The Boy with the Violet Eyes

20.5

[Chapter twenty point five]

(Set at the same time as Winnie and Adonis getting yelled at).

-Flynn-

My eyes snap open as a knock on the front door resonates through the empty house. I groggily sit up to find the TV playing some shitty rom-com and I switch it off before looking over at the clock on the wall. 11:23 PM. Knowing Winnie and Adonis, they're probably both getting yelled at right now because they lost track of time.

I curse as another knock hits the door. I quickly walk over, opening it.

"Octavia?" My eyebrows furrow as I stare down at her, my face scrunches slightly when the harsh scent of alcohol hits my nose. She pushes herself up off the door frame, swaying slightly as she grins wonkily up at me. Her eyes are bloodshot and red.

"Flynn!" She slurs excitedly, stepping forward and stumbling into my chest. She wraps her arms around my neck and my eyes widen. My hands hover in the air, not sure if I should really touch her or not.

"Are you drunk—" I cut myself off, rolling my eyes at my dumb question. "Of course you're fucking drunk."

"I'm not drunk." She looks up at me seriously before her face breaks out with a wonky grin once again. "I'm wasted."

"Yeah, I can see that." I mumble, leading her over to the couch and sitting her down. "Stay here. I'll go get you some water."

"No!" She grabs my arm and pulls me down next to her, cuddling into my side. "Stay with me."

I sigh. "Alright. Shouldn't you be at home right now?"

She giggles. "I stole a bottle of Jack Daniel's from the cupboard and told dad I was sleeping over at a friend's."

I look down at her in disbelief. "And you don't think your police officer father will notice one of his bottles of alcohol missing?"

She giggles again, waving her hand nonchalantly. "That's a problem for another time."

"Great, so my best friend's sister is drunk off her ass and sitting on my couch. Not to mention their dad fucking hates me." I groan to myself, rubbing my face in exasperation. "He's going to fucking kill me."

"Don't be silly." She clumsily taps my nose. "Dad doesn't hate you."

"Yeah, okay, whatever." I reach up and grasp her hand, pulling it away from my face. "Care to tell me why you showed up on my doorstep completely and utterly shit-faced?"

"Well," she starts, eyes half closed as she moves off me and leans back against the couch. "It hurts."

I bite my lip, copying her and leaning against the back of the couch. "What hurts."

"The fact that Lucas played with my feelings. We've known each other our whole lives. I've liked him since we were eleven. And just when I thought he could actually like me back," she pauses to chuckle dryly as she sniffles slightly. "Turns out he's gay and was just using me to try and convince himself he's straight."

She's definitely drunk. She wouldn't be spilling everything like her sister if she wasn't. "Tavi..."

"So I started thinking. What makes the pain of a stupid little teenage heartbreak go away?" She ignores me, tears slipping down her cheeks. "Fucking alcohol! So I took a bottle from the cupboard, went to the lake and downed it."

"You got drunk at the lake?" I explode. "You could've drowned or something!"

She rolls her eyes. "But I didn't."

I roll my eyes. "You sound like Winnie."

"Yeah, anyway," she continues on with her story. "I couldn't talk to Winnie because she's out with Adonis, and I couldn't talk to Kamri because I didn't wanna burden her with my crap, so I came here."

"Are you saying you'd burden me with your crap, but not Kamri?" I give her a blank look. "Great. Nice to know."

"Shut up. You sound like both Winnie and Adonis." She tells me. Yeah, I think I've been spending too much time with the two of them lately. "I really thought that getting wasted would help but it didn't. I still feel like shit. But you know what will help?"

I eye her suspiciously as she turns her body towards me and leans forward. "Octavia—"

"A distraction." She slurps lowly, giving me yet another wonky smile before darting forward and pressing her lips against mine. My eyes bulge out of my head and I immediately pull away, leaving Octavia staring down at the floor with a hurt and embarrassed expression, tears still falling down her face.

"Look, Tavi, it's not that I don't want to do this, because god, I do. I really fucking do." I start, tilting her chin up to make her look at me. "But I am not going to take advantage of you. Plus, I know how you feel, and I know if I were you, I'd regret sleeping with someone else while drunk."

She scoffs, pulling away from me. "You have no idea what it feels like to love someone who doesn't love you back."

I push the burst of anger down. She's drunk. She's fucking drunk. Don't hit her in the face with your shoe, Flynn. "I'm only gonna tell you this because you're wasted and won't remember this in the morning. But I liked Winnie for three years when I moved here. I tried to convince myself I didn't so I wouldn't get hurt, but obviously, that didn't work out. I had to watch the most important person in my life crush on other people while I sat off to the side and played the supportive best friend and acted like it didn't feel like my heart was being ripped out of my chest and fucking danced on. When I realised it was never going to happen with Winnie, I forced myself to stop liking her. After that, I started getting feelings for someone else, which brings us to now. I like you. A lot. Have for a year now. And now I'm watching you cry over some other guy. So don't you dare say I don't know how it feels to love someone who doesn't love me back. Because I do. Better than I'd fucking like."

She stares at me in shock, opening and closing her mouth a few times as she tries to find the words to say. "Flynn, I—"

"You can sleep in my bed tonight. I'll take the couch." I cut her off. "Bathroom's up the stairs, first door to the right. There's spare toothbrushes in the cabinet under the sink. I'll grab you some of Winnie's pyjamas to wear."

She nods gratefully at me. "Thank you."

I watch as she stands up and drags herself up the stairs, swaying slightly, though clearly more sober than she was when she first got here. She is going to have one hell of a hangover at school tomorrow.

I slump back against the couch when she disappears from my sight, bringing my hands up to my face and rubbing my eyes until I see TV static. I am going to regret telling her that in approximately thirty seconds.

I groan loudly before picking myself up off the couch and trudging upstairs to my room, going straight to my dresser and opening the bottom drawer. Half my dresser and half my closet belongs to Winnie. When I'm not at her house, she's at mine, which is more often than you'd think. I pull out a pair of Winnie's pyjamas she rarely wears and place it on my bed in a neatly folded pile. I yawn as I quickly strip down to my boxers. I snatch Winnie's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle blanket off the foot of my bed and wrap the fluffy material around myself before slinking back downstairs. I grab my phone and shoot a quick text to Winnie, letting her know Octavia's at my house and that I'm going to need to need to complain about my life decisions tomorrow.

Winnie the Pooh
I'll bring some cookies

A small grin makes it's way to my face as I huff out a short laugh. Trust her to always make me feel better.

I set an alarm on my phone before turning off the lights. I lay back down on the couch with Winnie's blanket wrapped around me and my feet hanging off the couch.

I'm so fucking stupid.