Chapter 80

It was safe to say that the rest of the day was boring. Without my number one girl, I felt lonely and uninterested in everything. That was until Roman caught me by my locker after school and told me he could get me in to see Skye. I almost jumped in joy when he said we could go right away.

I wasn't an idiot to notice that Roman himself had gotten himself quite the following as now tons of girls gawked and flirtatiously smiled 'hello' at him as he strode past. They all looked ridiculously as he gave them no time of day, sometimes scoffing, obviously uncomfortable by their behaviours as he kept close to me, stalking to his car.

The car ride was mainly quiet apart from small talk, I was just excited I would finally get to see Skye. She didn't tell me I could see her this morning over text. Maybe she didn't know either? Maybe it was a surprise? All the more to be excited.

When we arrived, Roman and I walked straight up to the front desk. That redhead bitch was there and unenthusiastically looked me up and down before Roman muttered something in her ear and she nodded, telling us to go upstairs.

"What did you say to her?" I asked as we got into the elevator.

He shrugged, "I told her you were the one who saved my sisters life."

I stilled and looked up at him, mouth slightly gawked.

"What? You did. If you hadn't of called the ambulance, I don't even want to think about Skye's outcome." I had saved Skye's life. It hadn't crossed my mind before, but I had. It felt weird to say, that I had saved someone's life, but it didn't feel bad.

Once on the correct floor, we walked to Skye's room and Roman got out a key. I furrowed my brows.

"They don't trust Skye to stay in her room considering her previous wandering past. They think she got the drugs from someone inside the hospital and don't want to take any chances again." He explained, placing the key in the lock.

"Don't you think it's a bit... I don't know, prison-like." I reasoned. I bet Skye hated it.

"It's better than her being dead. Besides, she's not strong enough to walk for too long as it is at the moment." That made me wonder how thin she truly was.

When he opened the door, the first thing I saw was paint. Dozens and dozens of painted pictures across the walls, some stuck onto the ceiling. The colours burst across the room like hundreds of shooting stars lighting up the dimness of the sterile white walls to a radiant sky of rainbows.

"Woah." I gasped, but before I had the chance to turn to Roman, Skye caught my eye.

"Sienna?!" she beamed and jumped off her bed, running towards me. She flung her small arms around my neck and squeezed me tightly. "Oh my god! You're here!" she squealed. Try not to think about the bones, Sienna. Try not to think about the bones.

"Careful, Skye." Roman warned when she let go. Skye rolled her eyes at her brother.

"I'm not a piece of china, Rome. I'm allowed to have some spurts of energy." I noticed how she called him 'Rome' and thought it was adorable.

This time it was Roman's turn to roll his eyes. I bit back a smile and faced Skye. "How are you?"

"So much better now you're here. C'mon! My mom bought me some new paints!" she grabbed my hand and dragged me over to her bed. I didn't want to refuse as she excitedly collected the paints and paper and laid them out in front of us. Yep, the confinement was driving this poor girl insane.

For the next hour, Skye and I sat on her bed painting pictures. My flowers, once again, looked like butchered mushrooms whereas she painted a stunning landscape of an ocean at sunset with dolphins and humpback wales, little starfishes framing the corners of the page.

She was insanely skilled, and I wondered if her family realised it as much as I did.

Roman sat in the armchair painting too. I didn't know what of exactly but from the shadow behind the paper, it seemed like a brain. Typical, I laughed in my head.

It was mostly silent as Skye blasted a Selena Gomez album and hummed along to the lyrics, casually explaining how if she could live anywhere, it would be a beach. She told me how she loved the water, that the ocean made her feel calm, that the salty sea breeze was her favourite scent, and my thoughts drifted to that sadness framing her pretty thoughts. She might never get to go to the beach again. She might never get to experience that again. All those wonders and dreams would be lost.

I tried not to let it show for her sake and smiled along.

"What about you?" she then asked.

"Hmm?" I looked up, not paying too much attention.

"If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?" she elaborated. I thought long and hard about it. I didn't really think about that too much, I always believed I'd be stuck in the same town until I died. That was what always happened to the popular girl in the movies; she always ended up living some miserable, vain little life whilst those around her thrived. I never let those thoughts bother me before yet the closer and closer we got to graduation; I couldn't help but think about it too often.

"I don't know." I replied with a small shrug.

"Oh, c'mon! There has to be somewhere." Skye pried. Where would I want to live? Somewhere I could be myself and not worry about what other people thought of me.

"I don't think it matters where you go, I think it matters who with." I finally decided. Roman gazed up from his painting.

"How so?" Skye asked.

I took a deep breath and explained, "You could go to the most amazing place but be surrounded by horrible people, making it ugly. Or you could go to the ugliest place but be surrounded by the most amazing people, making it beautiful." I learnt that from my parents. We didn't have a huge house with a swimming pool in the backyard and a grand dining room, but we had each other and that made it more than enough. I was happy to come home, that was something I knew some kids with lavish lifestyles and tons of riches didn't always feel. My mom made me laugh all the time with her constant teasing and jokes, and my dad made me feel the most cared for in the world with his nurturing and kind nature. I was lucky to have them. I was lucky they chose me to give the most loving life to.

"Wow, that's... insightful." Skye eventually broke the short silence, bringing me out of me thoughts. "Rome wants to move to a big city." She then said.

"Really?" I glanced back at him.

"He hates it hear." She laughed, cutting in before he could talk. I didn't blame him. This was a small town where your reputation was known by everyone. I could see why he wanted to get away.

"There's no lie there." he chuckled softly. The only thing Roman had told me about his dream future was becoming a neurologist. I didn't know how he was planning to get there, the places he wanted to go.

"I haven't asked you yet, where are you planning to go to college?" I found myself curiously questioning.

"University of Pennsylvania." He answered. Damn, that was pretty far from Wisconsin the say the least, but it was Ivy League and I expected nothing less from someone as insanely smart as Roman.

"Damn." I let out a breath. "That's great."

"That's if I get in." a subtle uncertainty spread across his face. It was crazy to me that a guy like Roman was even worried about getting into college when he could literally be capable of taking over NASA or something.

"You'll get in." Skye assured proudly. "If you don't get in, no one stands a chance." That was very true.

Roman chuckled slightly but I still noticed the worry lingering there. Sometimes I forgot Roman was human. Everything about him seemed so put together and collected, I forgot he had worries – other than his sister for obvious reasons. Although, Roman was still a teenage boy and had many things running about in his mind I was sure of.

"I'm going to get some coffee. D'you want anything?" he turned to me.

"Chai Tea Latte if they have it." I answered thankfully. "If not, just a latte." He nodded before turning to his sister hopefully.

"I'm good thanks." I pretend not to see the disappointment on his face as he nodded and turned to walk away so Skye and I were left alone.

"I hate when he does that." She finally spoke, bitterly dipping her brush into a pastel blue paint blob.

"Does what?" I focused on my painting, attempting to fix the splodge of green paint that I accidentally drew outside of the stem with white paint to try and cover up. It hadn't dried properly and was turning it a mint green colour.

"The sad look he gives, it makes me feel so guilty." I saw what she meant but I knew Roman just wanted her to get better.

I bit my lip, painting one of the flower petals purple, trying to make sure I stayed within the lines. "You know he only wants you to get better." I reasoned. Roman didn't mean it illy. Skye was his little sister, he had older brother instincts to try and help her no matter what.

"Yeah, but I'm not getting any better." She emphasised. Just take it, Sienna. Don't try to convince. You said you'd be there for her and so you will be.

"I know." I sighed. "But he's your brother, Skye. You can't expect him to sit back." Thankfully, she saw some clarity in my words and decided to give up on the topic. It wasn't easy to hear her talk about dying. She was a fifteen-year-old girl talking about such a horrible inevitable so young. It didn't help how she was full of so much life.

After a while, she got up and walked over to the armchair where Roman sat, picking up his painting. I was correct when I assumed it was a picture of a brain and mentally chuckled.

"Typical." Skye rolled her eyes amusedly and placed it by the windowsill to dry. Roman wasn't as good as an artist as Skye but he was still good. It didn't surprise me. This boy was good at everything. 

She made her way back to the bed to side cross-legged and focused back on her picture. "You know he talks about you all the time." She then mentioned.

My eyes darted up in surprise. "Really?"

"Mm hm. I mean, before when you and I didn't know each other that well, he'd always talk about some girl and it was blatantly obvious he had a huge crush on her."

"Oh." Was all I could possibly think to say. "That must be Emily, not me."

Skye furrowed her eyebrows. "Emily? As in Emily Lewis?" I nodded in response. "Hmm, her mom works for mine. She seems nice but I thought it was you."

A nervous laugh escaped my lips. "Oh no, he's been crushing on Emily since forever. It was probably her."

Skye didn't look too convinced, but I knew it had to be Emily. Who else would Roman talk about constantly? I couldn't see anything interesting in myself for him to repeatedly discuss.

"Oh, well he still talks about you. It's always Sienna likes this, Sienna likes that, Sienna, Sienna, Sienna, blah, blah, blah. No offense of course."