If No One Else

ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ¹³

13. h i d d e n  v i c e s
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She's silent. So quiet that I'm sure if I focused close enough I could hear the stammering of her beating heart, and the race for mine to sync with hers.

There's not a breath of sound within the car; only dense air that is silently suffocating the both of us into voicelessness.

There's so many unspoken words dancing between us, yet neither one of us has the willingness to tango with them.

Maybe because it feels like the waltz of truth and death, or maybe because we knew our dance could never be as simple as a spin and dip.

I clear my throat, feeling the blockade grate against my mouth and coerce me to continue to bask in the quietude.

"Chandler..." I croak out, my voice sounding gruff and low. "Chandler, talk to me," I urge, fighting to keep my hands to myself.

"What is there to talk about, Gael?" She says, but her voice barely carries over to me as she faces toward the window.

I glare over at the side of her head, waiting for her to face me, but she never does.

"How about what happened tonight? Or why you don't want to go home? Or anything, really!" My voices comes out nearly pleading, wishing she would just give me an ounce of herself without having to fight for it.

She didn't owe me anything, but a part of me wished that she trusted me enough to allow me in if only just a little bit.

I expected as much because Chandler kept me in a constant state of questioning and curiosity that was never fed answers, but only given more confusion each time we interacted.

I didn't share much about my life, but that was because it didn't matter. My years before moving to Kenton Grove wouldn't change anything or help anyone, so I kept it locked away.

Chandler's entire life was here; her whole story. She was tied in almost every part of this quaint town, so many people were, but hers was the only one that mattered to me.

"Chandler..." I insist, trying to keep my patience reined in. "Talk to me."

"What, Gael?" She snaps, finally giving me her furious eyes as she hastily turns to face me. "You wanna talk about me never getting to finish, then us arguing and me slamming a door on your face, huh?"

I don't say anything, I just stare back at her hardened face— eyes reddened in anger, brows lowered, and lips straight-lined as if she had nothing else to say— and she glares back at me.

I don't speak, not for a long while, as the quiet glare floating between the two of us is more communication than our words could ever mutter.

Her green eyes, so cold and emotionless as she builds her shield up against me, no matter how much my stare pleads for her to lower them.

Chandler was an enigma— something I so badly wanted to crack open to see everything that was chaining her to condemnation on the bases of her past— she was a mystery to me, and besides my family, Chandler was the only other cold case that I had the urge to get more details on.