Attention Truelove

Chapter 40

"Aphrodite must have worked you to the bone," I tease.

"And then some," Skylar says.

We both laugh.

Slowly our laughter dies out and the room is silent once more. The reality slowly sets in. Just thinking about Skylar with another girl stings me inside and out, like a knife to the heart. I wrap my arms around her, holding her tighter, running one hand through her curly ginger locks.

"You still awake?" I ask after a moment.

"Yeah," she says softly.

"So what now?" I ask.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what now? Are we just going to go back to being just friends? What's your plan?"

"My plan?"

"You said you had to do things, see the world, what did you mean by that?" I ask.

"Aphrodite gave me this idea, vlogging my life. I think... I think that's what I want to do. I think maybe just putting everything out there might help me make sense of it all. I want to just travel, do things I've never done before, and experience life. I think... I think I'm going to go backpacking across the U.S." She explains.

"Wow... that sounds... awesome." And really fun, and like something I also want to do. But I'm not going to force myself on her. If she needs to do this alone, I have to let her.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, you should do it. Go for it. Finish school online." I say, even though the thought of her leaving me again makes me want to cry.

"Yeah..." Skylar says.

"Yeah..." I echo.

I close my eyes tightly, holding in the tears. No need to get all emotional right now.

I wonder what it would be like to travel anywhere I wanted. What I could get into. Mountain climbing, deep sea diving, zip lining through a jungle. That all sounds so fun. Skiing, sleeping in a log cabin, cave exploration... I want to do all that.

I take in a deep breath to force myself to calm down and not overthink anything.

Before I know it I am fast asleep. Probably the best night's sleep I've gotten in a long time. When I wake up the shower is on and Skylar is out of bed. I force myself to sit up and stretch. I grab my phone and check my notifications, I see a ping on my Skylar alerts. When I click it open it's an article about Skylar going home with me, last night. A picture of us dancing at the wedding and of us rushing into the house. I roll my eyes, can't these people find better things to do with their lives?

The headline reads Evil Eyes Actor Jade Tate caught slipping away from wedding with her ex. Under it, Jade and Skylar headed for makeup city? Gag! Boring! Ugh!

I get up and put on a robe before moving to peak outside. It's still dark and cloudy, and I can tell it's probably going to start raining again soon. A car at the end of my street has a photog trained on my house.

"Damn," I sigh.

I quickly go back to the room and knock on the bathroom door,

"Skylar," I call.

"Yeah!?"

"Can I come in?"

"Not like you haven't seen me naked before." She says.

Good point.

I open the door and walk in.

"Can I join you?" I ask.