Walls
Noel
The weekend passed by quickly, with everyone crashing at Lacey's every night. It was never boring, they were always drinking, and Skylar felt safer having the guys around. She had gotten to know Kellin and Gabe better and realized they also went to Towson with Zack. On Sunday night, everyone went back to their own homes except Alex, Rian and Skylar, who still didn't trust the girls to be alone. Skylar and Lacey were in her room, doing their homework that they had put off all weekend, while Rian and Alex were playing video games in the guest room.
"So you fell asleep with Alex on Friday huh? I guess you guys are cool now?" Skylar looked up at her best friend and nodded.
"I didn't want to be alone after the whole Vince thing. I talked to Alex and he told me everything. Including what was in the letter." Lacey closed her textbook and set it aside. Skylar did the same and rubbed her eyes.
"It said why Cody did it. He was fed up with Vince, and he was sick. Like, REALLY sick Lace." Lacey ran a hand through her fiery red hair and leaned forward.
"How sick?" Skylar sighed, looking down.
"He had cancer apparently. They found it when he went to the doctor to get treated for his injuries from Vince. I guess he didn't want to live with it so..." She trailed off, not needing to explain any further. They sat in silence for a few moments before opening up their textbooks and finishing their homework. Two hours later, Rian popped into the room with Alex.
"So tomorrow I'm driving you and Alex to school okay? We also have to pick up Jack so be ready at 7am." Skylar nodded and smiled, glad that she didn't have to take the bus. "And Zack is gonna pick you up around the same time Lace." Rian left the room, Lacey trailing after him, wondering why Zack had to pick her up. Alex sat on the bed with Skylar and put an arm around her shoulder so she leaned her head on his shoulder.
"I hope he leaves us alone and doesn't show up at the school tomorrow." He ran his hands through her auburn hair and smiled.
"Don't worry, I won't leave your side." Lacey walked back in, muttering something about how she was going to kill her cousin one day. "Goodnight Skye!" He hugged her, got off the bed, and went to the guest room.
--
The next day in music class, Skye and Kara were sitting with Alex and Rian, working on their assignments. Skylar still didn't know what she was going to write, so she sat there staring at her notebook, while everyone else was writing.She kept tapping her pencil on the table and thinking about Friday night. Kara noticed and questioned her about it while the guys were too focused on their work.
"There's just too much on my mind right now, I can't concentrate. I keep thinking about Cody, about Vince, about Alex, just everything." Skylar could feel her chest tightening so she stood up and ran out of the classroom and down the hall. She kept running until she was outside the school. A gust of wind smacked her in the face and she just breathed in the fresh, autumn air. She let it fill her lungs until she was breathing normally again. When she turned around, Alex was running up to her asking what happened.
"I-I think I had a panic attack." He stepped closer and wrapped her in his arms. She leaned into him and sighed. She loved being around him, he was able to calm her down in any situation. The bell rang, so they walked back inside and headed to the classroom to get their stuff but met Kara and Rian in the hallway and they had already collected their belongings.
"You okay?" Skylar nodded at Kara and turned around to go back outside for a smoke. Alex fell into step beside her and followed her outside. When he saw her light up the cigarette, he frowned.
"I hate it when you smoke." She raised her eyebrow at him.
"You smoke too." He shook his head and leaned against the wall.
"That was a one time thing. I was a nervous wreck that day because it was my first time seeing you again." Skylar coughed when she exhaled, but it was a deep, hacking cough and it worried Alex. Before he could say anything, the bell rang so they headed back inside to endure the rest of the day.
--
During lunch, everyone was sitting in the cafeteria, talking about the party they were throwing for Lacey on Friday. So far they had established it was going to be at Kara's around 9, Rian and Skylar were in charge of who was invited (which meant the entire junior year student body of both schools), Alex and Jack were in charge of the entertainment, Mike and Vic would get the alcohol since they had fake IDs and Zack was in charge of kicking everyone out if the party got out of hand.
"So do we tell her or is it a surprise?" It was the one thing they weren't sure of.
"It would be better as a surprise but how do we get an entire house full of wasted teenagers to yell surprise simultaneously? It's impossible." With that, everyone agreed that it wouldn't be a surprise, so Skylar was going to tell her after school so they could go shopping for outfits.
Rian's phone started ringing, and when he answered it he started shouting at the person on the other end and then hung up.
"Okay so that was Lacey. We're going to Towson, like...now." Everyone looked up at him, questioning his vague statement. "Vince showed up to 'talk' to Zack's cousin. Zack found out." That was all it took for everyone to stand up and jog to the parking lot to pile into the cars, not caring that they were all going to be skipping the rest of their classes that day.
Once they got there, it wasn't hard to find them. Skylar ran straight to the football field, where Lacey always spent her lunches. As they approached, they could see Lacey standing in front of another girl, protecting her and Zack yelling at Vince, who was surprisingly not surrounded by all of his friends. Skylar walked up to Lacey, and then could see that the girl behind her was crying, and had a black eye. She barely knew Zack's cousin, having only met her a couple of times but it still angered Skylar.
The next thing she knew, she was right next to Zack.
"IS THIS THE ONLY THING YOU KNOW HOW TO DO? HIT PEOPLE? MAKE THEM FEEL LIKE SHIT? WHAT THE FUCK DID SHE DO TO DESERVE THAT YOU PRICK?" Skylar was running on adrenaline now, and everyone was staring at her, shocked that she could yell so loud for being such a tiny being.
"What the fuck do you have anything to do with this?! This is between me and Tara! Fuck off." Zack was about to start yelling, but Skylar beat him to it.
"SHE HAPPENS TO BE ONE OF MY FRIEND'S COUSINS. YOU GAVE HER A BLACK EYE, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" She heard Zack mutter 'so many things' which earned him a death glare from Vince.
"SHE FUCKED MY BEST FRIEND" Skylar's fists were balled up, so were Zack's, and now Alex was by their side.
"And what? You think that gives you the right to hit her? Are you insane? So far since i've met you, you've punched me, and her. That's two girls in three days. Who's next? Lacey? Kara? Grow some balls man, hitting girls makes you a fucking coward." She spat in face, with more hatred than the first time she did it. Stopping herself from making a stupid move, she whirled around and started walking away. While Vince was distracted from being shocked at Skylar's words, Zack took the opportunity to give him a black eye of his own. As Skylar started walking back to the car, she turned to Lacey and Zack's cousin.
"By the way, your birthday party is Friday night at Kara's. You're invited too, Tara." Tara nodded, thanked Skylar and followed them to the cars. Everyone was too wound up to go back to their classes so they all skipped.
--
Friday finally rolled around, and everyone was beyond excited about the party. Things had been quieter since the encounter at Towson, they hadn't seen Vince since then. But Skylar knew it was just the calm before the storm.
When school was over, she went over to Lacey's to get ready. Both of them had already decided on what to wear, all they had to do was fix their hair and do their makeup. They were done by 8:30 and were just waiting for Alex to pick them up. Skylar had settled on a black miniskirt with dark stockings, and a silky, leopard print tank top with her black combat boots. Lacey wore a red mini dress with black heels.
"So anything new with you and Zack?" Lacey shook her head and checked herself out in the mirror one last time.
"Nah, maybe something will happen tonight though." Skylar smirked and texted Alex to see where he was.
"Just jump his bones." Lacey laughed and smacked her bed friend playfully. A horn honked outside so they grabbed their purses and made their way outside.
"I'll jump Zack's if you jump Alex's." Lacey wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and Skylar lightly shoved her, laughing.
"Fuck, we're just friends!" They got in the car and Alex drove off. He had Green Day playing on the radio and he as singing along. Soon enough, Skylar and Lacey joined him, and it lasted the whole ride to Kara's.
When they got there, the house was already packed, even in the backyard. Lacey went straight for the fridge to find some beer, and Skylar went to the counter to get some shots. Mike and Vic were on the other side, chugging beers. She smiled and grabbed two shot glasses from the counter. She poured some Jack Daniels into them and handed one to Alex. They raised their shot glasses and smiled at each other.
"To being best friends again."
"To being best friends." They downed their shots and poured more, handing some to Vic and Mike.
Ten shots and seven drinks later, Skylar was wasted, stumbling everywhere. She had lost track of Alex in the sea of teenagers but managed to find Tara talking to Zack in the backyard.
"HEY ZACK'S COUSIN! YOU CAME! HI ZACKY" Zack laughed when he saw Skylar, as did Tara. Skylar hugged Tara and Zack and then out of nowhere, Jack came running up with Alex and Lacey.
"GROUP HUG" It didn't work out very well since Jack jumped on everyone and turned into more of a dog pile. They all laughed and got up from the dirt. Skylar dusted herself off and ran back into the kitchen to get another drink. Alex followed her, not realizing how drunk she was, or how drunk he was. When he got there, Skylar had a cup of gin and tonic in her hands and was drinking it rather fast. Then they heard a voice they had definitely not expected to hear.
"Nice party Raine." Vince.
Skylar spun around and found herself staring at Vince and his good for nothing friends who she was convinced were just afraid of him.
"Nice black eye. Whadd'ya want scumbag?" She smirked at the purple bruise around his left eye that Zack had made and then cursed the alcohol for hitting her so hard and making her slur.
"Shutup, i'm here to talk to Tara. Are you wasted?" She frowned and saw Alex on his phone.
"No. Go away." Alex stepped in front of her protectivel, realizing how drunk she really was.
"Why should I? Anyways i'm just here to see Tara, not to start shit with you guys." Alex shook his head and calmly told him to leave again. "No, I just want to speak with her." Skylar saw Zack and Lacey walking towards them holding hands, which she would have to question later, with Tara and Rian right behind them. When Vince saw Tara, he grabbed her wrist and she tried to squirm away from him. Tara was calling out to Zack, or anyone really, for help.
"Shut the fuck up Tara, I just wanna talk." Zack was in front of Vince, yelling at him to let go, Tara at his side, still being held in his grasp firmly. All of a sudden, a bottle had struck Vince across the back of his head and he fell to the floor, in a pile of broken glass, still conscious. When they looked up, Skylar was standing there with half of a broken beer bottle in her hands, glaring down at him.
"No, YOU shut the fuck up, get out of my friends house AND get the hell out of our lives. I'm SO sick of your shit!" Vince's friends helped him up and dragged him out of the house. Tara thanked and hugged Skylar, who returned the hug, and then poured drinks for everyone who was still in utter shock. Once they had finished their drinks, everyone went back to socializing with the rest of the party.
Skylar's drink was almost completely empty when Alex took the cup from her and held it above his head, out of her reach. She began jumping to try and grab the cup, but she was still way too short to even come close. He started falling backwards from being so intoxicated but Alex reached out and grabbed her waist, to keep her on her feet.
"Jesus Skye, don't fall over." He chuckled and she gave him a goofy grin. He let go, thinking she was okay to stand on her own now.
"I'm not I just...where's my...I need my dri- oh dang" She stumbled over again but once again, Alex caught her. He pulled her closer so she was wrapped in arms. Her head was spinning so she just relaxed and hugged him back, breathing in his scent of alcohol mixed with some fruity shampoo.
"You smell good." He laughed and pulled back a bit to stare at her. His chocolate brown eyes met with hers and he smiled.
"You look good." He leaned more forward so his forehead was resting against hers. The effects of the alcohol were hitting Skylar hard.
"You look better." She bit her lip nervously, and the next thing she knew, his lips were on hers, and she pulled away, startled. Alex took it the wrong way and started frantically apologizing.
"Sorry, SORRY I should NOT have done that. Oh my god. Skye I didn't mean to-" He was cut off by her lips crashing back to his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.
It didn't take long for them to make their way to one of the unoccupied bedrooms upstairs, Alex locking the door behind him. Skylar pounced on Alex, knocking him into the wall, and removed his shirt, his hands on her waist. Soon enough, he was removing her shirt and they fell to onto the bed, Alex hovering over her, pinning her arms above her head. He let go to reach under and unhooked her bra, while she undid his belt. Seconds later, they got caught up in the moment and the rest of the night was a blur.
"So you fell asleep with Alex on Friday huh? I guess you guys are cool now?" Skylar looked up at her best friend and nodded.
"I didn't want to be alone after the whole Vince thing. I talked to Alex and he told me everything. Including what was in the letter." Lacey closed her textbook and set it aside. Skylar did the same and rubbed her eyes.
"It said why Cody did it. He was fed up with Vince, and he was sick. Like, REALLY sick Lace." Lacey ran a hand through her fiery red hair and leaned forward.
"How sick?" Skylar sighed, looking down.
"He had cancer apparently. They found it when he went to the doctor to get treated for his injuries from Vince. I guess he didn't want to live with it so..." She trailed off, not needing to explain any further. They sat in silence for a few moments before opening up their textbooks and finishing their homework. Two hours later, Rian popped into the room with Alex.
"So tomorrow I'm driving you and Alex to school okay? We also have to pick up Jack so be ready at 7am." Skylar nodded and smiled, glad that she didn't have to take the bus. "And Zack is gonna pick you up around the same time Lace." Rian left the room, Lacey trailing after him, wondering why Zack had to pick her up. Alex sat on the bed with Skylar and put an arm around her shoulder so she leaned her head on his shoulder.
"I hope he leaves us alone and doesn't show up at the school tomorrow." He ran his hands through her auburn hair and smiled.
"Don't worry, I won't leave your side." Lacey walked back in, muttering something about how she was going to kill her cousin one day. "Goodnight Skye!" He hugged her, got off the bed, and went to the guest room.
--
The next day in music class, Skye and Kara were sitting with Alex and Rian, working on their assignments. Skylar still didn't know what she was going to write, so she sat there staring at her notebook, while everyone else was writing.She kept tapping her pencil on the table and thinking about Friday night. Kara noticed and questioned her about it while the guys were too focused on their work.
"There's just too much on my mind right now, I can't concentrate. I keep thinking about Cody, about Vince, about Alex, just everything." Skylar could feel her chest tightening so she stood up and ran out of the classroom and down the hall. She kept running until she was outside the school. A gust of wind smacked her in the face and she just breathed in the fresh, autumn air. She let it fill her lungs until she was breathing normally again. When she turned around, Alex was running up to her asking what happened.
"I-I think I had a panic attack." He stepped closer and wrapped her in his arms. She leaned into him and sighed. She loved being around him, he was able to calm her down in any situation. The bell rang, so they walked back inside and headed to the classroom to get their stuff but met Kara and Rian in the hallway and they had already collected their belongings.
"You okay?" Skylar nodded at Kara and turned around to go back outside for a smoke. Alex fell into step beside her and followed her outside. When he saw her light up the cigarette, he frowned.
"I hate it when you smoke." She raised her eyebrow at him.
"You smoke too." He shook his head and leaned against the wall.
"That was a one time thing. I was a nervous wreck that day because it was my first time seeing you again." Skylar coughed when she exhaled, but it was a deep, hacking cough and it worried Alex. Before he could say anything, the bell rang so they headed back inside to endure the rest of the day.
--
During lunch, everyone was sitting in the cafeteria, talking about the party they were throwing for Lacey on Friday. So far they had established it was going to be at Kara's around 9, Rian and Skylar were in charge of who was invited (which meant the entire junior year student body of both schools), Alex and Jack were in charge of the entertainment, Mike and Vic would get the alcohol since they had fake IDs and Zack was in charge of kicking everyone out if the party got out of hand.
"So do we tell her or is it a surprise?" It was the one thing they weren't sure of.
"It would be better as a surprise but how do we get an entire house full of wasted teenagers to yell surprise simultaneously? It's impossible." With that, everyone agreed that it wouldn't be a surprise, so Skylar was going to tell her after school so they could go shopping for outfits.
Rian's phone started ringing, and when he answered it he started shouting at the person on the other end and then hung up.
"Okay so that was Lacey. We're going to Towson, like...now." Everyone looked up at him, questioning his vague statement. "Vince showed up to 'talk' to Zack's cousin. Zack found out." That was all it took for everyone to stand up and jog to the parking lot to pile into the cars, not caring that they were all going to be skipping the rest of their classes that day.
Once they got there, it wasn't hard to find them. Skylar ran straight to the football field, where Lacey always spent her lunches. As they approached, they could see Lacey standing in front of another girl, protecting her and Zack yelling at Vince, who was surprisingly not surrounded by all of his friends. Skylar walked up to Lacey, and then could see that the girl behind her was crying, and had a black eye. She barely knew Zack's cousin, having only met her a couple of times but it still angered Skylar.
The next thing she knew, she was right next to Zack.
"IS THIS THE ONLY THING YOU KNOW HOW TO DO? HIT PEOPLE? MAKE THEM FEEL LIKE SHIT? WHAT THE FUCK DID SHE DO TO DESERVE THAT YOU PRICK?" Skylar was running on adrenaline now, and everyone was staring at her, shocked that she could yell so loud for being such a tiny being.
"What the fuck do you have anything to do with this?! This is between me and Tara! Fuck off." Zack was about to start yelling, but Skylar beat him to it.
"SHE HAPPENS TO BE ONE OF MY FRIEND'S COUSINS. YOU GAVE HER A BLACK EYE, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" She heard Zack mutter 'so many things' which earned him a death glare from Vince.
"SHE FUCKED MY BEST FRIEND" Skylar's fists were balled up, so were Zack's, and now Alex was by their side.
"And what? You think that gives you the right to hit her? Are you insane? So far since i've met you, you've punched me, and her. That's two girls in three days. Who's next? Lacey? Kara? Grow some balls man, hitting girls makes you a fucking coward." She spat in face, with more hatred than the first time she did it. Stopping herself from making a stupid move, she whirled around and started walking away. While Vince was distracted from being shocked at Skylar's words, Zack took the opportunity to give him a black eye of his own. As Skylar started walking back to the car, she turned to Lacey and Zack's cousin.
"By the way, your birthday party is Friday night at Kara's. You're invited too, Tara." Tara nodded, thanked Skylar and followed them to the cars. Everyone was too wound up to go back to their classes so they all skipped.
--
Friday finally rolled around, and everyone was beyond excited about the party. Things had been quieter since the encounter at Towson, they hadn't seen Vince since then. But Skylar knew it was just the calm before the storm.
When school was over, she went over to Lacey's to get ready. Both of them had already decided on what to wear, all they had to do was fix their hair and do their makeup. They were done by 8:30 and were just waiting for Alex to pick them up. Skylar had settled on a black miniskirt with dark stockings, and a silky, leopard print tank top with her black combat boots. Lacey wore a red mini dress with black heels.
"So anything new with you and Zack?" Lacey shook her head and checked herself out in the mirror one last time.
"Nah, maybe something will happen tonight though." Skylar smirked and texted Alex to see where he was.
"Just jump his bones." Lacey laughed and smacked her bed friend playfully. A horn honked outside so they grabbed their purses and made their way outside.
"I'll jump Zack's if you jump Alex's." Lacey wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and Skylar lightly shoved her, laughing.
"Fuck, we're just friends!" They got in the car and Alex drove off. He had Green Day playing on the radio and he as singing along. Soon enough, Skylar and Lacey joined him, and it lasted the whole ride to Kara's.
When they got there, the house was already packed, even in the backyard. Lacey went straight for the fridge to find some beer, and Skylar went to the counter to get some shots. Mike and Vic were on the other side, chugging beers. She smiled and grabbed two shot glasses from the counter. She poured some Jack Daniels into them and handed one to Alex. They raised their shot glasses and smiled at each other.
"To being best friends again."
"To being best friends." They downed their shots and poured more, handing some to Vic and Mike.
Ten shots and seven drinks later, Skylar was wasted, stumbling everywhere. She had lost track of Alex in the sea of teenagers but managed to find Tara talking to Zack in the backyard.
"HEY ZACK'S COUSIN! YOU CAME! HI ZACKY" Zack laughed when he saw Skylar, as did Tara. Skylar hugged Tara and Zack and then out of nowhere, Jack came running up with Alex and Lacey.
"GROUP HUG" It didn't work out very well since Jack jumped on everyone and turned into more of a dog pile. They all laughed and got up from the dirt. Skylar dusted herself off and ran back into the kitchen to get another drink. Alex followed her, not realizing how drunk she was, or how drunk he was. When he got there, Skylar had a cup of gin and tonic in her hands and was drinking it rather fast. Then they heard a voice they had definitely not expected to hear.
"Nice party Raine." Vince.
Skylar spun around and found herself staring at Vince and his good for nothing friends who she was convinced were just afraid of him.
"Nice black eye. Whadd'ya want scumbag?" She smirked at the purple bruise around his left eye that Zack had made and then cursed the alcohol for hitting her so hard and making her slur.
"Shutup, i'm here to talk to Tara. Are you wasted?" She frowned and saw Alex on his phone.
"No. Go away." Alex stepped in front of her protectivel, realizing how drunk she really was.
"Why should I? Anyways i'm just here to see Tara, not to start shit with you guys." Alex shook his head and calmly told him to leave again. "No, I just want to speak with her." Skylar saw Zack and Lacey walking towards them holding hands, which she would have to question later, with Tara and Rian right behind them. When Vince saw Tara, he grabbed her wrist and she tried to squirm away from him. Tara was calling out to Zack, or anyone really, for help.
"Shut the fuck up Tara, I just wanna talk." Zack was in front of Vince, yelling at him to let go, Tara at his side, still being held in his grasp firmly. All of a sudden, a bottle had struck Vince across the back of his head and he fell to the floor, in a pile of broken glass, still conscious. When they looked up, Skylar was standing there with half of a broken beer bottle in her hands, glaring down at him.
"No, YOU shut the fuck up, get out of my friends house AND get the hell out of our lives. I'm SO sick of your shit!" Vince's friends helped him up and dragged him out of the house. Tara thanked and hugged Skylar, who returned the hug, and then poured drinks for everyone who was still in utter shock. Once they had finished their drinks, everyone went back to socializing with the rest of the party.
Skylar's drink was almost completely empty when Alex took the cup from her and held it above his head, out of her reach. She began jumping to try and grab the cup, but she was still way too short to even come close. He started falling backwards from being so intoxicated but Alex reached out and grabbed her waist, to keep her on her feet.
"Jesus Skye, don't fall over." He chuckled and she gave him a goofy grin. He let go, thinking she was okay to stand on her own now.
"I'm not I just...where's my...I need my dri- oh dang" She stumbled over again but once again, Alex caught her. He pulled her closer so she was wrapped in arms. Her head was spinning so she just relaxed and hugged him back, breathing in his scent of alcohol mixed with some fruity shampoo.
"You smell good." He laughed and pulled back a bit to stare at her. His chocolate brown eyes met with hers and he smiled.
"You look good." He leaned more forward so his forehead was resting against hers. The effects of the alcohol were hitting Skylar hard.
"You look better." She bit her lip nervously, and the next thing she knew, his lips were on hers, and she pulled away, startled. Alex took it the wrong way and started frantically apologizing.
"Sorry, SORRY I should NOT have done that. Oh my god. Skye I didn't mean to-" He was cut off by her lips crashing back to his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.
It didn't take long for them to make their way to one of the unoccupied bedrooms upstairs, Alex locking the door behind him. Skylar pounced on Alex, knocking him into the wall, and removed his shirt, his hands on her waist. Soon enough, he was removing her shirt and they fell to onto the bed, Alex hovering over her, pinning her arms above her head. He let go to reach under and unhooked her bra, while she undid his belt. Seconds later, they got caught up in the moment and the rest of the night was a blur.