Liar Liar IV

Camila's POV
Crossing my arms, and subtly sinking myself deeper into the chair I look up at him as he stands strong on the other side of the desk, his hand buried in the pocket of his slacks.
The dominance and power radiating off him have me swallowing back my intimidation, because I wasn't going to let him get to me.
But when he throws something on the table between us, my resolve crumbles and my emotionless face drops to one of complete horror.
"Explain this to me." Is all he says, and I stare down at my crumpled up test before looking back up into his hard eyes that are penetrating mine as he stares down at me.
No. No. No.
This can't be happening.
How did he find it? Panic starts to fill me and the next thing I know my defence is up and I'm glaring up at him. "You went through my things!?" I explode but my voice comes out shakier than intended.
My hands start to tremble and I force them into my lap. I know it's a stretch but I needed something to hold onto. Something to divert the attention from the fact that I had been lying to him all week.
Alejandro's strong facade doesn't waver. Everything about him screams control and I hate how I look and feel like his prey.
My lower lip wobbles, but I refuse to break, and when he stares down at me, his eyes soften along with his voice as he speaks next. "Why have you been hiding this from me?"
I don't respond, instead, I look away from him and try to gather myself.
Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.
I hear a loud sigh followed by footsteps and then his black shoes come into my line of vision before he's squatting down before me, grabbing both my hands in his.
His face is hard and serious yet his eyes still emit some of that same warmth that I find comfort in. "I've arranged a meeting with your principal to figure something out." He lifts one of my hands up to  his lips where they place a kiss atop the skin.
I stand abruptly, pushing him away."What? Hell no." If he thought I was going to have a repeat of last time he was mistaken.
"It's final, Principessa." With another sigh, Alejandro stands up to his full height. "You will accompany me to the meeting to discuss your situation." His tone is so final it feels like an overreaction.
The way he says situation has my shoulders tensing. "My situation? It's just one bad test." I reason before my composure completely hardens and my anger towards the man is back full force. "Besides, I'm not going anywhere with you."
Who does he think he is?
Alejandro's jaw ticks as he steps forward. "Stop being so difficult."
"I'm not." I square my shoulders. "It's simple, I don't want to be around you, that includes going anywhere with you." And instead of exploding on him, I turn around and make my way towards the door.
"Camila." It's a warning, one that tells me he's losing patience.
"Oh fuck off." I throw over my shoulder, angrily stomping away from him.
Only when I get to the door and go to pull it open, a hand slams right next to my head, effectively shutting the door with a loud bang. One that makes me flinch.
I'd pushed one too many of his buttons and it's confirmed when the anger radiating off the man behind me is so strong, I falter.
He steps even closer and I can feel his chest heaving angrily behind me. And the bone crushingly stern voice in my ear has my legs threatening to give out. "Watch your fucking mouth."
I bite down on my lower lip to suppress anything from escaping my mouth and when I feel him move closer to dip his head so that his lips are next to my ear, my body goes rigid.
"If I have to fucking drag your ass into that office myself, I will." I find myself shutting my eyes while his nose trails the side of my neck and his low voice fills my ears. "I'm done being patient and nice. Now, sit your ass back down and talk to me."
I don't reply as I drop my head and focus on my shaking hands.
"Ho capito?" He hums, his voice nothing but a deep rumble in my ear. (Am I understood?)
Slowly, I turn around, not daring to give him the satisfaction of seeing the fear on my face nor do I speak. With a clenched jaw, I make my way back towards the chair.
I hated when he talked to me like this, and I hated how submissive I grew.
I wasn't a submissive girl, but Alejandro had that affect on me.
I hear slow, sharp footsteps approach and then his shoes come into my line of sight, but he doesn't allow me to look down for much longer because the next thing I know he's gently gripping my chin and tilting my head up. I'm forced to stare up at him, as he stands before my seated form.
His face is serious, showing no room for argument and all I want to do is cry.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He asks lowly, his hand still on my chin tilting my face higher up as he stares down at me.
I don't answer, I simply blink up at him in resistance, which seems to make him frustrated. "Answer me." He demands simply.
Rather than cry, I glare up at him and move my chin out of his hold. "Because I don't need to give you another reason to think of me as dumb!"
Alejandro's eyes snap back to mine in a sign of protest, but I don't let him start.
"The last thing I need is to sit in a room with two people who think I'm a dumb failure as they talk about me like I'm some science experiment."
Frown lines mar his forehead as his lips tug down. "Camila, that's not true-"
"Oh really?" I scoff, jumping off my chair and pointing a finger at Alejandro's chest. "You even said so yourself. I'm dumb." I don't realise tears are streaming down my face until they tickle my cheeks. "And don't tell me you didn't mean it because you wouldn't have said it if it hadn't ever crossed your mind!"
It was true. Why else would he have brought it up and used it to hurt me that time we had fought after my performance?
Somewhere inside him he believed I was dumb.
Alejandro's silent. His shoulders are stiff and the anger is long gone, replaced with a look I know all too well.
He's about to be sweet, comforting and make it so easy to fall into the trap that ends in him hurting me again.
"Just leave me alone, Alejandro." I breathe out, running my hands through my hair. "I don't want your attention, I don't want you to care, I don't want any of it."
His stare penetrates mine. "You don't want that-"
"All you do is hurt me." With a large step back, I angrily wipe at my tears, "Whether it's calling me dumb, ignoring my feelings, hurting my feelings or making me feel like shit when you constantly leave me for her!" I explode.
The room erupts in silence as I'm left to catch my breath. It isn't until I've calmed my breathing that I realise what had come out of my mouth and instantly regret letting my emotions get the best of me, now he knows just how much he hurt me.
I look up, expecting pity from the man but am suddenly met with the sight of him as he strides towards me, his face determined as he takes my face in his hands.
"Camila, you're not a failure or dumb." His eyes flicker between my wet ones, but I don't want to hear them nor do I believe him. Not when there was a big fat D on my test.
His large hands cradle my face as he tilts it up closer to his, "Baby, I'm so sorry I ever made you feel like you were." Rough calloused thumbs swipe the water from beneath my eyes. "I hate myself for the shit I've been doing." His voice lowers to a breathy murmur, thick with agony. "Please don't let my dumb comments make you think less of yourself."
And then I burst. My silent tears flowing into sobs.
How could his words be so sweet and caring but his actions hurt so much?
As if the universe is tying to contradict my thoughts, Alejandro crushes me to his chest with a hand on the back of my head. His fingers run through my hair and his lips skim anywhere they can.
Sweet nothings in Italian flow into my ear, his voice remains low and soft and my body melts into his large embrace.
My sobs don't calm down. Not when I realise what we're doing. We're falling into old habits. This doesn't change anything. He's still going to hurt me and push me away.
I pull away from his embrace, forcing my mind past his suffocatingly perfect scent. "You say all the right things but you also do all the wrong things." I whisper sadly, my voice shaky and weak.
Alejandro glances down at me, his face stoic and grim.
"Alejandro, I can't keep going through the same cycles with you. It hurts too much. One minute you want me and one minute you don't. You need to make up your mind." I say looking up at him.
He stares back at me, his eyes swimming with so many unknown emotions, but the ones that I do recognise tell me he's not ready to do that.
There's a battle going on in there and when he clears his throat, steps back and diverts his eyes I know which side is stronger.
My heart doesn't even crack because there was never any hope that was crushed to begin with. I was expecting this from him.
Clearing my throat I step back, "I'll accompany you to the meeting, just let me know when it is." I say before turning around and walking out of the room.
I didn't need to hear him say it to know the answer.
Whatever place I had in his heart wasn't enough to convince his mind.