𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐱

Holly's POV:

Holly ushered Toby inside, urging him to stay silent so they wouldn't wake up her father. Toby sat himself down on her bed as Holly turned on her light. She walked over to him, but decided not to sit. She may have welcomed him into her house, but it didn't mean anything was okay. 

"Alright, now spill your guts. Let's see what you come up with that could possibly excuse what you did to me." Toby knew that defending himself would do nothing, so he just nodded.

"Look, when you were at my house that day, my mind just kept racing. I love spending time with you. On the off day that you don't come to school, I sort of.. well.. miss you.". Holly scoffed. "Sure you do." Toby shot her a look before continuing on with his story. Anyways, when I invited you to come to my station, it was a spur of the moment thing. I hadn't actually planned anything out yet, so when you asked me, I freaked. I thought that if you found out that Henry wasn't going to be there, you weren't going to want to come, so I panicked and blurted out the first thing that came to mind." This caught Holly's attention. "The fuck is that supposed to mean? Do you really think that low of me?!"

Toby's eyes widened at her question. "No! I think very highly of you. A little too highly." Holly looked at him with a dazed expression. "English, please. You can't expect me to read your mind." Toby hesitated before snapping.  "Alright you wanna fucking know?" She nodded. "You really wanna fucking know? Fine, I'll tell you. I fucking like you, okay? Why do you think I went out of my way to buy you the same shit I bought you when I first came to your house? Why do you think I snuck out at the exact same fucking time I did when we first slept over? How do you think I'm even able to retain half of this stuff in my memories when I can. barely even remember what I had for breakfast this morning?! Because I like you!"

Holly stood there, too stunned to speak. "You.. like me?" Toby looked at her as if what he had just said was in vain. "Of course I like you, dumbass." She stared at him, a blank expression on her face. For the first time in her life, Toby had said something that genuinely rendered her speechless. "I.. I don't know what to say." Holly stuttered, her. chin shaking slightly. He stood up and walked over to her, and as he pulled a piece of her hair to to the side, he spoke. "You don't have to say anything. I didn't even say it to make you like me back. I don't expect you to. I just wanted you to know why I did what I did, because any other explanation wouldn't have been believable, and I know you're not dumb enough to fall for it."

Holly stood there in silence. She looked up into his big, brown eyes. The mere feeling of his skin against hers sent shivers down her spine. The smell of his cologne enveloped each and every one of her senses. Now that she knew the truth, she couldn't be mad at him. Not anymore at least. The two ended their embrace and just stood there for a moment. "Look, I know this conversation has made both of us tense and uncomfortable, so why don't we just lay down and watch a movie? I mean, I didn't bring snacks for no reason." Holly agreed to this, and there both of them got onto Holly's bed. Toby lay the snacks between them as a sort of barrier. He didn't want to make Holly feel uncomfortable around him now that she knew the truth. 

Holly would never say anything, but she didn't care. In a way, she kinda liked him too. This whole night just felt so confusing for her, and by extension, her whole life. She liked Toby, but she liked Henry too? How was she supposed to react to all this? At this moment in time, she didn't know, but until she did, she decided to just pretend nothing had ever happened. She just wanted to go back to a time where everything seemed chill. She didn't have the mental capacity to be dealing with this right now. 

The two of them lay there watching reruns of Farmer Wants A Wife until Holly fell asleep. Toby noticed this, and took it upon himself to clean up her bed and tuck her in before leaving and going back to his own home.