Welcome to Serenity

Friendship

Annie's POV:
"Thank you, again, for letting me spend the night here." We walk through the front door of her house and I can hear Gabe and Ty playing a video game in the lounge room.

"Kyle is up in his room." Maddie tells me as I smile and start to walk up the stairs as I hear her talk to Ty.

"Why is she here Mum?" I hear Ty ask as Maddie sighs.

"Annie is fighting with her Mum. She had no where else to go." I hear Ty take a deep breath as Maddie speaks.

"Okay, okay. I-" I quickly continue walking up the stairs to Kyle's room.

Softly knocking on the door I hear a voice reply, telling me I could come in.

"Hey Annie." Kyle calls out almost silently as I notice him laying on his bed, looking up at the ceiling.

"Are you okay?" I ask, laying down next to him.

"I don't really know if I still like Nellie. She is a great friend, don't get me wrong, but I don't know if I like her like a girlfriend." He confides, turning to face me.

"Have you talked to Nellie about this?" I ask as he shakes his head.

"Thank you for feeling like you could tell me. I suggest you should have a discussion with her about it. There's a good chance she feels the same way." I continue, holding his hand in mine.

"Dinner's ready, loser." Ty calls out casually, before stopping in his tracks when he sees me.

"I wouldn't worry about coming down quickly though, the soup still needs to cool a bit." He suggests, his eyes planted on the floor.

"I gotta go back, Gabe and I just reached a really hard level in the game we are playing." Ty explains quickly before starting to turn away.

"Ty! Can you wait a moment? I need to talk to you." I interrupt, climbing off the bed and towards the door.

"Yeah sure, whatever." He replies as I close the door behind me.

"Kyle told me you went to therapy. That would have been... challenging. I'm proud of you." I admit as Ty's expression of indifference falters and a small smile breaks through.

"Thanks."

A few moments of silence passes before I speak up.

"I really don't want this to be awkward between us. Your friendship has been a huge part of my life, I don't want to lose that."

"Neither do I! Why don't we just start over? Have a completely clean slate?" Ty suggests hopefully as I linger on the idea of a fresh start.

"I would like that, but haven't we already tried that?"

"This time will be different. We have both grown and changed as people. And I miss having you as my friend." Ty admits quietly as I grin softly.

"Me too." His eyes quickly meet mine with a 'devil-may-care' grin plastered across his face.

"Don't let it go to your head." I insist as he laughs, telling me that he can't make any promises.

The familiar urge to have him hold me in his arms, or pull him into a kiss, almost knocks me off my feet.

"We could have been so perfect together." I smile softly, as Ty meets my eyes with his.

"There's still a lot more time left in the game. I haven't given up so easily." Ty replies as I laugh lightly.

"You could never give up easily. You're too stubborn." I remark as he laughs.

Maddie yells from the kitchen that dinner is ready.

I hold Ty's gaze for a moment before breaking eye contact and walking down the stairs, Katie racing ahead with Kyle dragged behind her.

* * *

I stare at my bowl for awhile, pushing the soup around. Gabe talks loudly about baseball strategies with Ty and Cal, while Ty glances over at me nervously, noticing my uneaten soup.

"Are you okay?" Kyle whispers under his breath to me.

"Yeah. Just not very hungry." I reply as I am met by Ty's stern eyes.

"Please, just a bit Annie." He begs, not loud enough for anyone else to hear.

Grudgedly, I finish all of the soup, without looking up from the table. My stomach does a few back flips while a voice in my head starts pestering me about weight gain.

I close my eyes shut, trying to block the voice out of my head as Ty reaches over and squeezes my hand.

"Thanks for finishing it." He whispers proudly as I force a small smile.

* * *

I drag my legs up the staircase as I hear footsteps approach from behind me. As I reach the top, I turn to see Ty coming up to his room after bidding Gabe goodbye, followed by Kyle scrolling through his phone.

The silence is deafening as I walk over to Katie's room, where a spare mattress has been laid out on the floor.

"Night." Kyle calls out, closing his bedroom door behind him.

"Good night Annie." Ty closes his bedroom door fast, before I have the chance to speak.

Suddenly my phone lights up with a number I don't know.

"Hello, this is Annie. Who are you?" I ask, walking back down stairs and out onto the patio.

"This is Cece. I got your phone number from your friend, Raylene, I think her name is? Anyway, I really want to talk to you. Can you meet up with me soon? Maybe tomorrow?" She asks as I hesitate.

"Sure. The libary, at ten, during free period?" I ask as she agrees and says goodbye.

* * *

I toss and turn for what feels like hours before I pull myself off of the mattress silently, and slip out the door and down to the kitchen for a glass of water.

"Great minds think alike it seems." Ty's voice comments as I turn to see him standing next to the fridge with a glass of milk.

"Aparently so." I smile as I pour a glass of water and finish it in silence.

"Monday tomorrow. Back to school. Second last week till holidays." I try to fill the silence as Ty nods.

We walk back up to our respective rooms in silence until I whisper his name before I open Katie's bedroom door.

"What's up?" He asks turning to face me.

"I can't give up that easily either." I say closing the door behind me.

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Hey!
Sorry for the late Merry Christmas. I know it can be a very hard time of year for a lot of people, and I want to let you know your not alone.

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