Page 106 of Trick or Treat Nurse at My Feet
"Tyler," she says, spotting me behind Drew. "Can we talk? Alone?"
Drew crosses his arms. "That's not happening."
"This is between Tyler and me," she insists. "This whole situation has gotten out of hand, and I just want to help."
Something about her desperation raises my suspicions. Has she somehow heard about Caleb? I step forward, deciding to hear her out, if only to understand what new angle she's playing.
"It's okay, Drew. We can talk on the porch."
Drew doesn't look happy, but steps aside, allowing me to join Cher outside. He leaves the door pointedly open behind me.
Cher's demeanour changes instantly, her hand reaching for mine, eyes wide with sympathy. "Tyler, I'm so sorry about what happened with Ethan. It's awful seeing you go through this."
"Is it?" keeping my voice neutral.
"Of course it is! I care about you. That video is all over campus. It's all anyone is talking about." She steps closer, lowering her voice. "Look, I know you think I had something to do with those photos, but I didn't. You have to believe me."
"Why would I think that, Cher?" My eyes are watching her closely.
She hesitates, just slightly. "Because of our history. Because I was jealous."Her fingers brush my arm. "I was wrong to try to come between you and Ethan. I see that now."
"That's quite a change of heart."
"Seeing you so hurt changed things," she says, looking right at me with big, sincere eyes. "Maybe this is a sign, Tyler. Perhaps it's time to stop experimenting and come back to what's real. To me."
For a moment, just a brief, disorienting moment, I almost believed that she was innocent and just wanted me back. It's crazy, but maybe she's not part of all of this.
But then I remember Ethan's laugh against my chest, those adorable eye crinkles when he smiles, how being with him is the only time I've ever felt completely myself. The truth slams into me like a linebacker: guilty or innocent, Cher is my past. Ethan is the only future I want.
The front door opens wider before I can say anything to her, and Gavin emerges with Caleb in tow. Caleb takes one look at Cher and freezes, his expression shifting from surprise to wariness.
"Caleb," Gavin chirps, "is this one of the people who hired you to alter those photos?"
Cher's face pales. "What? I've never seen this person before in my life."
Caleb's eyes narrow, his earlier reluctance replaced by indignation. "Yes," he says firmly. "That's the woman who paid me to set you up. She came to the design lab with that guy."
"That's ridiculous!" Cher exclaims, stepping back. "This is obviously some kind of setup."
"Funny," Gavin says, crossing his arms. "That's exactly what you did to Tyler and Ethan."
Drew appears in the doorway, his expression thunderous. "Cher, you're banned from this house and any Delta PsiOmega event. Forever. And we'll be speaking with your sorority president about this."
"You can't do that," she says, but her confidence is cracking. "My father?—"
"I don't care if your father is the golf buddy of the president of the university," Drew interrupts coldly. "You deliberately set out to hurt two people who never did anything to you. Actions have consequences."
"I don't understand why you'd do this." The words come out flat, confused. "What did you possibly gain from destroying my relationship?"
Tears spring to Cher's eyes, but they look more like rage than sadness. "You know what? Fine! You want to know why I did it?" Her voice climbs higher, losing all pretense of control. "Because everyone's been laughing at me! Do you know what it's like having people whisper that you're so awful you turned your boyfriend gay? That you're such a toxic bitch even men don't want to date women anymore because of you?"
Her perfectly composed mask is completely gone now, replaced by something wild and desperate. “Eight months, Tyler! Eight months I spent being the perfect girlfriend, and you threw it all away for some twink in scrubs who probably doesn't even know how to give a proper blowjob!"
The silence that follows is deafening.
“When did you become a person who cared what people think of you? You were never?—”
Fuck, what happened to the girl who'd show up at my door at midnight with a pizza and some shitty old movie, wearing my old hoodie that was way too big for her? She used to laugh so hard she'd snort, didn't give a fuck what anyone thought. Now she's... what, plotting revengebecause people are talking? Since when does Cher care about shit like this?
