Love and Life

Nothing and Naps

Chapter 10

Liv's POV

I could feel my whole world shattering around me. Everything I had and believed in was crumbling between my fingers as I desperately grasped on to them but to no avail.

Flashes of us doing long multiplication late into the evening and of me giggling hysterically at silly selfies he took of himself were shoved into my face. I could remember every moment I ever shared with Aaron in painstakingly precise detail.

I felt empty as if everything about Aaron was being taken from me right in front of my eyes, white blankness replacing him.

Nothing.

Nothing was all I had now.

Then I felt something warm press into my hand. Something warm and rough from hardships and work.

It was Finn's hand.

I looked at our connected hands with confusion at first, as if I were a third person watching from a distance, as if the hand being held wasn't actually mine.

Then realisation set in and I looked up towards Finn with teary eyes.

He was as handsome as ever. His spiked brown hair standing tall on top of his wide eyes. Up close, I could detect a slight dent in his nose, as if he had been in one too many fist fights. His freckled cheekbones were as prominent as ever combined with his firm structured jawline were enough to make any woman with eyes drool. His usual smirk or cocky smile had been replaced with a worried frown and his golden complexion had considerably paled.

There was something wrong with the situation.

Those concerned eyes staring at me, expecting me to break down in sobs at any moment, were not green.

The hand squeezing mine reassuringly was too strong and calloused.

The turned down lips were too full and pale and the dusting of freckles on the tanned skin were unfamiliar.

This wasn't the boy I called crying when my parents had gotten too much for me to handle. Or the one who had introduced me to my favourite ice cream flavour at the parlour downtown. Or the one who always had my back and cared for me as if I were his sister.

This wasn't Aaron. And no one ever would be.

I sunk to the floor, finally allowing the tears to fall from my eyes. I tasted the salty tang of my tears as they dribbled down my face and into my mouth, leaving shining trails down my cheeks.

Two arms encircled my shivering form, resting their head against my back.

I instantly felt that safe feeling enter my body again, shielding me from all my troubles.

I managed to stop crying and attempted to burrow myself within this feeling, protecting myself from all the harms of life.

"Liv," a soft voice murmured into my back, their lips moving against the thin fabric.

I nodded, hiccuping uncontrollably. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes again.

"I'm going to take you home now. Is that okay?"

Images of my father's leather belt biting into my bare skin and my mother's furious voice, shaking the floor of my room came flooding unbidden into my mind.

Right now, I wanted to be anywhere but home.

I shook my head aggressively, wanting to convey my strong disagreement to his idea without speaking.

"Okay, okay. I'm going to take you to my car then. You are in no state to stay at school."

His soothing voice poured over me like rich honey, managing to calm some of my frantic nerves.

Once I nodded my consent, I could feel a whoosh of air beneath me as I was lifted up by a pair of muscular arms.

I suppressed the urge to scream in indignation as Finn carried me across the school's carpark towards a shiny silver sports car.

Stragglers late to class from break stared in curiosity at Finn Crawford carrying a crying girl to his car.

While they craned their necks to see who the lucky mystery girl was, Finn had positioned me in such a way that my loose hair acted as a shield, hiding my identity from the intrigued teenagers.

If I hadn't been so overwhelmed by misery, I would've been touched by the sweet gesture.

I heard a beep as he unlocked his car, opened his door and then placed me onto the backseat.

I could feel the coolness of the smooth leather underneath my tear-stained cheeks.

"Get some sleep. You looked like you haven't slept for days. No one should disturb you here," Finn whispered comfortingly as he let go of me.

I was still conscious enough to murmur a barely audible thanks to him as my heavy eyelids drooped shut.

"Sweet dreams Liv."

But I was already gone.