Bitter Heart √

Thirty Eight

Skylar's POV

"What did Hanna say?" I asked Alex before throwing myself on his bed and looking up at the ceiling. He tossed his school bag on his desk and sat down beside me, letting out a deep sigh.

"I didn't ask her out."

"What?" I passed him a confused frown. "Why? You both are good friends now. Do you need me to tell her that you're in love with her?"

He let out a groan and pulled up a pillow over his face. "I wanted to ask her but...I can't. What if--" He stopped, lost in thought. I glanced over at him and realized that he did seem a bit miserable with this whole situation. Stressed out for what, that's what I didn't know. He didn't have to fear rejection--unlike me. He was pretty good when it came to girls.

"What if she freaks out?" He asked after a while.

"She might." I passed him a look. "But not as much as you are right now."

Alex groaned again.

"Talk to her, Alex," I stretched out the obvious before standing up and walking over towards his desk. "Do something romantic. I made you watch all those cheesy romance tv shows just for this day right here."

He shook his head but didn't get up.

I wasn't surprised when I noticed his messed up desk, his books scattered everywhere. I could barely see his familiar pair of headphones between those books, an almost empty glass of water, and opened granola bar wrappers. "You're even messed up than I am." I gave him a disapproving look.

And my mom thought I was the messed up kid.

He picked up his phone from the side table and switched it on, busying himself with it. It had certainly been a bit surprising when Alex asked me to come over to his house right after school today. He seemed so busy with his football practice these days; we barely spent time together, aside from the moments in school.

"So," I stretched out the word and leaned back against his rolling desk chair, contemplating my options. "I need to tell you something."

He looked up from his phone and raised a questioning brow.

"I need a favour actually." I rephrased my sentence.

He raised both of his eyebrows this time, but before I could've said anything else, he stood up from his bed. "Wait a sec." Was all he said before running out of his room.

I looked at the doorway where he was just a second ago and rolled my eyes. I guess I could wait a little more. At least that's what I had been doing since yesterday--since Mom had called. Since Mom had told me about that locker. Since Mom had told me about Dad. It was bizarre that I hadn't opened the locker yet, even if I now knew where it actually was.

I had been so eager to know where it was just a day ago, to know what it was about before I got locked in the school's gymnasium. I'd wanted to know what that locker was about. So badly for nearly weeks now. But now that I knew, I couldn't. I just couldn't make myself go upstairs to the attic. I wanted Mom and Dad to be here and I wanted to find out all about that locker from them. Part of me was just stuck over Dad's condition. I was worried. I wanted to see him so bad. He never had those migraines unless things were really stressful for him.

Was it because of me?

In the end, I had decided to tell Alex about this. Even if I knew that I should, I couldn't keep this all to myself. I didn't want to do this alone.