Chapter 21 - My dear, I've been alone.
It was weeks before I found out where Rex had disappeared to that fateful night. He returned to his home town of Beverly Hills. How he ended up in this grumy, little town I'll never know. But soon after, Oliver joined him and I was left to sulk alone.
I didn't let myself cry. If I cried, I would've probably realized how alone I felt without Rex around and this would've turned into some crappy, teenage romance novel. And who wants that?
I wasn't exactly mad at him for running off; I knew he had his own reasons for leaving, but that didn't lessen the blow to my heart.
Every night after he left, I slept in what used to be Rex's bed, losing myself in his scent and all those aging memories. My father never noticed; he was off on another business trip. Everyone had left me and I just wandered from my house to school as the days went on.
I wasn't sulking, so to say. I just hadn't realized how much my life was centered around him and without him, there was no spark in my life, just a flat line that seemed to be dragged out for far too long.
I had been alone before, both physically and emotionally, but for some reason, this seemed different. It was like he was a drug and I finally got a taste of it, making me want more, but I wasn't allowed to have it anymore.
I had no idea if we were really over or not. I mean, why the hell would he run off to California after giving me one of the best nights of my life? That question was left to be a mystery because I knew if I thought too much about it, I probably would break down and run after him.
And before I knew it, the end of the school year was drawing near and with that came one thing: prom.
Prom: the one school dance almost every girl freaks over, girls such as Tasha and Kim. The people who didn't go crazy over it were the freaks who refused to talk with other people and the heartbroken(I suppose, I would fit in this category.). Sparkling dresses that barely cover certain parts of the female anatomy and drunken sex after the dance wasn't really my thing, to be honest. Yet that didn't stop Tasha and Kim from dragging me into, at least, a hundred stores, looking for dresses.
"I don't want to be here," I grumbled for the hundredth time in the past hour.
The twins ignored me as usual, which they had gotten very good at recently. I sighed, knowing I wouldn't get an answer no matter how hard I tried and watched as they flipped through dozens of fully-stocked racks. It completely amazed me how they hadn't found a single thing with how many stores we'd been through.
I heard two in-sync sighs pointed at me and looked up, meeting the twins' annoyed faces. "Yes?" I asked softly.
"Stop pouting, Linx," I glared and opened my mouth to say something, but Tasha beat me to it. "If he really loves you, he'll come back."
My glare faded into a frown as I stared at the two of them. "And what if he doesn't come back?"
"Then it wasn't meant to be," Kim stated simply, shrugging her shoulders and returning back to the racks. "Give him until prom; if he hasn't shown up even then, it's time to move on, okay?"
I reluctantly nodded, knowing it was reasonable enough and if I said no, they would probably hurt me.
*~*
"I'm home!" I called out to the empty house, expecting silence, but instead, I heard the TV blaring from the livingroom and a shocking voice coming to greet me with a smile on his face.
"Welcome home, gorgeous," My heart sputtered to a stop as my emerald gaze slid over to meet the person. A shudder raked through my tense body. It was amazing how much their voices were similar, yet different at the same time.
And before I knew it, I threw my arms around him and my tears leaked out finally. "Fucking shithead," I cursed into his shoulder, making him chuckle and return the embrace.
"I'm guessing you missed me?" He asked in the middle of a laugh.
"No," I sniffled, yanking away from him and wiping away my tears with the back of my sweater sleeve, leaving a trail of black eye make-up in my wake. "I don't miss shitheads named Oliver."
He flashed me that perfect smirk that made me like him in the first place. I rolled my eyes at him, giving him a light punch on his broad shoulder. "Don't give me that look," I snapped as he arched an eyebrow and widened his smirk. "I won't take your virginity again."
His smirk faded as mine appeared. "I'll have you know, I'm in a committed relationship." This time, it was my smirk that faded as my thoughts reeled to a certain person I was trying to stop thinking about. "I'm sorry."
I plopped down on the couch, blank-faced and lost in a pile of memories. Slowly, I shook my head and forced a smile up at him. "I'm okay, don't worry."
*~*
(Oliver's Point of View)
It was blatantly obvious that she wasn't sleeping much lately. Her eyes were encased in dark circles, making her look a bit ill. She seemed thinner and broken down almost.
I wasn't expecting Rex's leaving to have affected her so much, but here she was, thinner and sadder. I was going to have a serious talk with Rex about this later. I can't stand seeing her like this. If he was going to end it, he could at least meet her face-to-face and give her a god damn reason why.
"Are you staying for long?" She asked, her voice as weak and sad as the rest of her. My blue eyes flickered over to her for a moment.
"I'll stay, most likely, until the end of the school year." She smiled genuinely at that, looking up at me from the couch with her big, emerald eyes that I used to be in love with. And so, she gave me this look, a sad, yet hopeful look, and I knew what she was going to ask. "I don't know if he's coming, darling." We both sighed, getting lost in our own thoughts, but I know we were both wondering the same thing.
Was he ever coming back?
*~*
"I'll be back in a little bit!" I called out to Linx, opening the front door. "I'm going to see Sophie!"
"Have fun!" She yelled from her room as I slipped out the door, whipping out my phone and closing the door behind me. Before I knew it, I dialed the very familiar number and pressed the phone to my ear. After two rings, he finally picked up.
"Hello?"
"Listen here, you little shit," I snapped, stomping to my car and flinging the door open. "I need to talk to you," I said, getting into my car and starting it up.
"Obviously, dipshit," Rex snickered in response from the other end of the line. "Why the hell else would you call me?" He questioned with a laugh escaping at the end.
I rolled my eyes at my brother, pulling out of the neatly-paved driveway. "It's about Linx," The other end of the line went silent for a minute or two. I sighed loudly in annoyance, rolling my eyes once again. "Rex?"
"How's she doing?" He asked softly, his voice sad and broken like Linx's earlier.
"Why don't you find out yourself, asshole?!" I hissed, slowing the car to a stop at a red light. "I still don't understand why you ran off. I mean, you love her, right?" I heard a soft 'yes' so I continued. "Then why are you in Beverly Hills? You guys had it good here, you two were happy and were finally showing your real feelings. What the hell happened, Rex?"
"She broke my heart, Oli,"
"I think it's the other way around, actually. You should see her! She looks terrible, she's lost quite a bit of weight, and I'm pretty sure she hasn't been sleeping for the past few days. She's fucking hurt, Rex. She didn't even look this bad and troubled when Snake was here. So whatever she did, I doubt is as bad as what you did to her when you left. I'm really worried for her."
"Oli," He trailed off with a sniffle.
"What excuse are you going to use now?" I snapped, glaring at the road as I drove. "You didn't love her and just wanted to fuck? Just wanted to prove you could get her? Did you find someone else? As if you could find someone as perfectly suited for you as Linx." I snorted, rolling my crystal blues. "I didn't give up on her for you to fuck it all up, asshole. But let me guess, you slept with some whore at school, didn't you? That's so you."
"No, you twat," Rex growled, obviously pissed off now.
"Then what?" Huh?" I countered, my voice raising a little. "What the hell made you disappear just like our fucking dad?"
He let out a groan of frustration before taking a long, deep breath. "I found something out about her."
"And what was that?" I huffed, a scowl forming on my face. "More shit the poor girl's been through that you can't handle anymore?"
"She slept with someone I'm really close to." He sighed, his voice returning to being sad and reluctant.
"You've made friends here?" I rose my eyebrows in surprise, shocked by this new discovery. "Ones that Linx would actually sleep with? I must say, bro, I'm a bit stunned."
"No, asshole." He sighed grumpily. "The night before I left, she told me what really happened that night at the party."
"What party?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"The party before I disappeared for three days, before Linx's car accident, before everything changed, the party you lost your fucking virginity at."
And memories of that night came running back to me in a huge blur. I realized who the hell he'd been talking about the whole damn time. I really was an idiot.
I was about to apologize for everything, but the line went dead and I was left, pulled over on the side of the road with a head full of guilt and a pocket full of mistakes.