Till It Last (Shattered#2)

Chapter#13

| Hailey Pickett |

"You discover yourself at the end of hopelessness, at the end of despair. When life turn into chaos , you don't know if you'll ever meet happiness again. If you'll ever get to feel it again but still, you choose the uncertain happiness in the face of certain disaster. You believe that everything shall pass and then. .right at the end of tunnel of disaster, you get to see the light, the happiness.  You get to meet the new you, the strong you you never knew existed."

She whistled.

"That's deep." Stella chewed on her bottom lip, her brows furrowing. " Did you copy it?"

Nope.

"Yeah, kinda." I winked at her.

She let herself go, her back hit the mattress of my bed , her long hair spread like a halo around her.

"I need to tell you something." She said staring at the ceiling.

I highlighted a Pinterest  quote on my cellphone. "Please don't tell me Mason peed his pants again."

Mason, her younger brother was a pain in the butt.

Thank God, I was an only daughter.

She let out a heavy breath. "No."

"Then?" My mind was focused on finding some sad , creepy quotes on Pinterest   because sad was the mood board of today.

Stella definitely said something, more like rushed. Tumbling the words into each other in a quiet mumble.

I glanced down at her, she had her eyes shut and her cheeks in bloom. .

Wait a minute. .

I sat up, Pinterest  forgotten for the moment. "What did you just say?" I asked patiently.

Stella didn't open up her eyes.

She only did such childish shit when she was embarrassed.

"I just told you." She insisted as if wanting to get done with whatever was brewing inside her.

"Repeat. It."

"Aw man. .," She sulked and then dropped the bomb. " Alright. Don't freak out but. . Brad texted me." Her voice turned into a whisper. A very shy one at that.

The sudden shock of what she said had me look like a punched in face. And one word popped out of my mouth.

"No!"

Stella sat up as she turned at me, sitting cross legged , her eyes pleading.

"No freaking way, Stell! Do you hear me?" I said in my absolute no nonsense voice.

Brad Vincent had a bad reputation! A playboy! A spoiled brat! Sure , he was hot with the bad boy aura but his eyes held something. .like a curse! And then Stella, my sweet innocent Stell with her untouched pure soul . . .no way!

I swallowed when the future unfolded in my head. Him breaking her beautiful heart, walking over it like she wasn't the most genuine person in the world.

"When. .since when had he been texting—hounding you?" I asked in a deadly voice.

Stella looked away from my face.

Great, now she couldn't even look into my eyes!

"One month."

I reached out and cupped her face in my hands, turning her face at me and now my eyes pleaded with her. "Tell me you didn't answer. Tell me he's not in your system?"

She blinked.

"He's. .he's only a friend—,"

I cut her off, letting go of her face.

"Friend? Now you calling him friend?! What's next?! Boyfriend?!!" My voice rose and it was a struggle not to yell at her. I reined in my emotions. Anger won't solve crap.

"Listen to me, you hormonal bull! He's not your friend. I'm. He will never look out for you. I'll. You know what he is. .," I trailed off.

"He's only a misunderstood, Hailey." She said in a weak voice and I nearly recoiled back at the way she was defending him, be it weak.

"He's a murderer." I reminded her , my eyes flashing with worry.

"So is Ian. But you still like him. .," She dropped her gaze.

And her voice kept going in my head.

But you still like him.

But you still like him.

"I—i don't like him. Never have never will." My voice got stuck in my throat.

"You do. I see the way you look at him." Stella smiled and my face turned scarlet in response.

Ratting me out.

"And what else did you see?" I said in a tired voice , feeling drained.

Stella tapped her chin in a fake manner.

"You perk up when he's around. Your eyes seek him out." She grinned quite devil like.

What was happening to my innocent friend?

"Don't try to evade the topic here. Block him, Stella. He's not good for you. At all."

She kept looking at me, still smiling.

"How do you know that?"

I rolled my eyes. "I know it from this," I pointed at her face, " from you trying to be his fairy godmother, trying to paint the red flags into white. It won't work. Guys like him are gold from afar but when you get near them, they are shit painted with yellow color. If you block him today, you'll save yourself from misery of tomorrow."

Patiently, she listened to my speech , her face revealing nothing.

I'll kill him!

"And. .," I kept going ," Ian is just a little reminder that men exist and I shouldn't be so uptight. He's just someone who caught my eyes. I'm not even sure if I like him or not."

Stella sighed.

"All I can say is. .time will tell, Hailey. Brad. .he's a good guy. Everyone has a past right?" She asked me for affirmation. I nodded. "Ian has too. Brad is his ex best friend. After that. . incident they fell out."

"Yeah, I heard the whole story from Brittany at lunch. Jeffrey Dahmer died but the school still carries his memory and according to her, Brad did it." I looked in her eyes.

She blurt out.

"He didn't. He wasn't the one who pulled the trigger. Let's not forget that."

My shoulders fell.

It was so obvious.

Not matter how much she denied.

Slowly and gradually, Stella was letting him in . The snake was binding around my friend and he didn't let her have the slightest idea of it. May be he told her not to spill to me.

Brad with his cursed eyes didn't get along with my best friend at all. She deserved someone who could understand emotions , not an ass like him.

As I watched her twirl a strand of hair around her finger, i just knew .

I knew, I had to do something.

I had to save her.

And his ex best friend had to be roped in.

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