CHAPTER 17: CAUGHT

Sickness. The whole day was full of a queasiness that bubbled in the pit of Misaki's stomach. Could she do this? Really do this? It had already taken all Misaki had to just schedule the date with Makoto. The male had wanted to take her to see a movie but Misaki declined. They couldn't talk during a movie, and although Misaki certainly didn't want to have this conversation with Makoto she knew she had to.

"I'm gonna throw up," Misaki clutched her stomach as she walked down the street towards the small lunch café. She repeated the phrase a few more times, the taste of her breakfast beginning to slide up her throat.

I need to turn around. I can't do this. I'm gonna puke. The thoughts were suffocating Misaki as she stopped in her tracks and took a deep breathe. The temptation to turn around and run was overwhelming but the sound of her name snapped her out of her trance.

There he was. In shorts and a plain green t-shirt that complimented his eyes. He was smiling, a happy, genuine, glad to see her smile that made Misaki doubt herself even more. "Misaki," the boy repeated again, this time softer before he came up and enveloped her in a hug, "I've missed you."

"Yeah," Misaki breathed, nuzzling into Makoto's chest, "Me too."

It was the truth. It was the overwhelming truth that just made Misaki hurt even more. She was going to throw up. She was going to cry. Flashes of Rin danced in her head and made her blood boil and eyes sting. "Hey," his voice was full of concern, "You okay?"

Misaki inwardly groaned at how Makoto could read her like a book, not like it was very hard to tell that at the moment something was definitely wrong. "We uh," Misaki bit down on her bottom lip, her palms accumulating sweat, "I just have to talk to you about something."

The noirette looked up in time to see Makoto's eyebrows rise in confusion before settling back down and a sweet smile adorning his face. All he did was nod his head once before leading Misaki into the café. A whoosh of warm air rushed past Misaki as she entered the building. The cool fall air had settled over Iwatobi which usually made entering a warm building a welcome surprise. But not today. Today the warmness made Misaki feel light headed. She was already overheating from her own anxiety, the last thing she needed was the extra sweat brought on by an overworked heater.

"Can we sit outside?" Misaki blurted, interrupting the hostess who had been talking to Makoto. The female looked at Misaki with fake smile and an 'of course!' before leading them out onto the patio.

Once seated Misaki could feel Makoto's gaze on her. He was waiting ever so patiently for Misaki to begin speaking but words just wouldn't come out. Where could she even start? What was she supposed to say to him? Oh by the way I had sex with Rin and want to be with him instead of you and I feel really guilty about it so I'm gonna go jump off the roof of this café now okay? Okay. Misaki began lightly tapping the table with her index fingers as if she were beginning the drum roll that would lead to the breaking of Makoto's heart.

Because that is what would happen. Makoto's heart would be snapped into a million pieces with Misaki walking all over it. The thought made Misaki cringe and want to vomit yet again. How could she do this to him? Hazel eyes looked across the table at Makoto, at her boyfriend. At the seventeen year old boy who had loved her for nearly a year now. The guy who brought over ice cream and watched sappy romantic movies with her when she was sad. The guy who kisses the top of her head and tells her how beautiful she is. The boy with the green eyes and soft smile that made so many girls' hearts melt. Makoto was perfect and the thought of breaking that perfection made Misaki's knees shake and heart pound furiously in her chest.

"M-Makoto I-I," Misaki bit down on her tongue, begging herself to stop stuttering, "I well you see I just have been well…" It wouldn't come out. It was lodged in her throat, eternally stuck.

"I've really been missing my parents," Misaki swallowed hard and wiped her palms on her legs, "I mean they usually go on a trip like this every year but this time they are gone for a while and I've been lonely at my house without them."

"Is this what you wanted to talk about?"

Misaki nodded her head, "Yeah, I just uh I felt stupid saying it because I'm not six anymore right?" She laughed the most forced and fake laugh she could have ever imagined yet it seemed as if Makoto bought it. His eyes lit up, a deep exhale made its way out of his nose, and he smiled at her.

"I could stay with you if you want."

Panic. Instant panic as Misaki let out another fake laugh, "Nah it's okay I promise I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

Misaki was sure that if Makoto even took a step into her house now he'd be able to smell Rin's presence. The walls would tell him all of her dirty little secrets and she couldn't let that happen. "Yup," Misaki's voice was soft as she nibbled on her bottom lip, thoughts once again returning to Rin.

"Is there something else you wanted to talk about?"

Yes. "No." The lie hurt deep into Misaki's bones as she avoided Makoto's gaze. Why can't I just say it? The question tugged and tugged at her mind but her heart tugged right back with the answer- Because I can't break his heart.

Misaki felt exhausted as she quickly walked down the all too familiar path to Samezuka. The entire date with Makoto had been full of lies that completely zapped Misaki of her energy. She realized as she sat across from him why she had been avoiding this whole situation. Being around Makoto made her feel like complete and utter shit. Like some sort of a whore who couldn't just keep her legs closed. It also made her feel like a liar- because that's exactly what she had turned into. She lied about why she hadn't seen him in a while. She lied about what she needed to talk to him about. The only thing she didn't lie about was when she told him she loved him. Because she really truly did- just not in the same way anymore.

"Ugh," Misaki tugged at her hair as she sprinted up the stairs before banging loudly on Rin's door. She waited a while two seconds before banging on it again and was about to kick the door when Rin swung it open.

"What?" he sounded angry, though as soon as he laid eyes on Misaki his gaze softened.

"I couldn't do it!" Misaki blurted, pushing past Rin and entering his room where Nitori was doing homework on the floor, "I couldn't!"

"Uh Nitori can you give us a minute?" Rin's eyes flicked down to the grey haired boy who nodded his head 'yes' before getting up and exiting the room.

Once the door closed Rin placed his hands on Misaki's shoulders to stop her from pacing, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I couldn't!" She couldn't stop repeating herself as she tore away from Rin's grasp and continued walking in circles, "I tried and I just couldn't!"

"Misaki," he tried saying it calmly but it wasn't working, "Misaki!"

The sound of him yelling her name made the noirette stop and turn to look at Rin, "I couldn't break up with him."

At first Rin looked confused as his eyebrows raised, but slowly that look turned into anger mixed with sadness, "Why not?"

She couldn't answer. So Rin asked again, this time more forceful. "I can't break his heart," Misaki tried to sound strong but it failed. She watched as Rin let out a sigh and then fell down onto his bed.

"I knew this would happen," Rin mumbled as he placed his forearm over his eyes, "Fucking knew it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Tch you know exactly what it means, means I knew you wouldn't be able to break up with him."

Misaki's hands balled up by her sides, "It's not an easy thing to do you know."

"I know," the male whispered, "It's cause you don't wanna do it."

He was right. Misaki really really didn't want to break up with Makoto, but not because she still wanted to be with him. Because she didn't want to hurt him. "I will," the two words sounded like a lie and they made Misaki wish she hadn't said anything at all.

Rin looked up at Misaki, "Sure you will."

"Well what would you do in this situation huh?" Misaki was getting mad, not only at Rin but at herself for not having the balls to just break up with Makoto, "How would you tell someone like Makoto that you cheated on him and didn't want to be with him anymore?"

The question seemed to stump Rin as he sat in silence for a few moments. Finally he sat up and rested his elbows on his knees, "I feel like shit."

Well that didn't answer the question. "What?"

"Misaki I love you but I'm fucking exhausted of having to keep a secret like this. If you want to break up with Makoto then do it. If you don't then stop saying you will and just go on and be happy with him."

The 'I love you' part made Misaki's heart flutter, the rest made her want to go die in a hole. "I'm not leading you on," she defended, but Rin only made a 'tch' noise and pulled on his hair.

Misaki began playing with her fingers, popping her knuckles, and expecting her fingernails all in an attempt to calm down. It wasn't working. She still felt stick to her stomach from being around Makoto earlier and here she thought Rin would be able to help but he was only making it worse. "Can you be there?"

"Huh?"

"Can you be there?" Misaki repeated, a little louder this time, "When I break up with him."

Rin's eyes went wide, "Are you insane? Why would I want to be there?"

"To apologize," the words made Rin break their gaze as sadness shone in his eyes, "You don't have to be with me when I actually do it, but just go with me to meet him somewhere and be there for me after. Please?"

The few seconds of silence felt like hours. "Fuck," Rin groaned, pulling his hair once more, "Fine!"

Misaki would have smiled if their conversation hadn't been revolving around how she was about to break a guy's heart. Instead she nodded and moved towards Rin, sitting down next to him. "When are we doing this?" Rin questioned as Misaki wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Friday," that gave her a whole three days to get her act together. Three days to be able to figure out what she would say, three days to man up and face her problems.

"Okay," Rin breathed through his nose, wrapping an arm around Misaki's shoulder and pulling her in closer, "Okay."

"Rei! I don't think we should be doing this!"

Nagisa's whining did nothing to stop the bespectacled boy from dashing from cover to cover as he followed Misaki to her destination. Him and Nagisa had just finished spying on the noirette and Makoto as they ate lunch and at seeing that Misaki wasn't walking home Rei just had to follow- even though he was pretty sure he knew where she was going.

"Rei! C'mon!" Nagisa tugged hard on Rei's arm causing him to let out a yelp of pain.

"We have to keep up with her," Rei scolded the pouting blonde who refused to let go of his arm.

"She isn't doing anything bad."

"You don't know that," Rei's jaw clenched as he knew that no matter what he said Nagisa just wouldn't believe him.

Ever since that movie night at Misaki's Rei knew something was going on. He had overheard Misaki and Rin talking in the kitchen, something about an incident that Misaki didn't want to talk about because Makoto was in the other room. Then Rin has asked her if she had told 'him' yet, 'him' referring to Makoto. What did Misaki have to tell Makoto? What did Rin have to do with it? A little investigative work later led Rei to finding out about Misaki's and Rin's past. That bracelet she always wore, yup, Rin gave it to her in elementary school. Apparantly the two had been a sort of item but something happened and Misaki ended up dating Makoto. And now Rin was back and as soon as Rin and Misaki had first talked at the pool Misaki was different. She was rarely spending time with Makoto now, or with any of the Iwatobi swim team. Something was up, and Rei had to get to the bottom of it. That's when he got Azami's number and asked her to drop by Misaki's house randomly in the hopes of finding Rin there. Too bad he wasn't there and Rei had to give Azami Rin's number, which the male probably wasn't too happy about but Rei didn't care. He had to figure this out no matter how much creepy stalking it took.

"C'mon," Rei grabbed Nagisa's arm and began tugging the unwilling boy down the street. The whole way there Nagisa whispered complaints about how ridiculous this whole thing was. Misaki loved Makoto he said, so she would never do anything with Rin even if the two had once liked each other. It wasn't until the two watched Misaki walk onto the Samezuka campus that Nagisa stopped complaining.

"Do you think she's here to see Rin?"

Rei turned to look at Nagisa, "What else would she be here for?"

Nagisa gulped and nodded once, his pink orbs set on the school, "We should wait for her to come out."

Rei would be lying if he didn't feel a tinge of satisfaction at opening up Nagisa's eyes to the possibility that Misaki could be doing something with Rin behind Makoto's back. Rei gulped as the word 'cheating' entered his mind. He shook his head left and right, trying to shake the word out but it was stuck. Despite Rei being pretty sure that something fishy was going on he hated to think that Misaki would actually cheat on Makoto.

Nagisa and Rei sat in silence for nearly half an hour, their eyes set on the building that Misaki had entered. They had taken cover behind some shrubbery as to not seem suspicious, though they still got some strange looks from people passing by. "Hey," Nagisa whispered, violently shaking Rei's shoulder, "There's Misaki."

Rei turned his gaze to see the noirette followed by Rin. "He's probably just walking her out, Rin's always been nice like that," Nagisa whispered and Rei could hear the hope in Nagisa's voice. The hope that he was right, that Rin was just being a nice guy.

And that's when it happened. That's when Nagisa let out a whine of horror and Rei knew that he had unfortunately been right this entire time. At that very moment when Rin leaned down and kissed Misaki and she didn't resist Rei knew what he had to do. "We have to tell Makoto."

Author's Note: My goal is to have this story done within five or so chapters. Originally I wanted it to be longer but my mind has been invaded with ideas for some new fanfiction and has been causing me to lose inspiration with this story. I'm planning on writing some One Direction fanfiction over on wattpad, if any of you would like to have the link to my wattpad so you can see when I posted the story just ask and I'd be happy to give it. So yes, I'm hoping to wrap this story up sooner than later.

Ember: oh my goodness yeah any girl would get distracted watching Rin swim! and i'm happy that you liked the chapter and how much of a cutie Nitori is :)

Lisa: last chapter was pretty cute though i feel like i made a jump from cute to 'oh no!' with this chapter, what did you think?

The nice Guest: haha you should have just been like 'um yes actually i love half naked guys, they are the '

Mini: i could probably do like a whole spinoff in which Misaki sends Nitori out on blind dates and gives him a makeover and all that jazz

HellOnTheEngine: the breakup is still coming because Misaki couldn't man up and do it! but yeah now you know how Rei plays into all of this that little rascal

JJ: thanks and did you like legit say it outloud?! cause that would have been funny

Andramion: awww thanks so so much! your whole review was really really sweet and well what did you think of the chapter? nothing terrible happened...well kind of, i dunno just let me know your thoughts!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, it really does make me want to keep writing this story for you guys and push through my writers block/lack of inspiration.