𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝑾𝒆 𝑫𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝑺𝒂𝒚 ( Unfinished)

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐓𝐰𝐨

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𝐀 𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞
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Thursday, March 2nd, 2023

(Lizzie Pov)

Suddenly, the pages before me turned blank, leaving a sentence hanging in an incomplete suspense. Shifting from the center of the motel bed where I had been seated, I glanced over to see her asleep. Slumped down in a worn-out chair, with the hood of her jacket obscuring most of her face.

The two of us had pulled over for the night about three-quarters of the way to Maine, our destination in this cross-country road trip. She had received a message from Viviette, informing her that she had found Julian.

I set the book aside on the nightstand and pull the covers up. I didn't even need to know the next part in our story. The events on the pages ended just before christmas.

-

5 years, 2 months, and 13 days ago

Six of us gathered around the makeshift skate park at the edge of the campus parking lot. I had to take a quick call from Sloane, she had forgotten her class assigned book on my desk last night.

Not like she used it for reading, just a clever tactic to get in the door. As I finished s̶o̶̶̶m̶̶̶e̶̶̶t̶̶̶h̶̶̶i̶̶̶n̶̶̶g̶̶̶ ̶I̶̶̶ ̶d̶̶̶i̶̶̶d̶̶̶n̶̶̶'̶t̶̶̶ ̶d̶̶̶o̶̶̶ ̶m̶̶̶u̶̶̶c̶̶̶h̶̶̶ ̶w̶̶̶i̶̶̶t̶̶̶h̶̶̶ ̶S̶̶̶l̶̶̶o̶̶̶a̶̶̶n̶̶̶e̶̶̶, I turned back to see the group had split. Julian and Wes were showing Vincent how to skate, all padded up and balanced on a board.

On the grass, Viviette and (Y/n) were doing something-I wasn't exactly sure what. The redhead pulled off a cartwheel, and m̶y̶ ̶g̶i̶r̶l̶ the other girl tried to copy it with mixed results.

(Y/n) ending up on her ass, and the two of them bursting into laughter. It was that carefree laughter, the kind that had eluded me the entire week. She had been quiet around me, and I couldn't fathom why.

"Guys, check me out!" Vincent yelled, zooming on the board, wide smile. It made my day seeing him like that, especially since he's been dealing with some real crap here at Vanderbilt.

But just as fast as his grin spread, it vanished with the sound of those two larger boys snickering. I didn't understand why at first, but when I turned to them, I heard her voice.

"Vince, watch out!" (Y/n) hollered, grabbing my attention as she took a few steps closer. Little did we know, Vincent didn't know how to stop - a skill those boys conveniently left out. And bam, he plowed right into a parking block.

I couldn't bring myself to look, but the thud as he hit the ground echoed in my ears. She was the first to reach him, her concern spreading among us as if her action was the catalyst we all needed.

It felt like if she hadn't rushed to check on him, none of us would have bothered.

She hovered over him for a moment before glancing up. "I don't think he's breathing," she said, and in a moment, I knew she must be joking.

The way she smiled and started randomly pumping on his chest, Vincent attempted to push her hands away, but laughter seemed to overtake him.

"Does anyone know mouth-to-mouth?" she asked.

"No, no, no, no," Vincent protested. She waved her hand dismissively. "Hush, you're dead," she declared as Viviette knelt, cradling his head on her knees.

"I got this," Viviette announced, pulling out a lipstick and applying it. "Pucker up, pretty boy." She leaned down, and the expression on Vincent's face was priceless. Just an inch from his lips, she was abruptly lifted from the ground. Julian hoisted her into the air.