𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙇𝘼𝙆𝙀𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙎𝙀 || 𝙒𝘼𝙇𝙆𝙀𝙍 𝙎𝘾𝙊𝘽𝙀𝙇𝙇

𝟗

five months passed and heather came back to check on everything. she knew it was all fine— she just wanted to see her people again.

"heather!!" hallie screamed, running down the hallway. she threw herself into her second mother, uhugging her as tight as she could.

"hi, honey," heather said, reciprocating the motion. not even a second later hallie's mom came running, joining into the hug.

"i'm so glad to see you!" her mom said. hallie walked away for a little bit to give her moms some privacy to talk. she went upstairs to her room and texted walker.

hallie🩷
your mom made it home. wish u did too.

walk🫶🏻
i know, hal. it won't be long.

hallie🩷
yes it will. 😔

walk🫶🏻
i love you hallie but i have to go. i'll text you later, promise.
read

***
hallie threw her phone. she knew he didn't mean that promise. for the last month he's been saying that, and never texted back. he's always been busy. she knows they're drifting, but won't let herself admit it.

she laid in her bed for a little while, letting herself think. sometimes she would block the blonde boy out of her mind so she wouldn't cry in public. every time she let herself think about him it always brought tears to her eyes.

hallie reached over to her nightstand and took her notebook. walker's notebook. their notebook. she read through the first ten pages until her door opened. a brunette boy stood in the doorway, smiling at her.

"hi, hallie." he said.

"hi, river." she said back in the same tone.

the two of them had grown close in the past three months. stacy introduced them and they hit it off immediately. it's clear they have something for each other, but is it just a band-aid for hallie?

"what if i was changing? you didn't even knock." she said, shoving the notebook in her nightstand. river walked over to the bed and flopped down.

"then i would've shut it." he said with a smart-ass tone. hallie rolled her eyes and laughed.

"what brings you over here?" she asked. he hummed and crawled over next to her. he wrapped an arm around her and snuggled into her side.

"i need a nap." he whispered. hallie grinned and hugged him.

"i always need a nap." she said, relaxing into the warmth of his body. it didn't take too long before they were both asleep. around thirty minutes later she woke up to her phone buzzing. she groaned and sat up, reaching over to grab her phone. river grunted and rolled away from her. she smiled and looked at her notifications.

***

11 messages from walk🫶🏻

walk🫶🏻
hallie
hallie
hallie
hallie
why tf is there a boy in your room
hallie
hallie why aren't you answering me
HALLIE
HALLIE
HALLIE
UGH

hallie🩷
what?
he's my friend?

walk🫶🏻
why are you laying. ASLEEP. with a boy.

hallie🩷
why can't i????

walk🫶🏻
HALLIE MAE.

hallie🩷
i'm not arguing with you about this.

***

hallie set down her phone. it continued blowing up with messages but she didn't look. she didn't wanna argue with him. he wasn't gonna listen. all he was worried about is that there's another boy.

she got up and walked downstairs. she found her mom and heather talking in the living room. she sat down on the couch next to heather and leaned into her side. heather wrapped an arm around her and kissed her head.

"why did you tell him?" hallie asked. heather turned to face her.

"i thought he knew." she said sadly, already knowing how mad he was. "i'm sorry, honey."

"he's not my boyfriend. i don't like him like that." hallie whispered, afraid that river could hear him. he couldn't.

"i thought you would've told him. you tell each other everything." she said. hallie looked down and said nothing. hallie's mom got up and went to the kitchen.

hallie felt a lump in her throat and tears in her eyes.

"i really miss him." she whispered, her voice breaking. heather hugged her tighter.

"he misses you just as much. he tells me all the time. we've had many moments just like we are right now." heather whispered back. hallie cried for a while until she couldn't anymore.

she looked up at heather with watery eyes.

"does he still love me?"

heather hesitated.

"of course he does."

why did she hesitate?

****

anyways.

hi. it's been a while.