Page 120 of Starstruck

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s going on?” He muttered to the crown of myhead, before he rested his hands on my shoulders and leant down to meet my height. “Gold's, talk to me. What happened?”

I shook my head as he wiped the tears away with his thumb. “It was Henry.” Ifinally looked at Tristan. “Henry was the one who told.”

His eyes dipped, but I kept mine right where they were. “I know,” Hewhispered, before reaching his full height and resting his hand against my jaw. “I know.”

I mirrored him, and let my hands wander to his face. “I’m so sorry, Tristan. Youdidn’t deserve that, you didn't...” I steadied my breath. “If I’d have just stayed away—”

“No, this isn’t your fault. You somehow found yourself in the middleof all this bullshit, and none of that is your fault.” He skated his hand under my chin and held my head up, the whisper of a smile on his face making my heart slow its beat. “I swear to you, Sunshine.”

I found myself nodding at him, and letting my eyes dip down his body, but justas I felt my body relax, I felt my pulse quicken once I saw the letter tucked into his jean pocket. I plucked the thing out while I still felt his eyes on me. “What’s this?”

Tristan didn’t try to take the envelope out of my hands; instead, he sighed andsaid, “It’s my withdrawal of study letter.” My eyes flew to his. “I can’t stay here, Gold's, not with everything going on and not now everyone knows.” His eyes softened. “It was supposed to be an escape, being here, but now... all I see when I look around here is everything I was trying to hide from.”

I let my hands glide over the paper in my hands as I shifted my eyes up to his.“You’ve really loved being here, huh?”

His nod was so soft, so solemn, like it was painful just to do that. “Ihave, and I knew I would. But everything feels tainted now. Even looking down at you and thinking about that first day I properly met you, I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t, making you believe I was just like you and knew what it felt like to be forced down a certain path.” He shook his head. “I hate thinking about that day, because all I really wanted to do when we were standing at that lookout and watching the sunset was tell you the truth, because something in me told me I could trust you.”

He shuffled on his feet. “But then one thing led to another andsuddenly I was pretending to be in love with you, when in reality the only thing I was pretending was how much I wanted to leave. And I confused you, and I lied to you, and that’s all I see when I look around here. All I see is that trying to be a better person, trying to start over, only made me a liar—”

“Tristan—”

“I want to stay—”

“So then stay… Tristan.” I felt my voice crack as the words left mymouth. “Stay here with me, with your friends, the people who really know you and love you for who you are.”

Tristan weighed up my answer before he sighed. “And what do we doabout Henry?”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t stay with him here.”

I thought for a moment, nestling in the business of my mind, beforethe feel of the envelope between my fingers caught my attention. I lifted it between us. “Well, let's go to the dean and tell him.”

Tristan shrugged as he shook his head. “Tell him what? That is ownson is an arsehole and that he’s the one who leaked everything. There’s no way he’ll believe that.”

I hated to admit it, but he was probably right. The chances of thedean believing us were slim, and if he were anything like the son he raised, he’d find a way to twist it back to us and find a way to punish us forsucha conspiracy.

I felt Tristan's hand slip through mine, warming them as I looked upto him. “What were you doing in there anyway?”

I shrugged, sucking a deep breath through my nose. “The case study. I wanted to get it finished and all I had to do was record those last few—”

Holy shit.

“What?” Concern veiled his voice, as the grip he had on my handsqueezed tighter.

But I had to shake free from his hold, my knees bending down as Idropped my bag to the floor, filtering through the study materials in search of the precious thing I knew would prove our case. “Godammit, where is it?” I muttered to myself and I flicked through the endless stacks of papers.

"What are you—”

“AH, I found it!”

Tristan rose back to his feet as I did. “You found what—?

I lifted my phone between us, my eyes pinging to Tristan's.“I found a way for you to stay.”

.

chapter forty

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