[UPDATED WEEKLY ON FRIDAYS]
When Lilah, an innocent eighteen year old, moves nearly eight hours from her rural town and rough past to have a fresh start at college in New York with her best friend and her older brother, the last thing she expected...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Can you tell me where we're going?" I asked for the hundredth time now, my tone getting more and more annoyed each time he didn't answer.
I had stopped asking and followed aimlessly for a while before he led us outside and was now walking towards the other side of campus, farthest away from where I entered the premises. Once my feet were off the sidewalk and gliding along the always freshly cut, bright green grass, my curiosity was getting the best of me.
"I never told you; you had to follow me. I'm just going somewhere else than standing in that boring ass hallway." Jackson said this while gazing down at me and offering his cocky smirk. His gaze lingered for a moment, seeming to study me from head to toe before looking back forward to watch where he was going.
I opened my mouth to reply, but then decided not to. He was right. It wasn't like he asked me to hang out or anything. I was just following him around like his annoying best friend's little sister, which is the whole reason he probably stopped talking to me once we moved in the first place.
Stuck in my thoughts, my feet became heavy and eventually slowed to a complete stop. My teeth dragged along my bottom lip while my hands began to pick at my already short nails. If Natalie was here, she would grab my hands and tell me to stop, but she wasn't, so I was going to take advantage of the situation.
Jackson continued walking for a few more steps before, I'm assuming, he realized I wasn't walking with him anymore. I was surprised to see him stop too and not continue walking to gain distance from me. I still didn't forgive him for what he did, and I wanted nothing to do with him. He avoided me all these years; I wouldn't blame him if he still wanted nothing to do with me either. The thought made my chest feel heavy with that familiar feeling of hurt, but Jackson's voice distracted me from getting too emotional.
"What's your issue now?" He asked with a slight tone of annoyance in his voice. He turned his head to look back at me. He crossed his arms and stood there, the distance still remaining between us.
I tried to muster a smile and to act like nothing was wrong, but I guess I failed because when I met Jackson's gaze, he turned his whole body in my direction, and the glare on his face seemed to shift to a look of shock.
"W-what's the matter?" He asked as his body physically tensed. I was even more shocked when he started to walk back towards me, the look of shock now being one of concern. I don't know what he was so concerned about; it's not like I was-
"Why are you crying?" His voice came out much softer this time, now that the distance was closed. He now stood right in front of me, and I could see his bright blue eyes scanning every inch of me, a shiver emitting through my body.
I was about to argue with him that I wasn't crying, but my voice caught in my throat when his hand reached out, and he used the back of his pointer finger to gently swipe my cheek. Just as quick as his hand reached out, he quickly retracted it and shoved his hands into his jeans's pockets. A small breeze from the approaching fall weather passed by, and I could now feel the cold trail where the tear fell that Jackson had wiped away.
