Chapter twenty-three Thoughts

Marco's POV

I felt horrible, dirty and depressed. I scrubbed my skin red raw, after every time me and Racheal had sex. But it never made me fell any better. And it didn't stop me from doing it again and again. It was too easy to close my eyes, picture Elle, and imagine that it was her I was making love to instead of Racheal. Racheal never seemed to mind me doing this. She didn't even care that it was Elle's name that I called out.

But this only made it easier for me to keep doing this. I knew, that even though this helped me to feel less lonely. It was never going to stop me from wanting Elle. Racheal's body was nice, and she never talked much, which kept the illusion going. But she was also terrible at sex. She just lay there and let me do all of the work.

Sometimes, I had sneaked a peak at her, to see her reading her phone, waiting for me to finish. Most of the time, I was half masturbating, trying to cum, just to get it over with. She never complained, or tried to show me any kind of affection. I wondered what was in this for her. I know she had said that it was to stop her feeling lonely. But I never gave her any sort of comfort. I was just flopping around on top of her, dreaming about a girl that I loved desperately, and couldn't wait to be with.

I felt like someone had slapped me the day Tuppen came round to my house. He didn't knock, because he had never had to knock before. And he burst into my room just after me and Racheal had finished. Luckily, we were half dressed. But he had guessed what had been going on. He just smiled at us and grabbed the PlayStation control and told us to pretend he wasn't there.

Racheal had laughed and grabbed the other controller. I don't think she thought that Tuppen knew what we had been doing. But I didn't want to talk to him about it while she was here. I wanted his advice on how to stop it and I didn't want to hurt her feelings when I asked him.

We played a few games of COD in relative happiness, until he got a message on his phone. "Seems the Flynn's have gone on holiday. So, no party at the weekend" he said conversationally, before returning to the game. I got killed by a horde, that I was currently trying to get in a train, and almost dropped the controller.

"The Flynn's, just the Flynn's or…" I trailed off, already knowing the answer. "When has Lee ever gone anywhere without Elle?" Tuppen snorted. "But they haven't gone to get married, have they?" I said in a shaky voice. Racheal was giving Tuppen her upmost attention too, while we waited for him to answer.

"Nah, everything already been planned for a wedding here. It's going to be in the country club. Which reminds me. He died and we went back into a lobby. He pulled over his bag, that he had tossed in the corner, and produced a fancy looking card. "Elle told me to pass this to you" he handed me the card and my heart broke at the sight. It was an invitation for me, plus a guest, to Elle and Noah's wedding. I hadn't been sure that they would invite me.

I looked at Racheal, who had held her arm out for the invitation. I passed it to her, and for a second, I thought she was going to tear it up. Tuppen frowned at her. "Haven't you got your invitation yet? I know you and Lee broke up. But surely you guys are still friends?" he said, confused.

Racheal smiled at him, "I just wanted to see if Marco's looked like mine" she lied smoothly.

Tuppen seemed to take her at her word, but I knew she was lying. I wondered why Racheal hadn't gotten an invite. I knew Lee was a good guy and he must have cared about her. Even though they had broken up, I felt sure that Lee wouldn't leave her out like this.

"I have to get going" Racheal said in a falsely cheerful voice. Tuppen grunted at her, but I followed her to the door. "Racheal" I said in concern. She smiled at me, and I saw that there were tears in her eyes. "Seems Lee has forgotten me since he dumped me" she said miserably. "Maybe he is going to give you one in person" I said, trying to cheer her up. She shrugged, "Yeah maybe, and if not, I can always go with you can't I" she purred. I blinked at her in surprise.

Before I could reply she said, "But I don't know why we are talking about it like it's going to happen. We haven't given up, yet have we?" she said sweetly. I nodded, but I felt a bit hopeless. I did want to stop this wedding, and I had agreed to try and break Elle and Noah up, but so far, Racheal and I hadn't done anything. And now that they had gone away. It seemed even less likely that we could do anything.

Maybe I just have to be happy that Elle is happy?

I didn't like it, and I would try and win her if I could. But I didn't want to make Elle unhappy. I would rather see her happy with someone else and be in her life as a friend. Then do something to make her hate me.

Racheal kissed my cheek and left. I went back to Tuppen and he looked at me in concern. I decided, that I need more than his advice about Racheal. I also, needed his advice about Elle. So, I told him the whole story and left no details out.

When I had finished, he looked thoughtful. "Well, in regards to Racheal. Dude you are both single and getting laid. After the summer, you will be thousands of miles apart. She knows you don't want a relationship with her. So, I think you should just enjoy getting laid and stop worrying about it" he said with a grin.

"And Elle?" I pressed.

He shrugged and looked at me sympathetically. "Elle is one hot piece of ass, ill give you that. I tried to date her myself, before Noah got in the way. No boobs are worth a broken nose. Elle is off the market. You need to let her go. She's happy with Flynn and there's plenty of hot girls out there." He said, and picked up the controller again and handed me the other one.

I sighed and took the controller. I had wanted real advice and I felt like I hadn't really gotten it. Tuppen didn't understand that I loved Elle. It wasn't that I just thought she was hot. Elle was so much more to me than that.

However, I did decide to follow his advice about Racheal. He was right, Racheal would be thousands of miles away from me soon.

So, I may as well stop worrying about it and keep things the way they were for the time being…