𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 || 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭

𝟐𝟒: 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬...𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭

   Sophia reached the Scobell's house in record time, jumping up the steps of their front porch. She raised her fist to knock on the door, but paused.

Now that she thought about it, she didn't want anyone besides Walker to open it. Sure, his parents were aware of her situation, and Leena knew some details, but Walker was the only one who really understood.

So instead she turned on her heels and ran around the side of the house, to the base of the tree.

She had already climbed it countless times, so before long she was sitting on the outside sill of Walker's window. It stuck out much farther than the one on her own house, and it made a much better makeshift seat.

She knocked on the glass.

"Walker?" Her voice rang against the windowpane.

She heard the mattress on his bed creak, like someone was getting up off of it. After a few seconds his window slid open.

"Hey Sophia." He stepped aside and she squeezed through the frame, her feet landing with a thump onto the ground.

Walker must've just gotten back from the gym, because he had on sweatpants and a black muscle shirt. Pulling the headphones from his head, he threw them onto his bed.

He looked really good.

Immediately shooing away her thoughts, Sophia clasped her hands together, squeezing her eyes shut before she began her rambling explanation.

"Okay so I know you're probably mad and you have every right to be even though I mean so do I but that doesn't matter because I have this thing happening right now and because of that thing I have a question for you and you can totally say no if you want to but I thought I would just ask because it's kind of important and my mom can't do it because then the court would-"

"Okay."

Sophia cracked one of her eyes open. "Uh, I haven't finished asking the question."

Walker shrugged. "I know. But it's fine, I'll help."

His arms were crossed, and he was leaning against the edge of the open window. She couldn't quite read his face.

Her hands slowly melted back to her side. "Okay. I just need you to take a picture of this." She pointed to her bruise. "My mom can't send in evidence because technically speaking I'm not allowed to see her right now."

Walker nodded, standing up from his slouched position and pulling his phone from his back pocket.

"Let me see." He reached out, tilting her face to the side with two of his fingers. Her stomach twisted when she remembered the last time that his hand had rested on her cheek.

She held still, waiting for him to take a few photos. When he was done, the absence of his fingertips on her skin bugged her more than she wanted to admit.

Sophia knew in a heartbeat that if things were normal between them, Walker would be 10x more concerned right now. He would've pulled her into a hug, or maybe sat her down while he ran to grab some ice. It felt like she was in the room with a very distant friend. Polite and familiar, but too formal to be comfortable.

"I'll show this to my parents so they can send it in. Better for it to come from responsible adults than us."

Sophia nodded. "Makes sense." She paused, glancing around the room for the words she wanted to say. Walker's voice filled the silence instead.

"Thanks for coming by." He was purposefully looking anywhere other than her, his expression unreadable. "That's all you wanted from me, yeah?"

But she wasn't ready to leave yet. "Did you really not write that letter?"