Cambridge (Part III)
Fights
Skylar's P.O.V.
I hadn’t known that the whole situation was going to blow up but I really should have expected it. Seeing Ashton standing on our doorstep, a hopeful smile on his face, had transported me back to the year before and I had let him in before registering what I was doing. It was only then in the thundering silence that followed, the two of us staring at each other, that I realized it had probably been a bad idea.
“You probably hate me.” Ashton said quietly shuffling his feet in random scuffs on our floor.
“I don’t hate you.” They were the only words I knew to say.
It was true I didn’t hate Ashton. He had been my friend for nearly as long as Rachel and I had to respect that. But that doesn’t mean I had to like what he did.
“Skylar… I…” Ashton started to speak and from his tone I knew that he was going to try to explain.
“Don’t.” I interrupted in warning, even though I wasn’t mad at him I didn’t want to get in the middle of it. “Look Ash, I don’t hate you but Rachel does. No matter how sorry you are she’s not going to forgive you.”
Ashton’s stony silence came crashing down like a brick. He just stood there with an eyebrow cocked and a smirk on his face. It was like he thought that reminding me that yes, Luke had cheated and yes, I had taken him back, meant I then had to help him with Rachel. I could feel the flush of anger start to spread across my pale skin as my fingernails dug into my palm.
“I think you should probably leave before….”
The door opened before I could finish a laughing Rachel and Louis appearing in the entry hall of our flat. It was Louis who noticed first his face going completely blank. I prayed that he would grab Rachel and just leave never even letting her turn around. But instead she turned and I could see the hurt and anger flash in her face as she looked between the two of us.
With nothing more than and ‘I’m sorry’ I hid the echoing of raised voices too loud in our small flat. It was probably the coward’s way out, blasting Ed Sheeran in our bathroom until silence once again reigned but I’d heard too many screaming matches to want to witness another one. The silence that followed was welcoming, at least for the first hour, but it also left my mind open to distractions and unwelcome thoughts. So leaving a note on the fridge that I would be back late I dashed across the campus trying to dodge as many of the slow falling raindrops that I could.
The art studio was just as I left it easels and half-finished projects cluttering the small space. Since school had started again the small studio I’d been assigned had become my solace a place that I could get away from everything and just paint. It was a place that I hadn’t told anyone about yet, not even Luke. Leaving my bag hanging from a hook on the wall I perched onto one of the stools facing a project I was supposed to have completed.
“Let’s try again shall we.” I muttered to myself.
It took fifteen minutes of staring at a blank canvas for my hands start to twitch and another hour before with a groan of pure frustration I reached for my phone. I’d meant to just turn on music, anything to try and get inspiration, but instead I was met with several unanswered calls and twelve text messages. One or two were from Rachel and Lizzie but the rest were from Luke.
From: Luke 16:30
Heyyyyyyyyyy
From: Luke 17:15
Dinner tonight?
From: Luke 17: 33
Hellllloooooooo
From: Luke 17:57
Are you ignoring me?
From: Luke 18:15
Okay so you’re ignoring me……….. but dinner?
From: Luke 18:23
So I just realized that your phone is probably off I’ll just come find you
From: Luke 18:40
I tried calling you I’m outside your flat
From: Luke 18:42
Okay so you’re not here I’ll try the art building
A knock on the door startled me into nearly falling off the stool. Grabbing the art table I let out a long sigh. I knew who it was the steady and methodically knocking on the door giving it away but I wasn’t sure I could deal with Luke right now.
Since I hadn’t wanted to go home for the summer Luke had let me stay with him. It had been great the first couple weeks the two of us getting to sightsee Australia in the cool winter weather and catch up on the time we’d been apart. But about halfway through the summer it had all changed Luke starting to talk about things like ‘when we get married’ or ‘when we have kids.’ I hadn’t known what to do with it; I hadn’t thought we were that serious yet.
“Sky, I know you’re in there.” Luke’s voice was muffled through the door but I knew I was not going to be able to ignore him.
Sliding off the chair I made it to the door before I plastered a small smile on my face, “Hey, how’d you find me?”
“The lady at the front told me which studio was yours. Did you get any of my texts?”
Luke brushed past me and into the room. He was gently sucking on his lip ring telling me that he was really annoyed. I subconsciously went to pull on mine before I remembered I’d had to take it out over the summer due to a small infection.
“I just turned my phone on.” I answered moving to sit again.
“You had me worried, I didn’t know if you were okay or where you were or…” Luke rambled raking his hands through his curls that were in desperate need of a haircut.
“Luke I’m fine.” I stated moving to give him a hug nestling into his warm side as he wrapped his arms protectively around me.
“I know I just worry about you.” Luke said pressing his lips gently to my forehead. It would have been a nice moment, if he hadn’t opened his mouth again, “why are you ignoring me?”
My eyes popped open my arms dropping from Luke’s waist. “I’m not ignoring you.” I protested taking a step back and putting some distance between Luke and me.
“But I sent you a bunch of text and I didn’t know where you were and….”
“You don’t have to know where I am all the time Luke. I don’t know where you are half the time.”
Luke look taken aback a little, a flash of hurt had me feeling guilty but it didn’t make my statement any less true.
“I was…”
“Worried I know.” I interrupted flatly.
“Am I not allowed to be worried Skylar? You’re my girlfriend and I love you. I don’t want anything to happen to you so I like to know where you are it makes me feel that you are safe and when you turn off your phone and don’t reply I start to think something has happened and…”
Luke paused his rant to take a breath but at that point I was halfway to the door. I knew that he meant well, I really did but in the heat of the moment I really couldn’t deal with his overprotectiveness. Having someone looking out for me was something so new I didn’t know how to handle it so I was going to do the only thing I knew how to do, run.
“Where are you going?” Luke asked in a tone loud enough to make me flinch. I knew that he hadn’t meant it that harshly but to me it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“Out.” I stated before grabbing my purse and practically running out of the building to hide the hot tears that had started to stream my face.
I didn’t cry a lot, it wasn’t a luxury I could really afford but this time I couldn’t stop my tears. Thankfully the rain hid most of my tears as I hurried back towards the housing complex, the walk feeling a lot longer when all I wanted was a hot glass of tea and my bed. Unfortunately the tears also made it hard for me to see my feet stumbling into a familiar pair of arms.
“Skylar?”
The deep rumble of Harry’s voice made me want to burst out crying again. But instead I took the second that my back was turned to him to compose myself, furiously wiping away my tears.
“Are you okay?”
It was a question that I didn’t really want to answer but I knew that I couldn’t lie to Harry. Through all of it he was the one person I’d never been able to lie to. So with a glance at the apartment buildings I turned to face Harry.
“What are you doing right now?”
Harry looked shocked. I could tell that he didn’t believe me but as he stared unwaveringly at me I couldn’t get a read on him at all. Shifting uncomfortable not once, not twice but three times Harry finally pursed his lips letting out a deep breath.
“Well… nothing really, I was just going to go get some dinner.” He stated slowly.
Before I could lose my nerve or come to my senses I grabbed Harry’s elbow feeling his muscles tense beneath my fingers.
“Come with me.”
I hadn’t known that the whole situation was going to blow up but I really should have expected it. Seeing Ashton standing on our doorstep, a hopeful smile on his face, had transported me back to the year before and I had let him in before registering what I was doing. It was only then in the thundering silence that followed, the two of us staring at each other, that I realized it had probably been a bad idea.
“You probably hate me.” Ashton said quietly shuffling his feet in random scuffs on our floor.
“I don’t hate you.” They were the only words I knew to say.
It was true I didn’t hate Ashton. He had been my friend for nearly as long as Rachel and I had to respect that. But that doesn’t mean I had to like what he did.
“Skylar… I…” Ashton started to speak and from his tone I knew that he was going to try to explain.
“Don’t.” I interrupted in warning, even though I wasn’t mad at him I didn’t want to get in the middle of it. “Look Ash, I don’t hate you but Rachel does. No matter how sorry you are she’s not going to forgive you.”
“You forgave Luke.” Ashton’s words were like a slap to the face.
“That was different.” I protested.Ashton’s stony silence came crashing down like a brick. He just stood there with an eyebrow cocked and a smirk on his face. It was like he thought that reminding me that yes, Luke had cheated and yes, I had taken him back, meant I then had to help him with Rachel. I could feel the flush of anger start to spread across my pale skin as my fingernails dug into my palm.
“I think you should probably leave before….”
The door opened before I could finish a laughing Rachel and Louis appearing in the entry hall of our flat. It was Louis who noticed first his face going completely blank. I prayed that he would grab Rachel and just leave never even letting her turn around. But instead she turned and I could see the hurt and anger flash in her face as she looked between the two of us.
With nothing more than and ‘I’m sorry’ I hid the echoing of raised voices too loud in our small flat. It was probably the coward’s way out, blasting Ed Sheeran in our bathroom until silence once again reigned but I’d heard too many screaming matches to want to witness another one. The silence that followed was welcoming, at least for the first hour, but it also left my mind open to distractions and unwelcome thoughts. So leaving a note on the fridge that I would be back late I dashed across the campus trying to dodge as many of the slow falling raindrops that I could.
The art studio was just as I left it easels and half-finished projects cluttering the small space. Since school had started again the small studio I’d been assigned had become my solace a place that I could get away from everything and just paint. It was a place that I hadn’t told anyone about yet, not even Luke. Leaving my bag hanging from a hook on the wall I perched onto one of the stools facing a project I was supposed to have completed.
“Let’s try again shall we.” I muttered to myself.
It took fifteen minutes of staring at a blank canvas for my hands start to twitch and another hour before with a groan of pure frustration I reached for my phone. I’d meant to just turn on music, anything to try and get inspiration, but instead I was met with several unanswered calls and twelve text messages. One or two were from Rachel and Lizzie but the rest were from Luke.
From: Luke 16:30
Heyyyyyyyyyy
From: Luke 17:15
Dinner tonight?
From: Luke 17: 33
Hellllloooooooo
From: Luke 17:57
Are you ignoring me?
From: Luke 18:15
Okay so you’re ignoring me……….. but dinner?
From: Luke 18:23
So I just realized that your phone is probably off I’ll just come find you
From: Luke 18:40
I tried calling you I’m outside your flat
From: Luke 18:42
Okay so you’re not here I’ll try the art building
A knock on the door startled me into nearly falling off the stool. Grabbing the art table I let out a long sigh. I knew who it was the steady and methodically knocking on the door giving it away but I wasn’t sure I could deal with Luke right now.
Since I hadn’t wanted to go home for the summer Luke had let me stay with him. It had been great the first couple weeks the two of us getting to sightsee Australia in the cool winter weather and catch up on the time we’d been apart. But about halfway through the summer it had all changed Luke starting to talk about things like ‘when we get married’ or ‘when we have kids.’ I hadn’t known what to do with it; I hadn’t thought we were that serious yet.
“Sky, I know you’re in there.” Luke’s voice was muffled through the door but I knew I was not going to be able to ignore him.
Sliding off the chair I made it to the door before I plastered a small smile on my face, “Hey, how’d you find me?”
“The lady at the front told me which studio was yours. Did you get any of my texts?”
Luke brushed past me and into the room. He was gently sucking on his lip ring telling me that he was really annoyed. I subconsciously went to pull on mine before I remembered I’d had to take it out over the summer due to a small infection.
“I just turned my phone on.” I answered moving to sit again.
“You had me worried, I didn’t know if you were okay or where you were or…” Luke rambled raking his hands through his curls that were in desperate need of a haircut.
“Luke I’m fine.” I stated moving to give him a hug nestling into his warm side as he wrapped his arms protectively around me.
“I know I just worry about you.” Luke said pressing his lips gently to my forehead. It would have been a nice moment, if he hadn’t opened his mouth again, “why are you ignoring me?”
My eyes popped open my arms dropping from Luke’s waist. “I’m not ignoring you.” I protested taking a step back and putting some distance between Luke and me.
“But I sent you a bunch of text and I didn’t know where you were and….”
“You don’t have to know where I am all the time Luke. I don’t know where you are half the time.”
Luke look taken aback a little, a flash of hurt had me feeling guilty but it didn’t make my statement any less true.
“I was…”
“Worried I know.” I interrupted flatly.
“Am I not allowed to be worried Skylar? You’re my girlfriend and I love you. I don’t want anything to happen to you so I like to know where you are it makes me feel that you are safe and when you turn off your phone and don’t reply I start to think something has happened and…”
Luke paused his rant to take a breath but at that point I was halfway to the door. I knew that he meant well, I really did but in the heat of the moment I really couldn’t deal with his overprotectiveness. Having someone looking out for me was something so new I didn’t know how to handle it so I was going to do the only thing I knew how to do, run.
“Where are you going?” Luke asked in a tone loud enough to make me flinch. I knew that he hadn’t meant it that harshly but to me it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“Out.” I stated before grabbing my purse and practically running out of the building to hide the hot tears that had started to stream my face.
I didn’t cry a lot, it wasn’t a luxury I could really afford but this time I couldn’t stop my tears. Thankfully the rain hid most of my tears as I hurried back towards the housing complex, the walk feeling a lot longer when all I wanted was a hot glass of tea and my bed. Unfortunately the tears also made it hard for me to see my feet stumbling into a familiar pair of arms.
“Skylar?”
The deep rumble of Harry’s voice made me want to burst out crying again. But instead I took the second that my back was turned to him to compose myself, furiously wiping away my tears.
“Are you okay?”
It was a question that I didn’t really want to answer but I knew that I couldn’t lie to Harry. Through all of it he was the one person I’d never been able to lie to. So with a glance at the apartment buildings I turned to face Harry.
“What are you doing right now?”
Harry looked shocked. I could tell that he didn’t believe me but as he stared unwaveringly at me I couldn’t get a read on him at all. Shifting uncomfortable not once, not twice but three times Harry finally pursed his lips letting out a deep breath.
“Well… nothing really, I was just going to go get some dinner.” He stated slowly.
Before I could lose my nerve or come to my senses I grabbed Harry’s elbow feeling his muscles tense beneath my fingers.
“Come with me.”
Notes
Hey everyone!
I'm the new co-author for Skylar and I'm really excited about this story!
Let us know what y'all think we love hearing from you.
Do you think Skylar will tell Harry everything?
What do you think about Luke thinking his and Skylar's relationship is so serious?
Skylar offering to talk to Harry on Rachel’s behalf is adorable! It’ll give her the perfect excuse to get to spend time with Harry alone and she’s br helping out her friend! It’s a win win!
Rachel better not say yes to Ashton! Louis would be so heartbroken! Although maybe the jealousy would be enough to get him to do something about it and they’d finally get together! Can’t wait to see how it all plays out anyways!
10/27/18