TORTURED SOUL | abby littman

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻.

   
    
    
    

chapter thirteen

{ unedited }

   
    
    
    

ROWAN DIDN'T KNOW HOW SHE HAD BEEN DRAGGED INTO THIS BUT SHE WAS NOW PART OF A GROUP CHAT. One that included herself, Abby, Marcus and Stevie. It mostly consisted of Stevie openly flirting with everybody, mostly Marcus though, but never once had it been dry since created. Rowan's phone was blowing up with notifications, so much so that she put her phone on silent to make it stop and the topics in said group were changing so quickly she could hardly keep track. It would go from Abby's horrible taste in music to Stevie's eccentric one to skateboarding, painting, shows―mostly which shows are better and which animated character could beat another or was better―and whatnot. Other times it would be complete nonsense and Rowan could make no sense of it all. Just last night she watched the three debate why frogs with hats were the cutest thing to exist. On one hand, Rowan was glad the people she is somewhat close to got along this well but on the other, she missed the peace and quiet.

It was too much chaos thrown on her at once.

It didn't help that the most common thing to happen in the group was all of them teaming up on Rowan for being 'too sophisticated' or not nice enough in person. Rowan didn't take it to heart knowing that they were just doing it to get a rise out of her. It was different when it was with them, her friends, rather than with strangers or people who didn't like her. It didn't frustrate Rowan when hearing it.

In that time, Abby had become a lot clingier too. Always texting at all hours, mostly late into the night. Rowan would answer when she was awake and had learned a lot about Abby in these last few days because of it. Abby shared a lot, whether it be intentionally or because she was sleep-deprived Rowan didn't know, but Rowan hung off every word, taking it all in. She learned more about Abby's interests, her hobbies, her likes, her dislikes, her favourite shows and why, her favourite songs and why, plans for the future―all of it.

Rowan learned how Abby's favourite ice cream flavour is strawberry and cream but hated strawberry ice cream on its own. She learned how Abby loved feeling the rain on her skin but hated how her hair would get ruined in it. She learned how Abby loved the smell of melted chocolate but hated the smell of petrol. She learned how Abby loved reading, the stories people came up with, but didn't have the focus to read one for herself so settled on movies instead. She learned how Abby loved seeing the people she cared about happy, how that was something that made her happy too. She learned how Abby loved wearing clothes that still had the fragrance of people she cared about.

Rowan learned how Abby hated people who are completely self-obsessed so much so that they don't see how they're hurting the people around them. She learned that Abby absolutely despised tomatoes and carrots and would rather eat plain strawberry ice cream than that. She learned how Abby hated uncomfortable silences or people who are too focused on their phones to pay attention to their surroundings. She learned how Abby hated people who take small things for granted, like seeing the moon or stars, another reason she loved the drives with Rowan which they still hadn't gone on since that sleepover.

Rowan learned that Abby's current favourite song was wash after Stevie had introduced her to Bon Iver after Abby had thought Birdy was the one who wrote skinny love. She said she liked the pace of it, finding it soothing. Her all-time favourite song, however, was soap by Melanie Martinez. She didn't explain why but Rowan had a feeling she knew why.

Rowan learned that Abby's favourite movie was 10 things I hate about you simply because she loved the cheesy, unconditional love shown in it. The way someone would do anything for forgiveness, for love. She also loved a nightmare before Christmas―that was her second favourite and favourite Halloween one, though she hated horror movies with too much gore so didn't watch many Halloween movies, and also her comfort movie.