Lost in Hollywood

Cold Water

"Sky— oh my god, I was so fucking worried! Are you okay? Shit— Thank god you picked up— I was freaking out here, after the texts you sent— and then you just left me on the read like that? Jesus—"

Cody kept the phone on his ear and screwed his eyes shut fighting the nausea that made his stomach turn.

He knew he shouldn't have picked up Sky's phone. He knew he shouldn't have taken this call, but he had done it anyway, unable to fight the sickening feeling that had coursed through his body when seeing Hawk's name blinking on the screen.

"Sky—?" Hawk rasped, as Cody just kept silent, swallowing his bitter tears. "Sky— are you there? Are you okay?"

"Sorry. Sky can't come to the phone right now."

A short silence followed. Cody kept the phone in his ear as he slowly sat up and threw his legs over the edge of the bed, leaning his elbows on his knees.

"Cody?" asked the voice at the other end of the line. "Shit— why the fuck are you answering Sky's phone?"

"Why the fuck are you calling her in the middle of the night?"

"It's like 9 pm, dude—"

"I don't care what time it is!" Cody almost yelled, his voice breaking. "I literally asked one thing of you today, one thing– that you'd leave me and Sky the fuck alone. And now you're calling her— for what? And what was that about the texts? She texted you?! Why?"

"Maybe you should ask her," Hawk replied, his voice now sharp too.

Cody felt like he was choking. Was Sky cheating on him with Hawk? Was that it? Had his talk with Hawk in the school today been just a bluff— the way Hawk had asked him to treat Sky well, had it meant nothing, had it been just a joke? Was that asshole laughing at him behind his back—?

No, no, this suspicion was tearing his chest apart. He had to know the truth, no matter how much it hurt, no matter if it killed him.

"Well, I'm asking you, Moskowitz. What's— What's going on between you and Sky?"

Hawk let out a tense sigh, Cody could hear how he cursed silently at the other end of the line. "Nothing. Okay? Nothing. She just— she texted me earlier. Something about Never Have I Ever, and how that made her upset. She said she was drunk and thinking about Kat. And I got worried— cause, you know, she was at a party, and getting drunk. There's nothing going on between us. I just wanted to check on her."

"Well she's fine," Cody replied bitterly. "Better than fine. I've been with her for the past hour or so."

He wanted to say something about what had happened tonight. About Sky's words I love you Cody, I love you so much! and about their lovemaking, the way she had sobbed his name when he had made her come, but—

But he would never do that to Sky. He wouldn't talk about their sweet, private moments to anyone, the least of all to her ex. She deserved better than that.

Maybe Hawk picked up his meaning anyway because his tone was sharp as a knife when he replied: "Right. Cause I talked to Sam and she said Sky was fucking wasted and acting all weird."

"So what? It's a party. We're all fucking wasted." Cody rubbed his tired eyes. The world was still spinning, he felt like he would be sick. "I said she's fine."

"Yeah, okay, because drunk texting me is being fine. She's clearly not okay. You sure she's not using again?"

Hawk's words hit Cody like a punch in the gut.

No. Shit—!

He ended the call without another word and threw Sky's phone onto the nightstand as if it had burnt his fingers. Oh God. I'm a fucking idiot. Sky's foggy eyes, her slow grin, her dilated pupils, the softness of her body—