Hey everyone! I hope your morning was swell<3 also, I'm sorry about the sad looking gif but I thought it fit Hero's desperation in this chapter (: please enjoy.
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Later at our shift, Josephine looked prettier than she ever had before. With her normally mussed brown hair, now escaping in fancy tendrils, her defined face looked much more contoured than ever in some makeup.

She seemed cheerful, skipping around in her apron as she refilled the syrup container.

"You seem to be in a good mood," I said, already feeling sour. 

"I'm sorry," Josephine giggled, "I'm just so giddy! You'll never guess what happened!"

"Let me guess? Niall took you on another date?"

"Even better!" Jo shrieked. "He asked me to be his girlfriend!"

I nearly fainted at this admission. How long had they been seeing each other? Certainly not long enough. 

"Oh." I breathed. "That's... that's something..."

Now, why couldn't Hero ask me to be his girlfriend romantically and mean what he said? Why couldn't he not be a two-timing jerk?

"You look glum," Josephine commented, "What is it? What's up with you and Hero?"

I winced. I had been hoping she wouldn't ask. 

"There is nothing going on between us. He said something that meant a lot to me, then showed me he didn't mean it."

"Why did he say?" Josephine whispered as some customers stared our way.

"He said he thought he loved me," I replied. 

Josephine gasped, clasping her hand to her mouth. "He- loved- what-?"

I shrugged, no longer impressed. "Is that supposed to mean something?"

"I don't usually get involved in his business," Josephine said as she replaced the sandwiches in the container, "Hero is complicated. We all know that. But do you ever see him going around campus buying a bouquet of flowers for some girl? Do you see him dedicating his time to one girl? Kristina, he said he thought he loved you. I think he's finally facing the truth for once..."

"The truth of what?" I challenged. "Being between Kylie's legs? Yeah. That's the funny thing. Not even the day after, he and Kylie came interrupting lunch with my mother to kiss in front of me. They didn't only kiss, either. It was a romantic kiss- the ones you see in the movies where the girl's foot pops."

"Oh..." Josephine began, lowering her head. "I don't know what that's about, but... Hero's not all-"

Josephine was soon interrupted by the ringing of the door to the cafe. Hero came rushing in, looking distressed as ever, running to the front counter.

Though he looked like he'd been through a lot, it didn't ruin the effect he had on me whatsoever. 

He wore that damned leather jacket, a strong cologne wafting off it. His brown hair was in disarray and he had a hand running through the locks. As his green eyes latched onto mine, I couldn't help the numb feeling down... there....

"Oh, no, no!" Lucy screamed, trying to push Hero away with her hands. "Not this drama again!"

Hero started backing away at the sight of Lucy's angry glare, but he lingered by, eyeing me as if he were afraid. Of what?

"Please!" He shouted, eyeing me desperately. "I just need to talk to Kristina!"

Lucy turned around with a softer expression. "Do you want to speak with him? I can give you five minutes."

All I could see was Hero dipping Kylie down and kissing her.

"Forget it!" I hissed. 

Lucy crossed the cafe, herding him to the door. "I think it's time for you to leave, lover boy."

"No, please!" Hero growled over her shoulder. "Kristina! Kristina Addison! I KNOW I LOVE YOU! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR!? I love you more than anything and I can't do this without you! You mean so much to me!"

I knew I should have gone on ignoring him, but for the life of me, I couldn't. What he did was pretty unforgivable, but my heart could only recognize one word. Love. Would he be making this much of a fuss if he didn't? 

"Wait!" I said, waving Lucy back towards me. "I'll talk to him. I'll take a five."

Handing Jo my apron, I rushed to Hero. He immediately went for me, holding out his arms for an embrace, but I held out a hand, shaking my head. 

"Then prove it," I snapped, echoing Kylie's words. "Show me that you mean what you say."

"I will." Hero breathed.

As we made our way outside, I was relieved to see that the cafe had been empty during our conversation. Wasn't that strange for a chain like Starbucks? 

"Where's Kylie?" I asked with an envious tone. 

"Please, don't start with this-" Hero began, but I cut him off, not caring much. 

"No, you're going to listen to me for once!" I shouted. "You are despicable, Hero! You lied to me! You said that you thought you loved me and that you wanted to date! Or did I misread a signal?"

"No, fuck!" Hero ran his shaking hands through his gorgeous hair. "I do want to be with you that way! You don't understand- I had no choice!"

"No choice, but to kiss her?" I asked. "Yeah, okay."

"Don't you realize how much of a wreck I am over this?" Hero exclaimed. "It fucking pained me to do what I did. For the first time in my life, I knew what it felt like to lose something I cared about! I can't eat, I can't sleep... I need you with me at night, Kristina! I need to be with you!"

"Why did you feel like you had no choice?" I asked, still not believing what came out of his mouth. The least he could do was explain. 

"She had a hold on me, she-" Hero sighed. "she threatened to out me about watching her striptease. You don't know how long I've known her. I was worried she'd have a hold on me for the rest of my life."

"She only has a hold on you if you allow it," I said. "It shouldn't matter as long as you aren't hiding anything else." 

"No." Hero quickly responded. "Nothing else."

"Okay then," I replied, turning around to head back inside.

"Okay?" Hero urged. "Is that all? We're good? You believe me?" 

I twirled around, looking as uninterested as I could. 

"I heard what you said. It doesn't mean that I believe a word that you say. I understand that you're used to getting everything you want, but you're going to have to work for this, Tiffin. You need to sort your shit out."

As I turned my back on him, Hero seemed lost, looking all around as if an answer was hanging in the air.

For the first time in years I decided to watch The Suite Life Of Zack and Cody.

Make fun of me all you want but I'll always be a disney child (:

What do you all think of Hero and Jo being kinder to each other?

I love you all :)