His Words, Her Story

[y] Two Beauteous Closures

[y]

They first time I saw Stance, he had a massive group surrounding him by his bedside and they were all here.

I wasn't friends with all of them but I knew them enough to give them all hugs and a few kisses exchanged on cheeks. The girls and I kind of formed a bond, mostly over short chats over the phone.

I first came up to Ellie and Nate. Nate had his arms wrapped around Ellie's neck and they both stood very close together - almost as if one inch of space would kill them. I greeted them both, hugged them both and walked towards Andy and Jon. Andy looked at me with sad eyes and engulfed me in a tight hug. Once she pulled back and placed a kiss on my cheek, she let Jon wrap his hand around my waist.

"Glad to see you again," he said, speaking for both himself and his girlfriend. I nodded at him and returned the hug.

I walked over to Karl. I knew of him. I knew about him and Ivy and what they been up to. I kept it to myself though because I wasn't entirely sure if he knew Ivy was my best friend.

"How you coping?" He asked once I pulled back from our hug.

"Managing." I told him truthfully. I guess I was managing in a way. I stuck to my daily routine - wake up, go to school, come back, eat, homework, sleep. Nothing else.

"Is Ivy going to be here?" He asked me, totally catching me off guard.

"Ivy?" I repeated, acting dubious.

"Yeah, your best friend? The one with the-"

I smiled at him slowly. "I know who my best friend is Karl. And she'll be here." I assured him before stepping aside. I smiled at him one more time and walked towards Reed and Ghost.

The resemblance between Karl and Reed was mind-boggling. Reed had her head tilted upwards at the sky so she didn't see me approach. Ghost had and as soon as I got near he tucked me into his side and planted a small kiss on my temple.

"You'll be okay." He told me. I knew from the sound of that he's been saying those words for weeks now, repeatedly to his girlfriend. Reed took this death the hardest since Stance and her had an amazing connection. He saved her life. He was the reason Reed was alive and breathing.

"How are you Reed?" I asked softly. Reed averted her gaze from the sky and her dull eyes met mine.

Her bottom lip trembled and I quickly stepped out of Ghost's hold and wrapped both arms around Reed. She didn't try to hold in her tears as strong, overwhelming sobs shook her body.

"It's okay, you can totally cry." I whispered in her ear, ignoring the tears that ran down my own cheeks.

The service started a few minutes after that and we all took our seats. As soon as I sat next to Marcus, his hands found mine and they gave me a light squeeze. Ivy sat next to me, her gaze set straight ahead. She was so far detached from the world that she didn't realise Karl planting himself next to her until his hand came around her neck.

She snapped her gaze towards him and the redness that appeared on her cheeks were both amusing and cute.

I turned my focus back to the front and saw Stance's parents talking to someone. I couldn't make out who it was since Stance's dad was in the way. A few seconds after, his dad moved and I sucked in a breath at the sight of Tobath. He was wearing a dark suit and his hair was pulled back with a headband.

My stomach jittered at the mere sight of him and it took everything within me to hold my composure. I had Marcus sitting right next to me, with his hand in mine yet Tobath standing in front of me send my insides on a whirlwind. I watched with attentive eyes as he slowly pulled a piece of paper out of his front pocket. It was folded in half and from where I sat, I could make out one name written on the front.