Chapter Ten
In the last chapter… fast forward a month of no communication, Viola needs his friendship but Justin can't deal.
Duke was not an idiot.
The part of him that she fell for—his ability to understand a woman and treat her well—was still very much present. So why was it that she found herself thinking about someone else? Someone who had caused her nothing but heartache and embarrassment in the past year?
Because he's changed too
'Viola, we have to talk.'
'Duke, what's up?' she reached up and kissed him on the cheek and watched as he sat don't across from her. He was fidgeting, and she noticed how his muscles rippled deliciously as he did so. But what had used to get her all hot, was now just amusing her—as it would if it'd been Toby or Andrew.
'You know at the start you told me why you liked me…?'
'Because you're hot?' she teased him.
'No, the other stuff,' he said, blushing adorably.
'Oh, the excellent soccer ability?' he glared at her impatiently, 'fine, I suppose you mean the top personality?'
'Yeah.'
'What about it?' she asked.
That was when she realised they weren't even touching. It used to be that once her secret was out and she could be a girl once again, they were always all over each other much to the dismay of Andrew (Toby didn't mind, he had Eunice). But sometime between then and now… they were back to being friends.
'We're friends, Viola. And I can keep ignoring it and all… but I can tell that,' he looked away from her, 'that you're thinking about him.'
"Him" was presumably Justin, the way he spat it out vehemently.
'I'm worried for him…' she said, not disputing it. With Duke being so honest with her it was just wrong to lie to him.
But isn't it wrong to be thinking of another guy when you're with your boyfriend..?
'No, you're seeing it as much as I am.'
'Seeing what?'
'Seeing the way he's changed. You're thinking of forgiving him,' the second part was said almost accusingly and something in Viola snapped.
'What do you want me to do, Duke? Hate him forever? Because I can't—,' she blinked, feeling her eyes become wet, she choked on the word, 'I know what he did to me was wrong, but I just…'
'You still love him don't you?'
'I…'
Duke stood up, 'Look Viola, what we had was good… but if you want to be with that jerk then go for it. There's no point in both of us being unhappy—remember the last time we were fighting? What happened on the pitch?' he added lightly.
'You're doing this for soccer?' her eyes widened at him.
'Of course not,' he smiled, 'but having said that… we both want to get into good colleges don't we?'
OoOoooOoOOooooOoo
Justin finally went on a date.
He didn't want to, but his mother kept pushing and pushing for him to take one of her best friend's daughter's out—and to be honest, Natasha wasn't hard to look at. She wasn't as cuddly as Viola (not that he'd tried), nor did she make faces that had him in stitches… and she ate with her mouth closed…
She was perfect—
But not for him.
'Justin… you know, I've had a crush on you for the longest time,' she said, baby blue eyes blinking up at him sincerely, 'I didn't think I'd ever have a chance to go out with you… so, thank you.'
He was touched.
But he knew he couldn't see her again.
There was no point making her unhappy too.
'Look Tash, you're a beautiful girl. But I—,'
'still love Viola,' she completed, 'I know. But still, you came out tonight and I'm happy to have just that much.'
Again he realised that if things had been different he could have liked her, and with that, he leant over and kissed her on the cheek.
OoooOOoOoooo
Viola had looked for him everywhere.
When she found him at the mall with the girl she thought "maybe they're just friends".
But when he leant down to kiss her… she turned away.
It was over.
OoooOOOoOooo
Author's Note: It's finally the holidays here so I'm going to finish off this fic. This will be the second last chapter. It will be completed in the next few days. Thanks for everyone who read this fic, I hope you write your own Justin/Viola stories… they could've been great together! -K