The night Skyler stayed by Ocean's side passed in a haze of fever and quiet conversations. After the confrontation at the door, they had both fallen into an uneasy truce, an unspoken agreement to hold off on the deeper issues still lingering between them. They changed out of their wet clothes, Skyler helping Ocean with quiet, gentle care, and then they had settled into the quiet of Ocean's small apartment.
Skyler stayed, sitting by Ocean's bedside, refusing to leave, even as Ocean dozed off, his fevered body too exhausted to keep fighting. In the haze of half-sleep, Ocean had felt Skyler's presence—calm, steady, like a quiet anchor in the storm.
But the walls were still there. They were always there.
The next morning, Ocean woke up to sunlight streaming through the curtains. His fever had broken, and the fog in his head had cleared, but the ache in his chest remained. He blinked, adjusting to the light, and when his eyes finally focused, he saw Skyler sitting by his side, just as he had been the night before.
For a moment, Ocean didn't move. He just lay there, staring at Skyler, trying to make sense of everything that had happened. The anger, the hurt, the confusion—it was all still there, but there was something else too. Something quieter, something that had been buried beneath the storm of emotions but was now beginning to surface.
I missed you.
The thought crept into Ocean's mind, uninvited, but undeniable. He had missed Skyler more than he had ever let himself admit, and now, seeing him here—seeing that he had stayed, that he hadn't left again—made something inside Ocean soften, just a little.
But even with Skyler's presence, even with the small truce they had reached, there were still walls between them. The explanation for Skyler's disappearance remained unsaid, a question that hovered between them like a shadow. And though they had started to rebuild the fragile connection they had once shared, there was a distance between them that neither of them dared to cross.
Over the next few days, things returned to a tentative normal. Ocean went back to school, his body slowly recovering from the illness, and Skyler continued to be by his side, just as he had been before. They sat together during lunch, spent time in the library, worked on assignments. On the surface, things seemed to be falling back into place.
But they both knew it wasn't that simple.
There were still unspoken words, still the lingering tension of questions that had never been answered. Ocean wanted to ask—wanted to demand the reason why Skyler had left, why he had disappeared without a word—but every time the question hovered on his lips, he swallowed it back.
He wasn't sure if he was ready for the answer.
And Skyler, for his part, never offered an explanation. He didn't push, didn't bring up the past, and though he stayed close, there was a distance in his eyes that Ocean couldn't quite place.
It was a few weeks later, when the rains had started to lighten and the air had taken on a crisp autumn chill, that something shifted again. The cracks in the silence that had been growing between Ocean and Skyler suddenly widened, and everything came crashing down.
It started with a girl.
Ocean had noticed her before. She was in one of Skyler's classes, a bubbly, cheerful girl named Emily, who seemed to always find an excuse to talk to him. At first, Ocean hadn't paid much attention to it. Skyler had always been popular, always surrounded by people who wanted to be close to him. Ocean had gotten used to it.
But over time, the way Emily lingered around Skyler began to gnaw at Ocean's nerves. Every time he saw them together—laughing, talking, sharing a smile—something inside him twisted, tight and uncomfortable. He tried to ignore it, tried to push it down, but it was always there, a quiet unease that followed him like a shadow.
And then came the evening in the art room.
Ocean had been avoiding the art room for a while. It had once been a place of comfort, a quiet sanctuary where he and Skyler could sit together in companionable silence, but ever since Skyler's disappearance, the room had felt tainted by the memories of what they had lost. Still, Ocean found himself drawn back there, as if hoping that by returning, he could reclaim some of the peace that had once existed between them.
He hadn't expected to find Skyler there.
He especially hadn't expected to find her there with him.
Ocean pushed the door to the art room open quietly, not expecting to see anyone inside. But the moment he stepped in, his heart lurched in his chest.
Skyler stood by one of the windows, the soft glow of the setting sun casting a golden light across the room. And standing in front of him, too close for Ocean's comfort, was Emily.
Ocean froze, his breath catching in his throat. For a split second, he considered turning around and leaving before they noticed him, but something held him in place. His feet felt rooted to the ground, his heart pounding as he watched the scene in front of him unfold.
Emily said something, her voice too low for Ocean to hear, and then—before Ocean could fully process what was happening—she leaned in and kissed Skyler.
It wasn't a hesitant kiss. It was confident, sure, as if she had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
And Skyler didn't push her away.
Ocean's entire body went numb.
He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. His mind screamed at him to turn away, to leave, to get as far away from this as possible, but he couldn't. All he could do was stand there, frozen in place, as the scene played out in front of him.
Skyler didn't push her away.
He just stood there, letting it happen, his face unreadable, his body still.
Ocean's heart twisted painfully in his chest, the tight knot of unease that had been growing inside him finally snapping. His breath hitched, and before he could stop himself, he turned and fled from the room.
The door slammed shut behind him, the sound echoing down the empty hallways as Ocean ran. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't care. All he knew was that he had to get away. Away from Skyler. Away from Emily. Away from the suffocating weight of betrayal that was choking him.
His chest ached, his mind spinning with a thousand thoughts he couldn't organize. The walls he had so carefully rebuilt around himself had just come crashing down, leaving him exposed, vulnerable, raw.
How could Skyler do this?
The question echoed in his mind, over and over again, as he ran through the rain-soaked streets, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps. He had trusted Skyler—let him back into his life, even after everything that had happened. And now, this.
Ocean didn't stop running until he was far away from the school, far away from the art room and the image of Skyler and Emily burned into his mind. His legs gave out, and he collapsed onto a bench in the park, his body shaking with the effort of holding back the flood of emotions threatening to overwhelm him.
He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think.
The rain started again, a soft drizzle at first, then heavier, soaking through his clothes just as it had that night weeks ago. But this time, the cold didn't bother him. Nothing did. All he could feel was the crushing weight of betrayal.
Why didn't he push her away?
Ocean squeezed his eyes shut, his breath shaky as he tried to make sense of it. Had he misunderstood everything? Had Skyler's return been a lie? Had he just been waiting for the right moment to break Ocean again?
He didn't know. He didn't have answers. All he had was the suffocating pain in his chest and the overwhelming urge to disappear, to retreat back into the safety of his walls, where no one could hurt him again.
Ocean sat there, alone in the rain, the world around him blurring into a haze of water and darkness. The walls were back. Stronger than ever. And this time, he wasn't sure if anything could break through them again.
TBC. 🩵
