Chapter 8 - Hola, dearest ex (1)

If it just ain't right,

and it's time to say goodbye

When it all falls down,

I'll be fine

You're the drug that I'm addicted to

And I want you so bad, but I'll be fine

— Alan Walker, All Falls Down

A U T U M N

"Let me know which ässhole this Phraser guy was, so I could teach him some lesson," growled Tyler by the time I finished telling him about what happened at the party last night.

"Hey, he and I are friends now." I didn't know why I defended Phraser. Maybe because he defended me in front of Margo and promised to clean up the mess. Above all else, I didn't want Tyler to get involved in a brawl.

Tyler stared at me. An incredulous look plastered on his handsome face. "You're friends which someone who made up a rumor and swore to make your life a living hell?"

When he put it that way, it sounded ridiculous that I even considered becoming friends with Phraser. To Tyler, I gave him a solid nod which he replied with an exhaustive sigh. I took a deep breath, ready to tell him what happened today. "Ty, there's something I have to tell you. Phraser, today he ki—"

His cell phone rang and he immediately reached into his front pocket. He glanced at the screen and stood. His back was on me as he started to walk away with his phone held close to his right ear. I couldn't make out his expression but I could see his neck tensed and his body went stiff. I wondered what the call was about. Plus, who it was from.

Tyler has been acting rather weird these days. We hardly had time to talk, yet when we finally had the chance, this happened.

He finished his call and shoved his phone into the back pocket of his jeans. It looked like he let out a deep sigh as he stared at the ground before turning around to face me. "Hey, love," he said as he approached me. "I gotta go."

I frowned. "Where?"

"I-uh," he paused to clear his throats. "My friend just called me."

"Your friend?" I knew his social skill was great but I honestly didn't expect him to have a friend on the first day of school straight away. Also, I doubted a friend he met on his first day would have that kind of effect on him. No first-day friend would get him that tense and that pissed over a phone call.

"Yeah." He ran one hand through his thick brown hair and gave me an apologetic smile. "Corbin. He told me there'll be an additional class starting in half an hour. I don't have my books with me, I gotta go get them and come back to school."

"Additional class?" I stood and looked him square in the eye. Somehow, I had a feeling that he wasn't telling me the truth. There was something that he tried so hard to hide from me. I didn't have anything to prove that, but I could see it in his eyes and feel it deep in my heart. Something wasn't right.

"Yeah, Chem 1403." He pulled me into a hug. When he pulled away, he looked down at me and said, "I could drop you home, grab my book, and come back here."

I remembered that I had to talk with Jess so I didn't take his offer and shook my head. "No." I took a step back and grabbed my bag from the bench. "I gotta go and meet Jess."

"Okay." He nodded and gave me a light kiss. After Phraser's kiss, I wanted more than just something light so I clung my hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down. He hesitated for a moment but he went for a full-blown kiss almost right away. The kiss was full and wet, one that sucked my breath and sent warm tingling all over my body. We've kissed a lot of time, hell, we even kissed a lot last night. But I've never got tired of it. I'd never get tired of him.

He was the first to pull back. His lips wet from the kiss, he looked at me from beneath lowered lids. "I'll call you."

I nodded and squeezed his hand before letting go. He got into the other side of the lawn in two minutes. All I could see was his back until he was out of my sight.

I dropped my bag on the bench and took a seat. I pulled out my phone and dialed Jess' number. It went to the voicemail. I decided to leave her a message.

"Jess, I need to talk to you. Call me ASAP."

I put both elbows on top of my knees and put my head on my palms as a throbbing headache started to move from the back of my head to my forehead. The tension pressing against my temples started to make me feel dizzy. I doubted it came from the hangover since I wasn't that drunk last night.

"Hey, are you okay?"

I looked up to meet a pair of baby blues. His hair was blonde, almost white, like Daenerys' from Game of Thrones. His blue eyes sparkled and I saw amusement mixed with worries there. "Yeah. I'm just having a slight headache."

"Oh, I have something for that." There was a hint of an accent in his voice. The way he said 'I' sounded more like 'oi'. I watched him open his backpack and take out a bottle of Advil. "Here."

I didn't take pills from strangers but by the innocent look on his face, I doubted he'd have the heart to give me fake pills or swap the contents. I grabbed the Advil, two pills and chugged them down with the bottle of water I kept from lunch earlier.

I handed the Advil back to him. "Thanks." I smiled and pointed at the bottle he was shoving back to his bag. "So, what's the story? Why are you carrying Advil around?"