XXI - Afterglow (Red's POV)

Chloe had been acting differently ever since she had gotten back from Swords and Shields training. At first it started as just changing her phone password, but then she started getting territorial over her phone, too. In the past she never cared if I had her phone, but now? Now she flipped her shit if I even touched it. I just thought that maybe she wanted more privacy. I could give her that, couldn't I?

But after the phone instance it was like she drifted further and further away from me in just a matter of days. School would be starting soon, and it would be our senior year. She had more classes to prepare for the throne, more practices for Swords and Shields. I just told myself she was tired and anxious. That's what it was. It had to be. Chloe loved me, she wouldn't do anything to hurt me. Love protects people, when you love someone you can't hurt them, right?

That's what I thought until the Sunday morning before classes started back up. That's what I thought until I woke up alone.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and checked the time. It was nearly seven A.M., Chloe should be here still, but when I got up and looked around our dorm, she was gone. We were settled in by Thursday and our dorm had been exactly as we'd left it at the end of last school year. Chloe's phone sat on the nightstand beside her bed. The room was still and quiet as I stared at it, almost willing it to do something—and then it did.

Her phone vibrated on her nightstand, the screen lighting up with a notification. I bit my lip, fighting with myself over whether or not to read the notification. I trusted her—she hadn't given me a reason not to—but with the way she had been acting lately? I gave in to my curiosity, and walked over to her nightstand.

I quickly learned I should've just left it alone, because what I saw made my heart stop.

I can't wait to have fun with you later ;) Red doesn't know, right? was plastered on the screen from an unsaved number.

It felt like the world stopped. I couldn't be reading that. It had to just be a friend, the winky face was just teasing, not flirting, right? Right? Chloe just hadn't put the contact into her phone yet, that was it. I tried to slow my breathing, my heart pounding in my chest now, bile rising in my throat, and Chloe came through the door quietly as if she were still expecting me to be sleeping. Her eyes widened when she saw me reading the message on her phone.

"Red, what are you doing?" she asked. As soon as I saw her it was like everything I felt for her went numb. My mind didn't want to admit it yet, but my body knew what was going on.

"I think the better question here is what are you doing, Chloe?" I bit out. The words tasted like poison on my tongue, and I knew it was cruel, but I didn't have it in me to stop. "Or who you're doing."

Her face turned horrified when she'd realized the implication of my words. "Red, no, that's not…it's not what it looks like. I can explain," she said, the words hurriedly falling out of her mouth.

I scoffed at her as my heart began to ache, "You didn't even deny it," I said, feeling my eyes grow wet with tears. I couldn't cry, not in front of her, not right now. I wouldn't allow myself to cry in front of her when she was the reason for my tears. Normally I could let myself show emotion around her, but she had someone else and didn't even bother to say anything. She just thought she could have both of us at the same time.

"Red, I promise whatever you're thinking is going on, isn't," she said, and I hated how I noticed the way her eyes were filling with tears too. She doesn't get to cry about this. Not when she was the one who ruined what we had in the first place.

"Don't you fucking cry!" I shouted, and the volume of my voice shocked even me. It reminded me of my mother, and as much as I didn't want to be like her, I couldn't stop it. "If you wanted to leave me," I said, my voice breaking as the words became real, "if you wanted someone else, all you had to do was say it. It's that girl you met at camp isn't it?" The tears slipped from my eyes, sliding down my cheeks. Chloe had told me of this girl—Marina, I think was her name—and how good she was with a sword, and I guess she was good at other things, too, if she could take my girlfriend from me.

Growing up, my mother always made sure I always knew that treason—no, betrayal—was the worst crime someone could commit. And here in front of me stood Chloe, with pleading eyes and a voice that was filled with hope, after she had done just that.

"Red, please, it's not like that, you have to believe me!" she begged, the tears in her eyes coursing down her face like rivers. "It's not what it looks like! I love you so much—I would never cheat on you. Fuck, I can't imagine the rest of my life with anyone else but you! Please, just let me explain everything."

"You love me?" I never lowered my voice, and now all of Auradon probably knew we were fighting, but I didn't care. "How can you say you love me and then cheat on me? I saw the message in your phone. You can't weasel your way out of this one, Chloe" I hated how I used her name like a weapon, but maybe I wanted her to hurt the same way I did. "I guess you'll have to start imagining your life with someone else now. Leave me alone, and don't you fucking dare try and talk to me about it."

I shove past where she stood by the doorway. I didn't know where I was going, but all I knew was I would be anywhere but here. The image of Chloe standing there with tears flowing, a look of shock and…was it hurt? on her face haunted my mind as I walked. Eventually I found myself at the Enchanted Lake, and let out a dry laugh at the irony of it. Only someone like me would wind up grieving the death of my only real relationship at the place where we had so many dates.

I slid my back down one of the stone columns and curled into a ball at the bottom of it. I hid my face as I cried hard, body-rocking sobs. Normally, any time I did this Chloe was there, holding me until I fell asleep from exhaustion, but now…now she was the reason for it all, and that made me hurt even more. There was one question that bounced around my head like a pinball game. Why? Why did she do this? Why wasn't I good enough for her? What did this other person have that I didn't? How did I get what they had so that maybe I could have her back again? Why did I even want her back? Why did I want the one that hurt me to be the one to take the pain away?

Even though she did me wrong first, I still felt guilty for screaming at her, calling her those names. Part of me knew I'd always love her, no matter how bad she hurt me. Maybe that meant I was toxic, or maybe a bad person. She could've chewed me up and spit me out a hundred times and I would still go back, but not this time. I couldn't.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," I heard someone say, and it immediately made me lift my head up from my hands. "Princess of Hearts, sobbing her eyes out. What could possibly be the cause of that?" My eyes searched around the area, looking for the source of the voice. It sounded familiar, and it reminded me of Chester. From the way the words were said to the very meaning of them, it should've been him. And then I saw a teenage boy with strawberry blonde curls and pale eyes materialize on a tree branch, lounging around as if it were a couch.

Chester.

My friend, Chester. He had materialized in front of me like it was nothing. He shouldn't be here. In fact, he should still be in Wonderland. I was the only Wonderland kid in Auradon even with my mother being nice.

"Ch-Chester?" I asked, stuttering from disbelief.

"The one and only, Your Highness," he said, climbing down from the tree and sauntering over toward me. I had told Chloe about him, about Bramble Bay. Chloe knew everything about Chester, and she also knew about Ace. She'd even met them both at my birthday ball in Wonderland. While she was away at Swords and Shields training in July I did some digging, and even in this timeline they were my friends. We all grew up together apparently. My mother had told me if I wasn't glued to Chloe's hip I was causing mischief with Chester and Ace. How ironic.

"What's got you so upset, princess?" Chester asked, sitting down on the cold concrete beside me. I sniffed, internally debating with myself about if I was ready to talk about this or not.

"My girl…ex-girlfriend," I said, and a look of shock was on Chester's face.

"What happened with you and Chloe?" he asked. "Shit, I'm sorry, Red."

"It's fine," I said, not even believing the lie myself. "She cheated." My voice was hoarse from the sobbing now.

"What?" he practically screamed. "How did she…? That girl loves you with everything she has…"

"I found the text messages this morning. An unsaved number said they were excited to 'have fun' with her later," I said, swallowing down the lump in my throat that threatened to make me cry again. Chester had a look of deep thought on his face before I further interrupted him. "So how are you here? I thought you were back in Wonderland."

"About that," Chester began nervously. "I'm pretty sure Chloe meant it as a surprise to you that I'm here…"

"What?" I asked. What was he trying to get at?
"Uh, she's the only reason why I'm here," Chester started, a worried expression on his face. "Chloe asked the King and Queen if a few more Wonderland kids could come to AP. That's how I'm here. When I asked her why she said she knew how important me and Ace were to you so she wanted to surprise you by bringing us here. The person who sent that text…that was me. She was going to show you that me and Ace are here."

Oh. My. God.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod. I felt like I was gonna throw up. Chloe wasn't cheating on me at all, and she never was. She was surprising me with the one thing I'd told her I wanted for my birthday—to be able to have my friends back. I was such an asshole to her. And for nothing, too. I broke up with her in the heat of the moment. There was no way she would take me back. Any sane person wouldn't, anyway. I had screamed at her, implied she was sleeping with someone else, I'd hurt her. She went and bent over backward for me to have my friends in Auradon with me and I called her a cheater and screamed at her.

Chester must have seen the look on my face because he let out a nervous laugh, "Red, why do you look like that? You didn't like…freak out on her did you?"

"No. No, no, no, I did!" I screamed, taking fistfuls of my hair into my hands as my breathing turned ragged. "I screamed at her, I—I called her names! This is bad, this is so bad. I broke up with her without even giving her a chance to explain herself. I'm a horrible person. Everyone is right, she really is better off without me…" My voice grew quiet as I realized how shitty I was. Chloe was the one person who truly cared about me, and I pushed her away because I got scared of what might have happened.

"What? No, Red, Chloe loves you, there's no way she thinks that. We need to get you home to her so we can fix this," Chester said, standing up and holding out his hand to pull me up with him.

"But what if she doesn't take me back?" I asked, my eyes glassy with tears.

"She will," he said. "And if she doesn't I'll find a way to make her take you back." I take his hand and he pulls me up, heading back toward my dorm room.

We all but run back, my heart pounding in my chest with anxiety. Chester sends text messages with lightning speed, and suddenly I'm standing in front of my dorm, fist raised in the air to knock. Before my fist can collide with the wood, it opens, and Chloe is standing before me. She looks stone cold, her expression one of pain. I burst into tears at the sight of her, throwing myself onto her.

"Chloe-I'm-so-sorry-I-accused-you-of-cheating-I-didn't-know-what-you-were-planning-and-I'm-a-horrible-person-and-I-completely-understand-if-you-never-want-to-talk-to-me-again," I said, the words coming out hurried and sounding as if they were all one word entirely. I was expecting Chloe to push me away, to scream at me and hate me, but she didn't. Instead, she softens, wrapping her arms around me, and I bury my face into her curls.

"Red?" Chloe said gently, lifting my face up to make me look at her. "I'm not mad at you," she started, "But I am hurt that you think I would cheat on you."

"I'm so sorry," I said, my eyes falling to the floor in shame. "I got nosy and read the text message from Chester and took it out of context. I blew things out of proportion—I should've talked to you about it first. Do you hate me?"

"I'll never be able to hate you," Chloe said, a small smile on her face. "Be my girlfriend again?"

"Yes," I said, squeezing onto her tighter.

"Red, I was trying to surprise you by bringing you Chester and Ace. I wanted you to be happy, and I know you're gonna say I make you happy but I wanted you to have more friends because I know you really only have Zoey outside of me and—"

I cut her off with a kiss. She was rambling too much and I already lost my train of thought. I knew what she was trying to say, anyway. "God, Chloe, you really need to learn when to shut up sometimes," I said when I broke apart from her. She just rolls her eyes at me in response. Her hands linger on my waist, my arms around her neck. I don't want to be apart from her, not now.

"Are you two done being sickly sweet now? Seriously, get a room," Chester laughs, and I raise an eyebrow at him.

"We do have a room," I said, matter-of-factly. "In fact, I think that's where we are right now, aren't we, Chloe?"

She feeds into my behavior, matching my attitude, "Hm, yes I think so. And you know what that means don't you, love?"

"Hm?"

"It means I get to do whatever I want to you," she said, her eyes flicking down to my lips before she pulled me into a kiss again.

Another person joins us then, his dark curls falling into his deep brown eyes. He was so different from the last time I'd seen him. He was more muscular, taller. He was my first crush, even if I didn't know it at the time. Ace.

He stood next to Chester, panting from running over to my dorm. "I just got your text," he said to Chester before surveying the scene in front of him. "We're all good now, aren't we?"

"Yep," Chloe said, her arm around my waist pulling me into her side. "All good."

We're all sitting in our dorm now, Ace lounges on the couch while Chester takes a liking to my bed. I'm sitting in Chloe's lap and a comedy movie plays in the background. All I want right now is to be close to her. After the past few weeks have been filled with distance, all I want is her closeness. My face is buried in her hair as she talks to me quietly. I'm fidgeting nervously with her hair, wrapping and unwrapping one of her curls around my finger over and over again.

"You know nobody can take me from you, right?" Chloe asked gently. "I don't want anyone else but you."

"I know," I started, the guilt eating away at me. "I'm sorry I accused you of cheating. I feel like such a bitch. I got scared and turned off my emotions because that's all I know how to do. I'm sorry that I hurt you, just please don't leave."

"I know, love," she said, kissing my forehead and holding my face with her hand. "It's okay to be scared. I'm your first everything, but I'm gonna be your last everything, too. You're mine, and I'm yours until the end of time."

"Oh my God! Can you guys stop being a Hallmark movie for two seconds!" Chester laughed from my bed.

"Seriously," Ace piped in. "You guys are like…disgusting with all that love over there."

"You're just mad she chose me and not you," Chloe teased, making me hide my face deeper in her hair to hide the blush on my face.

"That's not true," Ace grumbled. "I'd rather see her with you than anyone else. But let us find out you broke her heart and you're a goner."

"If I ever break her heart I give you permission to hurt me," Chloe said. Being in her arms was something I would never get used to. She was my comfort, my home, and yet I'd pushed her away when I got scared. I came back to her begging for forgiveness and she took me back when she didn't have to. She did things for me that I never imagined someone could do.

"Can we stop talking about me like I'm not here?" I asked, earning an eruption of laughter from everyone in the room.

"Are you sure you're not mad at me?" I asked, nervously chewing my lip. "I lost my mind. I accused you of cheating…that's a big deal."

"If I were mad I wouldn't be holding you right now. And in your defense, I have been kind of distant this past week. You had every reason to suspect that there was someone else," Chloe said.

"I'm sorry," I repeated. I didn't feel like sorry was enough for how I felt.

I feel Chloe's chest rise and fall in a heavy sigh, "I'm still yours, and I always will be. You're stuck with me. For life, you know that?" I bury my face into her curls, closing my eyes so all I can focus on is her. I breathe in her scent and grip onto her clothes. I can't leave her, I can't be away from her.

Chester and Ace leave not long after I've attached myself to Chloe. Never in a thousand lifetimes did I think I would feel this way for another person, or even act like this around someone else, yet here I was clinging to this girl like every breath she took was what gave me life. And in a way, it was. I had lived without Chloe just fine, but now that I had experienced the joy of her, I'd never be able to live without her again. Now that I knew what comfort was, I could never leave her arms, her kiss, the way she held me while I cried over a past only we knew about.

"God, you're so clingy today, love," Chloe laughs as she tries to reposition herself and instead earns a muffled protest from me.

"I'm sorry," I said, still buried in her. All I wanted was her closeness, to feel okay after what was supposed to be a good day went awry. "I'm so sorry."

"Baby, stop," Chloe says, somehow gentle and firm at the same time. "It happened, and it's over. No one could take me from you no matter how hard they tried. My heart is yours, and yours only. I'm not mad at you, I promise. I'll never get mad at you for how you feel, and today you felt scared. It's my job to take that away. Are you still scared that I'll leave?"

"No," I said. "Can I just…can I just lay here with you for a while?"

"Yes, love, as long as you want," Chloe said, pulling me on top of her. I heard her heartbeat and felt the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, eventually lulling me into a comatose sleep.