Adventuring With Analise ✓

Chapter 25 - Will

A/N: THIS IS A WARNING. THIS CHAPTER deals with some HARD HITTING stuff and even though I warned before you started reading, there is some SERIOUS stuff talked about in this chapter. I won't say to spoil it, but it can be very triggering. PLEASE read at your own risk. This is also a VERY SAD chapter, not the lightheartedness that the chapters usually are, but it wouldn't be realistic if it was happy all the time, right? This is a tough chapter to get through, but it's pretty important. Love you all, - Alex

Chapter 25 - Will

    "Are you okay?"

Three words that always meant the person you were asking wasn't okay. But as I stared at the crazy, beautiful, mysterious girl sitting next to me as she cried, I had no idea what to say. I'd never seen Analise cry in the three weeks we'd been friends, and that was saying a lot considering we'd gotten arrested at one point. But sitting here next to whom I now considered my best friend, I felt an ache in my chest as I watched her hastily wipe tears, making room for fresh ones.

I just wanted to take the pain away from her.

We'd left the party a half an hour ago and she hadn't started crying until it was just the two of us. I felt a sense of... pride? I was proud that I was the only person her walls came down around, even if I was the last person who deserved to see the vulnerable side of her. I felt the urge to reach out and wipe away a tear myself, and that's what I did; I brushed my thumb under her eye, wiping a few tears away with it.

She looked up at me, her bottom lip quivering, and my heart twisted painfully. "Don't cry..." I whispered, wrapping my arms around her. She melted in my arms, laying her head against my chest and a warm feeling settled where her head laid. "It'll be okay."

"I haven't- I haven't cried since..." Analise broke off, a loud sob escaping her and I held her tighter. "I act tough, and most of the time I- I am, but sometimes... Sometimes I can't be."

"No one's asking you to be tough, Analise. Nobody is perfect."

"I shouldn't be crying," she blubbered through tears, shaking her head and running a hand through her messy curls. "I'm better than that! I'm better than them! They don't deserve my tears!"

"So don't give them the satisfaction," I told her, looking into her eyes. "They're not worth your tears, you know that, so don't waste them on them."

We sat in silence for a couple minutes before Analise whispered sadly, "I miss them."

I couldn't help the pang in my chest, wondering if I was good enough. Had I been a good enough friend? Analise must have seen some kind of sign to how I was feeling because she pulled from our embrace and took my hand. "No, not like that. You're a great friend, but Tommy's been my friend since we were babies, and Colin not long after that. It's hard losing a friend when you've been friends for so long, no matter how it happened."

I nodded. "I know."

"And Ashlynn, she's such a... God, she sure is a bitch, isn't she?"