UGLY DUCKLING; S.MENDES

..found..

"Okay, seriously get your ass in your car and find that dick." She stated as I shuffled through my backpack looking for my car keys.

"I'm ahead of you on that one." I replied as I dangled my keys in front of her face.

"I'm genuinely surprised." She said with a huge smile.

"Hmm...I honestly don't know what I want to say."

"Something along the lines of 'let's forget about it?'" Cher replied flatly.

"It's not that simple, those words never even crossed my mind. I think maybe we'll finally agree and be okay with how we've ended up. I honestly don't think we want to go back to normal." I replied quietly.

"I'll say one thing- if that's what will make you happy and what you'll be okay with in the future then I support you."

"Thank you so much, for everything within this past hour. This shit has been intense." I replied with a laugh.

"Aha aha, I had to watch my friend almost die- best experience ever." She said as she cringed but nervously smiled.

"I wasn't going to die! Anyways, I'll text you later, okay?"

"Okay, bye Layna."
---
I rushed out of the school and ran straight to my car, but abruptly stopped when I saw someone leaning against my door- it was Shawn.

"I didn't think you'd be out this soon." He sniffled as he wiped his eyes.

"Um.....I-" I stuttered trying to figure out what to say.

"I'll leave, I can barely handle l-looking at you anyways."

"No, get in my car." I stated as I looked at him.

This time I actually saw the sadness in his face. The way his eyes hung, bloodshot yet deathly dark. His brows weren't furrowed but laid against his face like stems of dying plants that were bent over. And the corners of his mouth was turned in the most devastating way, it was a frown that had been forced into a smile so it appeared on his face as a mistake. His lips were also pale with a huge red mark from where he occasionally chewed on it. Overall, his face was like a sidewalk. Its smooth, but every once in a while there's a crack or a split. Of course it was never like that, but from different events and from time passing, like everything else- it becomes broken.

I opened my door and turned on the car as he got in.

"I know you...you don't really have time to waste on me, but-" he started mumbling.

"I'm a waste of time, you on the other hand are a wonderful use of time." I said as I gave him a weak smile.

"You're not a waste of time either. Where are we going?" He asked as his voice began to calm down.

"I was thinking we'd go for some ice cream?"

"Oh, that'd be great." He replied with the only bit of enthusiasm he could muster up.

"That's what I thought." I replied.

The rest of the car ride was quiet but it was okay, it's not like we had anything to talk about until we looked at each other face to face anyway.

When we arrived, it was completely dead because it was still school hours. We ordered our usual ice cream and stat down on the curb outside.

"I've been thinking about something a lot since last night." He stated.

"Okay, what is it?" I asked as I turned towards him.

"I've been thinking about how...things will never be normal again. And I now realize how stupid I was for acting so casual about things, cause I now know it really meant a lot to you."

I nodded in agreement. "And I guess that's why it sucked so much, you didn't have the slightest bit of understanding." I frowned slightly, suppressing my tears.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. And I know you'll never be able to fully forgive me cause I'll never be able to fully forgive myself." He shook his head ever so slightly.

"I forgive you because I know now that you truly understand, at least to your fullest capability- I can see it in your face."

He turned towards me "Really?"

"It's amazing, right? How much you can't tell from the expression and lines on someone's face. They say to not judge a book by its cover, but I believe that the cover is part of the book and since it belongs to it, it must at least hint at the contents. So, judging by your face I can see your understanding and by the way you're acting I know you understand."

"Wow. Your thoughts are so..."

"Hard to explain, even for me."

"Yeah, it's amazing. You're thoughts make mine seem so petty."

"Thoughts are never petty, because they belong to you. They belong to yourself and are apart of yourself and you are not petty, therefore anything that belongs to you holds the importance of the universe, just like your existence."

Shawn stared at me for the longest time, even when I looked away towards my shoes. I heard him moving and felt his body against mine as he wrapped his arms around me and softly cried.

"You are truly beautiful. I'd hate to screw up such a beautiful soul. I'll always know you and you'll always know me, we won't change that okay? But what we will change is our friendship, we won't talk anymore like we're familiar with each other and we won't get upset if we ignore each other because we're just friendly people without a friendship." He said assuredly.

"I like that, it won't give us a chance to hurt one another anymore." I replied as I cried too and held onto him.

"It's settled?" He asked as he brushed away my hair and looked into my teary eyes with his own teary eyes.

"It's settled." I replied as I smiled.

We held each other and cried for the longest time, occasionally glancing at each other's glossy eyes and smiling.

That'd be the last time we'd talk on a personal level, the last time we'd share each other's pain and happiness. The last time we'd call each other "friend."

---
This chapter ended up being shit, sorry.