kris would turn on me like this.

"What are you even saying?" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in exasperation. "I may have suggested the plan, but I never forced you to do anything. It was you who came to me asking for my help. Because you wanted Bethany off your back."

"And that was the biggest mistake I ever made! I would have—"

The ringing of his phone interrupted him, Bethany's ID flashing on the screen. Kris accepted the call immediately.

"Hello? Bethany?"

"Kris? I'm not feeling well," Bethany's faint voice came through the speakers and I nearly scoffed at how fake it sounded.

"What happened? Are you okay? " he asked

Bethany started sobbing on the other end. "I-I don't know. I just... I'm scared Kris. Can you please come over?"

I rolled my eyes at the shift in her voice. This was something I used to do when I didn't want to go to school and had to pretend to be sick. Even a toddler could tell this was an act, and yet Kris was hanging onto Bethany's every word.

"I'm on my way. Just...just hang in there okay. I'll be there in a few minutes," Kris replied, stepping on the gas.

"Okay," Bethany said, her voice almost cheerful as she hung up.

"She's lying," I said.

Kris shook his head at me. "You're unbelievable. You just heard her and yet you want to keep saying that all of this is a lie?"

"Yes. She has done it before. You can't tell me she hasn't lied before to get her way. She has lied to you too Kris and you know that. Who's to say this isn't another one of her tricks to get your attention?"

For a brief second, I wondered if I was pushing this too hard. Maybe I should let him go and see for himself how right I was. But the way he was acting right now, it didn't look like he would realize it even if Bethany had a big, red sign over her head saying that she was a liar. That's how blind Kris was right now.

Kris let out a low chuckle. "I can't believe you. Mrs. Martin was crying on the phone. You're telling me that's an act as well? Something's really wrong with you, if you have such a mindset. It's pathetic."

"For God's sake Kris. Don't you see this? Don't you see the patterns? This is all—"

"Stop! Just stop!" Kris pulled over at the side of the road. "Get out."

I looked around myself, trying to figure out where we were. The neighborhood didn't look familiar. With all my attention focused on Kris, I had completely lost track of where we were heading or how far away we had come from campus.

"You're not—"

"Get out," he repeated, looking at me with so much hatred that I couldn't believe this was the same guy who had taken care of me when I was drunk. "Shane was right about you. I need to go tell him that he doesn't have to expose your true nature, you've shown it yourself. You're nothing but a selfish liar who only cares about herself."

Rage coursed through my veins while my eyes burned. Whenever I got really mad, tears would start welling up in my eyes. I had never hated this quirk of mine more than today. I would rather die than let Kris think that I was crying because of him and his weird obsession with Bethany.

"That's it. I'm done with you," I said and unbuckled my seatbelt. "You'll see that I was right and you'll regret behaving like this."

"Please. The only thing I regret right now is getting involved with you. None of this would have happened if I'd stayed away from you," he said.

A single tear trailed down my face and I angrily wiped it away, pasting a smile on my face. "Don't worry, you won't be seeing me anymore. I'll be staying far, far away from you."

Turning away from him, I opened the car door and wordlessly got out. Kris didn't even wait a second and immediately drove off, leaving me stranded on the curb.

Hurt sliced through my chest as I watched his car drive away and vanish from my sight. I wondered why I had gotten involved with Kris in the first place. What was the point of me fending against Bethany when Kris clearly didn't want to let her go?

I had always known that Kris cared about Bethany. It was obvious and kind of expected. No one really forgot about their ex that easily.

I just didn't know he would so easily side with her despite everything she did and that it would hurt so much when he chose her over me.

***

Wrapping my lavender quilt tighter around myself, I scooped a big spoonful of cookie dough ice cream and shoved it in my mouth. The third episode of Downton Abbey played on the screen in front of me, a distraction from what happened earlier today with Kris.

I still couldn't wrap my head around the drastic change in Kris's behavior. It was like he had become a different person altogether. This wasn't the Kris I knew. And it made me wonder if I knew him at all.

Shane had fooled me with his sweet talks. I was so blinded by his 'nice guy' act that I looked past all the red flags and by the time I realized my mistake, it was already too late. What if I was doing the same thing with Kris? What if I was looking at Kris with the same rose tinted glasses I had on for Shane back in high school?

Kris was the dream guy in front of the likes of Shane. He was kind, caring, sweet, and insanely good looking. He was everything a woman would want in a man. And there was no denying that I was enamored by him. Enamored by the way he treated me and everyone around him. It was hard not to be.

My chest ached as I recalled Kris's words from earlier. Shoving another spoonful of ice cream in my mouth, I blinked away the tears. God, I was such an idiot. I should have stayed away from Kris after my very first encounter with Bethany. There were clearly a lot of unresolved issues between them and I should have known better than to get involved in it.

One would think I would have learned my lesson after Shane and stayed away from problematic guys, but no. I'm the dumb bitch who ran toward trouble instead of avoiding it. And if there weren't any problems in sight, then I created them for myself.

Thankfully, April and Nicole weren't home to witness my pathetic breakdown. Who cried over a fight with their fake boyfriend? I angrily wiped at my face when the tears streamed down despite my resolve to not cry over it.

My relationship with Kris was fake and temporary. While it ended abruptly and in the worst way possible, I knew right from the start that it wasn't going to last long. Maybe a couple months max. I shouldn't be this affected by something that wasn't even real.

And yet, it hurt.

Suddenly, the sound of my ringtone echoed in the empty living room, drawing my attention away from the screen and to my phone on the coffee table. I picked it up only to freeze on seeing Kris's name.

A big part of me wanted to avoid a confrontation for as long as I could. It would be so easy to just switch off my phone and forget about everything, but I knew I couldn't do that.

If this was our proverbial breakup, I might as well get it over with.