Falling for my Best Friend

Desperately Seeking Wren

Gael

What in the actual fuck is going on right now? Last night I walked into Homecoming with my gorgeous best friend on my arm and felt like nothing in the world could touch me, and this morning I have no idea where said gorgeous friend is, and now my Kilian seems like he wants to kick my ass. I don't even know why any of this is happening. Kilian might think he needs to find Wrenny but now I feel like I have to find her before he does.

I meander into my home room and after that the first two classes passed in a haze but then I realized just before the bell rang that it was my chance to find Wren, cookie break. We all always meet at the picnic table and split a serving of those warm lunchroom cookies. Why are they good when nothing else is here? I can't answer that but they are the best. Kilian and Declan will be at the table too, though. I search my memories to try to figure out what class Wren will be leaving so I can meet her before they get to her.

The bell rings and I rush down the hall toward the History wing searching for her. I never find her and just decide that going outside is better than nothing, even if the boys are there I can at least see her face. Shit, what if she didn't even come to school today? My heart thuds in my chest... What is happening to me!? I shake it off and head outside to the usual meeting spot just to find Declan sitting there with a small bag of cookies in his hand, no Kilian, no Wren. Why does this piss me off so much?

"Hey," I say quietly as I sit down. 

Declan notices my disappointment immediately, "I'm wounded," he says mockingly, "I have cookies and everything."

Shit, I can't tell Declan what's really going on right now. "Sorry, long day, pop quiz in Algebra that I'm pretty sure I tanked," I lie.

He just shoves the cookies toward me so I take one. Cookie break is only ten minutes long; surely I can get through this without spilling my guts. 

"Where's the gang?" Declan questions.

"Fuck if I know bro, after this morning at the coffee cart, maybe Kil needs to keep his distance."

"So it wasn't only me that noticed the murder in his eyes?" Declan asks, sarcastically.

"I don't know what crawled up his ass, I didn't do anything to Wren last night. What was he talking about with shit hitting the fan? We all know what's going on with Wren and we were all at her house before the dance and everything seemed fine," I say with a little more bite in my voice than necessary.

That's fine though, Kilian and Wren are tight but so are Declan and me, I know he has my back. 

He did a quick scan around the courtyard and shrugged his shoulders while pushing the cookies toward me, "More for us then."

I cram another cookie in my mouth then stand up to head to Lit but after I take a few steps my heart starts to race. Shit, SHIT, Kilian and Wren are in my Lit class.

Kilian

My next class passed in a blur, the bell rings and I jump out of my seat to head to the courtyard, hoping to finally get some answers. By the time I get there, I see Declan sitting at a table alone and quickly recoil. Where is Wren? She always gets there before me. I run through a few scenarios in my head and instantly know where to find her. I turn on my heels and walk to the journalism suite. Besides her faculty advisor, I'm pretty sure I am the only one who knows her secret thinking spot. I approach the dark room entrance and see that it is occupied. I gently knock on the door, but no one responds.

"Wrenny, it's me, please, I need to know you're ok," I whisper.

After a few excruciating seconds of silence, the rotating door starts to slide open.

"Come in, I'm not ready to come out there yet," she says quietly.

I slide the door open enough to step inside and closes the door behind me. Wren slides down the wall and sits on the floor so I take the space beside her.

"Wren, what happened last night? Gael said that you didn't leave with him."

"Kil, I'm honestly trying to forget last night," she says like she is pleading with me to let this go but I know that I can't just sweep it under the rug.

"Whatever happened has clearly gotten to you Wren, I can't just ignore this, are things okay at home?"

"It's nothing like that, not right now."

I can tell that she is telling me the truth, but what isn't she saying?

Wren

Kilian stares at me with his silvery gray eyes, searching my face for answers, the edges of his mouth turn down slightly and he looks so sad that I can't keep him at arm's length anymore. Who am I to push away someone who genuinely cares about me when that type of interaction is so rare in my life?

"I overheard something that I don't think I was supposed to hear and it just hit me the wrong way and I had to get out of there," I gush.

He squares his shoulders and sits up a little straighter, "Whose ass do I need to kick?!"

"Honestly, this whole thing is probably a big misunderstanding and I'm just making a big deal because it reminded me of my dad and I just ...." I squeak but I stop myself because I don't want to continue because I really don't want to cry.

"If that fucker hurt you I'll have his throat, friends or not, what did he do?! I know there is something you're not telling me."

"Oh God Kilian, I feel so dumb, I heard him tell Declan he felt bad for me," I trail off and a single tear escapes from my eyes.

Kilian just sits there, looking almost shocked. He's silent as a stone. He shakes his head and looks at the ground. All I keep thinking is SAY SOMETHING. Is this one of those best friend moments where we can't be on the same page because we're of the opposite sex? He has to know why this upsets me; he's the only one who truly knows how my dad talks to me. SAY SOMETHING. Finally, he draws in a sharp breath and looks at me.

"We're going to figure this out, if you heard that he must have said it but I don't think he meant it. We'll get to the bottom of this. I'm sorry your senior Homecoming was ruined by a prick, I should have taken you with me, I was miserable with Christy, I don't even know why I went with her."

He chuckles a little, "Sorry, word vomit. Let's go to Lit and figure this out and just so you know, you were the prettiest girl there last night," he smiles.

His sweet face melts the ice in my heart almost instantly and I give him a friendly hug that gets interrupted by the warning bell. We stand up and start to make our way to our Lit class.