𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞

Toby looked at the notifications before looking to Henry. "It's Holly." He spoke, staring at the phone debating whether or not he'd pick up. The phones buzzed once more before retreating into silence. Henry looked at him dimly, confusion evident on his face. "What was that about?"  Henry questioned wearily, rubbing his eyes in order to adjust to the bright phone light. Toby grabbed his phone, looking at the texts Holly had sent.

H: "Hey Toby, you up? I need to talk to you."

H: "It's about something that happened at school today, i'm not doing well and i am far from okay."

Toby looked back to Henry, who was waiting for an explanation. "It's nothing, she's just going on about some stupid assignment." He lied, immediately texting Holly back.

T: "Yeah i'm up. What's going on?

Toby waited anxiously for a response. 

H: "Well, it's not really something I can talk about over text.."

Toby felt a burst of anxiety surge through his body. He didn't know why, but he needed to know what was wrong with Holly, and he needed to know now.

T: "That's cool."

It took around 5 minutes for Holly to text him back.

H: "We'll just talk about it next time I see you."

For some reason, Toby started to feel kind of fuzzy. Maybe he just ate too many party pies at dinner. He tried to ignore the feeling, but he couldn't. He couldn't sleep knowing that she was upset. "Screw it." He whispered.

He got up to grab his things, accidentally alerting Henry. "What are you doing?" He asked. Toby turned to him as he tied his shoes. "Mum texted.. something's wrong with the dog." He spoke, feigning a worried tone in his voice. Henry nodded before turning over and falling asleep again. Toby sighed with relief. He stood up, walking to the front door and quietly letting himself out of the house. 

Toby walked to the curb and began his journey on foot. 

Roughly around 15 minutes later, he walked past a servo. He decided to go inside and grab himself a can of monster. Whilst he was in there, he noticed the snack aisle. "Hmm." He pondered. "Maybe I should grab her a couple of things. I hear girls like to eat food when they're sad." He deliberated, walking over to the aisle of goodies. He then strutted over to the freezer, grabbing  2 pints of vanilla ice cream before heading over to the counter to pay for all the treats. 

He walked for 30 more minutes in the darkness before reaching her house. 

T:"I'm here." 

𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐲'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕:

Her phone buzzed. It was Toby.

T: "I'm here."

Holly seemed a little dumbfounded at first. What did he mean by "I'm here."? She stared at her phone for a second, thinking of what to say to him. 

H: "What do you mean?'

T: "Just come open your front door."

Holly ran downstairs, excited yet disquieted. She quietly unlocked and opened the door, revealing Toby. He stood on the porch, holding two bags. "Hey." Toby greeted. Holly looked at him with utter disbelief. "You walked almost an hour just to come and see me?" She interrogated. She tried to maintain her composure, but a small smile made its way across her face. He looked at her. "Yeah. You said you weren't okay and that we'd talk about it when you saw me next. Well... here I am." He said, holding up the two bags. "Oh and I also stopped by the servo and picked up some ice cream, chocolate, chips and a few other things. I figured maybe you'd be hungry." Holly looked at him. "You did all of this for me?" Toby gave her an unforgiving look. "Let's just go inside and talk about what's bothering you, hmm?" He nudged, trying to distract her from the gesture. 

Holly walked with him up to her room, motioning for him to sit down. He obliged. "So.." Toby started as he grabbed out the 2 pints of ice cream he bought and handing her a spoon. "Tell me everything."

Around an hour had passed at this point, and Holly had just finished her second pint of ice cream. Toby looked at her, worry in his eyes. "I'm so sorry.." He apologised, slightly brushing his hand against hers. Holly sobbed as Toby tried to console her. "It's not your fault.." She cried, licking the remainder of the ice cream off the spoon. "I just don't see why me hanging out with you and Henry is such a big deal." Toby grabbed her chin, tilting it up slightly so he could wipe the tears away from her piercing blue eyes. "You'll always be welcome to hang out with Henry and I." He offered as he caressed her cheek slightly, ridding her of any remaining tears on her face. 

In this moment, Holly felt safe. She had never seen this side of Toby before, but she liked it. She looked up, her eyes meeting his. "Thank you. How about we finish the rest of these snacks and watch a movie. I've been wanting to watch that ghost movie Patrick Swayze is in for a while now." Toby chuckled. "It's one of those sappy romance movies you like isn't it?" He sighed, Holly giving him a devious look as she giggled. He groaned loudly. "Fine. We'll watch it. God, the things I do for you Holly."