Keeping Secrets (Book I)✔️

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Florence, just talk to us please." Kevin said seriously but I was avoiding his eyes,  and the other two pairs that stood on either side of him. I was looking at the dark green grass beneath me where I sat. It was a warm and clammy day today, which was usual for us coming into the summer months. I had come out here to get some peace and avoid my friends like I have been doing for the past couple of days. I knew that I was starting to gradually come to terms with everything and they had given me the space I needed until now.

It was lunch time but I didn't eat any, Emma had brought her usual packed cucumber sandwich but had yet to open it while the other two didn't have anything with them. We were just outside the school cafeteria, there were a few tables outside for people to sit at and eat when the weather was nicer but I decided, like a lot of people, to just sit on the ground.

The three had already taken seats beside me, with Emma and Kevin sitting Indian style and Charlotte kneeling down. I was hugging my knees and closed my books that were in front of me to finally talk to them. It wasn't fair to keep pushing them away and not talk to them without giving them a reason.

"You haven't been yourself the past few weeks, we need to know if everything is okay Florence." Emma said, she used this serious voice too, which was strange for the care-free Emma. I nodded weakly and then looked up at all of them.

"I'm sorry I haven't been talking to you all, that wasn't fair." I finally said.

"Don't worry about us, just tell us what's the matter. It feels like we've... lost you somehow. You're so distant and quiet lately."

"I-I just, I had something going on but it's okay now." What I was saying wasn't a lie, I was getting over it now. It was getting better.

"You know you can tell us anything, don't you Florence?" Kevin gave me a small smile and with that, I told them about Eric. I didn't go into as much detail as I had with Jake, I didn't feel like talking about Eric anymore. It would make me think about him even more and I couldn't have that. When I was done, the three hugged me.

"I'm glad you sorted everything out Florence." Charlotte said to me as she wrapped her arms around me in a loose hug.

"You can't tell anyone, please. I just want to get over it now, I'm done." I said to Kevin and Emma more so than Charlotte, because she already knew and kept my secret. The two nodded in agreement.

"So you don't want to talk about it anymore?" Kevin asked.

"No, I don't."

"So you're okay?" he added and I nodded in agreement.

"So we're going to all go back to normal now?"

"Yes Kevin!" I said in mock exasperation and he smiled.

"I'm just checking." He held his hands up and we all laughed.

"Now can we talk about something else?" I asked and just like that, we all began chatting like nothing had happened. I didn't know whether stopping myself from thinking about Eric too much was a good thing or not.

I wondered was I brushing things under the carpet but even if I was, I was coping okay now. It was better this way. I knew for sure, both Eric and I were better off not together but when I had imagined it in my head before that night he showed up at my house, well, it wouldn't have felt the way it does now. I feel numb, in a sense, like something is missing and it is: Eric. I convinced myself it would go away after a while. I did love him after all- it wasn't going to be easy, and it would take time. At least now I had something to feel good about now: I was slowly getting back to my old self and I had patched things up with my friends.

My father sat down at the table across from me at dinner that night and just like my friends had done a few hours previously, talked to me about how I was behaving the past while. He was so concerned about me, and I felt guilty because of that. I told him how I was sorry to worry him and that everything was fine now, I was just having trouble with a friend.

"It wasn't that boy I always see you with was it Florence? Anne Montgomery's boy from around the corner?" he had asked me. His words startled me for a minute but I quickly regained my voice. I told him that actually it was, we had become friends but now, we weren't anymore. He had nodded and got back to eating his dinner.

Technically, I wasn't lying to him about Eric, we were friends after all weren't we? Well, kind of. Friends hung out together, friends made each other laugh, friends were always there for each other and made them feel better, which was what Eric had done for me for so long. Friends don't hook up casually though, friends don't stick their tongues down each other's throats either, they also weren't supposed to love the other in that kind of way now were they Florence? I thought to myself before rolling my eyes. Oh shut up, I said defensively, realising I was getting a little weird and stopped talking to myself in my head.

But after a day full of talking and opening up, I felt better than expected. There was a weight lifted off of my shoulders, most of it actually, except there was just one little big still hanging on. A part I knew would probably not go away any time soon.

I crawled into bed that night and let out a long sigh of relief. The covers were cool against my skin, I relaxed into my soft mattress, it would be easy enough for me to slip off into a deep sleep from such a tiring day but just then, my phone buzzed from my nightstand. I reached over to read the message and my eyes widened in shock. Please, not him, I thought, anyone else but him. But it was him, it was Eric and once I read the text, I immediately knew I wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. My mind began to race and my eyes watered as I looked at the now blurry screen.

Eric: I miss you Flo.

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So it's nearly the end of book I for Eric and Flo but this wont be the last you'll hear from them. Please comment and vote if you liked this chapter, thank you!:)

A. Summers xo