Close as Strangers

Chapter 4

My heart sped up when I saw him, I was trying so hard not to look at him.

"Here, uh, flowers, for you." They were my favorites, making it so much harder.

"Thank you, but you-"

"No keep them, I got them for you."

"Okay." I wasn't sure what else to say after the flowers.

"So um, what did you want to meet up for?" I took in a sharp breath trying to find the perfect words to say to him.

"I just wanted to say that I care about you. I do, and I want to get back together with you" His face lit up, "when the timing is right. I want to make sure that we can make it this time. I think this is our last chance, and we need to get it right." His smile slowly started to fade as I said all this and my heart sunk. He nodded his head and looked at me with those gorgeous blue eyes and he looked back down. "Say something, please." He laughed and shook his head.

"Okay. I'll wait, as long as you need. I want to be in your life, you're the only person I can imagine myself being with." I smiled. He's perfect, completely and totally perfect. I know that once we get the timing right things should work. I came over and hugged him, I couldn't stop myself and we stayed like that for what felt like forever and when we pulled apart, I turned around and walked back home, stopping myself from letting myself get too comfortable after our talk. I smelled the flowers, and looked at them, they made me smile as I walked back to my empty home.

I woke up with my chubby pug's butt in my face, being cuddled against by my other two dogs. It took a few minutes for me to get up, mesmerized by the heat of my blankets. I slowly pulled myself out of bed, rubbing my eyes and headed downstairs to scavenge for food. Slightly surprised, I saw my mom in the kitchen with a cup of coffee, she usually was gone by the time I was awake. She hadn't been the same since my brother died, it was rough on all of us but she took it the hardest and drowned herself in work. My dad started doing the same, and it left me most nights and days to myself and the dogs.

"Morning." she quietly mumbled right before a sip of coffee.

"Morning mom." She cringed at the word "mom". She knew she wasn't much of a mother for starters and after Ben's death she completely went absent. "How's work going?" I managed to ask, not really interested, just trying to keep some kind of communication.

"Good, I have a surgery I need to get to in an hour and I thought I'd drink my coffee at home before I go."

"Oh, okay I hope it goes well, I mean they all do though." She mustered a weak smile. I grabbed a bagel and put it in the toaster while grabbing the Nutella and a knife. She stood up and put her mug in the sink and mumbled a goodbye then walked out the door. Alone again I said to myself, just as my dogs came trotting in the room hearing the door shut. I put the Nutella smothered halves together and wrapped it in a paper towel so I could bring it upstairs while I got ready for school. I grabbed my white button down shirt with the maroon blazer and hideous plaid skirt, then slid on my knee high socks and my platform vans. I headed to the bathroom to tame my wild tangled hair and put on eyeliner and mascara. By that point I had 15 minutes left until I had to start walking to school so I finished up my sugary breakfast, brushed my teeth, and headed downstairs with my school bag, getting my phone out to check my twitter. Looking around my music on my phone, I found that Ed Sheeran's new album "Minus" had downloaded. I forgot, it was out on sale today, I new Caitlin was going to be buzzing about it as I headed out the door to go meet her so we could walk to school. I opened the door and walked past the five houses until I got to Caitlin's light yellow house complete with faded olive green shutters. She came out the door, already talking about how much she loves the new album and how she waited until midnight for it to download so she could listen to it right away. I laughed at how I knew exactly what she was going to say. We started walking down the road towards the school we dreaded so very much. Thank The Lord though that it was our last years and we have decided what universities we plan on going to. I was going to London, quite a change of weather, but I figure my parents shouldn't miss me much. We continued down the street in silence, though it was quiet, it was nice, not awkward, just nice.

"So anything else happen with Luke?" She questioned, nothing but curiosity painted on her face.

"Well, I told him that this is the last chance for us and we better wait and get our timing right, or things will end completely."

"That's rough, I'm sorry Isabelle I'm sure it'll all work out. Mike and I had trouble at times but we worked it all out and you and Luke will make it, I'm sure of it." She finished just as we were coming up to school and we headed in to our classes of the day.

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So I hope you all like these four chapters! Give me some feedback and feel free to tell me what you think! I hope you all enjoy them, I've been whipping them all up and I have some more ideas brewing for this story!