❝ I'm scared, scared I'll go back to being broken now that he isn't here to fix me anymore❞
Before, Florence Clarke was hospitalised for having anorexia, she was put on The List at Phillipson High and named the Fat Girl, at first Oakwood Clinic seem...
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Florence hadn't ever been to Chase's flat so this was the first time for both her and Cole, and after their less than happy conversation in the car she was eager to leave the enclosed space. It had hit her that he was a complete stranger, she didn't know him, he could be violent having been in prison, she didn't want to stick around long to find out. Once they reached the red door with a number '30' on it in silver Florence paused, Chase had stood on this very doormat, alive and well.
With tears already threatening to spill she reached behind her neck and took off the key she had hung around it ever since he had given it to her in the letter. She had forgotten Cole was even there before he coughed awkwardly as she tried for the third time to unlock the door with her shaking hands.
"Let me," he said pushing her aside and taking the key from her, his hand was the exact same size as Chase's and it even felt the same next to her she had to stop herself from grabbing it and never letting go.
He opened the door on his first try and it swung open revealing a room with white walls, inexplicably she knew this was where Chase had been the most comfortable, it was so him.
There was a bookshelf on one side of the room lined up with books about Psychology, Biology, and Medicine, Florence found herself there tracing her finger along each spine imagining Chase standing in that very spot, there was a fur rug covering a vast expanse of the floor and a dreamcatcher above the window. Her heart jumped out of her chest when she saw the photographs, there were three displayed on the mantelpiece, one of a beaming younger Chase with a group of people, supposedly his old group of friends.
There was another of two identical boys arms around each other, behind them a woman with his hair and a man with Chase's kind eyes.
She choked out a sob, even now he could reduce her to a stuttering wreck, she fell to the floor and tucked her head between her legs, the world was spinning around her, she didn't think she could be here anymore, why even was she here? Florence could feel a panic attack slowly coming her way... if she was alone she would have let herself descend into a state of complete grief.
And then she remembered Cole and blearily looked up between gasps, trying to regain her composure to see him standing over her with an unreadable expression.
"Something tells me," he said "That you and my brother were a bit more than friends"
She quickly rubbed her jumper sleeve across her eyes.
"What gave it away?" she muttered
"Well, it could be how you just sobbed your heart out at a picture of people you haven't ever met or how you seem determined to dislike me, flinch every time you see me and seem to not want to touch me, I saw how quickly you snatched your hand away. Listen, Florence I'm sorry you had to get involved in my crappy life, I'm sorry that I'm not him but if there's going to be any way we can get on and be friends I'd like that"
