Save Your Tears | Chad Meeks-Martin

12

maybe if i don't cry,
i won't feel anymore

Willa hadn't really spoken to anyone. She'd fallen asleep the night before in front of her bedroom door, causing her to wake up with a crook in her neck. Not to mention her head and heart hurt, the pain no less than it had been the day prior.

Even as she opened the door and saw Chad sprawled out in the hallway, nothing changed. She just stepped over him and went into the bathroom to shower, taking her sweet time as she knew the water could never wash away the dirty touch Marcus had left on her.

The water burned as it fell down on her. She didn't bother to change it, however, and instead just let it continue to scorch her skin.

Willa only bothered to get out of the shower when the water turned ice cold. She pulled the towel from the rack and slowly dried herself off, rubbing harder than usual to try and rid of the feeling of Marcus all over her.

Despite it being as long as it had, it still felt as fresh as it had when it was happening. She didn't know how to get rid of it or how to stop herself from feeling so... gross.

Willa got dressed, not bothering to do her hair or makeup. She didn't look at her phone or listen to music the way she usually did and instead focused carefully on doing the bare minimum for the day. She knew she didn't have school - thank god - but she at least needed to change out of her dirty clothes.

Chad was up from the hallway by the time she exited the bathroom. Instead, he stood in the doorway of her bedroom, looking at the mess of her belongings. "Why did you move your dresser?"

Willa shrugged, not wanting to get into the details of what happened.

Chad looked over at her, a worried look on his face. "Are you okay?"

"My best friend just died." Willa stated coldly, "And they think I did it. What do you think?"

"They think you did it?" Chad softly asked.

Willa's face fell for a second. She assumed Wes would've spread the news by now, surely. But he hadn't, meaning Chad had no idea about her run-in with Detective Mark yesterday.

"Yeah," She finally responded, awkwardly looking away.

"That-that's bullshit though," Chad said as he shook his head. "Who would think that? I-I mean you're-" He stopped for a second as Willa looked back at him. "You're one of the most selfless people I've ever met, you wouldn't harm anyone."

Willa felt her heart race at the compliment. Although it didn't make her feel any better about the situation she was in, it was nice to know someone thought something so genuine of her.

"I guess not everyone sees me that way," She said with a shrug. "And-and that's fine, I guess."

"No, it's not." Chad denied, "It's one thing to make an opinion of another person but to say something that could ruin their life? That's fucked up."

Willa shrugged, "Nothing I can do."

Chad looked as if he wanted to say something - anything - to help the situation. But before he could even begin to think about what to tell Willa, his phone began to ring in his pocket.

"Should probably get that. It's probably Liv." Willa spoke. She sounded bitter, and the tone threw Chad off quite a bit.

If Willa cared how she sounded, she didn't show it as she just crossed her arms and waited for Chad to respond. The boy looked at her before looking at his phone, seeing that she was right - it was Liv.