Sweet as a lemon | e.d

Chapter 32 | high nights & opened eyes

E

Feeling Faye's body so close to mine seemed surreal & foreign, despite knowing her for years. It had been so long that I barely remembered the curves of her body, the way her hair smelt like roses, & the way her freckles were sprinkled along her eyes & the bridge of her nose. In that moment it felt as if nothing had changed, like we were Ethan & Faye again, us against the world, & the world against us.

Despite common belief around the town, Faye wasn't much different than me. Although she wasn't to the point of where she was having hallucinations of dead loved ones, she still wasn't healthy. She was hospitalized once for an "accidental" overdose. Her parents were quick to cover it up as an accident, but she was still kept in 72 hour holding. Her parents fought & fought, they even went as far as telling Faye to lie to the psychiatrist so she could get out & come home. Her parents refused to let me see her due to the fact that they thought I had a poor influence on her & I'm the reason she was driven to this point. Deep down we knew it was her parents who drove her to that point. With her moms constant bickering to be perfect with prestigious grades & flawless appearance, to her father telling her to leave me & aim for a more successful young man with a more promising future.

They had no idea they were breaking their daughter.

They were hardly home so I often found myself over at her house for hours on end just enjoying each other's company. She wasn't the manipulating bitch everyone sought her out to be, however when she wanted something she sure as hell did what ever she needed to get it. She had dreams too. She dreamed of going to Juilliard, she was amazing on the violin. Until one day her father found out about her applying to Juilliard & forbid it. He got her violin that was passed down by her grandmother, & he set it on fire right in front of her. I still remember it like it was yesterday, she came running to my house in the rain. She cried all night, saying she would never be able to get out of this town.

There was more to her than what people saw on the surface. She put up a good shield to avoid being hurt, but I was always the one who would be able to sneak through the cracks, not to sound cocky.

In that moment, when her hands roamed my chest, when her eyes ran over my entire face, was when I saw the Faye I fell in love with. So I didn't pull away when she kissed me.

But it didn't feel like it used to. Knowing that my brother had felt these same lips brought out an anger, possible jealousy. So I pulled back five seconds into the kiss. I looked at the ground & I could see from my peripheral vision that her icy blue eyes searched my face for an explanation as to why I would pull away. She grabbed my cheek & turned me back towards her & planted her lips back on mine, only for me to pull away again, much quicker this time. Just as I pulled away everyone screamed, "happy New Years!" Pain & hurt ran all over her face. She grabbed my arm & dragged me through the endless bodies that lingered in the crowd, most making out ferociously. We wound up in the bathroom where it was made obvious very quickly that it was the designated vomit bathroom.

"Why don't you care about me anymore?" Her words came out laced with pain & hurt & I couldn't help but run a hand over my face. Not responding right away obviously wasn't going to cut it for her.

"Well?" She said with her hands rested on her hips.

"I never stopped caring about you Faye." She responded to me with a scoff & a challenging look.