He grins. “How was your day?” he asks.
“Not terrible, actually. I made friends with the new student.”
“Oh yeah?” He says and I know by his tone that David told him about it. David has a reputation for keeping people informed about whatever is going on at school.
“David already told you, didn’t he?” I ask.
He nods.
“What did he say?”
“That you were having lunch with some new guy and asked if I wanted it taken care of.”
“Jeez. Taken care of how exactly?”
Alec laughs. “I was afraid to ask. I just told him no and that I trust my girl.”
I smile again.
“I do have to say it would make things easier on me if your friend was a girl.”
I laugh. “Why? Jealous?” I pause when he doesn’t say anything. “I tend to not get along with girls too well. Too much drama.”
“Understandable. Although guys can be just as much drama.” He takes a deep breath. “So, tell me about this guy who is lucky enough to spend time with my girlfriend.”
I smile from ear to ear at the way he is talking. I know there is a hint of jealously in his tone, but not in a bad way. I tell him that his name is Sebastian. His parents are from here but he grew up in New York and, that he is in a long distance relationship, so we have that in common.
I notice his voice and expression change when I mention that. He is no longer smiling, but I leave it alone and ask him about his classes.
“Sky?” he says in an even more serious tone.
“Yeah?”
“I got a job on campus - at the bookstore. I will have to work alternate weekends for now, and they will work with me around my baseball schedule once the season starts.”
“Oh.”
“It doesn’t change anything. We will make it work,” he reassures me.
I take a deep breath. “Yeah, we will.”
“Do you work this weekend?” I ask.
“Nope. I will be coming home to see you, and we will be checking something off the list.” He grins.
The next few days, I ride the bus to school, hang out with Sebastian more and more, and Sebastian makes a habit out of driving me home every day. On Friday, when we turn on my street, Sebastian asks, “Who the hell is that fool sitting on top of your roof?”
“Oh My God! He wasn’t supposed to come home until tomorrow! That’s Alec.”
“Nice!” he says and I’m already opening the door by the time he fully stops the car.
“I want to know the story behind the roof on Monday! I know there is one!” he yells as I get out of the car.
I rush toward the side of the house, climb up the ladder and fight the urge to not just throw myself at Alec or we will both end up falling off the roof.
We kiss and kiss and kiss.
“I missed you,” he says.
“I missed you too.”
“Who was that?” he asks.
“Sebastian. He usually gives me a ride home.”
“Oh,” he says.
“Is everything okay?” I ask.
“Yeah. Of course. It’s just that more and more I wish I had stayed and gone to community college here.”
I smile at him, “You made the right decision.”
He sighs. “Come on. Let’s get down from here. We have somewhere to be,” he winks at me and we make our way down the ladder.
We get in the truck and he puts a blindfold over my eyes.
After a while, I ask him how far is this place.
“About forty minutes to go,” he says.
“And I have to wear this the whole time??”
I hear him laugh and that sound makes me smile. “You sure do.”
He turns up the music and plays all of my favorite songs.
After some time, I feel the truck stop and the engine shut off.
“Wait here,” he says. “No peeking!”
He opens the door for me and kisses me before picking me up and helping me stand on the ground.
“Ready?” he asks.
I laugh nervously. “I’m not sure.”
“Come on,” he whispers against my ear. “I got you.”
I follow his lead. After a few minutes of walking, we are somewhere with a lot of noise and it makes me uneasy not being able to see.
“Trust me,” he whispers against my ear, and after a while, he asks me to sit down.
He then takes the blindfold off and after giving time for my vision to adjust, I look around. There is a stage right in front of us.
My eyes widen, before my vision gets blurry from tears.
“Alec, I—”
He smiles.
“You’re amazing,” I say.
“You don’t even know who is singing,” he laughs.
“It doesn’t matter. You know how much I love music. I’ve never been to a concert!”
“Never?” he asks surprised.
“Never.”
“Well, it is Ed Sheeran, in case you are wondering,” he winks and my mouth just hangs open. I throw myself into his arms and hug him.
It takes a few hours before the concert starts, but I enjoy the extra time with Alec. The concert is amazing. I find myself singing every single word from every single song. More and more, I admire the people who can do that. I can write songs and sing to a small group of friends, but I could never sing to this many people. When a slow song comes on, we are both standing. Alec holds my hand and guides me to where I stand in front of him. When I do, his arms go around my waist and he moves to the rhythm of the song. At some point, he turns me around and even though there is barely any room between us and the front row of chairs, we manage to slow dance. I should be blushing like crazy, but I completely ignore everyone around us. It is just Alec, me, and the music. “I wish this concert didn’t have to end,” I yell over the music.
Alec grins from ear to ear. “There will be others,” he winks.
After the concert, he drives me home, stopping to get something to eat on the way, and I make it in right under curfew.
I text him as soon as I get in my room.
‘Did I mention how amazing you are?’
A reply comes in within seconds, but it leaves me confused. ‘You’ll be okay, but you really should talk to someone else. I don’t think I’m the right person to help you.’
‘Huh?’ I text back.
‘Sorry. Wrong text. You did, but I’m not as amazing as you.’
He doesn’t say anything else about the wrong text, and I assume he was just talking to Kyle.
The weekend goes by way too fast. Now that Alec and his sister are both in college, his parents want to turn his sister’s room into an office, so we spend the rest of the weekend packing the few things she left behind, moving furniture, and putting new furniture together. On Monday, I tell Sebastian about the roof being my place to think and that Alec had to get over his fear of heights to talk to me when I wanted to be away from everyone and everything.
After school, as soon as I get home, I start to dial Alec’s number, when I realize that he is at work. Having nothing else to do, I grab a soda and go watch a movie. After, I go throw the soda bottle in the trash and as I open the trashcan, there is something that grabs my attention right away. I recognize the handwriting.
I grab the crumbled up envelope and put it in my pocket before mom or dad show up. I then go up to my room.
I hold the letter with trembling hands, wondering if I should open it or not… wondering if this will finally tell me why he did what he did.
I sit on my bed and finally open it.
Hi Skylar,
I’m sure I’m the last person you want to hear from right now, but I guess if you are reading this, there is hope.
I just felt… I don’t know. Next week is Kristi’s birthday and I know you are the only one who understands how it feels not having her around. I’ve been missing her a lot, and I miss you too.
I talk to her sometimes, and I ev
en get the feeling that she is here with me, you know? I’m sure you don’t. I probably sound like a crazy person.
I don’t expect you to write me back, Skylar, but it would be nice to be able to talk about this with someone who understands.
I miss you.
Mike
I finish reading and just stare at the paper wondering if this is some kind of game he is playing or if he really means everything he wrote. He sounds so much like the old Mike.
I hide the paper in my desk, unsure of what I should do about it. Wanting to keep my mind off it, I text Sebastian and ask if he wants to go do something. There is not much to do, but I just need to get out of the house and I don’t want to be alone.
We end up going to a shopping center that has a small store that sells CDs and movies.
“You seem upset,” says Sebastian while we scan through the movies. Do you want to talk about it?”
I just shake my head and he leaves it alone.
“Skylar,” Sebastian whispers my name after a while.
“Yeah?”
“Do you know that guy?” he asks, pointing his head toward the back of the store.
I glance in that direction and there is a tall, blond guy, who seems around our age… maybe a little older. He is staring right at me, so I quickly look away and back at Sebastian.
“No,” I say. “I’ve never seen him before.”
“Well, he has been staring at you for quite a while now. It’s giving me the creeps.”
I have this bad gut feeling about it too. “Let’s go,” I tell Sebastian.
We leave without buying anything and without looking back. As we drive away, I look in the mirror, and the guy is standing outside, staring at the car.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Alec’s first week of work is rough. We barely have time to talk and then he has to work on the weekend too. He always looks tired, so I feel bad keeping him on the phone. I end up moping around the house and writing new songs. I fell in love with the first song I wrote and now, I can’t stop coming up with new ideas. It helps me in so many ways. Still, the week goes by slow, and when the weekend comes, I feel like I have nothing to look forward to.
On Saturday, I hear the doorbell ring and a few seconds later, mom yells, “Honey, you have someone asking for you.”
I rush down the stairs thinking that it might be Alec trying to surprise me, but it is Sebastian.
“Oh” I say. “Hi.”
“Happy to see you too!” he jokes.
“Who is your friend?” asks dad and I swear he is gloating. Ugh.
“This is Sebastian. He is new at school.”
“Well, newish. It’s not the first week anymore.” Sebastian laughs and tries to be all southern gentleman like. He takes off his Fedora hat and shakes dad’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Sir.”
“So, what is going on?” I ask Sebastian.
“Well, I figured we could go to the movies or something. I’m getting tired of you looking all depressed and stuff.”
“Thank God,” says dad.
I glare at him.
“What?” he says.
I roll my eyes at him before looking at Sebastian. “Can we just stay here and watch movies?”
“Hmm. I guess. But we are going to at least go grab some lunch first.”
I look at mom and she is smiling. Ugh.
“I will be right back,” I say.
I go upstairs to change, and I hear dad thank Sebastian.
Sebastian and I end up going to a small diner downtown.
“Your parents seem nice,” he says.
“They are,” I keep checking my phone for texts from Alec. “They probably think you are the solution to all their problems right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“They are just waiting for Alec and me to break up…”
Before I can elaborate on that, we hear laughter from the table across from ours. I look over and see the same blond guy from the store the other day.
He then turns around and goes back to playing with his phone. I have that bad feeling again.
I go back to talking to Sebastian. Sebastian grabs his phone and texts me from the table. “He is staring at you again. Are you sure you don’t know him? It’s creeping me out.”
I text him back, “I don’t know him.”
Sebastian takes a deep breath and turns to face the guy. “Hey. I’m sorry, but do you know her or something?”
The guy grins. “What’s it to you?”
I look at Sebastian, “Can we go?”
Just then, the owner comes out from the back of the store and stops at the guy’s table. “I thought I told you not to come back here,” he says in a frustrated tone.
The guy stands up, picks up his plate and drops it on the floor. I flinch as the plate shatters and food goes everywhere. The guy smiles at the owner, and then leaves.
I notice then that I was holding my breath in.
“Sorry kids,” says Mr. Glenn as he starts to clean up the mess.
“Do you know who that guy is?” asks Sebastian.
Mr. Glenn shakes his head. “He is definitely not from around here. I just know that he is a troublemaker. He was bothering one of my employees the other day and I told him to leave or I would call the cops. He left right away.”
That bad feeling gets worse.
I can’t even eat anymore, but Sebastian finishes his lunch as we talk about how creepy this whole thing is… Then we move on to talking about movies. He likes scary movies too, so it is another thing we have in common.
We go home and Sebastian feels the need to inform my parents about the guy at the diner. My parents now love Sebastian even more. I told him not to worry about it, but he insisted that twice was more than a coincidence. My dad freaks out about it too and says he is going to talk to Mr. Glenn and try to find out more. I write it off as him being over protective.
“Are you going to tell Alec?” Sebastian asks while we watch the movie.
“No way. You are all reading too much into it. Besides, he doesn’t need to worry about this on top of everything else.” My phone rings. “Speaking of which,” I say as I grin.
I answer the phone and smile at him.
“Hey Sky.”
“Hey. How was your day?” I ask.
“Long and unbearable. What are you up to?”
I shrug. “Watching The Exorcist with Sebastian.”
“Oh… Should I let you go?” he asks disappointed.
“No!” I practically yell. “Of course not. I’ve been waiting all day to talk to you.”
He grins.
“You are coming home next weekend, right?” I ask.
“Of course,” he winks at me, and all is right in the world again.
Until Tuesday, which would have been Kristi’s birthday.
I tell mom and dad I don’t feel good that morning. They know what day it is and they let me stay home.
I can’t eat breakfast. I just go to my closet, pull out the box that Kristi’s mom sent, and head over to the cemetery. On the way, I walk by the store and grab three cupcakes. I debate getting two instead, but it just felt wrong. Mike had always been a part of our birthday traditions.
I sit down across from where I can read her name on the ground. A part of me is still in disbelief that she is no longer here. I keep hearing that time will make it easier, but maybe at some level, I don’t want it to. Maybe I’m afraid that she will become just an old memory. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, open the box, and pull out a bear that her mom sent to put on her grave, and a letter for Kristi that talks about how much they miss her. The letter is short, but sweet. Her mom wrote about how her little sister is doing, and how much she is starting to look more and more like Kristi. I open the box of cupcakes, recalling our birthday tradition. On each of our birthdays, we would go to the park, sit on the swings, and eat cupcakes together.
“Can I sit here?”
I jump at the sound of his voice, stand up, and start t
o back away.
“Are you following me?” I ask.
“Relax. I’m not going to hurt you.”
I take another step back.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“Please. Just sit down and I will tell you,” he grins.
“No. I’m fine standing.”
“Okay,” he says. “My name is Jason. I was friends with Kristi.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “She never told me about you.”
He shrugs. “Maybe she wanted to keep it a secret.”
His words hurt, because I now know just how many things Kristi was keeping from us.
“She used to tell me everything,” I say defensibly.
“Well, not everything,” he says. “And we both know that is true.”
He is telling me everything that validates my fears. She didn’t talk to me. She didn’t look for help. And now, she is gone.
“How did you know her?” I ask.
“We talked a lot online.”
This gets weirder and weirder. “That is funny because her parents didn’t let her use Internet at home, or on her phone.”
He tilts his head to the side and shrugs. “Somehow, she found a way, because that is how we talked.”
This feels off. “I’m leaving,” I say.
“No.” He stops me. “She was your best friend. I will go.”
I stand here, with my arms still crossed. He reaches down and grabs a cupcake, and before he turns around to leave, he says, “Bye ‘Sky’,” and winks at me.
I stand here, speechless. I make sure he is really gone before I sit back down. I just sit in silence and let the tears fall. I really wish she had talked to me… Seeking help just once could’ve saved her.
I FaceTime Alec as soon as I get home.
“Sky? Are you okay?”
I shake my head.
“What’s wrong?”
I sigh and wipe the tears with the back of my hand. “Today was Kristi’s birthday. I just got back from the cemetery.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I would have been there for you.”
“Alec, you can’t drop everything every time I have something going on.”
“I know, but—”
“I will be okay. Tell me, what is going on with you?” I ask, trying to keep my mind off Kristi. Then I wish I hadn’t asked…
Catch Me If I Fall Page 4
