good graces ; just a friend
tw: reader compares her appearances
a/n: there's a mini pov switch between reader and jeno in the middle I hope you guys can catch that because I didn't really label it
you spun around, hiding your phone behind your back as you came face to face with a concerned jeno.
“oh- um, just got some work texts.”
because you couldn't tell him your ex and the girl he had cheated on you with were currently at the same party as you both were.
jeno tilted his head, looking like a puzzled puppy, obviously skeptical of how suspicious you were being. you quickly stuffed your phone back into your purse, forcing a smile onto your face as you tugged on his blazer sleeve hoping to reassure him.
as much as you didn't want to see jake, a thought you didn't want to entertain gnawed at the back of your mind. a thought that sprouted when you saw his damn twitter post.
isn't this the perfect opportunity to show jake you're well you're doing without him?
and it was. the you of more than a month ago would've jumped on the opportunity, maybe even checked the guest list yourself to make sure jake was coming so that he could bump into you and jeno. but…
you glanced at jeno, who had somehow gone off to grab a few cupcakes while you were lost in thought.
you weren't here for this. yeah, you were mostly here because your boss threw you under the bus, but you came to have a fun time with other friends and jeno too.
you still could. as long as you avoided jake and natty, you could still salvage this party and-
you hated the fact that you knew whose voice it was. you took a desperate breath to calm yourself and turned on your heel.
there she was, latched onto his arm as an innocent smile sat on her pretty lips, her short hair that suited her so well styled to perfection, and her mini white dress that hugged her curves in all the right places. a painful reminder of everything she had that you didn't.
“they make some really good cupcakes-”
jeno paused as soon as he noticed their presence. his eyes darted between you and the man he didn't recognise, feeling a strange tension grow thick in the air the longer he smiled at you and the longer you remained expressionless.
“I didn't think I'd see you here, y/n.”
the girl seemed to notice the tension as well, her eyes scanning her partner's face, then yours, before she unlatched herself from his arm and stuck her hand out, a sweet smile plastering on her face.
“nice to meet you! I'm natty, a member of kiss of life. I came as jake's partner.”
there was a slight pause before you took her hand, and if it weren't for jeno’s close observation he wouldn't have noticed either. you forced a smile, it was painfully obvious to jeno who had your smile engraved in his mind, as you took her hand in yours.
“I'm y/n. this is jeno, he's a professional boxer.”
you couldn't help it, your curiosity had gotten the best of you. you slipped your hand around jeno’s arm, tightening it as your eyes scanned jake's face to gauge his reaction, hoping to sense at least a tinge of jealousy or regret.
a smirk. all you got was a smirk as jake shook jeno’s hand, muttering something about how big of a fan he was. natty whispered something in jake's ear.
“oh, y/n is just a friend of mine.”
that was your last straw. the past month of your life crumbled around you, burying you in a defeat you had never felt before. because this was the concrete evidence that slapped you into finally realising that jake never cared. that all this time and effort wasted, dragging jeno into your stupid scheme to get back at jake, arguing with kazuha about how genius your plan was, would have never amounted to anything because jake was the type of guy who could call you a friend after cheating on you.
you could feel the familiar stinging in the back of your eyes. you muttered a quick excuse and scurried to the washroom, hoping no one would question the speed you were walking at, or the way you were walking with your head down.
you locked yourself in a cubicle and quickly tore some toilet paper, dabbing at your waterline as you felt your nose start to clog and your breathing start to quicken. you couldn't think coherently. it was a tangled mess of anger, frustration, and the biggest of them all, guilt.
because now that this was all over, you had to tell jeno everything.
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a/n: haha y'all won't kill me if the next chapter is written too right... (it'll be half written half texts)
