The one with the Knives and the one with the Pills

Chapter Six: Loss

"Baby girl, come back here." Liam called after Talia walked away from him down the hallway of the school. "Look I'm sorry." He said when he finally caught up with her. "I wasn't thinking straight, it won't happen again."

"You're right." She spoke with emotion void from her voice. "Cause I'm done with you." She yanked her hand free from his grip. "Now leave me alone."

"Give me one more chance." He begged. "I promise I'll change." He moved in front of her so she couldn't get around him. She sighed, knowing she'd regret what she was about to say.

"You get one more chance." She hissed between her teeth. "But one wrong move, and I'm gone." She looked him in the eyes. "Understand?"

"Hear you loud and clear, babe." He smiled and pulled her in to kiss her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they walked to their next class.

"Oh wait! I gotta grab my binder from my locker. I'll meet you in class?" Talia smiled softly, Liam nodded and let her go. She turned around and headed back in the direction she came from. "Hey, Damian." Talia smiled when she saw Damian at his locker.

"Hey." He replied quickly, not turning to look at her.

"How was the rest of you're weekend?" She asked, her smile fading. Then she turned to open her locker and get her binder. He didn't respond to her question. "You okay? Something happen?" She asked, closing her locker and clutching the binder to her chest.

"No, I'm fine." He mumbled, obviously upset about something but he wouldn't outright say it.

"Damian, you can tell me if something's bothering you." Talia stepped closer to him, making him flinch.

"God, Talia, nothing's wrong." Damian snapped. "Nothing that you can fix, anyway." He sighed.

"I may not be able to fix it, but I can try and help you through it." Talia spoke after a moment of thinking of something to say.

"You always know what to say." He sighed with a bitter tone. "I gotta go, don't wanna be late for class." He closed his locker and walked away, bumping shoulders with her as he walked past her. She took a deep breath and walked up to him again. 

"Damian, talk to me." Talia tried to get him to turn around, but ended up making him drop his books. She looked down at her only friend kneeling on the floor, picking up the books he dropped.

"Fun party this weekend, right?" He finally said something. He got up quickly, grapping his dropped books and walked away.

Talia stood there in shock; trying to make sense of the tall, lanky guy she called her best friend. He felt bad leaving her like that, knowing that the last thing she needed was to be alone. But if she couldn't see it herself, he would have to basically shove it in her face. Talia turned back in the direction she had come from and walked into the class she needed to be in. Halfway through the class period, the speakers through out the school turned on and made an announcement. 

"Damian Williamson to the attendance office for early dismissal!" The woman's voice said followed by a loud beep, indicating that the message was over. 

Talia pulled her phone from under her thigh and open her text chat she had with Damian. She asked him why he got called down to attendance and if he was okay. To avoid being caught, she locked her phone quickly after sending the text and tucked it back under her thigh. When the class was over she checked her phone to see that she had no new messages from Damian, but he did read it nearly half an hour ago. 

The rest of the day went uneventful, with no word from Damian however, she started to worry. She was on her way home, Liam had practice after school so he wasn't able to drive her home, when she found herself near the park her and Damian went to the day after they met. She nearly tripped when she saw him there with his little sister.

He was kneeling in front of her, he seemed to be telling her something serious. She could tell be cause when he was done telling his sister, she ran away from him yelling something about "being wrong". She quickly walked over to see what was wrong; when Damian saw her he sighed in aggravation. 

"What are you doing here?" Damian asked, he seemed beyond mad at this point. 

"Last time I checked this park was public property." Talia raised an eyebrow, when she saw Damian's jaw clench she dropped the act. "I was walking home from school and happened to see you talking to your sister." Talia looked over her shoulder at the little girl who was 'hiding' underneath the slides. "I wanted to make sure you guys were okay."

"Well, we're fine." Damian snapped. "So you can leave." He huffed. 

"Yeah, cause your little sister hiding under a slide crying is fine." She put air quotes around the word 'fine'. 

"Jesus Christ!" Damian yelled while laughing humorlessly. "Why do you have the need to fix everything?!" He asked. "Not everything can be fixed in this world, ever think of that?" 

"Yes, it's dawned on me, Damian." Talia gave a tight lipped smile, that was anything but friendly. "But as your friend I wanna try to help you in anyway I can." She sighed. "I can't help the world, but I can sure as hell try and help you."

"You can't fix me." He whispered in an almost menacing tone. "If you want someone to fix, maybe start with ass wipe of a boyfriend. A guy who treats you like shit and yet every chance you get, you go running back to him."

"Fuck you." Talia whispered, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks. "You don't know shit." 

"Awe boo hoo, go cry about it to someone who cares, cause you're not going to get any sympathy from me anymore." That's when she slapped him. 

"I can tell when someone's deflecting." She tried to steady her voice, wiping the tears from her eyes. "What ever is bothering you, that's your business and I have no right to force the information out of you. I'm sorry and I'll back off if that's what you really want." She stepped back a little. "But just because you're going through something, doesn't mean you have to go through it along, don't push me away."

"My mom died this morning." Damian mumbled. "She was diagnosed with lung cancer a year ago, and she died in her sleep." His eyes teared up. "I didn't check on her before I left for school.. K- Katie found her when she tried to wake her up to take her to school." Tears streamed down his face now, he didn't even try to fight them back. "Can you even imagine what that would do to a kid her age? To find her own mother dead and not know what to do? I should've been there for her." Talia pulled him into a hug and rubbed his back reassuringly, holding him till he moved out of the embrace. She kissed his cheek before walking away toward his sister.

"Hi, Katie." Talia smiled kindly at the small child. "My name is Talia, I'm a friend of Damian's." She added.

"I know who you are." Katie wiped her tears away with her sleeve. "Damian only has one friend." She mumbled. 

"Well, I heard that you lost your mom today." Talia tried to comfort her. "I can't imagine how sad you are, but I think I have a surprise that will make you feel better."

"You do?" Katie stopped whimpering. 

"I do." Talia leaned so that her and Katie were eye level. "Have you ever been to the aquarium?"

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Author's note: