You, Me, and All The Spaces In-between

CHAPTER 16

I had let myself get too far behind my schoolwork.

Between texting Cash, avoiding my Dad, and trying to stop my friends from arguing, I'd put my academics on the backburner for a moment. And unfortunately, given the nature of the classes I took, a moment's relaxation could accumulate a lot of work.

So I spent most of the next week rushing between classes to get everything done. I could be found during most lunchtimes hunched over textbooks in the library, and, since the football game was this Friday and most people were watching the team practice, I was relatively undisturbed.

This suited me just fine. Being away from the cafeteria distracted me from the absence of my friends, and getting my homework done at school gave me more time to text Cash at home (who, if his texting patterns were any indications, didn't seem to ever do any homework)

This put me in a relatively good mood, and I was even humming contentedly to myself as I left the library that day. I'd gotten everything done, and now I could spend the rest of my afternoon free to indulge in the fantasy-turned-reality that was texting Cash Smith.

I was just contemplating the blue of his eyes for the 500,000,000th time, when the man himself appeared, Tyson in toe.

"Studying again, Miller?" Cash let out a mocking whistle. "Damn, that is a lot of textbooks."

Oh no.

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.

Please no.

"Leave me alone, Cash," I muttered, not in the mood. I tried to side-step them, praying they'd leave it. Since Tyson's attack, I'd been left relatively alone, which had allowed me to text Cash without mentally addressing our past. But now that the man himself was standing in front of me, staring me down, I felt physically sick.

"Damn, Miller's getting a bit cocky, isn't he?" Tyson chortled, sticking out a foot. I tripped, of course, and the pair snickered as I straightened up. "Why are you trying to walk away from your friends?"

Friends. That was funny. "Didn't realise we were so tight." I was inching my way down the hall, trying to escape. "Promise I'll hang with the homies another time."

"So mean." Cash's face morphed into one of exaggerated hurt. "You're breaking my heart, Miller."

And you're breaking mine, Cash.

"Didn't realise you had a heart," I shot back, feeling my chest clench. Please, just let it go. Just let it go.

A muscle seemed to twitch in Cash's jaw, but Tyson suddenly darted forward, grasping my shirt in his fist. "I've had enough of your big mouth," he hissed, raising his other hand.

I shrunk back instinctively, my heart rocketing against my ribcage.

"Dude, stop," Cash interjected, sounding moderately horrified. He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, tugging Tyson back. "Don't hit him."

Tyson stared at him incredulously. "What do you mean 'don't hit him?' Didn't you just hear the smack he was talking?"

Cash hesitated, seemingly conflicted. Finally, he said, in a slow, careful way, "He's not worth it, man. You'd just get in trouble. Coach wouldn't let you play."

For a single heartbeat it was just the three of us, standing poised like puppets on a stage, each afraid to make a move.

Then Tyson released me, throwing me backward with a forceful shove. His face was full of nothing but open disdain as he stepped away.

"Get out of here, you piece of shit," Cash spat, already turning away. There was such venom in his voice, such hatred, that the words felt like more of a physical blow than anything Tyson could've subjected me to.

- - - -

When I got home that afternoon, I had a text from Cash. It sat on my display screen for an hour as I lay across my bed, replaying the day's events over and over in my head.

Eventually I got up to have an early shower, massaging the kinks in my neck and back under the warm water. Afterward, I stood in front of my phone again, just staring, barely able to form a coherent thought.

I seemed to stay frozen like that for a while. Suspended. Then I picked up my phone with shaking hands and tears in my eyes, and I logged out from the app. I felt cold in the middle. Empty. Like I had been scraped raw and was left with nothing.

It had seemed so good for a minute. So unreal.

Too unreal.

I counted to ten. Stared vaguely outside my window. And deleted the app from my phone.

A/N: Thanks for reading! If you're enjoying so far, please leave a vote and/or a comment :)