Close As Enemies

Twenty-One.

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    Once the surgery was completely finalized, the doctor allowed me to leave with strict orders of hardly any activity. I was still weak when we left the hospital, so I ended up with Wes and Nikki supporting me as we walked to the car.

Nikki had been texting me non stop all week, asking when I would return to school. She also kept hinting at the gift she had bought for my birthday, and how excited she was to give it to me. When times were tough, I was most grateful to have a best friend like her. I knew she would always be there for me, and it was nice to have a friend like that after the first one I had left.

My stomach brewed with nervousness at the thought of going back to school, especially after what happened in the cafeteria. Yeah, Wes had been easier with me, but what he did still replayed in my mind. When I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed Nikki's car wasn't there. After twisting the lock on my locker, I grabbed my books and headed to first period.

"Molly!" My teacher exclaimed, smiling brightly as I entered the room. "Welcome back. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." I shot her a small smile as I sat in my seat. More students filed in, sitting in their seats and chatting quietly with their friends. Wes sat in front of me, focused on something on his phone, and I sighed, leaning back in my seat. Before class started, I stood to sharpen my pencil, but when I walked back towards my seat, I tripped over something and fell on my face. Laughter erupted throughout the room. When I looked behind me, I noticed it was Wes' foot, and he was snickering.

"Mr. Grayson, that's enough." Mrs. Bassem shot Wes a look, and he immediately grew quiet, but when I stood, he smirked at me. Sighing, I sat at my desk. It was going to be a long day, and Nikki wasn't even there to make it a little more bearable.

Two more classes passed by, and when I arrived in fourth period, I checked my phone to see if Nikki had responded to the texts I sent all morning, but there was nothing. She hadn't even read them, which was unlike Nikki. I headed to our kitchen and read the recipe sheet. We were making chicken pot pie, so while I waited for Wes to walk in, I started preparing the pie and its crust. He finally walked in and started cutting the vegetables and chicken. Every now and then, he would bump into me, causing me to mess up the pie crust, and even though I wouldn't react (at least, not on the outside), he still snickered about it. Once he placed the vegetables and chicken into the pie molds, he placed them in the oven, and we sat on our kitchen stools, waiting for them to finish. I played with the hair tie on my wrist when suddenly, his hand gripped my thigh, and I jumped.

"Wes, stop." I mumbled, grabbing his hand and pushing it away, and he stared at me. No matter how badly I wanted to look at him, I kept staring at my hair tie. That is, until he sighed dejectedly, and I was curious why. When I looked at him, his smirk had disappeared, and he was playing with the zipper on his jacket.

"I'm sorry, Molls. I just... it's hard when the whole school knows how I am with you, even if it's not the truth."

I rolled my eyes. "Then why not just stop? You know how I feel about these small things you do throughout the day. You saw..."

" I know." He closed his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm trying to be better. It's still hard though."

For a couple of minutes, silence weighed heavy between us, but then he moved his chair closer to mine, his elbows resting on the counter behind us. "Um, there's something I've been curious about for a couple of days, and I need to know about it, but if you don't wanna tell me, I'll understand."

"Go ahead."

He sighed. "The video... with, um, Andy... why did you do it? Why did it happen?"