Chapter 99 - Both Liars

"You're trying to turn this on me when I have been very transparent with you. How are you any different from my cheating ex?"

Their conversation was a sad ball of accusations thrown at one another, fuelled by their anger and hurt. Neither considered the destruction they were causing the other, both having bad experiences in the past, they couldn't see past those. What were they to do? They were just products of their experiences, experiences which had made them prone to misunderstandings and distrust.

"Oh, so he was real?" he said harshly.

"I'd never cheat on you," she mimicked. "Wasn't that what you said? What happened to that?" He could hear her gulp.

"Let's settle this then. We are both liars."

None of this was real. Their relationship, their connection, nothing. It was all shrouded by the screen. Who knew what the other had lied about. Cage knew that he had hidden a lot. How could he trust her to not do the same.

She sighed. He found himself wanting to comfort her, but he stood his ground.

"Have fun on your date."

"I hope you have a great future with your girlfriend." Neither knew who hung up first, but someone did. It was over.

He felt like shit. It wasn't like he had lost something material. It was all a lie.

He cursed out loud.

There was a knock on the door before it creaked open.

"Are you okay? What is going on?" Stephen asked.

"No, nothing. My life is great!" he yelled. "Can't you tell?" Stephen stared at Cage and sighed.

"Can you please calm down and explain what happened?"

"I have no clue. It's a mess. Things ended with Katherine." Stephen eyed him warily.

"But you went to meet her. What changed."

"I don't know… she said that Julia told her that we were together. She compared me to her ex-boyfriend." No, he wouldn't be heartbroken. He couldn't grieve the loss of something that never existed in the first place. "It doesn't matter," he said finally.

"Julia told her-- okay. That isn't the thing right now. Just call her and explain. It's that simple. You can't lose something good over a misunderstanding."

If only things were that simple. "I… don't know what happened. Julia may have said something to her and she--" he stopped.

"Misunderstood?" Cage nodded. "You're never going to find out the truth if you don't talk to Katherine, Cage." Stephen sat down on his bed and patted the space beside him to make Cage sit beside him. "You also need to talk to Julia about the conversation. You may trust her, but sometimes communication can get skewed."

"I am done talking," he said, shaking his head. "Katherine has a date on Wednesday. I'm not going to talk to someone who… won't trust me."

"Well, think about it from her perspective. She has been cheating on. She is more vulnerable to misunderstanding a situation because she has been burned before." He looked at Cage and then sighed. He didn't seem to be listening. "Why don't we go out and hang out with some women." He proposed sarcastically.

"Okay," he said, shrugging.

"Who are you trying to convince, Cage? You aren't even fooling yourself when you say you can go out and have fun after this!" Stephen was frustrated.

"Well, I have to do something, right? I can't just sit around and think about this." He sucked in a deep breath. "I'll get over it. Let's go out."

Stephen stared at Cage for a bit before shrugging and going out. He would just have to get over it if he didn't want to make things better.

- - -

Wednesday came fast. Cage had spent the last two days being an utter disaster. He had finished god knows how many bottles of beer and played some obscure game. He leveled up like a boss, starting from level 1. Stephen had been staying over at his place.

Safe to say, Cage didn't maintain basic hygiene. He was beyond that.

"Get the fuck up, little miss sunshine!" he shouted, flinging the door to Cage's bedroom open. The other groaned, covering his face with a pillow.

"Go away," he hissed. He had finally gone to bed a couple of hours ago and felt like shit.

"Get your ass out of bed. We have a fun day out, today!" Stephen clapped his hand.

Cage sat up reluctantly. "What? Are you trying to rehabilitate my sorry ass?"

"Yes," he said instantly. "Now go take a shower. You look like shit."

Cage had done his best not to think about Katherine for the past couple of days, spending all his time trying to divert his mind in any way possible, but all he could think about was her. He wasn't successful because he kept imagining someone else lying in her bed, her in his arms. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to not care.

Coming out of the shower, Cage saw Stephen hand him a lunch bag. "We are going to have a short little trip. Have some food in that fancy car of yours and chill. Capisce?"

Cage gave a small smile and nodded.

"Ready?"

"Thank you for this," Cage said, following Stephen out. "I don't know what I would do without you."

They went to the garage and got into the car. The smell of his car somewhat made him feel better.

The car had started and the way seemed to be towards the other side of the city. "Weren't we going to a secluded spot or something?" Cage asked, confused.

"I never said that." Stephen stole a glance at him. "We're going somewhere special. You can have a fit when we reach."

"Where the hell are we going?" he asked, He could see Stephen navigate through traffic like a pro, despite the heavy traffic.

"Your girl's place," he replied.

'My girl?' he thought for a second. And then he realized. What the fuck?

"Stephen, you must be kidding me right now!" He had to be.