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“Jesus fucking Christ, Samara.” Sky’s hand met her chest while the other removed the headphones and tossed them on her messy bed. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“Those are cute,” I said, eyeing the headphones as I approached her bed, inspecting them. “Are they new?”
“Yep,” she replied, taking them back and adjusting them to fit around her neck. “And expensive too.”
“What’s with all of this?” I gestured around the monstrous mess of clothes and other personal items scattered along the bed and carpet. “I thought you’d have finished unpacking by now.”
“Yeah, well, I haven’t. I got tired and took a nap. I woke up about ten minutes ago.”
“You’re mad at me.” It wasn’t a question.
Sky sighed and proceeded to haul up more clothes. “Why would I be mad?” She turned away and moved back to her dresser, aggressively shoving everything inside one of the drawers. “Clearly, you’re the one with the problem.”
Now it was my turn to sigh. “You surprised me, Sky. I-I mean, honestly…what did you expect? I didn’t think you were coming back.”
She slammed the drawer shut, then faced me, leaning back against the dresser with her arms crossed tightly to her chest, her brows pinched. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I thought you’d be happy. Thrilled to know that I was alive and—”
“—and I am,” I cut in, shifting some of her stuff aside so I could sit down on the bed. “I’m sorry if I made you feel unwelcome. It was just... unexpected. I guess what I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around iswhy.”
“Because I miss this place, Samara. My friends.You. I know what I did was wrong, and I don’t expect you to just up and forgive me so easily after everything. For what it’s worth though, I’m sorry for lashing out and blaming you for Brian’s death. Forall the mean things I said. I was angry, stupid, and hurt. Really fucking hurt.”
“You don’t have to apologize, Sky. I get it. He was the love of your life.”
Sky sniffled and reached up to wipe under her eyes. “He really was. I understand what he did was really fucked up, but that didn’t mean he deserved to die.”
I frowned at her. “I didn’t know that was going to happen. By the time I’d found out, it was already too late. There was nothing I could do.”
“It’s okay, Samara,” she said, offering me somewhat of a half-smile. “Really, it is. All I want now is to move on and put it behind me.”
I hoped that was true, but after her suicide attempt, it was hard to trust and believe her words were as sincere as the act she may or may not have been putting on. Sky may not have blamed me anymore but that didn’t mean she hadn’t targeted her grudge elsewhere. I saw the look on her face when Isaac came over this morning. The hate in her eyes was as authentic as fucking holy water.
“So, are we good?” she asked after a thick pause.
I didn’t answer right away. To be frank, I was still contemplating whether telling her about the war between the Outlaws and Ravagers would be wise given past and recent events. Since it was taking me too damn long to decide, I just dismissed the thought completely. I’d figure it out later, when I had some time to myself to reflect and really think shit through.
“There’s a party at the clearing tonight,” I told her. “You want to go with me?”
“A party?” Sky’s eyes lit up.
“There won’t be a lot of students there, just the ones who stayed behind for the holidays.”
“I-I’d love to go.”
“Great. We’ll talk more then. I’m gonna go hug my bed for a little while.”
“That’s fine. I still have a lot of stuff to do around here anyway.”
I rose to my feet, accepting the hug she’d offered when she approached. When I pulled away and left the room, I couldn’t help but sigh out my relief.
Finally, I could sleep.
“You’re screwing all of them?” Sky had all but shouted, pinning me with an incredulous gawp as I finished sliding on my VANS later that night. “But I thought you had a boyfriend?”
“We’re still together,” I replied, ignoring her judging eyes and the twinge of pain in my chest. “I just haven’t been able to see him in a while.”
“And he’sokaywith it?”
“He is,” I nodded. “I tell Jace everything.”
