The Player and the Played

19. The Whole Sto-

"I met Beth in freshman year, a year before you joined. We both instantly became close. She was funny, beautiful, sarcastic and was a great listener. She would talk to me about things that people didn't even notice. I guess that's what drew me to her- her ability to see the beauty in everything. Everything but herself. It was our one year anniversary in the summer holidays and I was standing outside with a bouquet of her favourite flowers, midnight calla lilies, in a tux , ready to surprise her," he paused. His tone had begun as wistful but now had a bitter twist to it.

"She didn't answer me so I opened the door as it wasn't locked. I went up to her room and-" he hesitated. I took his hand, letting him know that I was there for him, that I'd always be there for him.

"It's okay," I murmured softly. "You don't have to tell me."

"I need to. It's been three years and I haven't told anyone willingly. I need to move on."

"It's okay if you don't for a while. I moved on after three years after Ashley's death and I had one whole year to prepare myself for it. And that happened after shifting to the neighbouring town because the house without her was empty. Last year, I was a mess on her birthday. This is the first year that I've decided to be stronger. It takes time for certain wounds to heal. Especially the more sudden ones," I said, squeezing his hand gently.

He took a deep breath and then, with his voice devoid of emotion, said, "She was dead. She had overdosed. The worst part was that she even had a letter to me, apologising." His voice broke again, full of anguish.

"She apologised to me, Hailey, when I should have been the one apologising. I should have made her feel beautiful like an actual boyfriend. I should have known that she was hurting and stopped it. I should have known. I should have saved her. But I let her slip away. I let her believe she needed to be perfect when she already was. I let her give up on herself. She was bulimic and depressed. And I didn't fucking know. It's all my fucking fault. I didn't save her. I should have. I could have. It's my fault she's not here, laughing and enjoying her life. It's my fault that she isn't smiling while making up constellations. It's my fault her parents are dead inside and moved away. It's my fault her little sister cries at night because she misses her. I spent the most time with her. I thought she opened up to me. I thought I knew her. I was so wrong. I didn't even look."

We sat in silence for a while as Tyler regained his composure.

"Tyler, you can't save everyone. Don't beat yourself up because of what happened to Beth. In the end, it was her choice. You didn't trigger her bulimia or make her do anything. You were happy and you thought she was too. She didn't let you in and maybe she would have but there's no use wondering about the what ifs and maybes in life. She wouldn't want you to blame yourself. She never did."

"How do you know?"

"Because from the way you described her, she sounds amazing and I'm pretty sure she was in love with you too."

"That's not the whole story though. The whole sto-"

And then Caleb walked into the room.

"What'd I miss?" he asked with a smirk, looking at our lack of space and my hand in his. I suppressed a groan. Fucking great.

A/N
I'm going to write this is normal font from now on.
That was a pretty short chapter (I made 1000 words my word limit so that I can update soon) but it was pretty important.

Important announcement:
Once I finish TPATP, I'm going to write a prequel/spin off. It's going to have two parts and the first part is in a texting story format.

Drop your guesses on who's POV it will be in here.

I'll tell you guys later and you'll figure it out anyway after a few chapters. The whole story will also be there later. The next chapter will be mainly a filler (I've planned it out already) and will tell you some more about Hailey as a person.

This is going to be a long long book by the way...

Also: these previous three chapters were originally supposed to be one chapter.

Quote:
Behind the tears;
Inside the lies;
There are a thousand slowly dying sunsets
- People Help The People by Cherry Ghost

Song recommendation:

It's stuck in my head rn...Ed Sheeran is so amazing!

Love you guys!!!!
Pizza for everyone cuz why not?
Xoxo
Anu