Wish I Knew You Sooner

chapter twenty

Oakland's POV

I walked up to the house, slipping through the glass door where my room met the outside. I turned around, resting my back against the glass, and leaning my head to look at the ceiling. I closed my eyes, letting out a deep breath, before standing up to go back to bed. I looked forward, jumping out of my skin at what, or moreso who, was sitting on my bed.

"Byerly! What the hell are you doing?" I whisper-shouted, since I know my parents are still asleep.

"Where were you?" she asked, skipping over my question.

"It doesn't matter... How did you get in my room? I locked it before I left." I questioned.

She reached into her hair, grabbing a bobby pin and held it up. "Do you really think a locked door would stop me?" she said. Obviously not, she could and would do anything; nothing could stop her.

"Okay... fair enough." I huffed out, going to sit next to her on my duvet.

"So..." she sang out. "Where were you?"

I twisted my lips to the side, wondering if I should tell her. "I went out with Harry." I stated, knowing, one way or another, that she would get it out of me. She always got everything out of me.

"Cmon Oak, you know that's not the answer I was looking for." she pestered. I knew she was wondering what we did, but I couldn't bring myself to say out loud, away from Harry and I's bubble, that I have feelings, and that he knows.

"We went to the beach." I said, nonchalantly.

"And what? Your clothes are wet." I looked down at what she pointed out, noticing how my tank top turned sheer from the water. I quickly grabbed something to change into, going into the bathroom, while still talking to her.

"It was raining." I said. I didn't feel like getting into details right now, so I danced around telling her about Harry and I's moment in the ocean.

I could feel her eyes narrowing at me in suspicion from behind the bathroom door. "Did the sky fall or something?" she said sarcastically, referring to how my clothes were soaking, a way that couldn't be caused by the rain.

I stepped out of the bathroom, sweatpants and a hoodie on now, tilting my head at her. "Okay fine." I sighed. "We went for a late night swim... I guess."

"You guess? Oak, what are you keeping from me?" she begged.

I huffed, throwing myself on the white bed, allowing my hair to sprawl out around me in all different directions. "I told him, B." I confessed, covering my face with the palms of my hands in disbelief.

"What do you mean you told him?" she asked. "You told him about how you feel?" she gasped, jumping from her crisscrossed position on my bed to her feet. I nodded into my hands, unable to actually wrap my head around it. "And what did he say?" she asked away.

I'd just realised that I haven't told her about the night prior, where Harry confessed his feelings for me on the sidewalk outside of the venue, after we saw Sloan. "Sit down, this is a long one." I said, referring to how I would have to go back to what felt like days ago, but was only a mere 28 hours.

I explained everything: the argument, the girl, how we felt. She seemed fully invested, and neither of us even noticed when the sun was almost fully risen, and that we stayed up talking for the past 2 hours. This is why she is my best friend. She made time feel as if it were a figment of an imagination, freezing when you want it to.

It was around 7am, my thin curtains allowing the golden light to shine through. I ended up grabbing the journal I'd gotten earlier, and wrote down my feelings, and memories of the entire trip, Byerly helping to form my words.