Skye

I was staring at the teddy bear that Ethan had brought me, gently stroking its fur and smiling at it feeling warm and fuzzy inside. I smiled every time my eyes fell on it. I've been in this musing state ever since Ethan stepped into my room. Being sick never felt better. The low knock on the door pulled me out of my daydream and dropped me back into reality.

"Skye sweetie, are you awake?" Aunt Sophie's voice came through.

"Yes" I started to regain my voice. There were a few cough attacks every now and then, but no fever. Drained and exhausted though.

Sophie's head peaked through the door, she had a big smile on her face, "How are you feeling today?"

I sat up crossing my legs and patted the empty space, "Good, a bit tired but well. Bored from staying in bed the whole time."

"That's why I'm here, are you up for some girls talk?" She stepped inside and wiggled an enormous bag full of goodies in front of me.

I giggled and scooted farther back providing as much space as possible for Sophie and the yummy-yummies.

Sophie took the other end of bed and crossed her legs. She started to pull things out of the bag naming them in process, "We have candy, chocolate bars, Oreos, chocolate chip cookies, oats cookies, multiple flavor bags of chips, cupcakes, pretzels and salty-sticks to dip in chocolate spread, the chocolate spread, juices, flavored milk and soft drinks. Oh and peanut butter, don't ask me why, but it seemed like something to be added to the bag."

I laughed, "All the healthy choices that I love."

She laughed too, "Everything we have here is basically natural, give or take a few artificial additives. Technically chocolate did come from a tree."

That had me nodding, "True, true."

I studied the choices scattered on my bed. Every single one of them was more tempting than the other. I chose a salt and vinegar for starters. I opened it and started munching, enjoying the crunchiness as I bit into those thinly sliced crisps, then that salty, sour flavor hits the tongue right away.

Aunt Sophie choose the Honey-BBQ and the crunching sounds filled the room.

"Do you have work today?" I asked between munches.

"I'm covering the evening shift. I'll get Matt from school before I leave for work."

There was a stretching silence, which was ironic because this was a 'girls' talk'. It was clear she had something to say, but was too quiet.

"What are you thinking of?" I offered.

Aunt Sophie smiled, hesitated, then dropped the slice of chips she was holding back like she has suddenly lost her appetite, "Wh... what do you think of Hank?"

I blinked at her in confusion, unable to process the question before tilting my head. Perhaps changing the angle would help me understand the question better, but I came out empty handed.

I thought things were going well between them.

She shrugged, concentrating on the threads that stuck out her ripped jeans and started picking on them, "I mean, do you like him?"

Understanding downed on me and I felt my chest tighten. Right now, that was Aunt Sophie being Aunt Sophie, the responsible guardian and care giver. She wasn't asking for her sake, but for ours, Matt and I. This was her evaluating her relationship based on us. She was thinking about us.

This woman, who has broken up with her fiancé and canceled her wedding for us after mom and dad passed away. The same woman who has turned down every single guy who crossed her path and chose me and my brother instead.

I looked at her and my heart swelled with appreciation for her. My mom's 'mini me' with her blonde hair falling over her shoulder and her eyes twinkling like stars. Her cheeks held a little pink in them and her lips always carried a smile. She was in love.

The words just rolled out, "I like him a lot." Then I grinned pointing out Hank's good traits, "He's caring, kind, handsome, responsible and not to mention that he likes you. And you liiiiiiike him."

I just had to sing the word. I've have been hopeless when it came to love and romance.

My aunt just giggled and averted her eyes shyly which made me fall in a bubble of laughs specially when she covered her what turned to bright pink cheeks with her hands.

She let out a shaky sigh. "God, I'm falling for him."

I grinned and put my hand on hers, "I really think that you two make a perfect couple and he likes you a lot."

Despite her shy state she looked at me and dropped the bomb, "Not as much as Ethan likes you."

My eyes widened and my jaw hung open for a minute until my mind decided to kick in and denial was my go-to response, "What? No! Ethan and I, we are just friends."

Sophie smirked, "Yeah, right. Just friends. That young man is completely swoon." She eyed the teddy bear meaningfully, "And you like him too."

Okay, now it was my turn to get all warm in the face.

My heart fluttered as I shook my head, still denying it but when Aunt Sophie's eyes squinted at me I knew she saw right through me and my answer changed to nodding.

Burying my flaming face in the pillow that I've snatched from behind me, "Fine! I like him." I admitted it.

For some reason Aunt Sophie and I started to giggle like some fifth grade girls who just received their first valentine cards from their crush.

Soon our giggles subsided to wide grins and flushed faces. Mine with the first to wither, followed by heaviness and sadness, "I didn't tell him yet... about my mom and dad. None of my friends know."

Aunt Sophie's smile dropped a little too and she nodded, "I figured that out the first time he visited."

My breath got caught in my lungs in a moment of panic, "Why? What happened? Did you tell him?"

To my relief she shook her head negative and I breathed. Aunt Sophie's voice was soft with understanding, but firm at the same time, "I didn't, and neither did Matt. However, I think it's better if you were the one to tell him. Hank has noticed from day one and he knows."

A lump formed in my throat chocking me from the inside.

Sophie reached out and grabbed my hand and her eyes softened, "From all your talks about Ethan, he might misunderstand keeping this from him, especially after he came to visit you a couple of times. It's only a matter of time before Ethan notices and he might take the wrong way."

I was silent.

I knew Aunt Sophie was right. Ethan would take it hard on himself that he hadn't noticed, just like he did when I got sick and before. Those little things hit a sensitive nerve with Ethan, a nerve that would torment and eat away at him.

Don't leave me in the dark. He told me once.

Those words revisited me every time we talked, when I've dodged very conversation that steered in that direction, and every time it felt like a merciless cold hand closing around my heart.

"Do you mind telling me why you haven't told him yet?" Sophie asked softly patting my knee, "I understand if you don't want to talk about it."

I took a shaky breath, feeling the heavy weight on my shoulders, "I... I didn't want him to ..." I couldn't explain it without chocking up. I breathed, starting over, "Remember back home after mom and dad's accident how everyone treated us? How they looked at us even at school?"

Sophie nodded in understanding and I continued, "I didn't want to feel like that here. Not from my friends. Not from him. This was supposed to be our new start."

She gave me a tender smile, "I got you, baby."

Even though I wanted it be a new start, the situation with Ethan was different. There was a bridge of trust that I had built with Ethan that would surely be demolished by my own fears. The thought of telling Ethan scared me, but the way that he might understand me dodging him scared me even more. Ethan would hang it on him being blind.

It was obvious that Ethan was struggling with his thoughts. When he bumps into someone, or he misplace putting something he was holding, or knocking something off. Something as simple as stumbling would flip his day. He was evaluating his responses and revising his actions.

My heart wasn't up to it, but I knew what I had do.

I just needed a little more time. Just a little more.

Ethan

One more day. I have to tolerate one more day at school without Skye. It wasn't like I would have gotten lost and wouldn't be able to find my classes without her. I knew this school like the back of my hand. It was all the other stuff that didn't seem right without her. Everything seemed... soulless.

I've visited Skye twice and talked to her on the phone when she was able to speak, but that was it. An after school limitation. At least with all the classes and after-school activities I could spend more time with her. The urgency to be with her that ferociously twisted my insides barely abated when I visited her. It only made me miss her more.

Thinking of which, have I turned into some possessive psychopath? The only thing that kept me from being a stalker was being blind. Yet, I'm sure if I put my mind to it I might find a way. I pulled at the neck of the shirt I was wearing lacking air even though I was still outdoors. Raking my fingers through my hair roughly and hating that I was trapped in my head. Argh!

"Why so gloomy? Is it because new girl all sick and left you all by yourself? How cute!" a well-known sarcastic voice that babbled like she was talking to a child decided to kick me while I was down, "So, you're still lingering around her?"

My back straightened and my shoulders locked, "Whom I'm with doesn't concern you anymore, Carmen." Her footsteps brought her closer to the point her strong perfume scratched my throat.

She cooed, "Did you think about what I told yo?"

Did I think that Skye only chose me because -as Carmen described me- broken? That she only chose me because she felt sorry for me? That she could have picked a better guy, instead she selected the blind one, the bitter one, the one who had no friends and pushed every one away?

No! I didn't only think about it. Those words haunted my every awaken moment and visited me dreams. Knowing they held some truth made it hard not to fall in the trap Carmen dug.

Not wanting to show how easily Carmen got to me I said nothing and started to walk away using the wall for guidance.

I could hear the heels of her shoes falling into a step behind me. There was a smile in her voice when she spoke. It was fake, humorless, sneering and mocking, there was nothing pleasant in her smile. "Ooh, so you did think about it."

Again, I didn't answer her and kept going.

"Yet you won't let her go", her voice got louder. The taps of her heels were ear-piercing behind me as she followed, "Why do you like her so much?"

Did her voice quiver?

"You didn't treat me the way you are treating her when we were together. I thought you loved me, but you won't even forgive me."

Hah! What do you know! Carmen was capable of emotions!

"What does she has that I don't?"

I finally scoffed, "For starter, she's not you."

Her steps halted suddenly. Great! Maybe now she'll leave me alone.

Her once quivered voice was now a snarl as she spat, "You're choosing some orphan girl over me?"

Two words sliced me like knives stopping me dead on my tracks. Everything went still and deadly silent, "What did you say?"

Carmen was as poisonous as ever, that mocking smile clear in her words. She made no effort hiding it, "Oh, look who was taken for a blind fool! She didn't tell you that her parents died."

Carmen must be lying. She always lied. Assuming that dulled the piercing pain of betrayal just a little, "You should stop spre..."

She interrupted me, "Let me give you the scoop then, since she didn't." She spoke it was some sort of a worthless story, something she read online, "One of the cheerleaders has a sister at the same school as Skye's brother. She heard some of the teachers talk about how tragic it must have been for them. It was all over the news."

Then she scoffed in a voice that dripped of venom, "The poor girl lost her parents last year in a car accident and you didn't even notice." Her laugh burnt like melted iron, "The things you can hide from the blind. Oh, maybe we should surprise her and tell everyone. I bet I can find the video online, perhaps even pictures..."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" I exploded as my fist punched the wall and I heard her gasp. The physical pain was much more merciful than what was going inside me right now.

"Now you listen to me you snake, if you tell anyone about that you'll be damn sorry. You and the others will leave Skye and her brother alone, otherwise you'll be dealing with me! I'm warning you Carmen!" The voice that came out of my mouth was something I never heard before. Loud and growling. I didn't care.

I kept barking, "And if you ever thought that things between us will ever go back as they used to, then you are wrong! We are done! We were done a long time ago. Go be a self- absorbed bitch with someone else because I had enough with your shit!"

The silence around us was only disturbed with my raging breathing and the hitch of hers.

"Wh... Whatever." She said in a shaky voice and scurried away leaving nothing but the echo of her steps filling the emptiness.

I froze in my place, unable to move. My brain played a replayed every single word. All the conversations that had the mention of Skye's parents. At lunch time with Timothy and Abby. My parents and the hospital. My parents asked her twice. Twice!

Her voice would change every time. I felt her hand shaking in mine when we were at the hospital. I even mentioned them to her aunt when Hank and I went to their house.

Oh! Sophie said. The indicators were there, clear, sorrowful and unmistakable and I've missed on every single one of them.

I visited her again.

We talked on the phone.

And I failed every single time.

Fury and disappointment clawed at my chest that even breathing hurt. A 'blind fool' was exactly how I felt.

There was one thing that I desperately needed to confirm before allowing the betrayal bitterness to swallow me.

***********

Hank joked when I got into his car and clicked my seatbelt, "And good afternoon to you too."

"Did you know about Skye's parents?" I blew right away without any introductions.

Hank didn't answer for a moment, and when he spoke his voice was leveled "Yes. Sophie told me."

My rage shifted towards him, "And you didn't think of telling me?"

Hank voice stayed cool, "I didn't tell you for two reasons. First, Sophie asked me not to. Second, it's not my place to share it with you. If anyone should be telling you anything, it's Skye."

"She didn't. I heard it from Carmen who was more than pleased to share by the way!" I felt the urge to hit something. Anything.

He sighed, "That Carmen is nothing but trouble. I can't understand what brought you two together in the first place."

Neither did I.

Then he slapped with a question, "Are you mad because Skye didn't tell you or because Carmen did?"

"I..." I couldn't point it out, "Skye should have told me!" I was trying to hold on to my anger.

"In what conversation could you tell someone that?" He asked one of those questions that he wasn't waiting for answer.

I hated Hank's ways of defusing my built up situations. In an inner war that stirred inside my brain to the point of giving myself a migraine; that was one of the questions I've asked myself.

None. Was the answer I came up with. No matter how many opportunities that came and passed, it was still 'None'.

"Or are you angry because you couldn't see that?"

Another question I've asked myself a few hours ago. Pathetically, no matter in which direction I though it out, didn't care. For once, I was willing to bury my pride for the sake of not losing her. Would I want to know the reason she chose me? Of course I wanted to! Hopefully, it wasn't just because I was broken.

"How did it happen?" I finally asked, keeping my mixed up signals at bay. Silently fighting my demons.

"They died in a car crash, last year." Hank let out a breath, "Sophie said that Skye kept a strong front for her and Matt's sake."

That is the Skye I know.

Then Hank's tone changed to hostile, "Sophie had to break up her engagement because that bastard of a fiancé told her he didn't want to take care of someone else's children. Even though Skye and Matt didn't have any other relatives other than Sophie, the idiot told her the system would take care of them".

"The jackass!" I was disgusted.

What kind of person would say that? What kind of person would even think that? If he was standing in front of me I would have killed him right on the spot.

His voice lowered in sympathy, "Their father died instantly, but Skye was there when their mother died in the hospital."

Are you sure you can do this? Sophie asked her.

How are you holding up? I heard her say to Skye.

My chest clinched tightly as I finally deciphered Sophie's questions and what they've meant. That state that Skye was in when she was with me at the hospital came to mind releasing a fresh wave of rage.

I wasn't angry with her. I was angry at her. I appreciated that she was there for me, I really did, but not at the cost of what would harm her or made her heart ache. I didn't want that. I could never ask that from her.

Things were much clearer now, and even though it was far from being calmer -it was decided.

We had to talk.