Steel My Soul ✓

11 | Sick

I N D I G O

I didn't know how, but we were in the car together, driving back home to my place. None of us dared to speak, to bring us to the realisation that we were confined to a small space without bickering for more than a minute.

"...And next up is a song from the popular upcoming band, Achilles' Voice, Losing A Friend," The radio was quiet, mixing with the sound of the soft wind breezing through the open windows.

Losing a friend is worse than a breakup,

I still don't know what to do.

Should I cry or call and make up?

A man's gruff voice rasped through the speakers, smooth and low. I didn't register the words until Chancey sighed deeply beside me. My eyes latched onto the houses passing us by, trying not to hear the next words as a female artist sang them with her whole heart.

But we didn't even fight,

We didn't even grow apart,

And now I'm left trying to fill the

hollowness inside my heart.

Chancey fidgeted in his seat, tapping his fingers onto the steering wheel to a tune completely different to the one playing through the radio. I shifted, too, deciding to play around with the bracelet around my wrist.

My dad gave it to me on my twelfth birthday, and I hadn't taken it off much since. I attempted to focus on the memory of him instead of the third member of the band singing the next verse.

She's not answering my calls.

All my texts have been sent,

Out of order,

Not even read,

Not even seen,

Not even delivered through the screen.

Chancey didn't let the song continue. His slender fingers reached for the station buttons until another artist was singing an R&B song. The sigh of relief he let escape made me believe he was feeling just as flustered as I was.

"Are you hungry?" He asked when we were near my house.

"No," I replied truthfully. I'd just eaten before I left the house. "Are you?"

"No," He lied. I could tell by the way he paused before speaking in a hushed tone.

"There's some dinner at my house," I felt my heart drop as the words slipped from my lips, but recovered by saying, "it'll work better instead of the lunch you begged to have with me."

I wasn't sure why I was glad to hear Chancey snicker at my suggestion.

"I wouldn't mind that," He said, turning into my street. His house was on the next street over.

Nodding, I gained enough courage to face him. Truthfully, he was beautiful. There was something pretty about his features that I hadn't noticed before. Over the years, his face had matured, and I never got a good look at it again. I didn't want to. But now, in the hush of the night, in the whisper of brightness from the streetlights outside, I didn't want to look away.