02/14/2016

chapter twenty-five ;

♡

one time of year I had come to, in the last month, dread. The idea had not truly occurred to me that I might spend this Valentine's Day alone.

Being single had never bothered me. Now, however, I viewed the word "single" differently. Now it just meant that I was not with Benny. That bothered me.

The fact that Benny could no longer be called mine was odd, after how close we had become. He had become my greatest friend, not just my boyfriend. Losing him meant losing a piece of my soul, and after Lynn, my soul was already no longer intact.

But a month had passed, and I was learning to use my old tactics and numb myself to my feelings. The depression no longer held me down, although I had my ways in helping that along. Not all of them were bad. Either way, I no longer felt completely lost – and that was all right with me.

To everyone's surprise, Ivy had agreed to go out to dinner with Bertram. Today would be the day. Kenny was doing something – I just had no clue as to what, and he would not spill. Luke had plans with Skylar (ugh), and I had nothing to do but stay at home and read the next book of The Mortal Instruments. Only that reminded me of Benny, because had had been the one to buy the books for me.

Being alone for Valentine's Day had never bothered me so much.

point of view.

Skylar's car rested in the driveway, pristine silver, but hers was not the only one. Her brother must have been visiting again.

Flowers in hand, I went to the door, and knocked. I must have knocked half a dozen times, but no one ever came to the door. So, because I was familiar enough with Skylar's family, I simply twisted the doorknob – unlocked – and went inside.

The house was quiet, except for the faint tune of a song, drifting downstairs. Before following the music, I searched the downstairs area, but it was empty. No one was in the backyard either, so, finally, I journeyed upstairs.

The music seemed to be coming from Skylar's room; her bedroom door was cracked, and I saw her in the bed before I came inside. She was wrapped in her white bedsheets, blonde hair in dissaray. When she saw me, her eyes went wide with surprise.

"Luke!" she exclaimed, sitting up. The bedsheets hugged her body closely – Was she naked? "I didn't know you were going to be here so early."

I couldn't hold back my frown. "Is that a problem?"

"No, no." Her eyes flickered downward. "Oh, you got me flowers. Thank you! They're so pretty. Um, I have an empty vase downstairs – it's in the kitchen. Could you go put them in it?"

"Yeah, but . . ." I searched her with my eyes, heart speeding. "Why are you naked?"

Skylar seemed to be getting frantic now. Her chest rose and fell quickly, and her eyes darted around the room nonstop. "I was just . . . about to get in the shower."

"So you took your clothes off and laid in bed."

Even still standing at the door, I noticed the way Skylar's eyes grew glossy. She opened her mouth, but no words left. And she didn't have to say anything, because a moment later, the bathroom door opened, and when I turned my head, I found a familiar face. A football player, his dark skin shining with water, a white towel wrapped around his waist. I didn't know his name, but that was sort of irrelevant.

My heart cracked, but did not break. Somehow, I was not surprised. Rather than allowing my anger to rise and burst, I returned my gaze to Skylar. She was close to tears, staring at her hands.

The football player frowned, stopping in the middle of the hallway. "Who are you?"

Skylar swallowed deeply, standing to her feet. The bedsheet flowed to the ground like a dress. "Luke, let me explain."

Shaking my head, I turned to face the boy. "I was her boyfriend. Up until just now."

A deep frown settled on the guy's face, and he moved forward to get a look at Skylar. "Are you kidding me? You had a fucking boyfriend?"

"Tyler – "

"It's her thing," I explained, with a nonchalant shrug. "Guess I'm out, then." Before I could descend the staircase, I turned to face Tyler. "Hey, you want these flowers? I was going to give them to Elizabeth Rodriguez, but it would feel wrong to give her something I was going to give to a cheating whore."

Despite everything, Tyler laughed, showing off his perfect teeth. "Sure, man. I could give 'em to my ma. Thanks."

"No problem."

I did not glance back at Skylar as I left. There was only one face I wanted to look at right now, and it wasn't hers.

♡

Elizabeth answered the door, of course. The sight of her beautiful face mended my heart in an instant. With the feelings I'd been holding in for quite some time, this did not surprise me a bit.

Her dark eyes touched every inch of my face, as if she were trying to determine whether I was real, and her eyebrows furrowed. "Luke? What are you doing here?"

"What I should have done a long time ago." Releasing a nervous breath, I pulled my hand from behind my back, revealing a bouquet of white roses. "These are for you."

Liz made no move to take them. Rather, she eyed them in utter confusion. Meanwhile, I took the time to realize that she wore a pale pink dress, and that her hair was delicately curled. She was stunning, and for that, my heart dropped and my face fell.

"You've got a date."

Elizabeth frowned, suddenly brought back to Earth. "Huh? No." She looked down at her dress and seemed to understand. "No, I just got back from work. Everyone was supposed to dress for the holiday. Um . . . Luke . . . why are you bringing me flowers? Skylar."

I shook my head. "I'm done with her. For good this time."

Elizabeth crossed her arms, her face going stony. "So you must have just broken up. 'Cause you were with her last night, weren't you? Sorry, Luke, but I'm not interested in being your rebound."

Taken aback, I frowned, flowers lowering to my side. "Rebound? It's not like that – "

"See you, Luke." Elizabeth stepped back, and pushed the door closed – but I stuck my foot out in time, and burst inside, only to crash into Elizabeth. Instinct threw my free arm around her waist to steady her. Instinct pushed my lips onto hers.

Stunned by the sudden impact, Liz merely gasped and froze. But she regathered herself moments later, and pushed me away from her. When I opened my eyes, she was glaring at me.

Elizabeth pointed a finger at me. "I don't know what kind of girl you think I am, but you can't just kiss me and make me forget what I said. I'm not going to be your rebound, Luke, I refuse. Jesus – "

Cheeks burning, I stepped toward Elizabeth, but stopped before her finger could dig into my chest. I raised my hands in surrender. "I'm sorry, I got carried away. I didn't mean to do it that way. But listen to me – you aren't a rebound, Liz. You're the only thing that's been going on in my mind, for a while now. I'm sorry I never told you before, I didn't want to be that guy – the one who falls in love with another girl while he has a girlfriend, but it happened, and it's the truth. I can be truthful . . . now."

My voice slowly died. Elizabeth's face had gone soft somewhere between my words, and the way she stared at me sort of scared me. I couldn't tell if the serene look on her face was happiness or that sweet "I'm about to fucking kill you" expression only girls could manage.

"Oh," she finally sighed, lips curling ever so slightly. "Well . . . in that case . . . thanks for the flowers."

Still I had no idea how she was truly feeling. She reached forward and snatched the bouquet of white roses from my hand. I simply watched as she walked into the kitchen and set the bundle of flowers onto the table. And then she turned toward me, now wearing a grin, and beckoned me with a finger.

I was still confused, and a bit scared, to be honest, but I moved toward her. Then she wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me, and I hugged her back, and she kissed my shoulder, and I'd never felt so warm.

"Took you long enough," she giggled, "stupid."

point of view.

Eight o'clock neared, and the excitement for The Walking Dead drowned out any whisper of a thought of Benny. I could be happy.

A knock sounded at the door. Since I was watching the new episode in the living room, all I had to do was stand and move a few feet to reach the door. When I pulled the door open, I came face-to-face with Jordan Phillips. The sight of him was no longer a surprise. He had come over often to watch every episode of The Walking Dead with me. Now he was caught up as well, and I suddenly remembered his promise to watch episode nine of season six with me as it aired.

The boy was grinning from ear to ear, especially when he moved his hand from behind his back, revealing two plastic bags. "I come with gifts. Candy, Redbull for me, Monster for you, Takis." As he named the snacks, he moved inside, closing the door himself. "I hope you have popcorn."

Smiling, I said, "I do."

"Ever had popcorn with sugar?" Jordan glanced at me questioningly, and quickly found the answer in my grimace. "Well, you're about to. I promise you'll like it."

"Jesus," I laughed. "You're the best. But I've never had Takis."

Jordan had been walking toward the kitchen, but he quickly stopped and whirled to face me. "Do you like hot stuff?" He quickly found the answer in the curl of my lips. "Then you'll like me. And takis. Ha! Just kidding!" He disappeared into the kitchen, and I laughed, shaking my head.

"You are such a fag," I called, grinning all the while. "Popcorn is in the cabinet beside the fridge.

A moment later, Jordan whipped back into view, frowning at me. "How the hell am I a cigarette?

I shrugged in a casual manner, although unable to force away my smile. "You just are."

Putting on a playful smile, he wiggled two "finger-guns" at me. "Are you gonna smoke me?" His face immediately fell. "Okay, that was a really bad joke." He disappeared into the kitchen once again. "Forget I said that."

All I could do was laugh. "You're extra cheerful tonight. What's the deal?"

"The Walking Dead hypes me up," he explained, voice clear and loud from the kitchen. A moment later: "I can't find the popcorn. Help."

I rolled my eyes, because I had just reached the couch. "Oh, my gosh. It's probably right in front of your face."

Out of my view, Jordan smiled.

♡

A car honked outside, and Jordan, sitting beside me on the couch, sighed. "That's my mom."

The new episode had ended several minutes ago, but I still felt slightly disappointed that Jordan had to leave. We had been enveloped in a deep conversation about the characters of The Walking Dead and the plot altogether; it was nice to have someone who looked as deeply into the show as I did. Jordan probably loved it almost as much as me. Almost – but not quite.

"Oh." I sighed, and stood. Jordan stared up at me before standing as well. "I'll walk you out."

Jordan grinned, and hooked his arm in mine. "It should be the other way around."

"Not really," I laughed, pulling my arm out of his. As comfortable as I was with him now, I sometimes got the vibe that he liked me, and I didn't want to lead him on. "You're leaving my house. Therefore, I walk you out."

Jordan rolled his eyes. "I hate when you're right."

"Which happens to be all the time."

As the two of us neared the door, Jordan shot me a look. "I wouldn't go that far."

Playfully I smacked his arm, grinning. "Shut up."

Despite the fact that I was walking Jordan out, he was the one to open the front door and allow me outside first. Once on the porch, he closed the door and turned to face me.

"That episode was epic," he said, smiling lightly. "And I'm glad I got to watch it with you. See you tomorrow, Makayla."

Before I could really respond, he leaned down and kissed my cheek. His lips were soft, and his cheek against mine was soft when he hugged me. He pulled away, revealing a soft smile and soft eyes, and I was speechless in my surprise. Why the hell was everything about him so soft?

Jordan turned and moved toward the car in the street, and I remained in place, waving as the car drove away. And before I could walk back inside, my eyes caught on something else – someone was standing on the porch of Benny's house. I recognized him immediately, of course; the porch light provided enough illumination to put Benny's face in a clearer view, but I would have noticed the shadow of his body, his hair anywhere.

I stood frozen for a few moments. Eventually, Benny waved, and then turned to disappear inside his house. It took me a few moments before I could reenter my own home.

The house was empty – Luke was probably off with Skylar, and my parents had not finished their date. I trudged upstairs and into my bedroom. My eyes immediately fell to rest on the object on my bed.

A large bouquet, a mixture of several types of flowers. Confused, I picked up the bouquet and found a small card attached by a string. The words were small and neat.

Happy Walking Dead Day. Hope you had a good time (: – Jordan

♡

it's been so difficult writing this. wattpad needs to get its shit together, with all these bugs. but here's the new chapter, and i hope you guys liked it. (:

also, i have a question: has anyone here ever heard of or played any of the fable video games? they're my childhood, honestly, and i've been playing fable 2 all day. makes me feel at home.

also, leon's birthday was on the 22nd – two days ago. he would have been 17. i'm sure you all would have wished him a happy birthday, so thank you all. (:

September 24, 2017