Fractured Fundamentals

two empty minds

Collins pov

River did really good. I never knew she could dance. This is probably her next best thing next to gaming. after they finish everyone celebrates and leaves. That's when I saw River following Lucy into the locker room. After about 5 minutes she texted me.

River: Fall back. I repeat fall back. I have to talk to her first.

Me: Okay. make it quick. I have to get this flash drive back to Ronald by 7.

what could they possibly be talking about? Aren't you supposed to hate your enemy? Despise them? How is she in there? why are they talking for so long? A million questions rushed through my head. Then Lucy came out and she looked as if she's been crying. I guess River took care of things without me. Which wasn't the plan at all but oh well. River came out after her with her head held high with a smile on her face. "Did you do it?" I asked. "Yep."

Rivers pov

"Is it really you Luce?" I asked her. "no." she whispered. When she said that simple 2 letter word my heart nearly shattered into A million pieces. Could she really still be the same girl I knew in freshman year? This almost scared me. "Lucy, do you want to be this way?" "No. I don't try to be this way." she stood up and walked further away from me. I neared towards her and laid my hand on her shoulder. "Lucy. You don't have to be this way. You can still change. It's not too late." she jerked away from my grip and wiped her tears. I heard her laugh under her breath. "River River River." she said shaking her head. "You must have really thought I was dumb enough to fall for your stupid little trap. Like I would apologize and you would take me back as your best friend and forget any of this happend." A single warm tear fell from my eye when she said those things. I was really heart broken. I thought I had an old friend back. "Lucy." she cut me off. "Oh save me the bull shit ocean. I'm not the same girl you knew before. So just accept it." with that she walked out of the locker room leaving her treacherous evil grin behind. I know she can be herself again. I just know it. I decided to let her go and not blackmail her. She's just scared and insecure and I understand because she's a complete dark side of her true self. I walked out of the locker room after her with a fake smile plastered on my face. "Did you do it?" Collin asked. "Yep." "That's my girl. Now lets go get some Ice cream." We left the school and went to the Ice cream parlor. We walked in and started to order. "Hello welcome to Prairie Pete's Parlor would you like to try our triple Decker special?" A junior from our school asked. I'm guessing Collin noticed him as well because his smile slowly faded. "No we just want two small cones." Collin said rudely. "Okay, so flavors?" The guy said awkwardly typing something on the screen. Collin looked to me. "Vanilla." I spoke quietly. I don't know why, I just did. "Two small vanillas." Collin said aggressively. "Coming right up." the guy said before turning to make our cones. "What was that all about?" I asked hoping Collin would answer reasonably. "Don't worry about it just steer clear of him he's bad news." He said with a serious look on his face. I never seen him like this before so I wait until we go outside on the patio to ask what his deal was. "And so there were two. One that know something and one that knew nothing. Spit it out." I said pressing for answers. "It's just... that pipsqueak jim." He said as our mentioning his name tasted bad on his tongue. "You mean Josh?" I laughed correcting him. "Whatever his name is. That jerk--" he stopped talking. "That jerk what babe?" I questioned. "That jerk said something I would rather you not hear. Can you please just understand and let it go?" He said with hurt in his voice. I had no choice but to accept his wishes. "Okay." I said letting it go. After joking around and talking for a bit we cleaned up our table and went back to my place. Mark had texted me earlier saying he was gonna be home at a later time than usual, if not 12:00am then 3 in the morning. We went to my room and lied on the bed just staring at the ceiling. Just two young hearts and two empty minds. He soon broke the silence. "River. I really like you." He said not taking his eyes off that one fragment in the ceiling. "Huh. I really like you too." I replied though I was kinda caught off guard. "I wish we could lay here forever. Just you and me and our wandering eyes." He said words so crisp they could have been in a romantic film. "You have been so poetic lately." I say lightening the mood. We laughed and I notice he stopped laughing. "No. But what if...what if we were cracks in a ceiling in the house of a perfectionist?" I looked at him with confusion in my eyes. "I'm sure we'd be covered up by paint or spackle or something. Defends on how perfect that perfectionist is." I replied honestly. "Hm. Well If we were those cracks in the ceiling I would make my way to you, even if we brought the whole roof down. Then we'd both be covered by paint or spackle." When he said those words a tear of disbelief glided down my cheek. Never have I thought in my 7 years of teenage hood would I have heard these words from any love interest I've ever had. I was utterly shocked. I fell in love with this boy at that moment. And every time I blinked it's like I fell in love over and over and over again. I looked back at the ceiling knowing I can't compete with what he said. "Collin. Stay with me tonight. And don't leave unless I kiss you goodbye." I said wiping the tear that had fallen. "I promise I won't leave until then." With that he fell asleep. As I heard his shallow breathing get lower. I fell asleep to his lullaby of snores. They weren't heavy loud snores, but they were gentle and soft. It was like he was at peace. Oops. I fell in love again.