Nothing But Bad

Fourty One

Arden
•••

   We had spent the first half of the morning enjoying each other's company.

   Everyone was acting as if this is just a normal morning. Which it wasn't at all, we had never done this before. Well, not in a long time. It was like we had never left those days at the school.

   Christian had left a while ago, he had volunteered to get Skyler. We had waited for the servants to bring in the food, now it was safe for her to come.

   Skyler practically bursts into the room. Annoyance written all over her face. Christian had a smug one on his. I was shocked to see his hand land on her back. Even more shocked to see she hadn't pushed it away.

   He leans in, whispering something in her ear. She narrows her eyes at him. "Has anyone told you you're quite annoying."

   His grin widens, "Yes, but it sounds much more sweet coming from your lips."

   She scoffs walking away, towards me and Will. The servants had brought in a bigger table to fit all of us. "Prince William." She says, "May I use your restroom."

   He smirks, "Only if you drop the title."

   Her eyes narrow again. "There's no point of being a prince if you refuse the title."

   "A prince is just a king with no real crown. And a king with no crown, does not need to have titles with his dearest friends."

   "That made no sense." Skyler states.

   "I'm not one to make sense." He shrugs with a smirk. He still nods, and points her in the direction of the bathroom.

   "It's no wonder you two are best friends." She mutters walking away.

   Christian, still with a huge grin, plops himself in the empty seat next to me. One, that was saved for my sister. The one saved for him was at the other side of the table next to Gwen.

   I look at him in the corner of my eye. He leans in. "Wanna know something?"

   "If it's not stupid sure. But knowing you, I already know the answer." I say with amusement.

   He laughs, still leaning in. "If you promise not to say anything, I think I'm in love with your sister."

   I snort, quickly covering it with a cough. Will who was talking to Levi and Gwen, turns and gives me a questioning look. I waved him off, and he goes back to his conversation. "My sister hates you."

   "Oh," he sighs dreamily. "I know."

   Sky shortly exists the bathroom.

   Christian get up eagerly, pulling the chair he was sitting in out for her. She stares at the chair for five seconds, before moving and sitting next to Gwen.

   I try to hide my smile by drinking my tea. Gwen just full on snorts.

   "So all the Pierce women are this lovely." Will's smirk is showing through his words. I turn and shoot him a dirty look.

   Gwen sighs dreamily, "I wish there was more of them. The days were so bland before Arden arrived in our lives. Skyler is just as brilliant as her sister."

   "You hated Arden when she arrived." Gwen shushes Levi with her hand.

   "Every great deal of love starts with a bit of hate." Gwen shrugs.

   "Well, two of them is the perfect amount for me." Christian beams.

   Gwen leans in, turning to Skyler. Skyler not liking being touch, leans away. Gwen smiles, not offended. "Did you know, we all hated Arden when she first came."

   Skyler nods. "She had told me of you all. And that she hated you all the same." I laugh again.

   Christian whines, "Hey, I didn't hate her. Well, actually yea I hated her."

   I turn and look at him confused, "What the fuck Christian?"

   He raises his hands, "That's before I met you though."

   "Well I'm sure she hated you." Skyler says narrowing her eyes at him.

   He scoffs turning to me, "Did you hate me, have you ever hated me?"

   I smile, "I change my mind everyday." He sticks his tongue out at me.

   "Carter never hated you." Levi's voice is quiet. Everyone's smiles drop for a second.

   "He had no bad bone in his body." Gwen says, smiling sadly.

   "What happened to Carter?" Skyler's curious voice speaks up.

"He died." Gwen says.

"Who was he?" Skyler if full of questions now. I think she knows the answers, I know she knows. But maybe she didn't want to come off rude with her assumptions.

"Our friend." Will speaks up he turns to me. "All of our friend." That meant a lot to me. He then turns his attention back to Skyler. "A boy everyone loved."

"And he died." Her face was null of emotion.

"Yes."

"Does it hurt?" Will looks at Skyler confused for a second. But it soon leaves his face. I don't know if they understood her yet, how she is. She didn't grow up like the rest of us. I don't know if she had an idea of love.

But, he still answers her question. "Almost to the point where I want to die myself. To the point I wish I had been there to jump in front of him. But I know if he heard me say that, he would find a way to haunt me and kick my ass."

"Oh." Skyler says. There was something going on behind her eyes. She was trying to wrap herself around all of this.

"Aren't you going to say sorry for your loss?" Christian jokes sadly. Doing what he always does, trying to lighten the mood.

She thinks for a second, "I'm not, it will make you all stronger." Everyone's stunned by her words. Her eyes widen, maybe sensing she said the wrong thing. "What's stronger than love?" She says.

"Loss." I answer quietly.

We all think about her words for a few moments. They were true. The feeling of loss always overpowered my feelings of love.

Luckily, Levi is the one to break the silence. He does it with a laugh, shocking us all. "So you both are rays of sunshines." He says looking at Skyler then to me.

Will is the first to laugh, first trying to cover it with a cough, but letting out another one. Gwen's laughs follow his, Christian's hers, Levi's again, then mine. We were all laughing, harder than we've ever laughed. I had no idea why we were laughing but we couldn't stop. It wasn't funny, but it was. I laughed even harder when I see Skyler tilting her head and trying to figuring us out.

"To Carter," Will lifts his glass. We all lift ours shortly after. "To the one too good for this world, and even for the next."

"To Carter." We say in unison.
•••