Loving the Bad Boy's name

Chapter 26: Loving the bad boys name: The aftermath

Bree's POV

"Oh sweet mother of Jesus."

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" I yell at Chanel, taking one of my pillows from my bed and throwing it at her.

"It's three o'clock in the afternoon. Get out of bed." She instructs me, ripping my blanket off my warm body. I wail out in discomfort as the cold air my blanket had trapped out, quickly evaded my legs.

"It's cold, give me it back!" I squirm.

"No, we're going out!"

Suddenly my phone pings. I quickly reach over to where I had placed it on charge last night and look at the notification, hoping it'd be Ryder.

It wasn't.

"How many times have you texted him today."

I slowly look up at Chanel as she watches me questioningly. "I'm not telling you." I pout. "The number is embarrassingly high and he hasn't replied to any of them."

She rolls her eyes, reaching out to grab hold of my forearm. "You need to stop thinking about Ryder. It's nice outside, let's go out!"

"I don't wanna..." I grumble.

"I wish I cared...but I don't." She says rolling her eyes, the definitive tone in her voice prominent. She pushes me into the bathroom, closing the door behind me before I even have a chance to argue.

I guess I'm going out.

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After Chanel had dragged me out of the house, we met up with both Mei and Sarah. After debating what we should do, we had ended up in a random vintage clothes store.

"Hey, this is cute." I say, holding up a white crop top.

"That's the fifth thing you've said is cute." Sarah concludes to me with a laugh. "If it's so cute then why don't you buy it?"

I stop inspecting the shirt to send her an incredulous look. "Are you criticising my shopping process?"

"Um...no?"

"I'm trying to get over Ryder, okay?" I tell the girls, running my fingers along some more clothes on the rack. "Shopping is therapeutic for me." I shrug.

Chanel rolls her eyes, lifting her hands in surrender. "Okay I can't do this anymore. We've been here for over an hour and we all know you hate shopping.

"That's not true..." I mumble.

"Yes it is! Why are you pretending to enjoy this?" Mei asks, all three girls looking at me for an answer.

I sigh, walking over to a couch in the corner of the store and collapsing onto it. "The truth is...I feel like I don't deserve to do things that make me happy." I tell them as they copy my actions, the couch filling up with our bodies. "You guys should just leave me to wallow in my own misery. I'm horrible company right now."

"Bree, you can't go on like this. You deserve to be happy and right now you're not." Sarah tells me.

"Ryder made me happy...but I messed everything up." I say quietly, the thought of what had happened to Ryder and I's relationship still stinging incredibly.

Sarah looks away from me, scowling at Chanel and Mei. "A little help here guys." She sneers in a low tone.

Chanel nods, crouching down to where in sat on the changing room floor. "Look, Bree. Life's like a dick. Sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down but it won't be hard forever."

Mei shudders. "Chanel, that analogy is disgusting."

"It's the first thing that came to me!" Chanel says, defending herself. "I'm not good in pressuring situations."

I sigh. "Guys I appreciate you, I really do but can we just go home?"

Sarah sighs, standing up off the couch and extending her hands for me. "Come on, let's go."

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"I would just like to extend my condolences."

This is the first thing I'm bombarded with as I enter my front door. There, my uncle stands, newly back from his business trip, a weird look contorted onto his face. I can only assume it was meant to be a sorrowful expression. A laugh almost escapes my lips at his choice of words. Everything he said sounded so monotone and transactional, almost as if he wasn't human with human emotions.

"Uncle Ricky, he's not dead." I tell him before, pausing in realisation. "Wait...how'd you even know about Ryder and I?"

"He told me." Uncle Ricky says with a shrug, speaking matter-of-factly. "Approximately two minutes ago."

"Wait! He's here?" I yell in surprise, pushing my uncle to the side and making my way out of the foyer, towards the kitchen.

I hold in a breath, the sight of Ryder perched over the kitchen island making my heart race. I step further into the room, my footsteps announcing my presence. The sight of me however, makes Ryder roll his eyes before they settle on Lauren. "You told me she wasn't here." He snaps at her.

Lauren raises her hands in defence. "Hey I never lied! When you called to ask she really wasn't here..."

I frown. "You're really trying to avoid me?"

"Look..." Ryder starts off with a sigh, garnering all of our attentions. "All I wanted was to get my stuff without any hassle."

It's not until now that I notice the two duffle bags sat on the ground, undoubtably filled with Ryder's belongings.

"Oh." I gulp.

The room falls silent.

Ryder hasn't been sleeping here, I knew that. But the thought of him actually moving out hurt me.

"Look, I'm just gonna go." Ryder breaks the silence with painful words.

I lift my head to look at him as he picks up his bags from the floor, clinging to the handles tightly. I watch as he strolls past me towards the doorway.

Say something! Say anything! My mind yelled at me but I couldn't bring the words the fruition and say them aloud.

And then he was gone.