c h a p t e r • 8

-it's a promise-

Lili's PoV

He sees me and I glare at him. He glares at me after shamelessly checking me out.

I roll my eyes at him and glare harder.

The others don't seem to realise. Kyle greets the giraffe and I greet the non-giraffes who happens to be his family.

Including the adorable little boy who is Oggy's bestfriend. Does everyone have a bestfriend here but me? I think it's a yes.

The family invited us into the beautiful house and the smell of food fills my nostrils.

We walk into the dining room where everything is set perfectly, not one utensil is out of place.

There were nine seats in total. Mr. Blacc was siting at the end of the table whereas my dad was sitting at the side next to him. I was in front of Kyle and next to the devil himself.

My mum and Ms. Blacc were sitting next to each other and the two little boys were sitting next to me.

The adults were talking about boring adult stuff. The usual. I was here stuffing my mouth with food, politely, because I would get my ass whooped if I ate how I usually eat.

"How's school Liliana?" Mr. Blacc asks.

Everyone turns their heads towards me.

How I wish I was the one turning heads...

"Oh, the usual. Straight A's and homework's and stuff." I say and he nods.

"How about you, Ryder?" My dad asks. "I heard you join boxing."

"Yeah, and the usual grades." He says shrugging.

They all engage in a conversation again and I zone out.

"It's a promise." A voice says but my mind was drifting somewhere else.

"Promise me, you'll buy me pizza on this very day and time." I say.

"It's a promise." He says hugging me.

I played around with my food.

Would I have been here if he was still alive?

"Is there something wrong sweetie?" Ms. Blacc asks.

"Not at all. The food is amazing by the way. Where is the washroom?" I ask.

"Thank you. It's down the hallway, turn left then walk again, turn left and there's a cream coloured door there." She says smiling.

I look at her confused.

What? I-

"You know what, Ryder, could you please show her the washroom?" She gives him a look that says 'I'm not asking'.

"Fine." He grunts.

I restrain an eye roll and smile at Ms. Blacc to thank her.

We walk down the hallway with me hot on his heels.

We reach there and I told him I can handle it from here and he can go back.

He narrows his eyes at me and I try to look convincing.

"Whatever." He says and walks away.

I walk in and lock the door.

I stare at myself in the mirror. I feel a bile rising up in my throat and rush to the toilet bowl throwing up my dinner. I flush away the content and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.

I know what you're thinking. First of all, I'm not pregnant. Second, I'm not bullimic. Well, I only throw up at least once a week or twice a month.

He helped me through it but now that he's gone, I try to control it but this is the least I could do.

I try not to throw up but when I get stressed or I think too much about him, I tend to do this.

I gargled water in my mouth and spit it out.

I search for mints in the drawers. I don't know why or how but I found some.

I pop two in my mouth and walk out the washroom only to be met with a pair of brown stormy eyes.

He raises and eyebrow at me.

"Oh hey, Giraf- Ryry!" I gulp.

"What were you doing in there?" He asks narrowing his eyes at me and leaning in closer, he had to bend his head a little to be in eye level with me.

"Oh, you know, peeing, pooping, singing-" He cut me off.

"Don't feed me nonsense. What were you really doing?" He asks with his eyes still narrowed at me with an unreadable expression.

I gulped again.

"Nothing! Stop bugging me! Do you really want to know the size of my poop because it was-" He cut me off, again.

"Don't tell me." He says masking his face with an expressionless one and walking away.

Did he hear me? Does he know? What if he tells someone? I'm so dead. He doesn't even know what actually happened. He couldn't have known, right?

-•-

I walk into his house and calling for him but he didn't answer me.

He didn't answer my calls or texts.

The last thing he told me was that he loves me.

"Caleb?" I called for him and entered his room.

He wasn't here.

I decided to wait for him on his bed. I laid on his bed and sniffed it. Smells like heaven.

But I also picked up a metallic smell.

Blood?

"No, no, no!" I mumbled as I walk into the bathroom.

I see him covered in blood in the bathtub.

"CALEB!!! No!" Then everything went black.

I woke up with sweat all over me.

I cried silently to myself, not having a shoulder to cry in anymore.

No one can fill that empty space he left. No one will love me like he did.

I went to my balcony and sat on the swing chair while staring at the stars snuggling in my blanket.

"I miss you so much. So much. Everyday I think about you. You're always on my mind. I don't know what to do without you." I say staring at the stars. Hoping he would hear me on the other side.

"How is it up there? Is it cold? Do you miss me? Do you still love me? 'Cause I still love you."

At some point, I fell asleep.

---

The next morning, I woke up with a stiff neck and the sun shining in my eyes.

I groaned.

School.

I ignore my stiff neck and went back inside my room to take a shower.

After that, I put on my outfit for the day which consisted of a black long sleeved Nike crop top, black ripped jeans and black combat boots so, all black for today.

I proceeded to my vanity table where I put on concealer, to hide my puffy eyes and red matte lipstick.

I'm glad my eyebrows were already tinted so I don't have to get them done every morning.

I head downstairs to find my mum and dad in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

Well, more like my mum ordering my dad around while she sips her coffee.

My mum will be my mum.

"Hey, mum, dad." I say and they greet me back.

After having breakfast without anything interesting going on, except for when Kyle and Oggy were fighting for the last bacon.

Just in case you're wondering who won, well, let's just say they didn't realise someone (me) had already ate it when they were busy quarrelling.

I bid my parents and Oggy goodbye and went out the door.

Only to be met with a shiny, hot piece of meat.

-•-