The Hardest Fall

“Okay. Okay, that sounds good. I’m here so I should…let you go. Say hi to Chris from me? Or not. You don’t need to say that. I’m not sure why I said that, don’t say hi to Chris.”

The silence stretched and I face-palmed myself.

“I’ll tell him hi and I’ll see you soon. Don’t disappear on me.” A short pause. “I hope you’re ready to lose our bet today.”

With that, he hung up.

I would not be the one to lose the bet; he just didn’t know how stubborn I was yet.

I shook off my umbrella and texted Mark as I walked into the library.

Me: I have to tell Dylan. I’m going to tell him. I don’t care what you say.

As soon as I heard the swoosh sound that indicated the message had been sent, I turned my phone off. I knew he’d call the first chance he got, and I didn’t want to argue with him or let him scare me off.

Despite knowing that Mark would lose it, I still managed to hold my smile until I found my friend at the very back of the library, in a study room separated from the main sitting area.

* * *

As soon as I saw the state Kayla was in, I ran to her side and sat my ass down on the chair next to her. “What happened?” When she kept staring at her hands on the table, I covered them with my own. “You have to tell me what’s going on Kayla. Look at you.”

She raised her head, and I studied my friend’s red, puffy eyes as fresh tears ran down her cheeks.

“Kayla?”

“Thank you for coming so quickly.”

“Of course, but…what’s wrong, KayKay?”

“I think I need help, Zoe.”

I pulled her shaky hands off the table and held on tight. “What happened?” Will she finally say something? Tell us what’s going on? “Do you want to wait for Jared?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t call him. I’m not sure I can say this to him.”

“Okay, you’re officially scaring me. Say what?”

“Look at me,” she hissed angrily, yanking her hands from my hold and wiping her cheeks. “I can’t even say it to you. How am I supposed to say it to other people?” Her anger disappeared in a heartbeat and her eyes stayed fixed on the table as the tears picked up speed. With my now empty right hand, I brushed off the new tears and looked around us.

Since it was Sunday, the library wasn’t filled with students as it would’ve been if it had been any other day, not to mention it was still early and the place had just opened up. There were only two more early risers like us, and they were sitting in the main room. We were tucked away in the very corner, closed in by bookshelves and four more tables. You could only spot us if you were standing at the doorway and at the right angle.

“How long have you been sitting here?” I asked when she didn’t go on. “Come on, let’s go out and get some fresh air.”

Her hand tightened in mine and she looked at me with fear-filled eyes. “No. No. We need to stay here. I don’t want to see him.”

“Keith?” I asked, frowning. I’d known he would be the reason she was upset, but…the look on her face, the way she held herself—everything about her screamed that whatever was wrong between those two was far worse than I’d imagined.

“Yes. I’m sorry, I know I’m not making any sense, but this isn’t easy to tell. It isn’t easy to… I’m sorry, Zoe. I shouldn’t have called you. There’s nothing you can do.”

“Kayla,” I whispered, and her blurry eyes tried to focus on me. “I want to help. Please…I miss my friend. Jared misses you, too. We’ve barely seen you these last few weeks. I can help. Please let me help so I can have my friend back. Tell me what happened and we’ll go from there.”

“I don’t think I can go back,” she said quietly. “Everything I have is back at the apartment, but I don’t think I can go back to pack my things.”

“That’s okay. I can do that for you. I’ll go with Jared and pack up your stuff. You can wait for us at my apartment and we’ll take care of everything, but that’s not important right now. Can you tell me what happened to make you this sad? Did he break up with you? Cheat on you? Is that why you don’t want to go back? Did something happen after I left?”

Before Kayla could answer me, there was suddenly someone else in the room with us. “Here you are! For fuck’s sake, Kayla, I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Are you fucking deaf? I’ve called you thirty times.”

My head spun around and I watched Keith stride in with his usual smarmy smile on his face. I glanced back at Kayla with worry, only to see her disappear into herself.