I Always Wished

Chapter 3

***I was looking for some good girl's day out music, but this was the best I could come up with LOL***

***(Skylor's POV)***

~Music Cue~

"Thanks for the day out, PIX," I sigh, looking down at my freshly manicured nails.

I don't really long for the days when I had time for pampering – after all, I have a greater purpose now – but gosh, is it nice to feel like a girl for once. I swear I haven't had time to do even my eyeliner in the past two weeks.

"You are very much welcome," she pipes up from beside me. "After the earthquake scare last night, it seems you definitely needed a break."

"I still don't know what happened," I sigh. "I know Cole said tectonic plates rub against each other and all thatt, but I can't shake the feeling that there's something really bad about this."

"You worry too much," Seliel chides from beside me.

I turn my head toward her, not wanting to hear her lecture on worrying again. "How's school, Sel?"

She picks a piece of lint off her shirt one dark finger. "Terrible, as usual. I can't believe I'm twenty and just now finishing high school. Stupid dad." She allows her eyes to drift close. "I still plan on majoring in biology, though. At least something make sense to me."

"Good for you. I never went to college at all." I had Kai to deal with, then fourteen girls to save. Bigger priorities – at least, the second one was.

Seliel eyes me. "Don't get all mopey on me, girl. You're a queen for leaving him." She extends one silver-toenailed foot over her knee.

The weird thing about Seliel is that she's always been oddly empathetic. It's like she can look into your soul, figure out whatever's wrong, and tell you how to fix it. I'm not saying her advice is always the best, and it's certainly not sugarcoated, but it's kind of relieving not to have to explain myself all the time. She gets me.

I clear my throat, not wanting to continue a conversation about my ex. "So...you and Cole are eloping after graduation?"

Okay, seriously, why is everyone getting married? Nya was seventeen when she tied the knot, Seliel's twenty, and PIXAL's...well, technically she's only three in human years, but she was built as an eighteen-year-old.

So where do I belong? Am I just doomed to be single for life? Twenty-two really isn't so bad, is it? Plenty of people get married in their thirties and forties and...older-ish years, right? I've got time.

But the truth is, running a girls' home is a twenty-four-seven job. No guy wants to be stuck living in a home with fourteen teenage girls, plus one stressed-out wife and a host of housekeeping duties of his own.

I thought Kai was incredibly noble for raising his sister Nya, but this goes even beyond that.

"Skylor, are you even listening?" Seliel asks from beside me.

I resist the urge to blink. "Huh?"

She rolls her eyes. "You need to get out more instead of reminiscing about that messed-up man you used to take care of. He was a leech, Skylor – depending on you and your money to nurse his budding career and personal bitterness."

Leave it to Seliel to expose raw wounds to the open air.

I clear my throat. "That's not what I was thinking about." Mostly. "So...you and Cole? Eloping? I haven't heard much about that lately."