Enemies with Benefits

enemies with benefits | 24

Chapter Twenty-Four: Casual Heartbreak

***

I hardly slept that night. It was weird being in a boy's bed without him there beside me - not that I had much experience. But I knew Alex wasn't there because he was in a foul mood, and that was enough for me to be in a foul mood.

I couldn't stop thinking about what Matthias said either. He said he knew things not only about Alex, but also about me. How could he have possibly gotten that kind of information? My mind jumped to Lily, of course, but I quickly shoved that thought aside. I highly doubted that an ex of Alex's would even know about Matthias in the first place - Alex seemed so secretive about it, and Lily wasn't exactly the best with keeping her thoughts hidden.

But if it wasn't Lily, who definitely knew everything that Alex's brother listed, who was it?

I walked into school with a bad mood. It wasn't entirely unusual; I doubted there was a person who existed that actually enjoyed the fresh hell a school morning brought. However, today I was especially annoyed, and every little thing irritated me.

I approached my locker, finding Daisy already there. Seeing her slightly calmed me down - I didn't have to think about any of the events that conspired last night, and I could distract myself with any other topic as far away from Alex as possible.

Forcing a smile on my face, I said; "hey, Daisy."

Daisy looked at me and replied, "hi."

It was the dullest and saddest rendition of that word I've ever heard. Coming from my chirpy best friend who hardly ever seemed down and upset at the world, it was alarming. I suddenly snapped into best friend mode and grabbed her shoulders, causing our eyes to lock gazes. 

"Did something happen?" I asked cautiously, my own worries dropping for a second.

Daisy shrugged. "It's silly to be upset over something like this. I'll get over it. Ready for class?"

I wanted to ask her what she's talking about, but she grabbed my arm before I had a chance and before I knew it we were rushing down the hallway past the many blurring figures. In the distance I thought I saw a familiar face, but Daisy was whisking me away far too fast for me to properly make it out.

Before I knew it, we were standing outside of class, and any attempt I had at getting to the bottom of her foul mood was vetoed. We had gotten here quite early, with hardly anyone lingering around, so I knew it'd be the best opportunity to ask her about her sadness.

I knew my best friend. I knew this wasn't something 'silly'. If she was sad, it was about something pretty damn serious.

But my second attempt was thwarted by the sudden appearance of our teacher, who sashayed into class with a grin on her face as if she didn't just interrupt something potentially important. Daisy headed in straight away, heading to her desk and pulling out her phone.

Whatever got her down is pretty bad. She's not the type that pulls out her phone when she's bored; she'll talk and talk, even if there's nothing to talk about. She'll talk to anyone about anything, and I like to think that being her best friend means she'd talk to me about things. With her not even wanting to bother...

I came into school feeling shitty about how things went with Alex and his brother. But I can't even begin to think about any of that now, all my thoughts entirely consumed by Daisy.

I took a seat next to her. Her head doesn't even turn towards me, her blonde hair covering her face so I couldn't see her facial expressions either.

I realised I had two options: wait until after class, though I couldn't be guaranteed we'd have a minute alone, or ask her now with the teacher in the room.