The Silver Lining

Chapter 1: Relapse

The irritating buzz of my phone against my metal nightstand made me clench my teeth. I pulled my pillow over my face and covered my ears to muffle the noise. Then it stopped. I felt myself drifting back into dreamland when the aggravating vibration came back again.

My eyes cracked open and I snuck a peek at my clock. It was one in the morning. I groaned and punched my pillow as I reached for my phone. "Who the HELL-"

Cleo's name on my phone alone was enough to make me lose my breath. I answered immediately. Her face was shrouded by shadow but there were pinpricks of light visible through her window in the corner of my screen.

"Hey," she said.

I cleared my throat but still responded with a raspy, "hey." It echoed through my room. I sat up against the headboard of my bed and turned on my lamp. The boxes stacked in the middle of my barren bedroom cast a monstrous shadow on my closet door. My heartbeat was picking up.

"What are you doing?" Cleo asked.

"Noth-nothing. Just sitting...here...you know."

Cleo took a deep breath. "I love you."

My body went into paralysis. "What?" I choked and then let out a soft chuckle. "What's going on? Y-you never say those words first. What's up?"

"What do you mean?" Cleo got up from where she was sitting and made her way through her dark apartment. "I'm just going through a rough time right now and I wanted to call my boyfriend to tell him I love him. Is that a crime?"

"Boyfriend?"

"Yeah, yeah, shut up."

I crossed my legs and leaned forward. "Are we back together?"

"Sure...yeah. Do you not want to?"

"No, no, I'm just a little taken aback," I said, noticing the slight shift in her tone. She was putting off saying whatever it was that was bothering her. "What's wrong?"

On Cleo's side of the call, I heard the swish of a sliding door and then the faint roar of traffic. She took a seat on a chair on her balcony. Her face glowed in the orange city lights.

"Cee," I said, "You can talk to me. I'm right here. I told you I'm always here for you."

"Yeah, I know...it's so stupid-"

"No, it's not. Whatever it is, I know it's valid."

Cleo put the phone on her lap so the only thing I could see on my screen was the cement ceiling of her balcony.

"You know my mom's stupid boyfriend?" she said through gritted teeth. "He's moving in with her. That's it."

"That's not stupid, Cee."

There was a brief moment of silence before Cleo picked up her phone and I could see her face again. Her dark hair fell over her shoulder and framed her face. Her cat-like eyes seems to glisten in the dim light.

"Was that everything that was bothering you?" I asked, ignoring the heartbeat in my ears.

She didn't respond right away.

"Say it back," Cleo said.

I pursed my lips and brought my knees to my chest. "Say what, Cleo?"

She stood up and leaned over the rail of her balcony, her phone in her hand hanging over the edge. It made me nervous, but she did things like that all the time.

"I love you, Kylo. Why won't you say it?"

"You know I want to. I've said it so many times before," I said.