Chapter 23

To say it was awkward would be a complete understatement.

I stiffly brought my cold water bottle to my lips as if my arm was made of cardboard. When I looked around the table of my friends, I noticed they were all looking at me and the teenaged boy beside me.

"Gem-"

I snapped my head over to Xander, sending him my best death glare even if my hostility towards him hurt me as well as him. "What?"

He looked taken aback, not used to my sudden hostility. Yet. "Nothing, nothing."

Michael and Sabrina, tired of sitting alone with Xander, dragged him back to our table for this lunch period. I understood that they were trying to get Xander and I to make amends again so our friend group could be normal again, and there was no doubt in my mind that we'd fix our problems eventually. It was just a matter of who was going to reach out first to build the damaged bridge.

Sabrina sighed, the other five eyes averting over to her. "I'm so done with your silly games, you two," she said, leaning forward in her seat as she pointed her fork at Xander and I.

"Yeah," Michael said while he put his arm over her shoulder. "What do you guys want to bet they'll be screwing like rabbits by the end of the month."

I rolled my emerald eyes with a scoff. "I'm not a rabbit, you idiot."

Our friends could be seen looking at each other and raising their eyebrows and making intricate facial expressions to each other. It was fishy to say the least.

"Why are you guys doing that?" Xander asked, taking notice of their weird communication also.

Olivia perked up. "Doing what?" She asked innocently with big, blue eyes and a knowing smile.

"That!" He said, flailing his hands at their faces.

"What do you mean?" Cooper said with a tilt of his head. It was obvious that he was trying to contain his laughter which gave them all away.

"You guys aren't as innocent as you're trying to be." I narrowed my eyes at them. "But I'll find out. That, you can bet on."

***

"Bye, kiddo," Joey said as he ruffled my hair like I was a dog. "Good job today, your times keep getting better, and I wouldn't be surprised if we go to state because of you."

"Thanks, Joey." I smiled at the compliment. Usually, Cooper or Xander walked with me to our dorm hall, but Xander and I were exchanging death glares and Cooper wasn't at practice.

Joey was about to turn on his heel and leave before I took grab of his arm, forcing him to stay planted to where he was. "Do you know where Cooper was at practice?"

Cooper missed today's practice, and he never missed. He was that kid who would raise his arm in class and remind the teacher about a test if they forgot, so it shocked me when I didn't see Cooper jumping hurdles with the rest of us at practice since he was at school earlier.

Joey shook his head. "Nope. He's probably busy, though. With studying, of course!" He quickly added the last part.

I nodded with furrowed brows as I took out my room keys. "Oh, okay. You're probably right. He's Cooper, he's always studying. I'll see you later, Joey!"

He waved as he made his way down the hall and stepped out of view at the corner. I turned toward my door to unlock it.

"Dammit!" I whisper-shouted to myself as I looked at the copper key on the ground. I sighed as I just glared at the key, expecting it to fly up to my hand. These are the times that the Force would come in handy. Narrowing my eyes at the floor, I reached down to get the key and successfully turned it in the lock.

"Hey, Liv, I-" I announced, stepping through the door, expecting to see my usual best friend struggling with her homework. But, this time, it wasn't Olivia and her calculus problems. I squinted my eyes to them to confirm I wasn't imagining it or dreaming. I was very much seeing it clearer than water.

Now, I had walked in on Olivia and her "friends" before, but it had never been both my best friends. Occupying her bed was a very shirtless Cooper hovering over a very undressed Olivia, both looking like deer caught in headlights as their heads snapped up to me.

I blinked to reassure myself what I was seeing wasn't a side effect of some weird food that Sabrina made me try at lunch. "I'm seeing this correctly, right?"

Silence.

"I'm seeing this wrongly, right?" I said, tears forming in the corners of my eyes. "Please tell me I'm not seeing this right now."

"Rory, w-we were going to tell you soon, I swear," came Olivia's defense, her eyes the size of saucepans.

More silence.

At this point, the silence was so sharp, it could cut butter better than a steak knife.

"H-How long has it been?" I hoarsely whispered, cautious not to break the tense stillness.

"Has what been?" Cooper stupidly asked, pulling on his shirt.

"Since you two have been sneaking around behind my back- behind everybody's back," I snapped.

"I-It started during the summer, in June."

"June?" I asked with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. They nodded slowly in unison. "You've been lying to everybody for eight months?"

"We didn't want to make you feel awkward since it's always been us three." Olivia tried defending.

"You're really calm right now, and I'm actually questioning your sanity," Cooper added with a forced laugh in attempts to lighten the heaviness.

"It's okay," I whispered and looked between the two. I've become used to saying that a lot; it's almost a habit now.

"We're sorry." Olivia's eyes filled with regret as she uttered the words. "We should've told you sooner, I know." Whenever one of us said "we," the word was referring to the three of us. Now, tables have turned, and that word would solely be for the two of them.

"Agreed," Cooper said. "Rory, you're our closest friend, it's always been the three of us. Don't let our friendship go now, after all those years."

"It's okay," I repeated, averting my eyes to the carpeted floor. "I-I think I'm just going to go now," I said, retreating out the door, leaving them to stare after me with guilt written all over their faces.

I would have to come back to my room since tomorrow was another school day, but I'd leave that for later.

Having nowhere else to go, I found myself in front of a door with my fist extending to knock.

I knocked three times, but there was no response.

"Xander?"

No response yet again. I sighed, pinching the black bobby pin out of my ponytail. I bent the shape of it to be more straight and bent down to pick the cheap brass lock. Cooper had taught me my pick-locking skills when we were in middle school since nobody was home to open the door for me after school most of the time.

Turning the doorknob, I stepped inside his dorm to be met with complete darkness. Sure, it was a complete invasion of privacy, but knowing Xander, he wouldn't care that much, even if we were fighting.

I switched on the lights and scanned his room. Obviously he wasn't here.

His neatly-made navy bed was calling my name, but as I was making my way over to it in the small room, a framed picture above his desk caught my eye. I had been in his dorm once before from that time I fell asleep, but I hadn't taken much time to observe the surroundings much.

It was a picture of a younger Xander and a girl in Eastview's colors. He looked to be a few years younger than he was now, and the resemblance between the two was undeniable. The two shared the same dark locks and grey eyes, making me even curious and had my nosy senses heightening.

This girl was clearly around the same age as him. And even if she was a twin, he would've at least mentioned her. She could be a cousin, but I'm not dumb, and I doubt cousins could look that similar.

Suddenly, it hit me. The memory of and that Bradley guy yelling about some girl they loved at the game a few weeks ago flashed through my head. And when they said they loved her, it was in past tense. Like they couldn't love her anymore.

Hanging the framed picture back on the beige wall, I slammed open the first drawer in his desk and dug through the papers and files, desperate to find out more.

Questions after questions, thoughts after thoughts ran faster than lightning in my head, and as much as I wanted to stop snooping, it seemed to be almost impossible to.

Through the mess of papers and old homework assignments, a pink piece of construction paper stood out of it. I picked it up to examine it. It read: "Love you, Alexander! Happy 16th. Well happy 16th to me too, but I'll give this card to you since I already wrote your name and can't erase marker. From your favorite person ever, Alexis."

The writing was neatly scribbled on in black marker, but the message on it wasn't what shocked me the most. It was who wrote it. Alexis. Before I could think any more about it, I heard the door shaking open. I froze for a split second and unsuccessfully attempted to shove the paper back under the pile of papers in the drawer.

"Aurora?" I heard his shocked voice behind me. "What are you doing here?"

I turned around hesitantly to be met with the sight of Xander and Michael accompanying him. They were each holding a bag of take-out like they came back from a quick dinner at the Chinese restaurant down the street.

My eyes widened and my hands let the pink paper float down to the carpeted floor. I was simply at a loss for words.

He looked down to the paper and surprisingly, stayed calm. A vein popped out in his neck and his jaw clenched. He was good at covering up his emotions, he only let himself be readable when he let himself be, so I read his eyes. They conveyed pure betrayal as they stared down at the pink paper before he looked back up to me, noticing my tear stained face with puffy, red eyes and a red nose. His eyes and jaw visibly softened.

"I, uh, am just going to go now," Michael said with an awkward wave before he left and closed the door behind him, leaving Xander and I in the fragile silence, neither of us wanting to break it.

"I'm sorry- I'm so sorry, Xander," I sobbed and dropped to the floor. I didn't know what else to do, and it definitely was not my right to go through his things, even if we were fighting and even if he pushed me to tell him about my past. "I-I'm so sorry."

"No, no, no," he cooed, cupping my face and boring his eyes into my wet ones. "You don't get to cry, okay? There's nothing to cry about because I'm not mad at you, gem."

"Y-You're not?" I looked up at him as we leaned against the wall.

He shook his head with a soft smile. "I'm not."

"That's good," I finalized. "Really good, actually." My words set into the gentle silence that stretched miles between us.

He picked up the pink construction paper and played with it in his calloused hands, picking at its edges little by little. "Her name was Alexis."

"You don't have to tell me yet, Xander."

"You deserve to know," he said, looking at me and the way he did, I could tell he was completely telling the truth. He wanted me to know, but I also knew that he deserved to free himself of this.

"Go on, then. I'm listening."

***

hope you all liked this chapter! kinda cliffhanger? not really lol. and i really want you guys to get to know these characters more so go check out my Pinterest at ourforevers and there are character boards for Aurora and Xander and Olivia and some of my future characters in an unreleased book! The link is in my bio!

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i literally love you guys so so much, -sophia