AllFreeNovel
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I breathea sigh of relief that she’s not ghosting me, and my phone pings in my hand. The notification is from the gate telling me the delivery driver is on his way down the road. My stomach growls with the thought of the pepperoni pizza, mmm yum. The bell rings, and I rush to the door, grabbing my purse out of my bag. As I throw the door open, the delivery guy startles, nearly dropping the box on the floor. I pass him a twenty and grab my pizza before he destroys the gooey goodness and close the door in his face. I head back into the living room, jumping on the sectional to pick the first thing I find on Netflix and get sucked in. It doesn’t take long for me to demolish the food and I snuggle deeper into the cushions, my eyes growing heavy.
* * *
My eyes flutteropen as a stabbing pain screams through my neck. It takes a couple of seconds for my vision to adjust, but I realize I’m laid out on the sectional and the TV is still playing in the background. My phone is on the floor, and I grab it to check the time. My eyes widen and I launch to my feet, the pizza box falling on the floor.
I rush out the room, grab my bag and I’m out the door.I can’t believe I slept so long!I jump into my car, going through the motions at warp speed, and tear ass out of my drive to Lux’s house. Thank God she doesn’t live that far from me, and, luckily, the streets are quiet because no doubt someone would have phoned the police about my speed. I floor it down the drive, breathing a sigh of relief as I spot the removal van still outside the house. I slam on the brakes, throwing the car in park and jump out, leaving the door open and engine running.
“Lux!” I shout rushing through the door, men are milling around moving all the boxes and furniture. “Lux,” I try again.
“Miss,” an older man says as he puts a box of the floor, “You can’t be here.”
“I’m looking for Lux Quinn,” I say to him, my heart beating frantically in my chest. “I know I’m ten minutes late, but they can’t have set off already?”
The man looks at me like I’m a crazy person as I rush through the house calling out her name. He chases me, telling me he’s calling the cops, but I ignore him in search of my friend. I yank my phone out of my pocket and hit dial. The phone rings as I stare at the screen, my chest feeling like there’s a brick sitting on it. The call goes to voicemail, so I cut it off. I’m heartbroken, she couldn’t have left without saying goodbye? My emotions are all over the place as I try to reason through what’s happening. I just have no words right now.
“Miss?” The man says to me again. “The Quinn family left thirty minutes ago. We have to finish loading everything up.”
“I missed them?” I whisper, my chest becoming tight, and a phantom feeling of weight there has me desperate to save the air already in my lungs, but it comes out in a whoosh as it’s pulled from me, the need to breathe too strong to ignore. My whole body becomes numb with a weird sensation engulfing me, I can’t feel, but then I can. My limbs are no longer attached to anything it’s like I’ve lost my arm… I’m simply numb. She’s my ride or die. How am I meant to say goodbye to her now?
“Excuse me?” a young guy says sheepishly. “Are you Sam Whitlock?” I nod my head, words failing me as I try not to break down in front of strangers. “This was left for you.”
He passes me an envelope with my name scrawled across it, and tears pool in my eyes when I realize it’s Lux’s handwriting.
“Thank you,” I mumble as I make my way through the house.
Memories from when we were kids flash through my mind, the tears flowing as the best and worst ones play like a movie. When Lux broke her arm because I convinced her it would be fun to climb a tree when we were eight. The night I got her high and I had to sneak her into the house before her parents found her. The night we broke into her dad’s liquor cabinet and got wasted, telling each other how our first times were, and staying up to watch TV until we both started throwing up. I smile, even as the tears fall; this place is filled with so many good memories. It was my solace; they were my family more than my own. I came here whenever I needed to escape my reality and they treated me like their own.
I’ve been so lost in my own thoughts, I didn’t realize I had made my way into the grounds at the back. I breathe in the scent of pine trees, the forest stretching out in front of me, and I make my way deeper inside, smiling as the tree house comes into view. I climb the ladder, the steps groaning as I do, and I make it to the top. I shimmy myself across the ledge, praying the old thing doesn’t give way under me. When I feel it’s safe and I haven’t plummeted to the forest floor, I try to chuckle, but it sounds broken, I know she would be laughing her ass off if she was here now. I open the letter, and a tear drops onto the envelope as I pull the paper out. My eyes scan the words.
Hey Sam,
I’m sorry I’m doing it this way and writing a letter, but I needed to get the words right. I know there’s a chance I haven’t seen you this morning and it’s okay, I don’t want you to beat yourself up over it. I just hope it wasn’t anything to do with your asshole dad! I’m going to miss you so much, I don’t think you realize how much you mean to me. I remember the first day in preschool when you came over and said hi to the weird shy girl, then you passed me a toy. That was it, our fates were sealed. I love you so much, you are so strong and confident and everything I wish I could be. You face your battles head on, but I’m not like you. I’m so sorry I lied to you, but we aren’t moving because of my family. It’s because of me, I can’t stay in the place where the worst moment of my life took place. It’s too much, I can’t bring myself to tell you what happened, because I’m still trying to come to terms with it myself. But I will get through this. You taught me things I never knew I needed and I will get over this. I just had to do it somewhere else. I promise this won’t be the last time you see me. You’re my ride or die biatch and the idea of you not being that scares the shit out of me. But I will be back. (I bet you’ve just done your terminator impression in your head haven’t you?)
Enough about me, girl, if you don’t give in to what you feel for Kylo, it’s going to be too late! I know you’re a stubborn ass, but, girl, have you looked at him? That boy is finnnne! So what are you waiting for? This is the hardest bit, please don’t reach out, it will be too hard. I want you to be the baddie I know you are, and fuck shit up. Don’t let your dad beat you down, babe, he can’t break you. You’re forged from fire. The strongest person I’ve ever met.
I’ll see you when I see you biatch!
Lux
xoxo
Tears streamdown my face as I sob. I knew there was something going on with her and I just left it! How the fuck could I do that to my friend when she needed me the most? I fall apart as guilt consumes me for not pressing her, but also because she doesn’t hate me for it. I swipe at the tears roughly, the scratchy material of my blazer making it feel like I’ve something scraping the top layer of skin off. But it’s not enough, it doesn’t make me feel any better, it just makes me feel worse. I check the time on my phone as the tears still pool in my eyes. I don’t want to go to school.
I stuff the letter in my pocket, making sure it’s tucked in there securely, and swipe at my eyes again, but it’s no use, I can feel how puffy they are. I’m going to have to make sure I stay hidden. I take the long way around the grounds, staying away from the movers. I don’t rush, taking in the memories that flood my mind as I remember all the good and bad times we had.
My car comes into view, the door still wide open and the engine still idling, and I look at the house. The door is closed and the van is nowhere to be seen. This is it, I don’t know when I will see her again. I know I will, but it still hurts and my chest feels like there’s a boulder weighing on it. I climb into the car with one last wistful look, before dropping into my seat and slam the door shut. My foot hits the accelerator like it’s a lead weight and I take off to school, the all-consuming emotions going on will put this day into my top five.
12
KYLO
Ihaven’t seen her around this morning and my skin is itching, I just want to be near her. The thought has been all-consuming since the night of the party, I don’t want to have to go another day without having her again. Even with this feeling, my gut is throbbing with unease. It feels like today is going to be the day that sets things onto an unknown course… I don’t know if it will be in a good or bad way, and that thought has me anxious because I know there’s nothing I can do about it.
“What’s got ants in your pants?” Brantley whispers to me from my left.
I continue to stare at the tablet in front of me that’s adding all the stuff the professor is putting onto the board at the front. I watch, fascinated, as his pen moves across it and a pen tip moves across the tablet screen matching his movements.
“Earth to Kylo,” he says, waving his hand in front of my face. “Yo, you on this planet or what?”
