Chapter 16: #Truth

It had been so hard for Remus to block her number, but he had gone ahead and done it. It had been six days, but he still wasn't over that moment full of treachery, that one moment on the first floor landing where the truth had been revealed. He was still upset about that, and while he was at least able to get his work done, he found that he just wasn't able to concentrate on anything he was doing. Being away from her hurt him, but he had his principles, and he wasn't going to go against them just for a girl.

Reggie had been a good sport about it, and not brought up the subject about her, but that didn't stop Remus from thinking about her every second he got. He hadn't even known her for that long, - just several weeks, - but she was still plaguing his thoughts. It was astonishing, really, how the two of them had developed such a close relationship after just a couple times of interaction.

She had left him nineteen missed calls, and he didn't have the heart to take any of them. He was tired of being hurt every time he heard his ringtone ring. He was tired of seeing her messages. He was tired of the pain that accompanied it when he ignored her attempts to talk to him.

And so he had blocked her.

It had been one of the hardest things he had ever done.

But it needed to have been done.

And just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Can you get it?" Reggie called from his room. He was probably doing yoga or playing Minecraft or whatever it was that lazy roommates did these days.

"Yeah," Remus mumbled, unlocking the door to see Selena staring at him.

A sickening feeling unfolded in his stomach. He didn't want to talk to Selena right now, either. She was probably going to rant to him about how he needed to treat Dora better, or she would criticize him for not taking any of her calls, or she would yell at him for something. He wasn't in the mood for it at all. He didn't want to think about Tonks or her betrayal right now, even though that was the only thing on his mind.

"Hi," he offered hesitantly.

She glared at him. "I am not happy with you right now, Remus."

"Can we not talk about this, please?" he said. "If that's why you're here, please, no."

"I didn't come here to talk to you," she informed him waspishly. "I don't want to have anything to do with you. I came here to talk to Reggie."

Remus looked at her. "He's inside."

"Yeah, I know," she said impatiently. "That's why I'm here to talk to him. Are you going to let me in, Remus?"

"Yeah, fine. Come in." He held the door open for her, ignoring the twinge of guilt he felt as she brushed past him angrily, marching into the room.

"Reggie?" he called halfheartedly. "Would you come out here, please? Someone's come to meet you."

"Just a minute, I'm finishing up something," Reggie called back.

Selena's angry gaze was still boring into him, so he averted his gaze, looking around the room uncomfortably.

"You don't even know how upset she is right now," Selena said in a deadly quiet whisper.

"Selena, I told you, I don't want to talk about this," he said quietly.

"Well, you have to face it one way or another. She's devastated over you."

"And she's told you this much?"

"She has, actually," she said snappily. "She said she just wants to explain everything to you, but you're not listening to her."

"And you're here to pressure me into talking to her? If that's the case, Selena, you can leave."

She glared at him. "I already told you, Lupin. I'm not here to talk any sense into your nonexistent brain. I'm here to talk to Reggie about some stuff, none of which concerns you."

He took a deep breath and let it out.

"Although I do wish you'd actually be a decent person and hear her out. She's been so upset, you know."

"Why is she upset?" Remus snapped. "She literally has no reason to be upset! Why is she upset, because her scheme has been revealed? Because now I know that she's had another boyfriend this entire time? Selena, she never said anything to me in the first place! She has no right to be upset over th-"

"You're going about it all wrong," she snapped. "You don't even realize what's really going on, do you? You're misunderstanding the situation!"

"I'm misunderstanding? I'm misunderstanding? Seriously, Selena. There's a limit."

"Call her once, Remus, and listen to what she has to say. But for heaven's sake, don't ignore her!"

Just then, Reggie walked into the room, cheerfully humming, "Oh, Selena, it's you! How are you?"

"Fine," Selena answered, glaring at Remus but smiling at Reggie. "How about you?"

"Great," Reggie answered, sitting down next to her. "What's up?"

Selena shrugged. "You know, I just wanted to chat with you. It's been a while."

"Yeah," said Reggie, who seemed beyond pleased at that. "Definitely. So, how's work and everything? How's medical school?"

"It's great," Selena answered. "It's actually kind of stress-free right now. Lots of fun dissections and such."

"Nice," Reggie said smoothly, running a hand through his curls. "How's Tonks?"

Remus shot Reggie a glare.

Selena shot Remus a glare.

"Not great," Selena answered. "She's been quite disturbed recently. As you can imagine."

"Oh. Yeah." Reggie gave Remus a meaningful look. "When will she be back?"

"Tomorrow," Selena answered, not looking at Remus. "In the evening."

"Cool," said Reggie. "Uh, Remus? Do you think you could…"

"Leave? Yeah," Remus said bitterly. "Text if you need something." He swept out of the room, heading down the stairs two at a time and getting into his car. He felt like taking a drive right now, but he knew that he was in a bad mood at the moment, and he didn't want to get into an accident since he was driving rashly. So he decided to just hang out in his car, closing his eyes and taking deep breath after deep breath. This wasn't fair. He had obviously expected that Selena was going to side with Tonks, but what had he done to make her angry? He didn't want to talk to her anymore. She had already broken his trust. There was no reason for Tonks to be so upset about that, or for Selena to be so angry at him.

He hurled his car keys across the parking lot in anger. Then he walked across the lot to go get them. As he bent down to pick them up, he heard someone cough behind him.

"We need to get some things straight," said Wyatt, scratching the back of his neck.

Remus didn't know what to think of Wyatt. He had always found him weird, and a part of him hated Wyatt for having already taken the girl he liked, but a part of him also felt bad for Wyatt. Wyatt likely hadn't known that Tonks had been cheating on him by flirting with Remus, and Wyatt probably felt hurt by that more than he did. Wyatt hadn't actually done anything to him, directly. He had always been nice to Remus.

It also made sense why Remus had seen him before. All of the times he had come to the apartment complex, he had come to meet Tonks. He had always been going into their building, too, to meet his not-so-loyal girlfriend.

"Yes, we do," Remus said heavily.

Wyatt leaned against his car - Remus's car - with his arms crossed against his chest. Remus mirrored his stance, leaning against another car in the lot, hoping that its owner wouldn't mind too much. He was distinctly aware that they probably looked like idiots; they were two grown men having a disagreement in a parking lot, leaning on cars that weren't even theirs.

Wyatt looked quite menacing, too. He had long, unruly blonde hair and tattoos lining his arms. In a defensive stance, he looked even more menacing, what with the fact that despite Remus's tall height, Wyatt was still taller and bulkier than him. A sudden thought occurred to Remus. Wyatt would probably hate him. Wyatt would probably think that he was the reason that Tonks had been unfaithful. This might very well end up in a fight, after all. Remus stifled a groan. That wasn't going to be good. He didn't even know how to fight.

"So, about the other day," Wyatt said slowly.

Remus took in a long breath. "Yeah."

Wyatt opened his mouth and then closed it, as though unsure of what he was going to say. Truth be told, Remus had no idea how this guy was going to react. Wyatt had always been hard to read; he had just seemed like a goofy guy who worked at the Shell station and was constantly trying to sell him Takis or Doritos or whatever the heck they sold. But now he was personally involved with him, and he had no idea what he was going to be like.

"Are you both together?" Wyatt asked finally. Remus knew he was referring to him and Tonks.

"No," Remus answered honestly. "We're not."

Wyatt tilted his head to the side, evidently confused. "But then why were you kissing?"

"Well…" Gosh, how did he get trapped in such a complicated situation? He decided to be completely honest. "Well, I liked her. And I thought she liked me. So we… yeah."

Wyatt nodded, apparently thinking over what Remus had just said.

"I didn't know that she was already involved with you," Remus added hesitantly, not wanting to get into a fight with this guy. "She never mentioned it to me."

"Yeah, well," Wyatt said bitterly, "there was nothing to mention, was there?"

It took Remus a minute to process what Wyatt was saying.

"Nothing to mention? Does that… Does that mean…"

"She and I were never together," Wyatt said.

Remus felt his heart explode. Dared he believe? Could it actually be possible?

"What?" he whispered.

"Yeah," Wyatt answered. "I don't think she ever liked me. I liked her, obviously - who wouldn't? But I don't think she ever felt the same way back. Obviously, she liked you instead."

Remus's mind was spinning. Was it actually possible? Could it actually be true that Tonks hadn't been cheating on either of them? Did that mean that… that she had liked him back, after all, and she had been honest and faithful?

"I… Are you sure you guys weren't together?" Remus asked.

"What, are you waiting for me to start laughing and tell you it's all a joke?" Wyatt asked him.

Then, to his horror, Wyatt doubled over, laughing, snorting, cackling, practically braying like a donkey. "Well, it is all a joke!" Wyatt exclaimed.

And just like that, Remus's heart sank back into its cage. Of course it had all been too good to be true. Why would Tonks choose a boring CFO like him over some muscular-looking guy?

Who works at a Shell station, piped up one of his inner voices, ever loyal. There's still hope.

Yeah! agreed the other one. Maybe she uses Chevron too.

Wyatt stared at Remus for a long time. He wasn't laughing anymore. "Did you actually believe that?"

Remus wasn't even listening anymore. His mind was spinning, and his heart was pounding, and his dreams had been shattered.

"Hello?" Wyatt said, knocking him on the head. "Did you hear me?"

"Hm?" Remus asked, backing away. Why was this crazy guy knocking on his head? "What did you say?"

"I asked, did you actually believe that?"

"Believe what?" Remus asked blankly.

"The joke about her and me being together," Wyatt said, observing his face closely for a reaction. "Did you believe it?"

"A joke?" Remus was so confused right now.

"Oh, boy, you really did fall for it!" Wyatt started laughing like crazy. "You actually thought that we were together! Oh, boy! You're so gullible!"

"That was a joke?"

"Yup," Wyatt managed, in between laughs. He was laughing so hard, he was wheezing at this point.

"Wait. So… tell me honestly. You and Tonks aren't… weren't… a couple?"

"I just told you that, sonny boy! We never dated. Like I said, I liked her, but she never liked me back. Probably because she liked you instead."

And will you look at that, voice 1 said. She liked you the whole time.

But how am I supposed to know he's telling the truth? Remus asked his voices.

Doesn't it make sense? voice 2 said. She was always loyal to you. She always liked you. Wyatt was never in the picture in the first place.

And she uses Chevron, voice 1 added, and the two of them burst into laughter.

Not helping, Remus chided internally.

But…

"You think she liked me?" Remus asked. Maybe she wasn't into either of them.

"Well, duh," Wyatt said. "Why else do you think she'd let you kiss her?"

Good point.

"Anyway, you can have her," Wyatt said. "Don't let me interfere. It's obvious she likes you, and that you like her back. I'm an insignificant part of this love triangle. Don't let me bog you two down." And with a salute, he was gone.

Remus crossed over to lean against his own car again, lost in thought. After what seemed like ages, he made a decision.

He pulled out his phone, unblocking Tonks's number and pressing the Call button shakily. He held the phone up to his face, waiting nervously as the dial tone rang.

She didn't pick up.