You Don't Know You The Way I Do- A Team Starkid Fanfiction

Chapter 16

At the word Dylan, Joe's face immediately went through about ten emotions in about a second. But the result one was a mixture of fury and hurt. "What?" he said with such spite I leaned away. This was the exact opposite reaction of what I was hoping for.

I placed my hands up to stop him. "Listen Joe," I said calmly. "I would never ever cheat on you. I love you too much. But Dylan and I became friends, and I lied so I wouldn't hurt you."

"Well, that little plan didn't work, now did it?!" Joe said loudly, whipping his hand from mine and rubbing them on his shorts agitated. "What do you do on your little dates with Dylan?" he said almost mockingly.

"They're not dates! We either watch Doctor Who or go to breakfast! We're just friends, Joe! I have never seen Dylan like that!" Joe refused to look me in the eyes. "Look, I'm admitting I was wrong and apologizing! I'm sorry! Why are you so pissed off?"

"I'm not pissed off, I'm royally fucking hacked off, Eli!" he shouted, standing up and pacing my living room.

I stood up, standing in front of him. I could feel the heat radiating off his body, his nose flaring. "We didn't do anything though! I knew you guys were fighting, and I didn't wanna make it worse by saying I was becoming friends with him!" I yelled back.

"SHUT UP!" he screamed, his voice octaves higher than normal. I took several steps back, tears threatening to spill out. "This is just what I warned you about Eli! This is just how he works! He convinces you you're all buddy-buddy, then he swoops in for the kill! I warned you a million fucking times, Eli!"

"You don't own me Joe!" I yelled back, my face blotchy from the tears swimming in my eyes. "I am NOT your property!"

"I never said you were!" he spat back. He ran his hands through his hair, walking into my dining room. I was rooted on the spot, frozen in fear as to what he was going to say next. He threw his hands down, smacking his thighs, and turned to me, venom spewing from his glare. "I don't know where you get this assumption of you being property, owned by me! Do you know how shitty that makes me feel. And JUST BECAUSE I CARE DOESN'T MAKE ME AN OBSESSING BOYFRIEND!"

I sped towards him, attempting to take him hands, but he pulled them away like my touch was poisonous. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I lied! I'm sorry I called you clingy! I'm sorry for everything! But eventually, you have to stop apologizing, and move on! Because this is the shittiest fucking argument I have ever had!"

"It just hurts me more that you lied, not that you hung out with him!" Joe said quieter, but still to the point of shouting. I felt my hands shake at my sides. "I mean, yeah, I get jealous! Every man does! But you lying makes me think something else is happening!"

"Nothing else is happening, I love you, why can't you trust me?!" I said in one breath. "Why can't I just be friends with whoever? Someone who understands me?"

"Oh, you think I don't understand you?" he said in a deadly calm voice.

"No, that's not what I meant. You understand me! But another point of view is what I'm talking about!"

Joe's lower lip was quivering in anger. "This is the one thing I hate about you, Eli! You always have excuses for everything you do! If you do something bad, you need to blame it on lack of attention," he said in a mockingly high-pitched voice. "You don't know how much I've been busting my ass! But no, you have to blame it on needing a friend, or being cheated on, OR THE FACT YOUR MOTHER WAS AN ABUSIVE ALCOHOLIC BECAUSE YOUR DAD DIED!"

There is was. He said it. The one thing that was the lowest insult a person could ever tell me. I stood there, stunned, tears flowing down my cheeks but doing nothing about it. Joe realized the second he said it that it was too far. "Eli..." he said softly. Great. Now he chooses to forgive me after he's hurt me.