Friday was coming extremely slow.

Like, you know that turtle trying to cross a highway in the middle of the day? Friday was moving slower than that turtle.

It was Tuesday afternoon and after spending the whole night talking to Oliver, he wasn't at school that day.

That on top of the fact that Friday was three days away and I hadn't seen Oliver since the Saturday before due to him being busy on Sunday and me being out for a doctor's appointment on Monday. To say I missed his face was an understatement.

Not to mention the worry; God I was worried. He hadn't been out of school like this since he'd gotten back -excluding the suspension- and I'd seen him show up with he nastiest of bruises and the sickest of cuts. He was trying to catch up with his school work so it could get him off parole quicker (something about being a changed adolescent with eyes for his future would appeal to the higher up).

"Babe, you okay?" January had asked as he sat beside me- it was his second day back and so far all he'd seen was my anxiousness an Sid's nervousness. We hadn't seen much of Kat, Phoenix pulling her away with some excuse as soon as he'd seen Jan's -back to- dyed blonde hair. January had tried to brush it off when is caught notice, Sid sending him a worried look, eyes wide as saucers and lips parted to suck in a breath.

But he'd simply excused the matter and became more interested with the case of his phone.

"I'm fine," I shook my head, Oliver's face coming into mind as I tried to push that away. Focusing on Jan, I answered his question, smile forced onto my face.

Sid rolled her eyes at that, pushing her rice and grilled chicken around with a plastic spork. She'd been so invested in Luca, she couldn't even enjoy her favorite food. "She's worried about Oliver."

Glaring at my best friend, I stole some of Mama Grayson's best dish, pushing some into my mouth, the taste mixing in with the piece of roti I'd stolen from her Tupperware bowl, "and you're lovestruck over Luca."

"Touché."

Grinning at my victory, I looked over to January, his eyes latched onto a specific thing. Turning, I tried to gauge what exactly he was staring at but it became impossible with all the movement in the cafeteria, "he's so fucking-ugh."

"Who?" Sid had questioned as she took a gulp of water, her eyebrows raised at Jan who looked like he'd combust with frustration anytime soon.

"Uh-" he paused, averting our gazes as he bit into his meatball sub, hands getting dirty with the sauce but he hadn't cared. Wiping his mouth, he chewed his food, eyes focusing on how we were calculating his every move, trying to dissect his thoughts.

"Y-you don't know him," he'd finally stated, getting sick of us staring and silently ridiculing. I could tell he was lying from the slight stutter but is pretended I hadn't noticed. January wasn't comfortable telling us yet and even though I didn't agree, I'd let it slide just this once.

It was awkwardly quiet but with a bite of her lip and her light brown eyes catching onto something behind me, Sid spoke, eyes wide, "The World History sub is so hot- have you seen him? I mean, he can declare World War III on this puss-"

"Sid!" Jan and I yelled simultaneously, catching attention from a table over. Laughing, Sid threw her head back.

"She's not wrong though," a girl had murmured as she passed our table. I could recognize her only because of Sidney- must've been one of her volleyball friends or maybe her track friends... Actually it might've been a girl from dance but I hadn't known or cared enough to find out.

Oliver, Oliver, Oliver.

That's all I could think about for the remainder of the day. My head was pounding and my lips rough from the amount of biting I'd done due to my excessive stress.

"Just talk to him, dammit," January had groaned, throwing his head back and snapping my attention to my friends. Sidney had been staring at Luca again and Jan had had enough with it.

Standing, he grabbed her wrist in his hand and dragged her away, "we'll be back."

And I watched as my best friends went to confront the guy, Jan placing a hand on his shoulder causing the little French boy to jump out of his skin.

And as I watched Sidney sit down at the table, Jan sitting across from her and greeting one of Luca's friends, I admired how cute they were.

I wanted someone who looked at me how Luca looked at Sid.

⌄⌃⌄⌃⌄⌃⌄

I had gotten home a little earlier that day, not walking but driving Jackson and I home due to us almost being late that morning. I could hear Jackson cursing out his game system for being 'fucking laggy' and winced at it. My brother hadn't had the best day and he'd slammed the door in my face when I'd tried to talk to him, screaming he was fine and telling me to go talk to Oliver or something.

And after twenty minutes of Jackson ignoring my pleas for him to calm down, I finally left him alone like he'd wanted and escaped to my room, picking up my phone. Scrolling through my recent calls, I realized that the only person I called nowadays were Oliver and my mother.

Needing someone to talk to about Jackson's mood swings and not wanting my mother to get worried, I made up that excuse to call Oliver.

And it rang and rang and rang until it'd went to voicemail, me telling myself that it wasn't that bad and he was probably just busy.

It annoyed me how much I instantly assumed the worst.

That was when my phone rang and Oliver's name and face flashed on my screen and I let out a sigh of relief. The picture was one of him driving, our hands interlocked and that previously rare smile on his face as the wind blew through his hair. It was from one o the rare times he'd driven my home, my arm sporting his flannel as it rested on the dashboard, black nails and dark skin standing out from his pale.

I loved that picture.

"Hey," Oliver had answered, voice snapping me out of my thoughts, maybe I liked him just a little too much.

"Oliver?" I'd asked, the noise in the room deafening, his voice just barely being heard. And then I heard him telling me to hold on, it getting quieter as I assumed he was leaving the room.

Shutting a door, I heard him sigh, "Yeah, sorry, I was with some people. What's up?"

Oliver with people didn't sit right with me. It's not that I didn't think he'd have friends, he just... Was a loner. Oliver Remmer was the type of guy who you'd find with headphones on and humming softly to music not in a group of loud people, "Nothing, you just- you weren't in school today, I just wanted to check on you."

"You were worried about me?" He asked, seriously. He wasn't teasing but more shocked if the way his breath hitches had anything to say about it.

"Well, yeah," I muttered, not really enjoying how surprised he was. Oliver and I were frien- a little more than friends. Of course I'd be worried about him.

It was silent, well as silent as it could be when I could still faintly hear tough voices and heavy metal screaming on the other side that definitely didn't fit Oliver. And then he spoke, "That feels really nice, Em."

"What?"

"You caring about me. It feels nice," he hummed and I could imagine the small smile on his face, "I've just been out of town doing some -uh- things, sorry. I should've told you I wasn't going to be in for the rest of the week."

But Friday...

I tried to ignore the vagueness of his explanation, trusting him to not lie to me or get himself more hurt than he already was. The last time I'd seen him, he was healing up quite nicely and I'd be pissed if he showed up on Friday with even a cut, "So, are we still..."

"I'll be back Thursday night, I promise."

I heard a loud bang, Oliver excessively cursing at something on the other side. Another male voice was heard but I couldn't quite make you what they were saying, Oliver's voice muffled by something over the speaker.

I heard yelling and lots of it, "What're you doing over there?"

"Uh- nothing," I heard Oliver as his voice became clear again, a banging on most-likely a door, insinuating that it wasn't nothing 'shut up Logan' I heard him nutter and the banging only increased, "just hanging with some friends."

'Hurry up, Davie's gotta piss and you've gotta do inventory'

Inventory.

"I'll be out in a second!" His voice was agitated and his sigh loud. If anything, it didn't sound like a friend, it sounded like a job.

"I didn't know you had friends..."

"My life doesn't exactly revolve around you," he'd drawled sarcastically and I couldn't exactly tell if he were joking or just being blunt.

Still, I joked it off, "You had me fooled."

He laughed, it reverberating through the phone, my lips pulling into a goofy grin, trying to ignore 'logan' on the other side, "I like it when you laugh."

"Why?"

"I don't know, you're just not really an expressive person and when you laugh, you kind of change that. You're cute when you're happy."

He chuckled, the sound awaking my mind and parts of me I'd rather not have awoken unless he was there with me.

God, I was turning into such a fucking hormonal teenager and it wasn't good... It really wasn't good, "You're cute all the time."

I could feel my cheeks getting hot, bottom lip pulling into my mouth as I tried not to show how flustered he was making me, "Stop hitting on me, fucking perv."

Thinking back on it, I loved how our conversations flowed and how Oliver could make me feel so many things at once. My heart was beating, my hand gripping the phone tightly and one thing was sure, I didn't want him to stop.

But all good things must come to an end, some more abrupt than others, and this was made clear when Olivet cleared his throat, "Hey, I gotta go."

"Oliver get over here and count."

Count? Count what? What the fuck was he doing that he had to lie about? The only thing you could do with friends that involved counting was hide-and-seek... I swear to God, if the big bad Oliver Remmer was playing that game, I'd have to reevaluate my entire life.

"I'll see you Friday, Em," he excused, bringing me out of my thoughts as I tried to figure things out. I was stressing over something minuscule and I knew it but seriously, Oliver being so mysterious was pissing me off.

Still, I had to let him go eventually, "Okay... Goodb-"

All I was left with was the silence in my room.