Forever and Always

Chapter 3

School the next day went really slowly. After seven hours of boredom and anxiousness, the dismissal bell rang. I threw my backpack over my shoulders and sped out of the classroom. I waited at one of the tables in the cafeteria for Y/n. After about five minutes, she walked in and tapped me on the shoulder.

I pulled my earbuds out of my ears and turned around to face her, giving her a warm smile as I stood up from where I was sitting. We walked through various hallways before finally coming to the main doors of the school and walking out.

We walked across the parking lot and down the sidewalk until coming to the stairs to get up to the train I take home everyday. We walked through the doors of the train and sat down in two of the deserted seats as the train started to move.

The train ride to my apartment wasn't too long. Y/n and I passed the time by getting to know each other a little better. I told her about living with May, how my parents died when I was young, and some few other traumatic stories that I hadn't told many people about.

She didn't say much about her family and home life but I didn't want to pry by questioning her on it. Instead, she spoke about what she liked to do; her hobbies, favorite movies and shows, etc. She told me she really enjoyed art and even showed me some of her drawings she had on her in her sketchbook.

I flipped through the pages of her sketchbook. Some pages had random little doodles. Others had really detailed drawings that looked as if they were popping off the page with how realistic they were.

She had one that really stood out to me, however. It was so detailed, almost as if it was a memory and it actually happened. It was a drawing of a little girl, laying on the ground with cuts all over her body, wearing torn clothing while tears streamed down her face, drawn entirely in graphite and red ink for the blood. She was standing in front of an old, run down house which held two older people standing at the steps; one being an old lady, the other being an old man. Their faces were distorted and looked extremely angry and frustrated. Their mouths were open as if they were yelling and the woman's arms were crossed. The man held something in his hands that looked like a knife.

There was more to the drawing, however, I wasn't able to see it since Y/n realized what artwork I was looking at and she sheepishly took the sketchbook from my hands, closing it quickly and shoving it back into her bag as the train came to a stop. I stood up and Y/n did the same before we made our way off the train and down the steps.

"Are you hungry? There's a sandwich shop not too far from here." I spoke, breaking the silence between us.

"Uhh, no thanks. I'm fine." She responded.

I nodded and continued the journey to mine and May's apartment. We eventually arrived and made our way through the halls and up the steps of the apartment building, stopping at my front door. I pulled my key out from my pocket and unlocked the door.

"I'm home, May!" I exclaimed as we walked throught the door.

May came from around the corner and smiled to me then looking to Y/n and her smile grew bigger.

"You must be Y/n. I'm May, Peter's aunt." May introduced and pulled Y/n into a hug.

Y/n hesitated for a minute before hugging back and sinking into May's touch. How long had it been since someone hugged her? Did something happen? Was she the girl in that drawing? I snapped myself from my thoughts as Y/n and May pulled away from each other.

"Is it okay if Y/n stays over for a bit? We have a physics project to work on together." I questioned.

"Of course!" May responded with a warm smile.

Y/n thanked her and we went into my room. I dropped my bookbag down on the floor beside my desk and sat down on my top bunk. Y/n sat bag next to mine and I patted the spot beside me. She climbed up and I moved over a tiny bit so that she could get on the rest of the way.

"I'm sorry for earlier. I didn't mean to seem rude when I took my sketchbook from you. It's just that I don't let many people see that drawing for various reasons." She appologized.

"It's okay, I understand. You're a really good artist, though." I stated.

She smiled and I hopped off my bed, walking over to my bag, and pulling out my physics binder. I climbed back up onto my bed and laid out my binder between Y/n and myself. We got to work on the research and idea portion of our project, planning it out and making a list of what materials we would need.

At some point, Y/n sighed, jumping off the bed and and pulling out her sketchbook, as she took a seat in the chair in front of my desk, sitting with her back against the arm rest and hanging her feet over the other one. She rested her sketchbook in her lap as she flipped to a new page and started sketching something out. She would occasionally look up at me with her eyebrows scrunched while biting her bottom lip but would look back down and erase something.

I smiled to myself and grabbed a blank sheet of paper from my binder before closing it. I folded the paper into an airplane and threw it over to Y/n. It hit her in the shoulder and fell to the floor.

She looked up with one of her eyebrows raised and I laughed. She picked up the plane from the floor and threw it back at me. It hit me in the chest and I fell backwards dramatically, pretending to be dead. She laughed and went back to intensely consentrating on what she was drawing.

Her laugh is adorable.

I sat back up as May opened the door and walked into my room.

"Are you staying for dinner, sweetie?" May asked Y/n.

She checked her phone for the time before replying. "Unfortunately not. I have to be back home soon. I should probably get going."

She closed her sketchbook and swung her legs over the arm rest of the chair, standing up as she placed her sketchbook back into her bag. I frowned and hopped down.

"I can walk you home if you would like." I offered.

"No, it's okay. I'll text you when I get there." She declined.

I smiled sadly and walked with her to the exit of my apartment building. I stood there awkwardly before telling her goodbye. She waved as she walked down the sidewalk, getting farther and farther from my place every second.