Nothing in this World

chapter 3

third person:

As they made their way to their respective vehicles, Lina noticed that Kaleb was going the same way she was. As much as the boy's presence annoyed her, he also brought her a sense of peace and tranquility whenever he was near her; like nothing could hurt her when she was with him. For the first time in years, someone else brought her a sense of security she just couldn't explain.

As they made their way to the bike parking area, Kaleb shot her a cocky look. "I didn't know you love me so much that you wanted to ride with me on my bike?" "They never mentioned you were cocky. Don't flatter yourself. I'm going for my own." She said with a roll of her eyes. "Aw, you asked around about me-" "Well, a little birdie told me a narcissistic bastard was coming back to our university." he doesn't have to know it was my lil birdie. "Hey! I'm not narcissistic-" "Oh, so just have your head stuck up your ass I believe?" "I don't get to win, do I?" "Hmmm...Nope," Lina smiled cheekily before hopping on her bike and speeding off. She knew Alex would've sent Ashton her address, who would've shared it with Kaleb, so she didn't bother to wait for the idiot. ughh...how does someone who gives me a sense of security also manage to piss me off?

By the time she got back home, Alex and Ashton were already waiting for her. She smiled at the duo and walked into her house. Alex was quite literally giving Ashton a tour of the house as he explained every nook and cranny of her home. After about 5 minutes, they heard the doorbell ring as Kaleb walked in. He smiled sarcastically to Lina who reciprocated the same. Alex and Ashton watched the exchange as they were afraid that both of them could burn the house down as the tension rose. Alex however was quick to change the topic and pulled Ashton to the library. "Come on guys, don't just stand there." The both of them followed behind, keeping quite a distance from each other. When they reached the library, Kaleb looked around awestruck. He made a beeline towards the mythology section, as the trio looked at him bewildered. "He's a sucker for Greek Mythology. Don't mind him." Ashton announced. "Lily loves Greek Mythology." Alex looked at her with a face she knew all too well. "Don't even think of setting us up" "But you guys are meant to be," Alex whined. "Don't you think they're meant to be?" Alex directed his question to Ashton who looked between the two of them scared for himself. "Uhh...I don't know(?)" Alex facepalmed hearing his boyfriend not helping him set his best friend up. Lina took off into the aisles as she wanted to escape her best friend trying to set her up with someone so random. well, not random- he is his boyfriend's brother. Lina rolled her eyes at her thoughts.

"You know, you do that too much." A voice said making her jump. "What the fuck-" Kaleb came out from between the aisles as she tried to calm her heart. "Don't roll your eyes too much." She fought the urge to roll her eyes at him, though she didn't know why his opinion mattered a lot to her. "And what are you? Some kind of expert?" "No. But I do know that it isn't that nice to roll your eyes at someone." Kaleb stood leaning on the bookshelf with a book in his hand. Lina looked at the cover and immediately knew it was the "Song of Achilles", a book she read as many times as she possibly could. "It's a good book," Lina said, pointing to the book in Kaleb's hand with her head. "I've wanted to read it for so long. I never got the chance to actually." Kaleb held the book in his hands as if he was holding something so fragile, something made of glass, something that would shatter if he held it a bit hard. "You can take it. Give it back after you're done reading it." Kaleb looked at her shocked. "Are you sure?" Lina smiled at him. A genuine smile. Something she'd never shown to anyone except Alex, and her family. "I'm sure." Kaleb looked at the girl as she smiled. Something in him told him to protect the girl at all costs, to be there for her even when she seemed so used to pushing people away. Her eye smile made her ocean-blue eyes disappear as she looked at him. Kaleb shook his head as if coming back from his reverie. "I'll be sure to return it as soon as possible." Lina smiled softly at the boy's eagerness to finish the book. "Don't sweat it. Any book should be worth enjoying and taking one's own time to read." Kaleb just nodded without saying a word. The rest of the evening went by with the four of them just lazing away in the lounge as it quickly turned dark, and everyone had to leave. They said their goodbyes as Alex hung around for a few more minutes as he wanted to talk to Lina.

The two friends headed inside and to her room as they always did. Alex took his spot near the bookcase as Lina sat opposite him near the window, looking out. "So, is there something you need to tell me?" Alex went straight to the point as he knew that Lina hated beating around the bush whenever it came to serious talks like this one. She looked at him about to make a joke and shake her head but sighed as she saw he was serious about this. "I miss them." This was enough for Alex to understand who she was talking about. Alex looked at the picture frame on her desk.  To everyone else, it was just a graduation picture, but to Lina, it was the day she turned cold, for Alex, it was the day he lost his cheerful best friend. The four 18-year-olds were goofing around in the picture as it was clicked. A girl with platinum blonde hair and hazel eyes had Alex in a headlock, looking at the camera and smiling and a boy with light brown hair and amber eyes had Lina in his arms as they both were looking at each other as though they were the only ones in the planet. Both of them couldn't believe that they lost their best friends just less than a year after the photo was taken. Alex looked at Lina who was looking out the window trying not to cry and show weakness. "You know there's no one here. You can cry." That was all she needed to hear to let out the tears she was holding back. Alex held her as she cried, his heart breaking at the sight of his best friend breaking as each second passed. He hated how she acted tough around everyone when in reality she just needed someone to hold her whenever she fell apart. 

After about an hour Alex felt her leaning against his chest and he knew that she had fallen asleep. He knew how tiring the first day can be, and after her crying session just now, he didn't have the heart to wake her up for dinner. He gently placed her on her bed and covered her with her blanket. With one more look at the sleeping girl, Alex went downstairs to inform Maria that Lina was fast asleep. He went home soon after praying that she'd be alright by the next morning.