𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐧 |~𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚎𝚒𝚍~|

Chapter Forty-Four

A few weeks had passed. I hadn't talked to Reid at all. I figured he didn't want to talk to me; I bailed out on him when he needed me the most.

However, my dad was better now and I decided to go to Reid's apartment.

I knocked on the door.

I heard a small voice. "I appreciate the gesture, Garcia, but I'm really not hungry."

"Spencer?" I asked. "Its me."

He was silent.

"Can we please talk?"

Still, nothing.

"Spencer, I'm sorry, I want to talk to you."

I stood there for a few seconds. Just as I was about to give up, the door opened and I saw Spencer. He looked terrible. He had obviously not been taking care of himself. His apartment was a mess.

"Spence."

"Don't call me that," he said, looking away.

I felt a pang in my heart. I had really hurt him. "Spencer, I couldn't be there. My dad had a stroke. He could have died-"

"Yeah, you know who else could have died, Delaney? Do you even know what happened?" Spencer raised his voice suddenly.

"I understand why you're mad at me, but-"

"But what? I needed you. The one time I needed you the most, you weren't even there."

"Spencer, my dad was dying!"

"Well, he's okay now, isn't he? He's not dead! I needed your support! I needed you!"

I looked at the floor. "I only have a little bit of time left with my Dad. I need to spend all the time I can with him; I can't just put him away in an institution. You wouldn't un-" I suddenly stopped myself from talking.

"Say it," Spencer said, daring me.

"Spencer, I didn't mean it like that."

"Sure you didn't."

"Do you know how unfair you're being right now?"

"Do you know how much it hurt to not have you there for me? To have you just drop everything so you can go off to your own affairs?" 

I put my head in my hands, trying to hold back the tears. "God damnit Spencer, I can only handle so much." 

"If you can't handle me then get out," he said. 

"That's not what I meant!" 

He opened his door wide, staring me down. 

"Spencer, you're being unfair, and you know it," I said as I walked out. He didn't say anything else to me. 

-~-~-~-

I got home and sat on my bed. I grabbed a pillow and threw it across the room, angry. 

As the pillow bounced off the wall, it almost knocked over a picture on my nightstand. It was a photo of Spencer and me, making silly faces at some Shakespeare festival we went to a few years back. 

He had the same photo on his nightstand. 

I picked it up and ran my fingers along the fancy metal frame. A tear slid down my cheek. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. 

A few minutes later, I got a call. It was from Spencer. I picked it up. 

"Hey, Laney." 

"Spence," I said. "I'm really sorry." 

"I'm sorry, too. It really wasn't fair for me to say those things for you." 

"I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for you." 

"Its okay, I know that you couldn't. I can't expect you to always drop everything for me." 

I smiled. "So, are we good now?" 

"Yeah." I could hear his smile in his voice. "Remember when we went to that Shakespeare festival?" 

"Yeah," I said, glancing at the picture and grinning. 

I heard him sigh. 

"You gonna be okay?" 

"I don't know. I'm working through it." 

"If you need anything, don't hesitate to call me, okay? I'll be there for you, I promise." 

"Okay."