Barista (Stray Kids Lee Felix)

Eighteen

Thinking over the obvious mistake Sydney had made, she couldn't help but feel bitter that day.

She wasn't bitter because of Felix nor was she mad at him. She was bitter because she took the time to think over the situation thoroughly and wondered why she even thought it would help.

Her bedroom had always provided her comfort whenever she was hurt as she was growing up. She would dig her face into a pillow and cry until she no longer could. Usually after that she'd feel so much better. To the extent that she sometimes immediately go to the kitchen and gobble on a packet of crisps.

But that was then. She was alone now. Her bedroom had turned against her and left her for dead. She didn't blame it. Sydney knew she deserved it plus more but dang, she didn't realise it would hurt so bad.

Despite not even being in the wrong, a bit over a dozen kilometres away, Felix wasn't doing much better. He should have been fine. He should blame her and he should hate her. But he should be fine. He shouldn't be hurting.

However, Felix didn't play by the rules. He was not fine, he didn't blame her, he didn't hate her and he was in utter pain. He just wanted to sprint over to her house and engulf her into a hug and say he should have tried harder with the relationship. He wanted to tell her that he didn't blame her, it was his fault and he deserved to be in all the pain the world could offer. Quite honestly, if he had said this, he would have had a stinging slap stitched to his left cheek. One of those ones where you could actually see the handprint on his cheek. Sydney would repeat how she was the idiot and he should never blame himself for what happened. But even if that did happen, I bet he still would blame himself.

By midday the house was like a ghost town. No one was to be seen or heard.

He slowly got out of bed and checked his social media, wishing to see something from Sydney. Anything.

Nothing.

Instead, he was met with pictures of the argument, them both leaving the café and when Sydney returned. They were going viral.

Not wanting to deal with any of it just yet, he trudged his way to the kitchen and made himself a poor attempt of a grilled cheese sandwich and poured himself a glass of orange juice with shaky hands. Needless to say, the kitchen was now the polar opposite of what he had found it as when he first went down. It was a mess but he couldn't care less. Chris wouldn't tell him off in the state he was in and even if he did so after he was better, so what? It's not like he would ground him.

Although Felix had dismissed the fact that the pictures were viral. It was a fact Sydney was forced to remember. Felix was famous. She was not. Felix was loved. She was not. Felix had fans. She did not.  Unsurprisingly, there was an overwhelming amount of hate thrown on her side in comparison to all the love Felix received.

And everywhere just seemed to remind her of it. On social media, on TV shows, the girls outside.

The girls outside. I didn't mention that before, did I? At about ten o'clock, a bunch of girls had managed to track down her whereabouts and knocked on her door. She couldn't say how many they were - it's quite hard to count when you're having the life beaten out of you - but she was sure it had to be less than ten.

When she answered the door, she was immediately attacked. Most of the girls simply shoved, kicked or punched her. But then there were two other girls who seemed to be the most angry. Both carried baseball bats and aimed them at her. They only let her go when they had messed her up real good. She wasn't in hospital-worthy condition but it was a fact that she was going to be sore for over a week.

After the incident concerning the girls, Sydney was pushed over the edge. She needed to call Felix. She needed to explain and most importantly, she needed to know he was alright. But her body was rapidly giving up on her. She couldn't even crawl her way over the the living room. She just lay flat on the floor somewhere between the front door and kitchen as she stared at the ceiling, hoping that the pain would just fade away for a moment. Just a moment. But it never did. She needed Felix. And little did she know, he needed her too.