Always Yours

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Oh, I'm going to kill that bastard." Em says getting up, ready to commit murder.

"Oh no, no, no." I say pushing her back down to sit on the sink. "Wait, which one?" I ask curiously.

"Both." Oh dear, well that's not good. I don't think she could cover up two murders. Plus, I would lose my brother too, which even though he's an ass – I'm not too fond of the idea.

"I'd rather not visit you in jail." I say washing out my mouth with water and tying my hair up. "Now can we please get a cab and get out of here."

"Definitely, I think I've had enough skiing today. Not that I could stand up anyway." Emma agrees, rubbing my back, and leading me out of the bathroom.

"You'll get better." I say as we walk down the small corridor.

"And you'll get over him." She replies, although I doubt I ever will.

No, I'll never get over the bastard because he has a hold on my heart that will never go away.

Kind of depressing, isn't it?

I keep a neutral expression on my face as I walk up to our table. Ignore the bastard. Ignore. Ignore.

Yeh I can't really ignore you when your staring at me, bastard. I need to stop swearing.

"Can you pass me my stuff?" I ask the evil devil man. I refuse to say his name. My emotionless voice turns his eyes onto me, sympathy in them.

Yep well you did this to me asshole. That didn't last long.

He passes me my bag and then watches me as I stalk out the door. Emma, explaining my 'nausea' to my parents, comes out of the cafe a few minutes after me.

"Yeh keep up the emotionless, dead inside act. That will be good for you." Emma jokes as we head towards the car park. "Too soon?"

"Em, you've just created the definition of too soon." I say as I open the Uber app. "Cab will be here in ten minutes." I tell her.

"Ten minutes to kill." She says chewing her lip and looking around the car park. "Well I would suggest wheelchair races but I can't see any." That comment earns a look from me.

"Well that isn't helpful." I say, slightly pissed. I'm not in the best mood anymore.

"We need to make you happy. How about joining the druggies over there and smoke up?" I may as well just permanently glare at her for the next ten minutes while she continues her ridiculous ideas.

"No." She shrugs.

"Yeh not exactly my best idea. Oh, about hide and seek? Although knowing you I won't be able to find your obscure hiding place." She rambles on.

"How about we sit in silence?" I suggest staring at the people sliding, some falling, down the main slope.

"Nope. Oh no. You are not going emo on me! I cannot have an emo best friend, I am too happy! You will murder me!" She panics.

"All right, all right I won't." I laugh.

"Are you okay?" She asks sincerely. I sigh thinking about the question like my life depends on it.

Am I okay? No. Not really. The person I've loved my entire life, the person who has claimed a piece of my heart, just admitted that he doesn't love me. Without much hesitation.

I mean if he did answer the question so quickly then does he really deserve the feelings I have for him? Short answer, no. The long answer contains many hypothetical situations where he could possibly turn around and say 'It's not true'. But those are only hypothetical.

No. I'm not okay.

"I'm fine." She looks at me sceptically.

"Yeh, no. You know I'm a girl, too right? You can't pull that crap on me."

"Fine, I will be okay." She smiles and I roll my eyes.

"Yes, you will." After waiting a few more minutes the cab shows up and we both jump in the back.

"Sierra Lodge please." I say and the driver heads off in the direction of our cabin.

"Okay so what's the plan for the rest of the day?" Emma asks looking out of the window.

"How about the river?" I ask, hoping to clear my mind with some freezing cold water.

"Isn't it frozen?"

"No, too big to freeze up. Although the water is freezing, clears your head." She turns to me.

"An ice-cold bath is just what I need, I was starting to overheat in this weather anyway." Emma jokes, I swear my eyes just involuntarily roll when this girl says anything.

"Come on!" Emma screams from the door as I pay the cab driver.

"I'm coming." I shout back. I thank the cab driver and run into the Lodge, trailing after Emma.

We change into our swimming costumes at lightning speed and I grab as many towels as I can - knowing how cold this is going to be.

"Ready?" I ask Em as she runs down the stairs, putting up her hair.

"Yep, you got enough layers there?" She jokes, noticing the many towels and coats I have draped over my arms.

"As soon as you get in the water you're going to be bowing down to me for bringing these towels." I say walking out of the door.

It's takes us about a twenty-minute walk, by which time Emma is complaining unrelentingly.

"When you said we should go to the river I didn't realise we have to climb three mountains and swim the channel." She groans from behind me.

"You're over exaggerating." I reply as we walk through the clearing which reveals the river.

I'm quite surprised I still remember the way down. I look around taking in the view.

I see me and my brother, swinging on the homemade rope swing. I see him jumping off, crashing into the water below.

I see Jaiden messing around with my brother, me on the side-lines still. I see my mother and father having races across the river.

We were crazy to ever swim in the freezing water but we have some good memories, just like the house.

"Did you seriously make this?" Emma says, bringing me out of the past. She steps into the swing and tests it out. It holds her weight of course - my dad was a scout.

"Yeh, me and my dad did." I say, placing the towels on a rock near the water. I know we're going to be racing for them in a few minutes.

"Wanna jump in together?" I ask Emma, she nods and I get on the swing.

"Three. Two. ONE!"

"WHERE ON EARTH HAVE YOU TWO BEEN!"