Chapter 11 (Riley's POV):
I stared at Emily with a confused look on my face. How was I supposed to answer that?
"I don't like Nate." I replied. I didn't exactly understand if that was a lie or not, so it would be better to leave things like that.
"Riley, are you lying again?" she accused, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm not lying!"
"Then, look me in the eyes and tell me you don't like him." she said. I opened my mouth, but I couldn't speak. I wasn't sure about my feelings and I couldn't say anything. She smiled.
"Stop it, it's not funny."
"Yes, it is! You like him!
"Emily...!"
"What? I'm just saying what you don't have the guts to say!"
"It's not like that!"
"Then, say you like him!" she replied. I sighed. I didn't like where that conversation was going...
"I can't." I admitted.
"You can't? Then... Can you say you don't like him, for real?"
"No..." I sighed. She laughed.
"Okay, I see that's it's better if I don't insist." she said, going to the door. I, however, grabbed her by the arm, making her face me.
"No way. I want to know where you were."
"What?"
"Don't play dumb with me. Where were you?"
"Riley…" she began, twirling her hair with her fingers. I closed my eyes and count to ten, to control my anger.
"You were with Kyle." I realized, with my eyes still closed.
"Ri, don't do that." she begged, in a low voice.
"Do what?" I asked, slightly opening an eye.
"That 'closing your eyes' thing. I know you only do that when you're mad. It makes me chills."
"You get chills because I close my eyes?"
"I get chills because you're mad at me, when I didn't do anything wrong." she explained, sitting on the bed next to me.
"He did, though. He has a girlfriend."
"Not anymore."
"He broke up with Gwen?" I asked, surprised, raising an eyebrow. She nodded and I sighed. That wasn't on my plans. Now Emily was on the good way to get hurt.
"Please, trust me." she begged, staring at me. I hesitated. I couldn't say 'no' to her. If I would, she'd hate me forever.
"Let's just give it some time, 'kay, Ems?" I said, kissing her forehead and leaving. I walked around the camp, until I saw Nate, who spotted me right away.
"Riley!" he called, walking in my direction. I sighed. That wasn't going to end well…
"Hi…" I mumbled, forcing a smile. He crossed his arms and looked at me with an accusing look. I lowered my head.
"Why did you run off last night? And… Why were you crying?" he asked, lowering his voice on the last part. I stuttered a bit, without knowing what to say.
"I just… That song brought me a few… Not so nice memories…" I explained, calmly. He raised an eyebrow and pulled me closer to him. That wasn't exactly what I was expecting him to do. I thought he was going to ask me what those memories were, but I, however, was happy that he didn't do it.
"Are you sure it's just that?" she asked, looking me in the eyes (what made me blush).
"That, and the fact that I'm having these feelings for you that I'm not sure what they are." I thought automatically.
"It's just that." I lied, smiling. He smiled as well. We started to "let go" of each other, until I said something that I just couldn't control. "Do you want to go to the studio?"
He stared at me with a surprised look on his face. I wanted to punch myself for saying that. Nate, however, laughed.
"Let's go." he said, holding my hand and starting to walk. I blushed again and made an effort to hide it from him. We entered the studio and sat on the same corner as the night before. I lowered my head and stared at my feet. Nate noticed that. "What's the matter?"
I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't want to tell him that I was sad because of Sean again.
"Humn… I know what might cheer you up." he commented, picking up a guitar.
"Nate… I'm not sure about that..."
"It doesn't need to be the same song you played yesterday, since you seem to be sad when you play it."
I started to play, but I remained in silence. I was afraid of singing something that would hurt me again. That reminded me of how hurt I was…
"Sorry, I'm not very inspired today..." I mumbled, putting the guitar down. He smiled.
"Don't apologize, it was a nice song. Where did you learn to play like that?" he asked, surprising me. I didn't know how to tell him that it was Sean who taught me. I really didn't want to cry again…
"It was… Hum… My ex…" I stuttered. "He's-"
"A jackass?" he interrupted, making me laugh.
"I was going to say 'guitarist' but, yeah, that too." I confessed, while my smile disappeared.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked you to play… I had no idea it hurt you this much."
"It doesn't, it's just… I always liked music, but too many things happened at the same thing, and I started to have doubts about wasting my time with this."
"Music isn't wasting time. Not when you have a talent like yours."
"Thanks, I guess…" I mumbled, blushing. He noticed it and laughed.
"Do you want to go for a walk or something? Just to see if you cheer up a little…"
"Can't we stay here for a while longer?" I asked, innocently (because I was still embarrassed). "I don't really want to go out."
He looked at me, clearly surprised, and I blushed even more. I regretted asking him that already…
"Okay, we can stay." he said, smiling. I smiled too and laid my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes. I thought about Sean and everything that had happened and I realized I needed to let go of the past. I couldn't let a person control my life like this. I needed to move on. And I was sure that, with Nate, that was going to be a lot easier.