Unproven Chapter Sixty Eight "Shifting Loyalties"

"I was thinking more like too little, but that's not to say you don't look amazing. You do. Just depends on what you're trying to accomplish." Dori grabbed her phone and started snapping pictures.

Ary frowned, "Are those for Grayson?"

Dori lowered her phone, "No, I haven't talked to him in a week."

Ary looked at her doubtfully.

"Didn't I tell you that I'm going to be a photo journalist? Taking pictures is what I do. I also tend to record things, I'm just honing my craft."

Ary gave her a skeptical look. "Okay. So you ready to go out, or do you need to change?"

Dori looked down at her own outfit. A pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. She smiled, "Yeah, I think I'll change."

When they returned from the club, they were giddy from the slew of rum and cokes a couple of guys had insisted on buying for them all night.

"I thought for sure that one dude was going to follow us home!" Dori exclaimed. "Did you see him get in a cab right after us?"

Ary laughed, "I saw, he was totally into you, I don't think his eyes left your boobs all night."

"So what you're really saying is that he was into my boobs."

Ary snickered, "Can't say I blame him, they are boobilicious in that shirt!"

Dori flushed slightly and tried to hide it by looking for something intently in her bag.

Ary's smile faded, "Dori?"

"Mmm?"

"Are you into guys?"

Dori's head whipped up. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Ary bit her lip. The alcohol was loosening her lips. "Never mind, I'm just drunk."

"No, what do you mean by that?"

Ary looked away, "It's just that- I tend to watch people, kind of like you and your incessant picture taking and habit of recording things, but for me, since I'm a writer I do more observing, and I kind of noticed that you never seem interested. That one guy, not the one we thought was going to follow us but the cute one with the light beard, he seemed cool and interesting and definitely interested, and you... I don't know, sorry, it's none of my business, but I just wanted you to know that if you were, you know, into girls, I wouldn't look at you any differently." She clamped her mouth shut. Shit, she shouldn't have said anything. Grayson had asked her not to, but it wasn't as if he was the one who had told her, she had figured it out on her own.

Dori didn't respond right away. She'd stopped rummaging through her bag but was still looking into it intently. She looked up finally. "The only one who knows that is Grayson," she said quietly.

Ary immediately shook her head, "No, he didn't tell me anything if that's what you're thinking. I wouldn't have brought it up if he did, I learned my lesson with the Sonya ordeal. It was my own observation."

Dori smiled slightly. "I believe you. So, you don't think it's weird?"

Ary shook her head emphatically, "Absolutely not. What is weird, anyway? I mean I'm in love with...What did Andie call him? Oh yeah, a fucked up narcissistic asshole. Not that I think of him that way, I'm just saying we can't help who we're attracted to, it's in our genetic makeup."

Dori's smile widened, "Grayson is a bit narcissistic. And fucked up. And he can certainly be an asshole. I hate to admit it, but Andie's assessment isn't exactly off the mark." Her smiled faded, "I hate what he's doing to you," she said softly. "I have a bit of a confession to make.”

She looked down at her hands. “Those pictures Jen sent, he intended for you to see them. He didn't spell it out, but I got the impression that he was testing your loyalty, to see if you would get back at him if you thought he was cheating. But you need to know he didn't sound happy about it, although that was a week ago and I honestly haven't heard from him, and unlike you I've texted and called him repeatedly. I'm actually a little worried."

Ary nodded slowly. "Did you send him pictures of me? From the clubs I mean?"

Dori shook her head, "No. I was going to, but then I thought he might take it the wrong way, like you were enacting some kind of revenge. I know what you're thinking, and if I had sent them I’d also be wondering if that’s why we haven't heard from him. But I didn't, I swear."

Ary nodded again and her eyes watered, "So what do you think is going on?"

Dori gave her a helpless look. "I honestly have no idea."

"So, those pictures, they were staged? Does that mean you don't think he actually did anything with those girls?" Ary couldn't help the note of hope in her voice.

Dori sighed, "I wish I could say yes to that, but no matter how well I think I know him, he constantly surprises me, either with new levels of cruelty or with the occasional true kindness. I do believe his feelings for you are a lot deeper and more complicated than he’s ever experienced. I wasn't lying when I said that at the beginning of the school year, I know he cares about you. But playing games is Grayson's life, I don't know if he knows another way to be."

Ary had a feeling she was holding something back, something in that last statement. "So you think he's testing my loyalty? What about before he left, was there a game on then?"

Dori didn't meet her eyes, "Like I said, I don't know if he knows another way to be."

Ary sighed and asked the question that had been bothering her. "What happened with Sonya... Did he have something to do with that? Was your fight with Mark intentional?"

Dori's head came up slowly, guilt and regret swimming in her eyes. "Even if he didn't want to play games with you, I don't think he'd have a choice unless he was willing to let you go."

"His father," Ary said flatly. "He had to show some kind of progress...But why didn’t he just tell me, we could have figured something out, made it appear…" She stopped as Dori shook her head.

"In order to fool James Teller there has to be an element of truth to the things Grayson does. Gray may appear to be the master of manipulation, but compared to his father he's still an amateur," Dori sighed. "I'm sorry Aryanne. I lied to you, and I'm sorry. I truly am, because I think you are an amazing, beautiful soul and you don't deserve to be treated in any way that doesn't reflect that. I already felt that way, but after spending a whole month with you? You're the real deal."

Ary sat on the couch and put her head in her hands. She loved him so much the thought of giving him up was nearly unthinkable. But the price of keeping him was getting higher by the minute. Was it worth it? She thought about Andie and Sonya. In Andie's case, well he hadn't actually done that. He might not have helped the situation, but she and Andie were at fault for the problems between them. With Sonya, however, this was the second time he'd had no qualms about causing her friend pain in order to further an agenda. She couldn't put the blame solely on him, she was the one that blabbed about Mark. Still, he'd used that information… Goddammit. Goddamn him. And Goddamn that fucking bastard who had sired him.

So what now? She thought. Well, she had three options. One was to let him go. The second, to let the girls go. The third…To mend her relationships with the girls and prove to him that there are people in the world, besides her, who had substance and knew how to love and forgive. She liked option three, but that still left one giant- six foot three, two hundred and thirty pounds, with eyes the exact same color as Grayson's- problem. Was there any way of getting around that?

"Ary?" Dori inquired, her voice small.

She looked up and managed to smile. "It's okay. I forgive you. Again. You've always been straight about your loyalties lying with him."

Dori sat beside her. "Yeah, well that might be shifting."

Ary cocked her head.

Dori didn't say more, just gave Ary a soft look and squeezed her shoulder lightly. "I'm beat, I'm gonna get some sleep. Tomorrow's our last day, I don't want to waste it."

Ary nodded and watched the girl go, her thoughts returning to the problem at hand. She wasn't sure whether it was selfishness on her part, as well as a bit of conceit, but she couldn't help thinking that as much as she loved Andie and Sonya, they didn't need her. Not like he did. They would be fine even if they never spoke to her again.

Grayson, on the other hand, he would be lost. She had an image of herself being all that stood between him and a dark abyss. She recalled the words he'd shouted at her just before she'd met his father: ‘Where is the proof that love exists, tell me, what's your goddamned proof?’ If she didn't stand by him, didn't hold strong, then in all likelihood it would remain unproven. Or worse, he'd believe it had been proven-that love wasn't real, that his father was right.

She took a deep breath. She couldn't let that happen, not without a fight. For better or worse, she was in this to the end.

proofunproven1.pdfsoftcover-1.jpg