everything I didn't say

sixteen

I check my voicemail again.

"Leah, it's been more than a few days. Stop avoiding me. Call me back." He says and I roll my eyes. Stop leaving voicemails! I think and set my phone screen down on the table.

Julie walks in and smiles at me like I haven't been avoiding her the past few days, either.

"Come on, I've been trying so hard. Talk to me before I go insane." She complains, hopelessly making a pleading face from across the table.

"Fine, don't talk to me. Can I at least know why the hell you're so pissed off?" She asks, taking her spot on the couch beside me.

"I don't want to talk about it." I groan, sliding over on my side. I would bury my face in the pillows if we had any. They're around this place somewhere I'm sure, I've lost my motivation to keep it clean.

"If you won't tell me why you're so mad, I'll have to believe it's not a valid reason." She comments and my stomach lurches. I sit back up. Loosen the sweatshirt I'm wearing when it comes tightly around my arms and neck.

"I really don't want to talk about it, I'm not in the mood." I reason with her.

"You 'haven't been in the mood' for days now." She uses airquotes causing me to roll my eyes very massively. 

"Just let's talk about something else."

"You're not mad at me anymore?" She beams and she doesn't try to be suddle about it.

No, I think to myself. I definitely still am. I just don't have the energy to not have anyone to talk to and the awkward glances between us when she tries to converse with me and I ignore it.

My phone buzzes again. I look at it and it's an unknown number. Niall has been using his friends phones a couple of times, so I wouldn't be surprised if thats what he's doing now. Julie stands from the couch and moves to the kitchen.

"Hello?" I shouldn't have picked up but I did anyways.

"Leah, you answered! I'm surprised. It's Ali." She says and I partically smile. She is obviously calling for purposes related to Niall, so I brace myself.

"Hey." I say as falsely confident as I can get.

"So, obviously I got your number from Niall. But I bet you're expecting that he's with me and that's why I called but, no." She says and the background noise is slightly muffled.

"So why did you call?" I make out but that sounded kinda rude. 

"I want to talk to you. You with Julie?" She asks.

"Not really." I say, walking to my room and shutting the door.

"Can you drive down here?" She asks. "I want to hang out."

I really hope this isn't a setup of Niall's but I do need my head cleared from this apartment. "Yeah, just give me your address." 

She announces it to me and then we hang up. I start packing a small bag of the things I'd need. I leave shortly after and I get lost a couple of times, even though my phone is navigating my way. I'm not a giant fan of driving at night. I am at Ali's apartment building when I give her a call telling her to meet me outside. I also take that time to save her number, learning better than forgetting about it.

"Hey." She smiles when she comes up next to me. "You find it okay?"

I shrug. "I've had better luck." I laugh and she does to.

We're back inside her small apartment in no time, her tv and lights still on, door unlocked. She must really trust her neighbors, I'd never leave anything up here when nobody's here. Unless she wasn't alone, and someone was up here..