No Strings *COMPLETE*

Chapter 14

I woke up early the next morning to Lilli shaking me profusely. I sit up groggily and stare at her like she's lost her mind. "Dude, what the hell?" I ask, scrambling for my phone to see what time it is. I find it and unlock it. The screen flashes 7:35 am. "We need to go. Now!" Lilli says scrambling across my room pulling clothes out of my drawer and throwing them at me. "What the hell happened?!" I say throwing my covers off of myself and getting dressed. Lilli looks at me seriously and says, "You're mom only has decaf!" I stop in my tracks and take a second just to stare. "Seriously! You woke me up because of coffee?" "Yes! I need my coffee!" "Then why don't you go with Alec and get some?" Lilli looks at her face, then back at me. "He won't come with you?" I roll my eyes and continue getting dressed. "Well since you freaked me the hell out, i guess." 

I slip my shoes on and grab my phone and bag. "You ready?" I ask her. She nods. "Alec said we could take his truck, let 's go." 

I'm right behind her as we trudge downstairs and outside. "You comfortable driving his truck?" I ask her, climbing in the passenger side. "Psh, he lets me drive all the time!" She says confidently. "Oh, it's true love!" I swoon, putting my seatbelt on as she starts the engine. 

Once we get going I help her navigate the way to my favorite coffee shop. It takes no time and before we know it, we're pulling into the parking lot of 'Behind the Bookshelf coffee cafe.' Lilli kills the engine and we go inside. I look around at the decorated walls and modern furniture; not much has changed in the few months I've been gone. Lilli and I walk up to the ordering counter and wait to be helped! "What's good here?" Lilli asks, staring intensely at the drink menu. "My drink is the Black and Gold- always. But you'd probably like the Carmel Macchiato." Her eyes light up, "That sounds good." A tiny brunette saunters up to the counter. "How can I- Oh my god. Ski! Hi!" She squeals. I cringe. "Hi, Isabella," I say, unenthusiastically. "How have you been?" "Good." "I'm really sorry about-" "It's okay." "She stares at me, clearly taken aback by my willingness to get the "I'm sorry you're sister killed herself" conversation over with. Those are more typical with a town this small. 

Lilli breaks the silent breach by speaking up, "I'll take a venti iced caramel macchiato and a venti blended Black and Gold. Names and Lilli and Ski."  and she pulls me away quickly. "Thank you," I say to her, "I can't handle any more pitiful looks." "No problem, Babes." 

A few minutes later we hear, "Ski and Lilli!" We walk up to the counter, hand the cashier money and say thank you.

We turn away from the front and I'll be damned if Kieran wasn't walking in the door... A beautiful blonde girl right behind him. My heart sinks, maybe I wasn't the only girl he was being flirty with. 

I do my best to keep my head down and hope that he doesn't notice me. We walk towards the exit quickly, as I avoid eye contact with Ginger Fuckmestick. I mean... Fuckstick. "Skilar, hey!" Fuck. "Hey, Kieran," I say quietly, looking up to meet his blue-eyed stare. "I had no idea you lived here too?" "Nope, but my Aunt and cousins do." "Oh? what are their names? I might know them." "Well actually, my cousin Isabelle works here, " he says. Great... 

The blonde elbows him in the side. "Ow! Oh, how rude of me. Ski, this is my sister, Nicole. Nicole this is my... friend Ski." He says, giving me a cute little smirk. Was that his indication that he wanted to be more than friends. So... I take back the "Fuckstick" comment, for now, that is. There's an awkward silence, so I panic. "And this is Lilli, my brother's girlfriend!" I blurt and mentally facepalm myself. Nikole's eyes widen and she looks and me like I'm mentally unstable. Kieran chuckles and says, "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm in desperate need of some coffee. It was good seeing you, Ski. You should text me, I'd like to meet up sometime," he gives me a genuine smile, and leans close to me. My heart starts pounding as I say, "You too." and lean into him He gives me a quick hug and walks towards the front counter.

 I look at Lilli and we rush out to the truck. After we get in I give a sigh of relief and Lilli screams, fan girl style and bounces excitedly in her seat.

"So... that's Kieran huh?' I can't resist smiling at the sound of his name. And he's not forbidden. "Yeah, that's Kieran." "He's cute!" And he's definitely into you." "I'm into him, too." "What does Nathan think?" I scowl. "He doesn't know, and even if he did, it doesn't really matter what he thinks." She gives me a worried look and backs out of the parking lot, heading towards the house.

 A few minutes later, we pull into the driveway. Alec is standing on the porch, amusement plastered on his face. Lilli walks up to him and gives him a hug and his keys. "I can't believe you actually got Ski out of bed and she didn't kill you." He jokes. I stick my tongue out at him and take a sip of my coffee. "Hey, Mom wants to talk to you." That's wonderful, what now? 

I walk past them and into the front door behind me. "Mom? Moommmm!" I call, walking down the entry hallway. "In here, sweetie!" She calls from the kitchen. I follow the sound of her voice and sit down at the island. After having a pretty good day and now having to talk to my mom just kinda ruined i. "What's up?" I ask trying not to sound annoyed. "I wanted to talk to you... about Noey..." She says. "I don't want to have this conv-" "Ski! Please!" She says grabbing for my hand, but I pull away before she touches me. "Ski!-" "No! You didn't tell me! You kept it from me! My baby sister is dead and I didn't even get to say good-bye! I didn't get the chance!" "I'm sorry! I really am!" She says wiping her tears away. "How could you not see it? How could you not tell that she was depressed?" I start to yell again. She breaks down and starts to bawl. "I should have known," She sobs, "She grew so distant. Your father kept making excuses for why she acted the way she did. I should have reached out to her." I watched my mom breakdown in front of me, and it broke my heart. "Mom... It's not your fault. She must have been having a hard time with school and me being away at college..." "Ski, honey, It's not your fault either." I bite my lip, debating to ask the question I've been wanting to since I found out about Noey. 

"Did she leave a note?" She stares at me, completely caught off guard. "Skilar, you're not in a place-" "Did Noey leave a note?" She nods her head slowly, "I want to read it." Without any further arguments, she disappears and reappears within a few minutes, a sealed purple envelope in her hands. 'Might as well rip the band-aid off,' I think to myself as I take the envelope and open it carefully: 

        Ski,

   If you're reading this, It's too late to change my mind. It hurts to say this but I'm leaving. I can't do this anymore. Nobody will understand what I'm going through, but I'm done pointing blame. There's nothing left to say except I love you so much. Please don't cry for me, I will see you someday. Live life, be reckless. Go have fucking fun and don't forget me.

                                       Love forever, 

                                            Your baby sister Noey.

I stare at the useless piece of paper in my hand, regretting that I asked to read it. Poor Noey...