Luke's POV
-
I called Stacy's name, grabbing her attention.
"What is it?" She asks with mild curiosity. We kept few secrets from each other, so she likely wasn't expecting anything big.
I fumble with the lyrics with both of my hands, and she looks at it. "Is... something on that paper that you want to tell me?"
"I guess you could say that." I hand it to her, wrists trembling as I bring my hands back to my chest.
"Before you start reading that, I have to talk to you."
She looks at me with slight concern. "Are you okay? Do you... need my help again?"
"No, not of the like. I, I've been keeping something. From you," I say, breaking up my sentences in apprehension.
She doesn't say anything, giving me time to form my confession together.
"Stacy... you've been one of the most important people in my life. I owe pretty much everything to you. You kept my friendship together, you kept my family together...
"You've been by my side, no matter what has happened over the years.
"And that's why you need to know this." I pause, not knowing what to say.
"You can... read the paper now."
Her smile moves from me to the paper, quickly reading it as to not waste time.
I give her a minute and turn around, looking back at the textbooks we arranged earlier.
I hear footsteps advance in my direction, and before I get a chance to turn back around, Stacy embraces me, resting her head near my neck.
She lets go, allowing me to face her. A warm blush has crept up to her cheeks, and I feel the same happen to me.
Is this right? Is this how it should feel?
"I have something to confess as well," she says in longing.
"I love you, Luke.
"That's why I came up to you that day, that's why I've been by your side.
"You loved... him, and, though it hurt, I thought there'd be a chance.
She pauses.
"A chance... for us."
I hold her free hand that doesn't clutch the paper with both of my own.
We stare at each other for an indefinite period of time, gazing into each other's mysterious eyes. I notice her inching closer to me, and we end up barely a foot apart.
-
What I didn't know was that someone did come in the room.
In the corner of my eye, a familiar plum-haired boy stares at me, in what I think is disbelief. His gaze softens when he realizes that he's spotted, his lavender eyes brimming with newly formed tears.
"You know, I had always hoped you'd love someone the way I love you.
"I guess I got my wish."
All I can think of doing is yelling his name.
-
Zander's POV
-
I run out of that dreaded room, out of the school, until my legs ache, desperately begging me to stop.
You told him. You told him you loved him.
That thought is enough to keep me going, all in pure rage.
You were too late.
I slow.
You missed your chance.
I can't run any further.
I sit under the closest tree in defeat, waiting for the tears to stop.
I wish it were raining, maybe then would my crying be masked if the sky was doing it with me.
-
After a few minutes, my adrenaline has slowed, and I'm fine to leave. But I couldn't, I couldn't bring myself to just stand up and walk away from the mess I've made.
Maybe there was part of me that wished he would have chased me, that there was a chance he'd pick me over her.
That chance doesn't come.
I suddenly notice 4 heads hiding in a bush. Left to right, one with pink hair, followed by peach, ebony, and teal. I instantaneously recognize the other 4 band members, trying—and failing—to hide from me, waiting for the same person I was.
That person doesn't come.
-
I decide to go towards my friends. I don't want them seeing me this way, so I think it's best to shoo them off and let me have some time to myself.
"Just so you know, I can clearly see all of you."
Milly and Jake dart up, followed by Hailey and Sean.
"For the record, I was dragged here." Jake states in almost a questioning manner.
"Listen. You guys are my friends, my best friends." I look at Jake. "I guess you count."
He smiles weakly, and I continue.
"But I'm going to ask you, to just leave me alone for a bit."
Hailey suddenly wraps her arms around me, and my barrier of tears break once again. Following her, everyone hugs me too.
I'm embraced by 3, or 4, of the people that I need right now. I'm so grateful for the support they give me, and despite my initial thoughts of wanting them to leave, those thoughts dissipate.
What about Luke? You came here to run away from him, they came here to watch. You know this isn't over.
I let these thoughts, these thoughts that have been eating me up, flow through my mind. They stop, and all I can do is allow the peace held between the 5 of us remain silent.
-
My brief feeling of solace is put to an abrupt halt when I see Luke in the distance, running toward us. Milly is the one to announce his arrival.
"Luke, get out of here."
I get a spark of confidence once I realize I have all the cards. Luke still wants to talk, and I have the rest of the club behind my back.
"No, it's fine. I can talk to him myself."
Sean perks up, focusing on Milly, Hailey, and Jake. "Hey guys, not to burst this bubble, but we should go."
So much for having them by my side.
-
As Luke and I watch them walk to their respective homes, I loosely clutch my arms, waiting for someone to make the first strike. I have nothing else to say to him at this point, except for five words.
Luke chimes in before I get to voice my thoughts. "You know, I'm... I'm glad you didn't leave-"
"Why did you come back?"
I want to hug him. I want to hold him tight and hold him close.
I want to be embraced in his warm, strong presence, and I'd never let him go.
I want to tell him that everything will be okay, that it'll blow over.
But I know that's not the case.
He has a look of apprehension plastered on his face, trying to put his words together without having to hurt me more than I've done to myself already.
I give him something to work off of. "Did you... always like her that way?"
Silence.
"Why couldn't you just tell me?"
I start to lose my impatience. "Were you ever even going to tell me? Why, WHY CAN'T WE JUST GO BACK? Back to the way things were, back before... you...
"Before you gave up on me."
He looks at me in disbelief and regret. "I'd never do that to you."
"Then how did this happen? Why are we having this conversation?"
"..."
"I need... I deserve an explanation.
"Please."
And so he does.
"There was one point where I liked you, where I loved you. The way you love me. But I had to get over you, or I could have lost you forever."
A feeling of absolute disbelief washes over my forgiveness. "So you did give up on me. When was this?"
He turns his head and closes his eyes with an unreadable expression covering his face. "I... didn't want this to happen. But it had to. My parents-"
"So you couldn't have fought for what you wanted?"
"Zander, I could have been disowned! I could have lost the trust of my own family!"
"You didn't love me. You picked me up, played me around, and then DROPPED me when your time was up."
I come to a chilling realization. "Does this friendship mean nothing to you?"
The tears come back for the third time, and I don't bother trying to stop them. He deserves to see the pain he's put me through.
"Zander. If I didn't love you, if I didn't care about you, I wouldn't have let you go.
"But I did. I did because I couldn't lose you."
I know he means what he says, so I let that thought go. "But Stacy? Where does she come in?"
"She helped me, Zander. She helped me... get over you."
"W-what?"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you but our friendship was dangling by a thread at that point, and I did the only thing I thought would save it.
"I'm sorry I didn't know you felt the same way. You know, maybe we did have a chance.
"But fate didn't let it happen. It didn't let us, happen."
We stand, unmoving, allowing the wind to blow through the conversation.
I have one thing left to ask. "So what does this mean, for us?"
He's at a loss of words.
"This... This doesn't mean our friendship is over... right?"
He says nothing.
"Please, say something."
He gives me a reassurring, pitiful smile. I know he feels terrible for what happened; while part of me wants to comfort him, the other part of me seeks vengeance.
"Zander, you'll never lose me."
His smile fades. "But this... we can't. We're not-"
"No, I get it." I know what he's going to say, and I don't want to hear it from him.
Luke closes his eyes and faces the floor in shame. "I'm sorry, Zander."
He looks directly at me. His eyes shine with kindness, yet his words cut sharper than the blade of a knife.
"But we're just not meant to be.
"We... we were never meant to be."
-
The last shred that tied my hopes up unravels, and all that's left is a figure, falling to the floor, begging for mercy.
I didn't deserve this. I don't deserve to feel this way.
At this moment, there's nothing left to say. I'm on my knees in nothing but rejection and defeat, he's got a girl he has to go back to.
He hesistates, before taking a sheet of sorts from his pocket. Please don't tell me he's deciding to make me read those damn lyrics.
"Before I go, you dropped something," he tells me instead, which lifts up my spirits a bit. He hands me a picture.
The picture of Luke, Hailey and I. It must have fallen out of my pocket when I ran off.
I turn the image around, knowing what was written on the back all those years ago. A signature written from each of us; mine being cut off from being interrupted during signing, never to be completed.
I had always meant to finish it, but Luke had insisted that I left it unfinished.
"It looks... more memorable that way. When you see it, you'll remember why you didn't get to finish it!" He told me then, and I had decided to listen.
-
He starts to leave, but I can't let it end this way.
I pick myself up and run towards him with the little strength I have left in my legs.
"Wait." I croak, my voice almost being drowned out by the wind.
He looks back at my disheveled state; dirt on my clothing, tear-stained face, crooked posture, trembling from the cold and the things I've had to go through today.
"Tell Stacy... that's she's real lucky to have you, alright?"
We exchange weak, faltered smiles. The crack in our friendship is visible, but it will heal.
I slowly walk in his direction, knowing he won't walk away.
He says the only two words I need to hear.
"I promise."
He hugs me, but I don't feel safe in his arms. I feel pitied, that he's only holding onto the last of my falling, crumbling barriers to keep me from breaking down. But I let him.
He can't lose me, and hell, I'd never forgive myself if I were stupid enough to lose him.
I hug him back.
-
We stand together, one teen with two hearts, clutching a heart that's been broken. He drapes his signature red cardigan around me, trying to mend the chisel that's been stabbed into my heart.
And then he walks away, toward the girl he loves, leaving me again.
But not for the last time.
a/n - Take the last sentence as you wish. It's a bit of a paradox, could mean both good or bad. I didn't even plan it out that way, but it's something to think about.
a/n from 2023! the changes i made include deleting the majority of the previous a/n's because they took away from the reading experience, shortening the titles (they used to have emojis in the same way my oneshots do. ill leave them up for the oneshots because they're silly), deleting some images because they were completely unrelated to the story, and lastly mashing two chapters into this one because i had thought it would be cool to have a two part finale (it really was not my intention to imitate rosy, i literally wrote this two years ago /gen).
none of the fic itself has been altered; you're reading what i authentically typed out. that's why it doesn't make any sense! i don't know what i was trying to do other than make the story sad.
that is it, so bye.