By Chance | Complete |

Chapter Twenty Eight

Especially after kissing River. Which I hoped he had kept to himself instead of telling Teddy or Sasha. I didn't want them to know.

I wanted to act as if it never happened, and we went back to not liking each other. Maybe he had a couple drinks or he was high. That had to be the reason.

I texted Sasha back first: Hey, sorry I wasn't ignoring you. I just needed to get some sleep. Lilian and I were fighting yesterday.

After that I texted Teddy: didn't get much sleep last night, I had to stay home to get some rest. I'm sorry about last night, I was being a bitch.

After answering them, I went and had a nice hot shower. I sat on the shower floor, holding my knees to my chest as the hot water poured down on me.

It felt nice against my skin, comforting.

There was a knock on the door down to the basement from the outside and I went up confused.

It was early Tuesday morning and I had just finished getting ready for school. Sasha stood there with Starbucks drinks in her hands.

I opened the door. "Hey, Sash."

"I missed you. I wanted to see you before school and have coffee." She pushed past me and went down the stairs. 

We sat on the couch together and she sighed. "What happened to your lip?"

"I was being clumsy." I gave her a smile.

"Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?"

"No, I'm okay. I didn't mean to ignore your messages, I was sleeping most of the day." I swirled my cup, and the coffee and milk mixed together.

"I was just worried about you, especially after you left Teddy's. You look exhausted, Ly.' She reached over and moved some of my hair away from my face. "I know we're new friends, but I'm always here for you, no matter what. I'm on your side about this. He shouldn't have told Mel you were going to come."

"No, I don't want to cause problems in your relationship. Everythings okay, I'm so sorry about yesterday. I...I understand if you don't want me around anymore." And my throat stung, closing as I struggled to get my words out.

"What?" Her eyes widened before they softened, her hand went to mine instantly. "Don't ever say that again, Ly. Ever. You're my best friend. I love you Teddy, more than anything. But you're above him, I called him the fuck out last night. He's a dumbass sometimes, It's just part of being friends with him."

She always made me laugh, her and Teddy both did. Having them around the past couple months has made life bearable. Even enjoyable.

"Lilian said I could go away for Christmas. She told Mel yesterday."

Her face lit up, the corners or her lips turning upwards before her hand covered her mouth. "Are you serious? I'm so happy. We have to go shopping. Soooo much shopping. Teddy or my dad pay for my shopping spree before my trips." A light blush covered her cheeks. "They're the reason I have two closets. They buy me stuff that I don't need."

I laughed. "Sounds like a huge problem."

"Finally someone gets it. So you and I are going all out. Last day of exams, we're going."

The look of excitement and joy in her eyes made me feel secure in our friendship. My doubts were gone. Sasha saw me upset with her boyfriend and she still wanted me to be her friend.

Sasha shut the car door as she grabbed her books. "You and Teddy work tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Cool! I'm going to come by with River before closing. Did you want to stay over? Watch a movie?"

"Yeah, I'd love to."

Then it hit me.

I had to see River tonight. Today. Soon. It was going to be the first time I've seen him since we kissed.

Was that something I could tell Sash? I wanted to pretend it never happened, I'm sure River did too. Telling Sasha would ruin that. It would make it more real than I wanted.

"I'm gonna head to class early since I missed yesterday."

Sasha nodded. "I'll track your ass down if I don't see you at lunch, Lyra."

And Sasha wasn't lying, she found me in the library at lunch. She sat down beside me and placed a Starbucks drink in front of me. "Told you." She sing songed.

"I love you." I told her.

"Oh I know." She leaned into me and looked at the paper I was writing. "I secretly love how much you and River hate each other sometimes. He's avoiding you too. Gave Teddy some shit excuse why he wasn't at lunch. You two got into a fight?"

Damn, she was good.

"I have to finish my paper, Sash. I missed yesterday, remember?"

"Well River straight up told Teddy he wasn't in the mood for you today. Guess he woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Well I can tolerate being around him." But not today, or tomorrow. I couldn't avoid him until the Christmas trip. That could work. 

"Yeah yeah."

"Where's Teddy? I should apologise to him."

"He went to get sushi with River. He thought you'd want space from him. But he said he wants to drive you to work tonight."

When I got into Teddy's car, he wrapped his arms around me, crushing me against his chest. "Forgive me. I'm sorry."

I smiled. Pressing my hands against his hard chest I pushed away. "I'm sorry, Teddy."

He shook his head. "Stop. Your reaction was fair."

"My sister said I could come."

His face lit up. "My mom told me last night. So you are coming, right?"

"Yes, of course."

Missing school yesterday had made me realise how much I missed Teddy and Sasha when I didn't see them. We hang out almost every single day.

Work went by quickly tonight, there weren't many people that came in tonight's and we had already completed everything we needed to do today and most of the closing tasks.

So we spent most of the night talking, and Teddy told me all about where we were going for Christmas. Since all of us were coming for Christmas, we were leaving from there to go to the resort we're staying at for New Years. And he made the resort sound amazing.

"How's the battle wounds?" Teddy tilted my chin up and to the side so he could see the scratches.

"They don't hurt anymore. I think they're healing."

I would be so glad once it healed, even if there was a scar, I'd at least be able to cover it with makeup.

"Well, you do look badass. I wish you had gotten a hit or something. God, does she deserve it." Teddy leaned back in his stool, until his back was pressed against the wall. He ran a hand through his hair with a soft sigh.

Believe me, I wanted to get back at Emily, and hurt her too. But I also didn't want to do that, I didn't want to cause her any harm. Despite whether she deserved it or not.

"Yeah."

"You're not the first girl Emily's down this too." I remember hearing stories and whispers of what she's done. I've even seen his work on the other girls he's talking about. "She causes so much harm to other people."

"I wouldn't hurt her."

"Unfortunate, honestly."

"How's the driving situation for the trip?"

"Us four will probably all go in one car. One of our parents or Ryder will bring my car up so we have two. My mom said it's just you. Your sister and her husband aren't coming?"

I gulped and started to clean up the papers on the desk. "Her and her husband are spending Christmas with his family." 

Teddy decided to switch the topic and we talked about upcoming exams and asked me to study with him.