Since I looked more stable, I let him hold onto me and carried him upstairs with difficulty. I hadn't remembered a day that lasted forever but this could be it. I didn't even remember half of the things I'd been through.

After he threw himself on the bed and dozed off, I stayed up a bit more, smoking another cig by the window and gazing out in the sky. My head was dizzy, but the fog in my mind was clearing out.

I'd had enough of everything. Things worked in my favor but I managed to screw them up. Rachel was out of the way, and Abby dumped Roy but I managed to dare hurt her. There had to be always a complication to prevent me from confessing—if no complications, I did the job myself. Maybe I should have stopped blaming fate for screwing things up and take responsibility. I was doing wonders without the help of fate, anyway.

I broke Abby's heart. I literally took her heart in my palm and smashed it. I gave into that green-eyed evil inside me. I couldn't stand seeing her with Roy and for being the coward dick I was, I took my anger on her first. I didn't deserve her at all.

Her heartbroken face haunted me all night, and it just stung more after I'd learned I misunderstood everything. She broke up with him. I had to apologize to her—now.

I unlocked my phone and opened Messages. She should have slept by now and she was probably pretty mad at me but maybe a sweet message would make up for what I'd done in the morning. It would be a good start at least.

I started drafting up a message. I'm sorry. This wasn't sweet at all. To the most beautiful girl I know, good morning. This was out of line. Good morning. Can you forgive me, please? With a cherry on top? Would this even work?

With a resigned sigh, I locked my phone. I wasn't good with words—it wasn't going to work out this way. I had to see her, look into her eyes, and say that I was sorry. She would get that, right? She always understood me.

When my phone's screen lit up next, I was pretty shaken up to see Abby's name. I thought I sent her one of the messages I'd drafted and quickly opened her message. It was a long-ass one and I didn't even send a message, to begin with.

All that she'd texted, I only zeroed in on one thing: I can't lose you. Because if she left now, I would lose her, on the contrary to her belief. There was no way I could let her fly and slip away from my fingers. Not before she learned about my true feelings—what we had, what I had was beyond friendship.

No, I texted as quickly as I could, afraid that she may have fallen asleep. But when the typing icon emerged from the bottom, relief spread over my lips. You aren't going anywhere before we talk about it face to face.

You're leaving me.

I'm coming to your room now. Get out.

I'll knock on your door until you come out. As you wish.

Getting up, I walked up to the door and pulled it open. With determined steps and messy thoughts, I arrived at her door in seconds. I checked my phone to see two new messages from her.

I'm outside.

A few seconds later, the door clicked open and Abby emerged from inside. She was in her pony pajamas with a messy bun. Her face was nervous, and she wrapped her cardigan defensively around her torso when she spotted me.

"I didn't want you to wake Rachel up," she whispered, averting my gaze. "What do you want?"

"I want you to stay." Her gaze tilted up at me with surprise. I wasn't forward all the time but this once, I didn't have anything to lose. "I need you to stay." Sighing, she came a step closer. Gone was the anger in her eyes from our previous encounter. "I was an ass tonight, Abby. I didn't mean those things I said to you."

"No," she cut me off. "You meant all of it. And you were right. I was afraid to get on the stage and dance. But not with Roy, George. I told you then." She looked desperate.

Running a hand through my hair, I sighed. "I said that because I was angry. I thought you were still with Roy and I didn't understand why you put up with his shit, okay?"

"You were angry because of that? You were pissed off since they arrived. I don't understand you, okay?" Though she looked angry, her pony-printed pajamas made the whole thing funny. I couldn't take her seriously. "George," she sighed. "I'm so tired. I keep reading everything wrong and hurting myself. Tonight has been the last straw."

"I've been living on thorns for these past two days and you are tired? Do you know how I've been doing when you were holding hands with your boyfriend?" Suddenly aware of my voice rising up, I leaned closer and continued: "If someone is tired, that's me."

She let out a breathy laugh. "I ask the same question to myself, you know. Why did I put up with your shit all this time? You know what? I don't know—but I won't, anymore."

I grabbed her arm instinctively, pulling her close. "I ruined everything again, didn't I?" Her chin shivered. "Fuck," I sighed, enveloping her in my arms. I thought she would fight in my arms but she just gave in to it, burying her face into my chest. "What are we doing? I don't want to be like this with you. You're the only person in this world who gets me."

Abby's cheek brushed my forearm as she looked up at me with teary eyes. "I missed my best friend so much."

"Stay," I whispered, putting my chin on the top of her head.

She let out a defeated sigh. I couldn't see her expression, but I could see that if I insisted further, she would give in eventually. She couldn't leave me at this point. We may have stepped out of the way but I wanted to treasure our last week together before she flew to New York. I wasn't going to complicate things for us again and waste time.

"I just feel like we have blurred lines."

I fathomed what she'd meant by that. We skipped the lines that night, once her lips met mine. The thing was, that night changed nothing in me, for I was already across the line. "We can forget about it," I offered, looking into her eyes. "We weren't thinking, Ab. It was just a moment—it didn't define us."

"Right." Clearing her throat, she pulled back. "I still don't know about staying, though."

"We are in this together."

"What about Roy and Rachel?" She asked. "This tension will continue as long as they are with us."

"Rachel is flying back this morning," I informed her. Her eyebrows tilted in curiosity—she was finally looking at me like the Abby I was familiar with. "She came to say goodbye earlier."

"Hmm. You must feel sad that you couldn't make the most of your time with her."

"I don't like her if that's what you're implying for," I said.

Her mood change was epic. At times like this, I was convinced that she liked me and whatever possessed her when she heard Rachel's name was jealousy. Like she was jealous of her as well as I was jealous of Roy.

"Why not?" I asked, pulling back. "We can leave now—we can ditch Roy. I don't give a fuck about anyone but you."

Hesitated, she considered my offer. "It's so rude."

"It was also rude to invite them behind my back but you did it, anyway. Or leaving me alone on this trip after you agreed is."

"You're right. Well, I'm sorry."

"You're sorry that you'll ditch him and continue the trip with me?"

"Well. Still in progress."

"What can I do to quicken the process?"

"Well," she said, smiling at me. "Can we please forget about the first half of this trip and focus on the second half? I don't know what happened to us, but I really want to enjoy this without any complications. I want to make the most of it." But then, she did something totally reversing that ruined my theory.

How can I forget about it, Abby? "Okay." I love you. I'm such an idiot as well as a coward, but that's the truth. "I'd like that, too." I'll never dare to hurt you again even it means that I'll be hurting every single day for keeping the truth from you.

After that, she hugged me again. "Now what?" She asked, retreating with a beam.

"We will pack and leave before they wake up."

"They will be shocked when they wake up." I made it clear that I didn't give a fuck about that before so I just flashed her another grin. "I'll go pack, then," she said. "Without making a noise—Rachel is a heavy sleeper, anyway."

"And I could drop a bomb in the room and Roy would still keep sleeping soundly."

"George," she warned me.

"What? That's a tempting idea." She nudged me on my arm but she couldn't hide the smile on her face.

When a comfortable silence rendered between silence, we stood in the corridor for a while, listening to nothing in particular. It was partially a lie because I was listening to her breaths. Then, when she sat down on the cold floor, leaning against the wall, I kneeled down beside her.

Before we were going to forget about everything of the first half, I had to get a question out of my mind. "Why did you break up with him?" I looked ahead, avoiding her gaze so that she could answer me honestly and I would be prepared for any possible answers.

"Is this like a confession session?" She asked laughingly, but when I didn't join her, she cleared her throat. "You asked me if I liked him—and I told you that I did. It was a lie. I'm not proud of it but I manipulated Roy's feelings." Though she gazed at me, I remained my eyes fixated on the dull wall across from me. "I wanted to show him what playing with a girl feels like and that we are all humans. I wanted to do this to get revenge for a friend who had been dumped by him. When I told him, he said he didn't even remember her but that was the thing—what he didn't remember was what she would never forget."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"He was your friend, George. I couldn't trust you."

Finally casting my eyes on her, I asked the question that burned in the back of my mind. "Why did you text him after the night we kissed, Abby?"

She held my gaze for a while. "I can't answer that," she said afterward. "Now, the session is over and we will forget about this, okay? You won't ask me any more questions about that night. It won't repeat, George, don't worry."

Unsatisfied that she shut me off, I still nodded at her statement. When I thought things were progressing, we were back to square one—this time, to be stuck there forever.

***

Happy Friday!

Hope this chapter made you happy as well as it made me. I'm really cramming to catch up with nano. I'm also proud to announce I'm so close to finishing SOWK! (You've still got a long way to go.)

I can't believe we hit 26,000 reads! That's so amazing, thank you all so much. I enjoy writing this story and it's glad to see there are enough of you that share my passion. My concern is still valid, though. Sometimes I struggle to connect with teens, for I passed that stage a while ago, but I hope it doesn't show off much and if you think it does, please note them here so I can fix those issues in the editing process (if it ever happens).

Please let me know your thoughts about the chapter and don't forget to click on . ⭐️ Your support means a ton, and what makes this story going. As long as you're with me, I'll keep posting new chapters — a simple equation, right? Two of us make a story happen 😉

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See you next Friday,

Sev xx