To Break

XIV

A/N: I suck, I know.... I am super duper sorry, it's been 2 weeks since my last upload, I'm ashamed. In all fairness I've moved houses (for the thirteenth time), been super busy with homework and a new art project I'm doing, along with my fulfilling my addiction to Once Upon A Time and family stuff as well. But I've been thinking about this and it's been sitting on my laptop, staring me in the face every time I see it on my sidebar. The worst part is I had nearly finished it a week ago, but I just couldn't bring myself to finish. It's done now though! Not edited at all but come on, it's half past eleven and I've got school in the morning. Anyway I'll stop talking now! I hope you all enjoy this one as much as I truly loved writing it! 

***

“Rainy? Hello? Anybody home?” Reece’s voice interrupts my thoughts; the thoughts of him at Hannah Starks 16th birthday party. I can’t get the way he looked out of my mind, nor the way he said I want to, as if he couldn’t have possibly stopped those three words from slipping out of his mouth. His voice was breathy, quiet, and so strong with desire that it burned itself permanently into my memory.

“Sorry,” I apologise, trying to shake him out of my head.

“Don’t apologise, just let me know where you keep going off to,” he chuckles. “Fairyland?”

He takes the forgotten playing cards from my hand and puts the deck back together, before sliding it into the pocket of his jeans.

I cross my legs, resting my chin in my hands. “Not quite,” I say, biting my lip with hesitation. I struggle to keep my eyes locked with his. “Hannah’s 16th.”

For someone who doesn’t know the man sitting in front of me, they would think this answer has no impact on him. I, however - the girl who had been his best friend for years – can see how he becomes tense. He doesn’t allow himself to move a muscle. His breathing becomes shallow.

His reaction takes me back to the party, later on, when everything fell apart. When we, fell apart.

Reece wanted to ask me out. That was the only thought buzzing through my mind. Quinn was pestering him to do so but they were becoming hard to hear over the music. I had squeezed past the crowd and back into the small room where Quinn was smirking up at Reece.

I frowned in confusion but also in questioning, directing my gaze back and forth between the two of them. Quinn’s smug smile was wiped away when Reece nudged her in annoyance, looking down at his shoes. Something was wrong.

“Hey. You okay?” I had to ask, getting a hold of his hand. If only he would have looked at me I could see what was really going on. I could always tell what was going on in his mind through his eyes.

He blinked, shook his head and answered. “Yup. I’m great!” He was lying. It was clear from the false enthusiasm in his voice, almost undetectable from beneath his grin. Almost.

“Excuse us,” I said to Quinn, who was biting her lip. She seemed to be regretting something. What had I missed in those brief moments I couldn’t hear them?

Ah well, I would find out soon enough.

I laced my fingers with Reece’s and pulled him out the glass sliding door. It was twilight and the fairy lights that dressed every tree had just flicked on. It was a bit chilly but I ignored it, eyeing off the tree house in the back corner of the small yard. I dragged Reece across the soft grass and to the bottom of the tree house’s ladder, motioning for him to go up ahead of me. I was wearing a dress. He was going up first.

Without saying a word he climbed up, his black connies balancing on each small wooden peg until he reached the top. I followed after him, struggling immensely in my heels. Reece’s warm hand reached down when I was nearing the top and I took it. He helped me up.