If The World Ends Tomorrow | ONGOING

𝓉𝓌𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓎

𝚝𝚑𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝚓𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟸𝟷𝚜𝚝

"You're never around anymore, Smiley." Noah groans throwing himself onto me, his head resting in the crook of my neck. "I can only take so much of these idiots, except you Chelsea, I like you."

Chelsea smiles. "I like you too, Noah."

Jack's eye twitches, years ago if you'd told me there was a possibility of Jack getting jealous over anything, I'd have laughed in your face. Now, I'd be shocked if you told me he didn't get jealous where Chelsea was concerned.

Noah stiffens, his head lifting. "Do you have a boyfriend?" He looks me in the eye, rather intensely.

"No." I shake my head. "No boyfriend."

"As if she could ever get a boyfriend," Adrian scoffs, I flip him off.

"Come think of it, why don't you have a boyfriend?" Noah tilts his head. "You're pretty, you've got gorgeous hair." He twirls his finger in my curls. "I'd date you."

"Right." My eyebrows furrow. "I'd date you too."

"Well, obviously, anyone would." He pats my cheek like you would a child.

I nod. "Right," I say.

"So, if it's not a boyfriend, then what's got you MIA? A girl?"

"No." I shake my head. "I've just been busy..at the shop." I don't know why I lie, I have no reason to.

I guess I just like Eden being my little secret.

"Mikey's?"

"Yeah." It was the first thing that had popped into my brain, probably because I'd been there this morning. "Shop's been busy lately."

Noah nods. "Huh."

⋆・○・✮・○・⋆

You never know someone's true story until they tell you. Rumors are only half-truths if they have any truth at all. Everyone has their own story.

Noah grew up in an almost perfect home until his father cheated on his mother, they stayed together but argued every night. It got physical more often than it didn't. Noah's siblings grew up and moved away, but he was stuck here, he escapes with drugs and a new girl every night. The latter isn't because of his parents it's because of Layla, he loved her, still does, but she cheated on him. He would have stayed with her but she didn't want him the same way he did her. The rumor about him was that he was a player who didn't give two shits about anyone, and he got a few girls pregnant. Half truth I won't deny he's a player, but I will deny that he doesn't care, he cares a lot more than you'd think.

Chelsea lives with her Aunt and Uncle, along with her cousins, her parents died when she was young, she was always the odd one out, never a true sibling to the others, and never a true daughter to her Aunt and Uncle. She's never really had a true place to call home, until she met us, more specifically Jack. She fell in love, I think at the start she was in love with the idea of who he could become. She wanted to fulfill the good girl saves the bad boy fantasy, it turned into so much more. We're friends but she only sticks around because of Jack, she'll take him any way she can get. It won't lead anywhere good. The rumor about her was that she baby-trapped Jack. Couldn't be farther from the truth, they do love each other, maybe not the flowers and roses type but love nonetheless.

Jack's mom was a drug addict, and he came out addicted to coke, he did everything he could to wean himself off it, he smokes and drinks because it's the only thing he believes, is stopping him from becoming a drug addict like his mother. He'd rather be an alcohol and weed addict than a cocaine one. There's a lot more to Jack's story but it's sort of an unspoken rule that you don't dig, he shares what he wants when he wants. The only reason we're as close as we are is because of Pax, we both felt the loss of him on a similar level. I feel bad for Jack, he wants to give Chelsea what we all know she deserves, but he truly believes deep down in his core that he'll never be good enough for her, so he tries to drive her away, shut her out, but she can't stay away, and neither can he, not really. The rumor is he's the son of some drug lord, not true he's the son of a long-dead butcher.

Christopher has never been coherent enough to share much, but there was one night he told me about his childhood how he watched his mother get constantly abused by his father, says he witnessed stuff he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy. The first taste of alcohol he had was at 5, he realized it made everything go away, so never stopped doing it, though he did add weed to the mix. There's more to the story, a lot more, but I don't think Chris will ever be ready to share, I don't blame him. The cigarette butt-shaped burn marks say all they need to say along with the word toy carved on his lower back. The rumor is he does heroin, he hasn't though I can't say the same about coke.

Adrian is secretly rich, he technically lives in a big house the size of a mansion in the town over, I'm the only one who knows, he doesn't want the group to think of him differently. He ran away when he was 17, he's never said what went down in that house, not as bad as what went down in Christophers, but it messed him up, he has 5 siblings, he's the second youngest, the youngest being Alexandra his sister, he feels guilty for leaving her, it haunts him a way I'll never truly be able to understand. Adrian joined us because it's the first time he's truly felt free, not tied down by what he was supposed to be, but even with us there's a part he hides. He ran away because his parents found out he likes boys I think. I caught him once with a boy, he doesn't know I know, he'll tell everyone when he's ready and I won't take that away from him. The rumor about him is that he has chlamydia, don't know where that came from but it's definitely not true.

Then there's Eden, I don't know his story yet, it's like one of those puzzles that are all but impossible, you have the borders done but none of the inside pieces fit together. I know his family is rich as hell, he went to boarding school, he has a younger brother, he's meant to take over his father's business, he played hockey for a long time, and he's reserved. I've tried piecing the fragments together to make my own story of what he is, but it never fits right. I've never wanted to know someone's story more than I have him, what makes him him.

I could tell you the stories of 99% of Peysle, it might take hours but I could do it. 

The crazy thing is not one of those people could tell you more than my nickname and that I like to party.

I say it's ok but deep down I'd give someone the weight of the sun in gold to care enough to learn my story.