Love Happens

7. "We're definitely not strangers anymore."

-x-

Cage's POV

The wind ruffled my hair as I skillfully curved around the sidewalk, my skateboard under my feet.

It's our routine- every Saturday afternoon, I usually grab my skateboard and head over to Tanner's place so we could head out somewhere for a bite or something. We've been doing this ever since we were in middle school, and even now as seniors in high school, we've never missed a single Saturday. I planned on not breaking on our streak- we only had a few months left before all of us left for university. Only a few months left together, and I didn't want to waste a single moment.

I halted to a stop as I skated into Tanner's driveway, and my eyes fell on Aleisha, who was sitting on his porch. She had a cigarette between her lips as she texted someone rapidly, and I inwardly sighed. 

I was never a fan of cigarettes because all they really do is slowly kill you. No matter how many times I told Aleisha to quit, she doesn't. I know she tries not to smoke when I'm around her, but the fact that she never completely stopped really bothers me.

Aleisha looked up as I stepped off my skateboard, swinging it under my arm. She immediately removed the cigarette from her mouth, and crushed it under the sole of her shoe, before smiling sheepishly at me. "Hey you."

"Aleisha," I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Why do you smoke?"

She avoided any eye-contact, staring down at her phone, her tone guarded. "I like how it feels. Can we not talk about this?"

There was silence and I knew that the conversation had ended. Just then, the front door opened and Tanner waltzed out with a pair of sunglasses on. "HELLO WORLD!" he called out, spreading his arms out wide. He was always one for the dramatics.

"Are those the same sunglasses we saw last week at the Dollar Store and you begged your mom to buy them?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. Tanner pouted, slowly removing the glasses. "Don't tell her I bought them. She thinks they're tacky."

"They were like fifty cents," Aleisha spoke up. "They'll break any second, Tan, don't get your hopes up."

The three of us began to walk towards the park, since we really didn't know where to go. Tanner and Aleisha were involved in a deep conversation on ducks as we walked, and I decided to take the time to check my texts and notifications. And suddenly, my phone was being grabbed out of my hand.

"Hey!" I protested as Tanner held my phone away from my reach, scowling. "You're so addicted to your phone, Cage!"

"I am not," I rolled my eyes. "Can I have it back, please?"

"Nope," Tanner grinned mischievously, before he started to scroll through my phone. "Tanner, give it back to him," Aleisha rolled her eyes, giving him a look. "Why are you such a child, you're almost eighteen."

"You saved this chick's photos on your phone?"

I froze as I looked up at a smirking Tanner, who was holding my phone out. He had opened my photo gallery to the picture of Kit, that um accidentally got saved into my photos. Probably. It was an accident. I totally didn't screenshot it because I thought it was really cute. Nope.

"It was a mistake," I mumbled, flustered, before I lunged to grab my phone back. Tanner held it out of my reach, still smirking as he scrolled through the rest of my photos.

"You've accidentally saved five pictures of her, eh?" he laughed. 

"Give it back before I destroy you," I threatened, my face flushed and cheeks burning. Was I actually embarrassed? Ugh, of course not. I'm Cage, for hell's sake. I don't get embarrassed. Too cool for that. I grabbed Tanner's arm, pulling him down and as he squealed in pain, I finally got my phone back.