•C h a p t e r E l e v e n•

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Dedicated to Rspicy

Song for chapter eleven: Ocean by Mike Perry ft. SHY Martin

|Aden|

The sound of my phone's ringtone penetrated through my dreamless sleep. I groaned, rolling over into my side and grabbing my phone from my nightstand where it was laying. The duvet rolled back into my bed, exposing my bare chest to the cold. Goosebumps rose onto my skin.

Who the hell calls this late at night. I cursed in my head. My anger however immediately dissipated when I saw Skyler's name on the caller ID.

Why would she call at three in the morning? Then, what I'd said to her at the library hit me and a small smile spread over my face. She had taken up on my offer.

I slid my thumb over the screen to answer the call. "Hey Skyler," I greeted, rubbing my eyes as I sat up on the bed.

She was silent for a moment. "Hey, I'm not bothering you right? Oh never mind I'm dumb it's so late of course I'm bothering you," she rambled, her voice was soft.

I chuckled, "It's fine, you're not bothering me, are you alright?"

"I don't know. Define 'alright'," she laughed lightly and I smiled. She was silent for a short moment, the only thing that sounded through the line were her soft breaths. "Do you think our guardians— or our parents— always knows what's best for us?"

I pondered for a moment, "I don't think they know what's best for us, but I think they want to do what they think is best."

"So I should listen to them?"

"If you believe they're right," I replied, hearing her groan over the line and I smiled. "What is this about?"

"It's nothing, just something stupid," she said quickly.

It was something alright.

I heard her sigh over the line, "It's just... I need to get away from my own mind. It won't shut off."

A large part of me knew that there was more to what she was telling me. But if she wasn't ready to be completely honest I wasn't going to push her. Hell, there were some things I haven't even told her, even though I had said more to her in the last two weeks than I had anyone else, excluding Ryan.

"It's all good. I'm right here," I said softly as I laid back onto my bed.

"It's just, sometimes I need everything to stop," she said so quietly that I almost had to strain my ears to hear her, "like, I don't want to die or anything, but you know, I just need to breathe and... I can't."

I blinked at the ceiling. Surprisingly, I knew exactly what she was talking about. Sometimes, life crashed down so fast on you that you can't even catch up with it. Sometimes, things got tough and you just needed everything to stop, but of course, that was impossible. Sometimes, I needed my dad to stop.

"I agree," I told her. "I know it sounds cheesy, but it can only get better. Think of it this way, where do you see yourself in ten years?"

Life was fickle, it could change at any moment and at any time. Just because something wasn't working out now, or you were going through something rough, it didn't mean that things would always stay that way.

Skyler was silent for a moment. "Hopefully I'm well off," she chortled, "but think I'd like to have an actual job, as an accountant, like my dad. That would be fulfilling, and pays well too," she added the last part with a laugh.

I hadn't expected her to say something like that. She surprised me every single day. Her laugh was music to my ears, and suddenly I felt myself wishing that I would never stop hearing it.

"I don't think it will get better though," she said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I mean, I can't change what happened."

What did happen? I asked myself silently, running a hand over my tousled hair. Perhaps it was a bad relationship with an ex boyfriend that she was still trying to get over.

If it was, I was gladly sock him in the face for hurting her. But something told me it was bigger than that.

"It will," I stated again, this time firmer. Once again, Skyler stayed silent. I heard her shuffle around and sniffle. I had to be right. If I wasn't, then I'd be stuck here my whole life, living my own nightmare.

She sniffled again and my heart clenched uncomfortably. I found myself wanting to wrap my arms around her. I wanted to take away all of the pain she was feeling, even if I didn't know what it was. I just never wanted her to feel sad again.

"Whatever happened doesn't define you or the rest of your life. I know you think I'm lying, or that I'm wrong, but trust me, it will get better," my voice cut through the comforting silence that had settled between us. "I'll always be there whenever you need someone to talk to."

"Thank you," she responded, softly.

"No problem, Clumsy," I smiled at the little nickname I had for her. It seemed to fit perfectly. Not that she was super clumsy to begin with, it was just fun to tease her.

"Why do you call me that?" she laughed, her words slurring slightly. The exhaustion must be catching up with her. I did feel ten times lighter after hearing her laugh though, knowing that it was because of me.

Hear that? I was the reason why she laughed.

"Because that's what you are."

"I'm not," she countered.

"Okay let's see. You stepped on my foot on the subway because you lost your balance, you spilled acid all over the table during a lab, and you jumped in front of a soccer ball," I recalled. "I'm pretty sure I've seen you trip over your own feet too walking in the hallway."

"Mhmm, sure, totally," she drawled.

"How would you like to come to my first soccer game, and some practices?" I asked her before my tired brain could stop me. My eyes were also beginning to droop but I knew I had to ask her something else first.

"I would love to," she responded almost immediately.

I took a deep breath, rubbing a clammy palm onto my sweatpants. Come on, just ask her wimp. It's now or never.

"Usually in our last game we give someone our school soccer sweater to wear. One that has our names and jersey number sewn on it. It's like a tradition for the last game of the season," I started but I heard nothing over the line. "Skyler?"

"Mhmm?" I heard her say, but her voice was muffled and it dripped with fatigue.

I smiled, perhaps I'd ask her another time if she wanted to wear it for my game, after all, if she wasn't the one to wear it, it wouldn't be anyone else.

"Never mind, goodnight Clumsy," I whispered over the phone. When I got no response, I hung up the phone and fell asleep within minutes.

_____________________

|Skyler|

The bell rang throughout the school, signalling the end of first period. Josie walked next to me as I made my way to chemistry, and her to biology.

I was more awake and feeling much less like a zombie today, which was a first. I'd fallen asleep mid phone call with Aden, which I felt really bad for. Especially since I was the one who bugged him in the middle of the night, only to fall back asleep. It was a wonder how I actually managed to fall into a dreamless sleep to Aden's soothing voice though.

Then, this morning I told Aunt Claire that I wouldn't mind seeing Doctor Miranda again, for those sleeping pills. Aunt Claire was ecstatic and immediately went to call her to book an appointment.

"Okay wait, so you spoke with Aden on the phone and he told you about his soccer sweatshirt?" Josie repeated annunciating every word, sounding surprised. Her doe eyes stared back at me at the same time she skillfully dodged other students in the hall.

"Yes, why are you talking like that?" I asked her, my eyebrows scrunching together.

"Oh my gosh!" she squealed, gaining a few glares from a few students around is. Josie pulled me aside, muttering a 'sorry' under her breath. "He was going to ask you to wear it!" she whisper-shouted.

"Huh? Why would he do that, and it's just a sweatshirt, calm down!" I shushed her.

"It's not just a sweatshirt. Okay, maybe it is, but it's this thing every men's sports team does at this school," she started explaining as we neared the science wing. "For their last game of the season, they always give their team sweatshirt to someone they really like, or care about at least. Pretty much all guys give it to their girlfriends, or someone they're like a thing with."

"But still, why would he give it to me?" I asked again, even though I felt like I probably already knew the answer to that.

"Beeecause he likes you. I'm telling you he does!" Josie beamed as we approached my classroom. "I've seen many girls since freshman year try to get his sweatshirt, they flirt and try to hang around him but he's never given it to anyone."

"Oh yeah sure, we'll talk about this later," I rolled my eyes but I couldn't help the smile that spread over my face. A part of me hoped she was right. She gave me one last high pitched squeal that nearly tore my eardrums and ran off to her class down the hall.

I shook my head with a smile and walked into class, taking my seat next to Aden just as the bell rang.

"How was your sleep Clumsy?" Aden turned his body towards me when I got settled. I didn't know what it was, but he looked a lot more attractive then I remembered. He wore a pair of beige khakis paired with a Hollister burgundy sweatshirt.

"It was good actually, thanks to you," I casted my eyes onto my desk, feeling my cheeks heat up from god knew what. It seemed like it was all they did whenever I was near him.

"My voice is just that soothing right?" he smirked.

"You wish," I shot back. "I just got bored of it."

Aden opened his mouth to retort something else but Mr. Carter beat him to it.

"Good morning class," he drawled, clearly it hadn't been a good morning for him, "as you all know, the unit is coming to an end, and so therefore I've created an end of unit project for you all to complete."

A series of groans erupted from everyone around me, whereas I just rolled my eyes. It was another project to add to the pile, even if I could sleep at night, all this work would be a reason not to.

"It will be due on Monday. The rubric is online already, and it outlines everything I'll be expecting from you guys. So there are no excuses for not completing it on time," Mr. Carter continued.

"But sir, we have a huge History essay due as well that day," a guy from the back shouted. The whole class nodded and agreed along with him.

"Thats not my problem," Mr. Carter countered, emotionlessly. "Anyways, we'll be finishing up the last lesson for today, take out your notes..." I zoned out the rest of it. Suddenly, not being able to fall asleep at night was playing in my favour. I could just spend all of it completing all my other homework it would seem.

The rest of the class was uninteresting, and I struggled to even stay focused half the time. Especially when Aden was so close to me, with his elbow bumping into mine from time to time, and his cologne wafting up my nose caused my brain to drift off to dreamland more than once.

When the bell finally rang, Aden stayed back as he waited for me to pack all my books back into my bag. The simple gesture sent a wave of giddiness through my stomach.

"So, where should we meet tonight?" Aden asked casually.

"Meet up?"

"Yeah, to do the project," Aden continued, as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

"Oh um... not my place I can't tonight," I said quickly. Aden's eyebrow cocked up questioningly for a moment.

More like I didn't want to explain why I lived with Aunt Claire and not a parent like any normal teenager. But not even that, Aunt Claire would absolutely flip if I brought home anyone who was of the opposite gender.

"Alright, we can do my place then, we got the house to ourselves," he shrugged as we walked towards the classroom doors. "We can meet at my car in the parking lot."

Then, he stopped, bending down to lean towards me. My breath hitched when his lips touched the top of my ear and a shiver raced down my spine. My cheeks once again felt on fire and I knew I was redder than a tomato.

"See you after school."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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~SweetnessInTheSalt

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