Chapter 20 - Blocked

June Wolez

I got home around dinner time from my all-day Sunday date with Methane. I spent the night at Ella's place and told her everything about the update on Methane and my relationship, then I got dressed up in one of Ella's cute dresses and went on my date with Methane that he had planned for me. It was an amusement park date, and I had a blast.

But at the same time, I felt a little sad when I saw Neil, Violet, Ella, Carol, and Anna's pictures on the beach. Even though Ella said she would hang out with Carol and Anna, she ended up joining Neil and Violet with Carol and Anna.

I consoled myself with the fact that I had a lot of fun myself. I couldn't be having both at the same time. Something had to be sacrificed.

When I was taking my shoes off at the entryway, I noticed two pairs of unfamiliar shoes and a familiar pair of red and black Nike sneakers.

A huge grin formed on my face as I ran inside.

"Oh, my God, Troy! You are back!" I exclaimed as I saw a blonde boy and his father talking to my aunt.

Troy turned his head toward me, and my heart skipped a beat at the sight of his handsome face. I instantly slapped myself internally.

Remember you have a boyfriend, June!

I composed myself and went to hug him, but as he returned the hug, it lacked the warmth he always emitted. He smiled at me tightly and said, "Hi, June. How have you been?"

"I have been great. What about you?"

"Good." He turned away from me and got up from the couch to go to the kitchen with Camilla.

I sat there confused at Troy's behavior. Why was he acting strange to me? Was he mad at me about something?

I was about to follow him when Sara came out of the washroom and clamored, "Oh, June! How are you, sweetheart?"

Sara and Taylor engaged me in a conversation about their trip to Montrose, only talking about the touring part, excluding anything related to Kyle's trial.

Apparently, my aunt invited the entire Brian family for dinner tonight as they had just got back a couple of hours ago from their trip.

I didn't get a chance to talk to Troy once as he was helping out Camilla in the kitchen. I loved his considerate and kind nature. Whenever his family came over for dinner or when Camilla and I went to their place, he always helped in the kitchen. He was a really sweet person. He never acted rudely with anyone. That's why I couldn't figure out for the love of God why he was avoiding me.

Even at the dinner table, he sat on the chair farthest away from me.

However, after dinner, as Troy volunteered to do the dishes, I also piped in. He didn't object to it, but he didn't seem to like it, either.

We were silently washing the dishes until I couldn't take the silence anymore and decided to ask, "Why did you not call or text me again after Thursday?"

Troy stayed quiet.

"Why are you ignoring me, Troy? Have I done something wrong?" I asked, emotions seeping into my voice.

He dropped the plate he had been holding tightly on the sink a little angrily. "I'm ignoring you? Seriously, June? How can you even ask me that?"

"I... I don't understand." I was surprised at his harsh tone. What was he even talking about?

"June, I called and texted you multiple times over the last few days. Not once did you see them, let alone bother to reply."

"What?" I let out in shock. "I didn't receive anything from you."

"How will you? After all, you must have blocked me, didn't you?"

"Huh? Why would I block you?"

"I don't know. Maybe because you got a boyfriend," he accused, "So you want to cut off contact with me because I admitted that thing on my birthday."

I had no idea what he was even going on about. Why on earth would I block him? Plus, I didn't even know he knew about Methane.

"And you know what? I understand that part where you want to avoid me. But why the hell did you throw away the watch I gifted you last year?"

I was shocked to my core. How could he say that? "What do you mean? I have your watch on right now—" I froze as I raised my hand to show him the bracelet watch, only to realize my left wrist was empty.

"June, I don't know what you were thinking, but I did not expect you to go out of your way to hurt me. You didn't have to throw away that watch in front of my porch for me to notice. You could have just asked me to leave you alone, and I wouldn't have bothered you at all. Instead, you decided to trample on my feelings."

"Troy—"

He took off the rubber gloves and threw them into the sink. "Sorry, I'm tired from the trip. I'm going home." With that, he stormed out of the kitchen, leaving me utterly confused.

###

"I don't know what I did wrong, Els. How could the watch have ended up at Troy's porch when I had been wearing it to the party on Saturday night?" I told Ella when we were walking in the hallway on Monday morning at school.

Ella hummed. "But I remember your wrist being empty when you were at my place."

"Do you think I dropped it somewhere at the party?" I asked cluelessly.

"Still, it doesn't make sense how it could end up at Troy's porch which has to be twenty miles away from the club," Ella pointed out, and I hummed sadly. "Did you check your blacklist yet?"

I nodded. "I unblocked Troy and all his missed calls and messages instantly appeared over the last few days appeared. I don't understand how Troy ended up in my blacklist, either." I was shocked to find Troy's number and accounts on my blacklist of every social media. If it was one social media account, I could have understood it was a mistake on my hand, but on all the accounts? "Do you think Mysteriel knows how to hack phones?"

Ella rolled her eyes. "What would Mysteriel gain from blocking Troy, who is from another school, on your phone?"

"True." I groaned, "How do I explain to Troy that I didn't do any of these?" I didn't like to have things messed up with Troy. For the last five years, he has been a constant in my life. I didn't want our relationship to sour when we only had one more year together.

Ella rubbed my shoulder and whispered, "Hey, girl. Maybe it's for the best. You wanted to get over your crush on Troy, so now's the best chance."

"But—"

"Shh. Look ahead," she alerted, and I looked in front of us to find Methane walking toward us. "You have a boyfriend now. Focus on him. Don't have another boy in your head." I nodded, and she kissed my cheek and went away.

I put on a bright smile for Methane as he gave me a peck on the lips and placed his hand on my waist to make our way to the homeroom.

"Good morning, babe," he wished.

"Didn't you already wish me that?" I teased because ever since we started dating, I woke up to a text with 'good morning, babe,' and slept with 'good night, babe,' from him. I found it really sweet.

"Where's the harm in saying it again?" he replied with a cute smile.

I smiled back while feeling the glares of other girls on the back of my head. No one was trying to hide their malice from me for dating Methane, but I didn't care as long as I had Methane with me.

"What are your plans for today?" he asked once we reached our classroom.

"Mike is getting discharged today, so I'm going over to help him settle into Troy's house. Mike's dad is busy and Mike needs care, you see. Troy's mom is happy to help, and I will be near as well, so—"

"So you will be going back and forth between your house and Troy's," Methane said suddenly, and I arched an eyebrow at that.

"Where did you get that from?" I asked, sitting down at the first bench with him.

"I mean, isn't that what it is?"

"Yes, but I'll be going there for Mike, not Troy," I reasoned.

"So is Michael's boyfriend okay with this?" he diverted the topic. "I mean, Michael's gay, and Troy's a pretty handsome guy, so—"

"Josh trusts Mike, okay? And Troy is straight."

"How do you know that for sure? You thought Michael was straight as well."

Ouch.

I was almost about to blurt out that I knew for sure because Troy himself told me that he liked me, but just then, thankfully Mrs. Jeff entered the classroom, and our conversation was left off right there.

###

I was sitting at my regular table with my friends, hearing them talk about their fun beach trip from yesterday when I felt something around my neck.

I looked down and gasped at the sight of a blue pearl pendant, then looked up to meet the apologetic brown eyes.

"What is this about?" I asked in surprise.

"For this morning, babe," Methane said with a puppy look, and I instantly melted.

"Aww," Violet and Ella gushed.

I smiled at Methane and said, "You are forgiven."

"Do you want to have lunch together in the backyard garden?" Methane asked, and I didn't even consider for a moment before I nodded.

"Guys, I will—"

"Go, go," Ella shooed me with a teasing look while the others nodded, except Neil who was scanning Methane with an odd look.

As I was walking toward the garden with Methane, I received a text from Neil.

Neil: You said 'you are forgiven,' but did you realize he didn't ask for forgiveness at all?

It was a simple text, and it made my chest tighten as I looked up at Methane who was talking about something to me, then down at the blue pendant. I knew that Neil had no ulterior motive behind saying that to me because he was totally dedicated to Violet, but...

No, June, no. Don't take this negatively. He must have forgotten to say the words, but his gift proves he feels guilty.

But somewhere in the back of my mind, the question remained: did he actually?

A/N: If you are enjoying the story so far, please follow me, trimagical_ for regular updates. Thank you and have a great day! Don't forget to keep smiling.