The City | GirlxGirl

twenty six ➳

Pounding. Skylar was used to headaches, but she wasn't used to constant pounding in her head lasting for days on end. It had been a week and a half since Jude had been injured, and although Skylar was getting updates on her through Blair, she had yet to see the girl. Her resignation from the bar had been immediate, and tomorrow, she'd be starting her new job in the cafe across the street.

It reminded her of Jude, but she didn't care. She just didn't care anymore.

But she couldn't lie to herself: she liked that Blair was giving her updates. Jude had taken a month off work, with which Jon had been very understanding. She liked hearing that Jude was getting a lot of sleep, and eating a lot, and helping Blair out around the house. She liked when Blair said the bruises were starting to fade, and the bandages were being thrown out. She liked hearing these things, but she'd never admit them to anyone other than herself.

She was supposed to be mad at Jude. And she was. Really, she was furious. But it's like she had told Jude before: it doesn't work that way. She couldn't just stop liking Jude because of this.

That's when she realized that she had picked Jude over Blair. And what she felt for Jude was here to stay. It wasn't something she could simply brush off, even though she wanted to. She wanted to so badly.

But it doesn't work like that.

Blair had called that morning, asking about her headaches. Sometimes, she reminded Skylar so much of a mother, and she laughed, because up until a month or so ago, she'd been in love with a girl who acted like her mom.

"Do you think it's to do with, like, how many head injuries you've had?"

"I haven't actually had that many," Skylar said, holding her palm against her forehead, and trying not to laugh at how concerned Blair sounded.

"Three concussions is a lot, Skylar."

"I know."

"How's your memory been?"

"Not bad." Skylar shrugged, and sat up. Her legs hung over the side of her bed, and she stared at her bare feet, swinging them back and forth. Despite the headache, she was in a good mood this morning. It probably had something to do with the fact that she'd gotten to sleep in until noon. But something still felt like it was missing.

A piece. The piece that always felt like it had slipped out of her skin without her knowing. She didn't even know what the piece was-she just knew that there was a piece of her out there, blowing through the streets of Toronto, lost. And so was she, without it.

"My memory has never been that bad, you know. You like to exaggerate it."

"Because sometimes you forget where you put your own toothbrush! What if you were in an emergency, and you, like, forgot 9-1-1?"

"That's not short-term memory. That's long-term. Believe me, I won't forget 9-1-1, and I won't forget your birthday. I've known those things for so long."

"What about little things?"

"Like what?"

"Like, do you remember what Jude did? Because I hope you forgot."

Skylar sighed, this conversation exhausting her, but Blair's insistence made her laugh. "I couldn't forget something like that even if I tried. It's all I can think about, so it's lodged in my memory."

"Remember when you forgot her name."

Skylar laughed. "Yeah. That was really bad."

"So you forget little details like Jude's name when you first met her, and where you put something?"