I should have listened to you

I should have listened to you
DYLAN’S POINT OF VIEW

“What’s going on…?”hervoice barely sounded like hers when the words left her mouth.It wasn’t loud,It wasn’t angry yet,It was broken and somehow that shattered something inside me faster than the video ever could.

The entire hall felt frozen around us, the music already dead, the giant screen at the back still glowing with the last frame of the video while murmurs spread across the hall like wildfire, low gasps and whispers crashing into each other until they became noise but I couldn’t hear any of it properly anymore,not after looking at her.

God......The way she was staring at me like she didn’t even recognize me anymore.My chest tightened so hard it almost hurt as I looked between her and the screen again, my mind spinning so fast I couldn’t even hold onto one thought properly.How the hell did this happen?,Who played it?,Who even had the recording?

A sick feeling crawled violently through my stomach as panic started building under my skin because this wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.I was going to tell her,I was......Maybe not perfectly,Maybe not at the right time. But I was going to tell her but I just couldn't because of this look she's giving me right now.

And now…Now she was finding out like this.
In front of everybody,My throat felt dry as I stepped toward her instinctively.

“Violet.......”i Started but she cut me off.

“How could you…?”Her voice cracked this time and every single word hit me like a punch straight to the chest.Tears were already filling her eyes now, trembling there stubbornly like she was trying not to let them fall, but the hurt in them…....I had never seen anyone look at me like that before,Not even close.

“I trusted you,” she whispered, shaking her head slowly like she couldn’t even process what she had just watched and that…That completely destroyed me because she had.
More than anyone ever should have,More than I deserved.

“Violet, please,” I said quickly, my voice rough and uneven as I moved closer again, desperation already slipping into every word,

“you need to let me explain......”

“Explain what?” she snapped suddenly, her voice rising for the first time and the entire hall seemed to go even quieter around us.
Her breathing shook violently as tears finally spilled down her cheeks.

“Explain that I was a joke to you?..”

“No........”

“Explain that everything was some stupid game?” she cried, her voice cracking harder now and I physically flinched because every word coming out of her mouth sounded like broken glass.

“It wasn’t like that anymore.......”

“ANYMORE?” she repeated in disbelief, staring at me like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

My mouth opened but nothing came out.
Because what was I even supposed to say?
That it started as a bet but turned real later?
That I fell in love after already ruining everything?That somewhere between her smiles and late night calls and the way she looked at me like I was worth trusting, I forgot the kind of person I used to be?
None of it sounded good enough,None of it sounded clean enough and before I could try again......A laugh suddenly echoed through the hall Sharp and Mocking.Everyone turned immediately to see that it was Nianna.

She was standing near the stage now with the microphone in her hand, looking completely entertained by the chaos around her.

“Oh please,” she said dramatically, rolling her eyes as another ugly laugh escaped her lips,

“why is everybody acting shocked right now?”My jaw clenched instantly.Violet turned slowly toward her, breathing unevenly and Nianna smirked.

“Violet......You really thought you were special?” she asked, tilting her head almost sympathetically.

“That’s actually adorable.”

“Nianna” I warned sharply, anger finally cutting through the shock in my chest.
But she ignored me completely.

“We all knew how this was going to end,” she continued casually, pacing slowly across the stage with the microphone still in her hand.

“I mean come on… Dylan Freeman suddenly falling hopelessly in love with the quiet nerdy girl?” She laughed again.

“Please. Nobody bought that.”Every single word made Violet look worse.Like something inside her was collapsing piece by piece right in front of me and I hated myself for being the reason.

“You should’ve seen the way they talked about it in the beginning,” she said cruelly.

“The bet, the challenge, the whole ‘make Violet fall first’ thing…” She shrugged lightly.

“Honestly? It was pathetic.”

“Shut up,” I snapped.My voice came out harder this time, dangerous enough that even people nearby tensed slightly but Nianna only smiled wider.

“Aww,” she mocked,

“look at him acting protective now.”I moved toward the stage immediately but Brian grabbed my arm first.

“Dylan........”

“Let go of me.”

“She’s making it worse,” he hissed quietly.

“She already made it worse!” I snapped back, my chest heaving violently now.
Meanwhile Violet just stood there shaking her head slowly, tears falling faster now as she looked at me again and this time…
This time there was no softness left in her eyes,Only pain.......Pure pain.

“I can’t believe you,” she whispered.

“Violet…” My voice broke completely now as I stepped toward her again, no longer caring about the people staring around us.

“I swear to you it changed.”Her face crumpled slightly at that.I saw the exact second that word destroyed whatever hope she still had left.

“Oh my God…” she breathed out shakily, covering her mouth for a second before looking back at me with complete heartbreak written all over her face.

“So it’s really true.”I swallowed hard.

“Please just let me explain.......”

“No,” she cut in immediately, backing away from me now like even standing close to me hurt.

“I don’t want an explanation.”

“Violet.......”

“I don’t think there’s anything you can say that could ever make this okay!”Her voice echoed loudly through the hall and every single person there went silent again.I felt sick,Actually sick because she was right and the worst part was that I knew it.

“I trusted you,” she whispered again, crying openly now.

“I trusted you so much.”God......I couldn’t breathe properly.

“I know,” I said weakly, my voice barely working anymore.

“And I’m sorry.”But sorry sounded disgusting now.Violet laughed softly then but there was absolutely no happiness in it.
Just hurt.......Raw hurt.

“You know what the crazy part is?” she asked shakily, wiping at her tears angrily.

“I really loved you.”My chest physically tightened.

“And I still would’ve chosen you.”That almost killed me right there.
In that moment because she meant it.
I could hear it in her voice and somehow that made everything even uglier.

“But now…” she continued, her lips trembling violently as she stared at me one last time,

“I wish I never met you"The entire world inside me seemed to stop.

“I hate you, Dylan.”The words slammed into me so hard I actually froze Completely.
Like my brain refused to process what I had just heard.
And before I could move...... Before I could think,She turned and ran.

“Violet!”Mira shouted immediately before rushing after her and so did all of her friends.

“Violet!” Chloe called too, panic all over her face as she and Thessa hurried after her through the crowd.People moved aside quickly as they disappeared out of the hall and the second Violet vanished from sight, instinct took over.I went after her immediately but Brian grabbed me again before I could get far.

“Dylan wait.......”

“Move!”

“She doesn’t want to see you right now!”

“I need to talk to her!”My voice came out desperate now, almost unrecognizable even to me.I tried pulling away again but Johnson stepped in too.

“Bro… stop.”

“Don’t tell me to stop!”My chest was rising harshly now as I stared toward the entrance she had disappeared through moments ago, my entire body screaming at me to follow her.To fix this,To do something but how the hell was I supposed to fix this?How do you fix becoming the exact thing she was afraid of?

“She hates me,” I said quietly before I could stop myself.The words sounded empty coming out broken.Nobody answered immediately because there wasn’t really anything to say.Zayn rubbed a hand over his face slowly before looking at me.

“If you would have told her earlier then none of this would have been happening. My dad is going to get married to her mom Tommorow dude.....what do you think he'll do when he finds out I'm involved” he muttered finally, not harsh this time.....Just tired.

“I know,” I whispered.

Brian sighed heavily beside me.

“Okay enough,” he said, glaring briefly at Zayn before looking back at me again.

“You can obviously see he’s messed up already.”Messed up didn’t even begin to cover it because the image of her crying… The sound of her voice saying I hate you…
It kept replaying inside my head over and over again and no matter how hard I tried—
I couldn’t stop hearing it.

VIOLET’S POINT OF VIEW

I kept running,I didn’t even know where I was running to anymore, I just knew I couldn’t stay there.Not in that hall,Not near him,Not with everybody staring at me like I was some pathetic girl in a movie who had just found out the guy she loved never really loved her back.

My chest hurt so badly it felt impossible to breathe properly, every breath coming out uneven and shaky while tears blurred my vision so much that the lights outside the venue melted into one messy glow.
Behind me I could hear them calling my name.

“Violet!”

“Wait!”

“Violet stop running!”But I couldn’t stop because the second I stopped, it would become real and I wasn’t ready for that yet.
I wasn’t ready to accept that every sweet moment replaying in my head now had started because of a stupid bet,A stupid cruel bet.

My stomach twisted violently as another sob escaped my throat and I pressed a trembling hand against my chest like that would somehow stop the ache spreading through it.God…It hurt....It hurt so much.

The image of Dylan’s face kept flashing through my mind over and over again, the way he looked panicked, the way he kept trying to explain, the way his voice cracked when he said my name but none of it mattered anymore because all I could hear louder than everything else was....It changed,Not it’s a lie,Not it never happened.
It changed....Which meant it was true,My vision blurred harder.

I let out another broken sob and kept moving until suddenly my heel twisted painfully beneath me.A sharp pain shot through my ankle instantly.

“Ahh.....!”I stumbled hard before crashing down onto my knees against the pavement.
The pain barely even registered compared to what was happening inside my chest.
I stayed there anyway,Crying harder now.
My hands pressed against the ground while sobs shook violently through my body so hard I couldn’t even control them anymore.
Within seconds footsteps rushed toward me.

“Oh my God, Violet!”Warm hands touched my shoulders immediately.

“Careful!”

“Your ankle.....”I barely heard them,I just kept crying.Everything inside me felt shattered.
Mira knelt beside me first, breathing heavily from running while Chloe crouched on my other side and Thessa immediately pushed my hair gently away from my face and judging from the silence that followedafter she looked at me properly…I probably looked horrible.

“Oh girl…” Chloe muttered softly, wincing a little.

“Your mascara is everywhere right now, you actually look like a crying zombie.”Normally I would’ve laughed,Normally I would’ve rolled my eyes and told her she was rude but now?
another sob broke out of me instead and immediately Chloe’s face dropped.

“Okay no, no, I’m sorry,” she said quickly, panicking slightly as she rubbed my arm.

“That joke failed terribly.”

“It’s enough Violet,” Mira said softly, trying to steady my shaking shoulders.

“Enough??”My head snapped up so quickly tears flew down my cheeks again.

“Did I just hear you say enough?” My voice cracked badly as I stared at her in disbelief.

“My heart literally feels like it’s breaking right now and you’re telling me enough?”

“No that’s not what I meant......”

“I can’t breathe properly,” I cried, pressing a hand shakily against my chest again as fresh tears spilled down my face.

“I actually can’t breathe because every single thing feels fake now.”My voice trembled harder.

“How was I supposed to know it was all a bet?” I whispered brokenly.

“How was I supposed to know?”Nobody answered because there was nothing they could say.

“I thought he loved me,” I cried harder, the words tearing out of me painfully now.

“God… I trusted him so much.”My chest tightened violently again.

“So much that I gave him my first time,” I whispered shakily, humiliation washing over me all over again the second I said it aloud.

“I trusted him with that.”The silence around me became heavier immediately.Not judgmental,Just heartbroken for me and somehow that made me cry even harder.

“I feel so stupid,” I sobbed.

“So stupid because everybody kept warning me one way or the other and I still kept defending him within me "

“Violet…” Amanda whispered softly, her eyes already glossy too.

“No!” I cried, shaking my head violently.

“Don’t tell me to calm down right now because I can’t!”My breathing became uneven again.

“I feel used,” I whispered painfully.The words came out quieter this time but somehow hurt even more.

“I feel disgusting.”

“You are not disgusting,” Chloe said immediately, firm enough that all of us looked at her.

“Don’t even say that.”

“But he used me........”

“He’s the disgusting one here, not you,” Mira snapped angrily before I could finish.

“He’s an idiot....... I can't believe I also thought it was real”

“But I loved him,” I whispered.

And God…....That was the worst part because despite everything.......despite how badly he had hurt me.....A part of me still loved him and I hated myself for it.

“I really loved him,” I cried softly, tears falling endlessly now.

“I thought he was different.” Chloe crouched lower beside me then, gently holding my freezing hands between hers.

“Okay,” she said quietly, carefully, like she was trying not to make things worse.

“We know you’re hurting right now and honestly you have every right to but please… you need to breathe.”I shook my head immediately.

“It hurts too much.”

“I know.”

“No you don’t,” I whispered, my voice trembling again.

“You didn’t see the way he looked at me every day. You didn’t hear the things he said to me. He made me believe everything was real.”Another sob escaped me.

“And the crazy thing is… I still don’t know if some of it was fake.”Nobody spoke after that because honestly?That was the cruelest part of all,Not knowing which moments were real and which weren’t.

“Okay we’ve heard you,” Chloe said softly after a while, rubbing my arm gently again.

“But please stop crying like this before you give yourself a terrible headache.”I laughed weakly through my tears.

“At this point I’d rather have a headache than this heartache,” I whispered painfully.

“Because this hurts so bad.”My voice cracked again.

“It actually hurts physically.”Mira’s eyes softened instantly and she carefully brushed my ruined hair away from my face.

“I know,” she murmured quietly.For a few seconds nobody said anything.The cold night air wrapped around us softly while my crying slowly became quieter, not because I felt better but because I was exhausted.
Completely exhausted.....Finally Thessa stood carefully.

“It’s freezing out here,” she said gently.

“Let’s take you home.”The others immediately agreed.Chloe and Mira carefully helped me stand but the second pressure touched my ankle again, pain shot upward sharply,I hissed quietly.

“Oh God.”

“Yeah that ankle is definitely sprained,”Chloe muttered.

“Great,” I whispered bitterly.

“Perfect ending to the night.”

“Don’t start,” Mira warned softly,Together they slowly helped me toward the car while I limped painfully beside them, my body feeling heavier with every step.The drive home was mostly quiet,Not uncomfortable.......Just sad.Every now and then one of them would ask if I was okay and every time I nodded even though we all knew I wasn’t.

I spent most of the drive staring out the window silently while tears kept slipping down my cheeks no matter how many times,I wiped them away.Everything outside looked blurry,Streetlights,Cars,People.

The entire world kept moving normally while mine felt like it had just collapsed.
By the time we finally reached home, I felt drained in every possible way.Emotionally. Physically,Mentally.

The girls carefully helped me out of the car and slowly toward the house.Lights were still on inside,I barely even had energy to react when the front door opened.The moment we stepped in, voices immediately filled the room.

“Oh my God......Violet?”Mom stood up so fast from the couch that the blanket on her lap fell straight to the floor while Aunt Quinn beside her looked equally shocked.

They had clearly been watching a movie moments ago because bowls of popcorn were still sitting on the center table untouched now.

“What happened?” Mom rushed toward me instantly, panic all over her face as her eyes moved rapidly between my swollen ankle, my ruined makeup, and my tear stained face.

“Why are you crying?”

“What happened to your leg?”

“Why are you home so early?”Questions kept coming one after another but I couldn’t answer immediately because the second I looked at her…Everything broke all over again......Chloe opened her mouth softly.

“Mrs Roland, actually........”

“You were right, mom.”My voice interrupted weakly through fresh tears and everyone went quiet instantly.I looked at her with completely shattered eyes as another painful sob escaped my chest.

“Boys are scum......deceivers,” I whispered brokenly.

“I should’ve listened to you.”