Chapter 13 Chapter 13

Chapter 13 Chapter 13


Skylar.

He did actually run after me. Whoa, it felt exciting. It was a good feeling but in an awkward moment.

He had made his pick, and maybe I was just defiling the law of attraction between them, so I chose not to get excited anyways.

“Sky, wait,” he yelled from behind me, but I was adamant. The students were stirring towards us, but I didn't care, as I said, they were used to staring their lives away.

He was faster and bigger, and the minute his hand wrapped around my wrist, my world stopped. I couldn't breathe. They talked about it; the girls did. They talked of this moment, of how his smile could take your breath away, but not this, not the way it seemed the pendulum stopped and everything froze in place.

No, no one talked about this.

The hairs on my nape rose, awareness hit me, and every cuddle, every argument, and every touch came running back to me. I didn't move; I just couldn't. He was saying something, but even that I couldn't hear.
Not until he released my hand, snapping his fingers in my face, did I really jolt back to time.

I looked at him, really stared. How did someone try being angry with him for too long?

How did you look into the green of his eyes and not want to let go of every grudge, to drown in those emeralds? He had distinctive eyes; I had seen lots of grays and blacks but not green.

It was beautiful the way it was made, like fresh leaves during blossom. We didn't say anything; there was nothing else to say. He could see the softness around the edges of my face; I could feel it, the way the anger had left and was replaced with something else… yearning. I needed to hear the truth even if it hurt.

“Do you love her?” I asked; I needed to clear the air. It wasn't about what I thought anymore; I was thinking lots of things. This wasn't literature, where you knew what Shakespeare said about Hamlet, or math, where you knew each formula; this was feeling and choices, and so far no subject centered on it.

“Who, Tiffany? Whoa, never,” he answered, lifting his hands up in surrender.

“Tell me the truth, Troy; trying to use me to make Tiffany jealous won’t work. I know her.” I stopped midway into my sentence, looking at things from a different angle; maybe that was it. I was actually someone that anyone could use to make Tiffany jealous.

“I know what you are thinking, and that is not true.”

“Mmm,” I rolled my eyes, clasping my hands together and clicking the tips of my feet on the soft grass. “Enlighten me, Fisher.”

“She just came on to me, Sky. ”,

“And, you let her?”

“You don't understand, Sky. ”,

“Then make it make sense.”

“Fuck, Skylar, you are making this difficult.”,

“Like if you were with Leo right now, you wouldn’t demand an explanation.”

“Of course, I will.’

“Then you are an asshole.”

He was furious because he glared at me in a formidable way. It wasn't the names; it was his ego. He couldn't control himself around her, and I was highlighting it.

“I didn't want to hurt her,” he said defensively.

“Maybe you would have gotten into your head that I would have felt better if you actually did. ”,

“Is this about what you want or what is right? ”,

“It's about what is necessary, you dummy.”,

“Stop with the name, Sky.”

“Then stop pushing me. At least with Leo, I know what I want. You know as well, I didn't keep you in the dark to make you feel good or make myself feel like the bigger person; I was plain and sincere. ”,

He softened at my words. “Maybe you are right, but I don't like Tiffany. Gosh, that is gross.”

“You are dehumanizing her; that is not nice.”

“Sorry about that. ”,

“And was that your dad in the hallway?” I asked; it was the question on my mind all morning. I had been trying to put the puzzles together, and I thought of possible reasons above and below.

“Let's not talk about that. I am sorry for sending you out that way. ”,

“You sure are; personally, you are a pain in the ass.”

“You too,”

“I know ”,

“Care for lunch? I am starving,” he offered, and I smiled, but he wasn't saying what I wanted more. “Yeah, yeah, we are getting ice cream from the Tyler store as well. ”,

This time I giggled.

We had taken a room, the music room; it was mostly empty, and he opened the door. “Ladies first,” he announced as I walked through. The hallway was empty, but I guess I will pass on the class; I wasn’t in the mood for it anyways.

I waited for him close to the lawns that surrounded the school.

He pulled up in his jeep, a black Wrangler; it was all shiny and clean. He parked across from me and then came down from the driver's side to come open the door for me.

I sincerely didn't like that, so I ran and got in before he even got close. It made me feel lazy and ineffective.

It wasn't the same as opening regular doors for me; to me that was okay, but the idea of alighting and coming over just seemed like a whole lot of stress to me. Maybe the older part of me would be okay with it, though.

We got to the restaurant; it wasn't rush hour yet, so it was quite empty. We got what we needed and headed back to the car: a box of pizza, Slurpees, ice cream, and hot dogs. The hot dogs were mine.

Troy tilted backwards, pulling his laptop from the back seat and handing it to me. I said nothing as he turned it on my lap.

Transaction details popped up, and the digits were so huge my jaws dropped.

“You can't be serious,” I said, stunned.

“Look closely at it, Sky,” which I did as I handed the Slurpees and hot dogs to him, going through each detail attentively. I adjusted my glasses now. This was more terrible than I had even imagined.

“What do you think?”

“I am still at it; keep calm.” I flipped downwards, and when I saw it was unending, my shoulders dropped; this wasn't nice. “They are framing you for match fixing.” I concluded there was no need to check the details anymore; the motive was there, plain and pure.

“This could affect your career, you know that?” I asked, and he nodded.

“That's why I need your help, Sky; I couldn't trust any other person,” so I rolled my eyes at him. I should feel proud of the compliment, but I felt burdened.

“This is a lot, Troy,” I said, rubbing the creases on my forehead.

“I know, but we can fix it,” he said, and I scowled at him instantly. Was he really daft? Didn't he really see the implications of things?

“You are good at tech stuff; for god's sake, you are a genius, Sky, the type that competes on TV. ”,

“Yeah, sure I am.” I mocked; he was flabbing, and I wasn't going to support such assumptions.

I closed my eyes, leaning my head on the car seat. I needed to think; deal or not, this wasn't a small feat, and once you get entangled with stuff like this, there is no turning back.

“Fine, I can't promise to track the account, but I will try.” I agreed, but I remembered something, so I added, “for old times’ sake.
”

“For old times’ sake,” he replied as we ate in silence before heading back to school.