Chapter Fifty Eight - Long Distance

Mrs. Brooke set a glass of what looked like spinach smoothie in front of me.

I glowered at it, ready to protest, but she quickly shook her head. "You have to drink that."

"But—"

"Nope. You've got to have something healthy once in a while."

"But chocolate milk is healthy, and this is so green—"

"If you drink this right now, I'll make your favourite spaghetti for lunch when you're back from school."

I pressed my lips together, then smacked them in defeat. "Clever, Mrs. Brooke. You know that spaghetti is my weakness." I lifted the glass to my nose, whiffed and made a face. Then, without another word, I started swallowing its contents and finished it in one go, finally returning the glass to the counter.

"There. The spaghetti better be extra nice today."

She chuckled, impressed. "I'll try my best. Besides, now I owe you for making you drink that smoothie when you're already feeling low."

I stopped shoving my phone in my pocket and looked up at her. "I'm not feeling low. Why would you think that?"

She raised a brow at me. "Rebekah, you didn't say a word over dinner last night, and now you drank this smoothie without making me promise you spaghetti for a whole week, if not more."

"Damn!" I clicked my tongue. "I really sold myself short, didn't I?"

She patted my shoulder with half a smile. "Feel better. Have a nice day."

"Thanks, Mrs. Brooke. You too." I gave her a grateful smile before grabbing my backpack and heading out of the kitchen.

Blake was walking down the stairs, steps slow and hair messy while he rubbed his half open eyes. Maybe he'd just woken up.

Mrs. Brooke was right. I had been in a bad mood, but she'd lifted it a little, and I'd forgotten about the tiny disagreement I'd had with my brother. That was until I'd seen him again.

"Hey, Becks," he called, yawning.

"Hey," I muttered while walking up to the front door without cutting a glance at him. He was too sleepy to notice anyway, so I just walked out and shut the door after myself while saying, "See you after school."

Within seconds, Meera's car pulled up, and I noticed Cheryl in the passenger seat.

I'd called Meera last evening, and she'd told me that she was staying over at Cheryl's house. I'd wanted to join them, but Cheryl was in such a bad mood, Meera feared she would take it out on me.

Okay, maybe I'd been a bad friend for just a tiny second, but Cher was taking it too far. I really wanted to be there for her.

I quickly climbed into the backseat. "Hey, guys."

"Hey, Becks." Meera smiled at me through the rear-view mirror, and I raised my brows at her questioningly. She opened her mouth to speak, but then shut it, shrugged, and started driving.

"Becks," Cheryl called after about five seconds and turned in her seat to look back at me. "I didn't mean to be so hard on you yesterday. I'm sorry."

I blinked in surprise. "Oh, it's fine. I kinda deserved that. I'm sorry, too."

She nodded and turned forward.

"So, are you okay?" I asked.

She heaved a long sigh and pushed her hair out of her face in frustration. "It's Mack."

"Yeah, we figured that much. What's wrong?"

"He wants to break up with me."

"What? Why?"

"Not now. Nuh, uh. Right before he leaves for college. So, until then, I'm supposed to be his girlfriend for his fun." She smiled bitterly.

My brows pulled together in confusion. "I'm not following."

"Day before yesterday, we went out for a movie in the evening, and he accidentally made a slip. He's been planning to break up with me before he leaves for college because he doesn't want a long-distance relationship."

My mouth formed an o in realization. "I'm sorry, Cher. That really sucks."

"I know. That's what I told him. I said 'Why wait until college? If you've made up your mind that I'm not worth the effort, let's just break up now.' And so, I did."

My eyes grew wide. "You did what?"

Once again, she turned to look at me, and this time, she looked doubtful and a little nervous. "Did I make a mistake?"

"Uh... that's not what I meant." I blinked, stared out of the window for a moment, and finally shook my head with resolve. "You did not make a mistake. I probably would've done the same thing if I were you."

She nodded gratefully, and her eyes suddenly started pooling with tears. "Thank you."

"Aw, Cher." I reached forward and threw my arms around her, along with her seat.

"I mean, we've been together for two years, Becks. How could I stay with him after finding out that he feels I'm so easy to let go?"

I rubbed her arm soothingly, and she quickly wiped her tears away. "Thank you. Thank you, both. I don't know what I would do without you guys."

Meera threw her a reassuring smile and patted her shoulder.

Once we made it to school, I decided against heading to the bleachers since the practice must've been over already. So, we got to class early and settled in the middle row.

"Do you want crackers?" I offered Cheryl some.

"No, thanks. I'll just keep my head down until class starts. Hope you guys don't mind."

"Not at all." Meera grabbed my crackers and started eating. Since I'd already finished half of them, I didn't bother snatching them back from her.

"Hey, guys." Kimberly offered us a smile as she dropped her backpack on her desk and settled in the row ahead of ours.

"Hey, Kimberly," Meera and I greeted at the same time.

"Orange slices?" She offered while peeling it and taking out her textbook to read at the same time.

"No, thanks," I replied.

"I'll just take the peel." Meera grinned. "To squeeze into my friend's eyes later."

Cheryl lifted her head to stare at her, and she raised her hands in surrender. "I meant into Becks' eyes."

"Better." She put her head back down, mumbling, "Sorry, Becks."

"Hey!" I narrowed my eyes. "You ever do that, I will kill you."

"I am so scared." She yawned.

Shaking my head, I started reading my textbook. The classroom slowly started to fill up so I didn't notice when a particular football player walked up to my seat until he'd hooked a finger in my textbook and had brought it down to catch my attention.

"Hey!" I complained, taken aback until I saw who it was. What I first noticed was his jersey, and then I looked up to find my boyfriend towering over my desk.

"Oh hey," I greeted him in surprise.

"Hey, Becks." He placed one palm flat on the table and leaned down. "Thought I'd find you here. I just wanted to see you before class."

"Sorry I couldn't make it to the practice."

"It's fine."

"Why did you wanna see me?"

He cocked his head. "Why not?"

I opened my mouth to speak but shut it without any word. Why was it so easy for him to render me speechless?

When he saw that I'd pressed my lips as a failure to respond, a slow smile reached the corners of his mouth.

"Aw!" Meera finally cut in, and we turned our heads to find her wiping fake tears. "You guys are so cute."

"Only until he leaves for college," Cheryl muttered without lifting her head.

Matt's brows pulled together while I just shook my head, feeling bad for Cheryl.

"Anyway," I said to catch his attention. "How was practice?"

"It was okay."

"Aren't you getting late for class?"

He blinked, then nodded. "Yeah... I am. I gotta go. I'll see you later." He took a reluctant step back while watching me like something was wrong with me, and he was trying to figure out what.

"Bye." I waved at him.

"Bye." He finally turned around to walk away.

*****

"Come on, guys. Help me out," Mack asked helplessly.

"What do you need help with?" Meera demanded as she aggressively shoved her phone in her pocket. "Didn't you get what you wanted? You wanted to break up with her, right? So, she did it for you. Or is it your ego that just can't accept it until you're the one who breaks up with her?"

He pressed his lips together. "Come on, Meera. Don't be like that."

"Like what?" She scowled. "What do you want us to do, Mack? You break our friend's heart and expect us to help you get back with her so you can just do it again when you leave for college? Is that what you want?"

Letting out an exasperated breath, he raked a hand through his hair. "I don't want that anymore. I don't wanna break up with her. I've realized my mistake."

She scoffed. "You're just saying that to get us to help you. But I know you will break up with her later."

"I won't. I promise, okay? I thought it would be easy but it's not... without her. I just...it's been horrible without her. I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to break up. Maybe it was this stupid podcast that I listened to while driving my mom to the mall the other day. This guy was going on and on about how long distance never works..." He stopped talking when he saw the surprise and anger on our faces, then he stuttered, "i-it was stupid. Obviously."

Meera took one step towards him before asking in a dangerously calm tone, "You broke Cheryl's heart over a freaking podcast?"

"I-I..."

"Can you believe how dumb guys are?" Her jaw dropped as she turned to me, and I shook my head at Mack, disappointed.

"Okay, it was stupid. I was being really stupid and dumb. But I wanna make this work again. You know I really like her. You guys know it." He turned to me desperately. "Becks? You know I really like her, right? I would never do that to her if I knew it'd hurt her so much."

I pressed my lips together and looked at Meera. She deadpanned and shook her head at me. "Don't you dare."

"We know he really likes her, Mee."

"But would he do something like this if he really—"

"People make mistakes."

She exhaled deeply. Mack's eyes lit up with hope while Meera threw him another death glare before finally nodding.

"Fine. You have permission to talk to her. But not more than five minutes. And if you hurt her again—"

"I give you permission to kick my ass." He nodded.

"Good."

I walked over to the bathroom door and knocked. "Cheryl, you can come out."

The door opened slowly, and I knew she had her ear pressed up to it this entire time, and she was listening. She glanced at Mack unsurely before making her way over to him.

"We'll be in the parking lot if you need us," Meera told her, and with that, the two of us left them alone.

"That was crazy." I let out a breath.

"I know, right? Over a freaking podcast!" She shook her head. "I'd be so offended."

We leaned against her car and started munching on crackers while waiting. After precisely five minutes, the two of them walked out of the building...hand in hand. And Cheryl was smiling. Mack looked on cloud nine like he'd achieved something.

"So, I guess—" I started but was cut off when Cheryl threw her arms around me and Meera, squealing, "I love you, guys. Thank you so much for doing this for me."

"Huh?" Meera blinked at her when she pulled back.

"We got back together," Mack explained as Cheryl looped her arm with his. "I know you still kinda wanna punch me, but thank you."

"Well, we're happy for you." I smiled.

She gave me another quick hug, and they started walking towards Mack's car. "I'm riding with him. Bye. See you guys tomorrow."

We waved back at them, still a little taken aback.

"I'm truly happy for them, but that was quick." I blinked.

"Tell me about it," Meera drawled like she was still processing it, then she smacked her lips and turned to her car. "Well, you know what they say about love. It's blind and apparently... dumb."

I burst out laughing. "Whatever works for them."

"True."

"I'll be right back." I waved the empty cracker box and made my way to the bin across the lot to throw it. Just as I dropped it and turned around, my eyes found someone making their way over to me.

I was surprised to find Matt still at school. He seemed to have just gotten off another football meet as a few other players were now getting in their cars and leaving.

"Hey! I smiled. "What's up?"

He stopped only when he was a few inches away and folded his arms. "Nothing much. I'm just trying to talk to my girlfriend."

"I see. That's nice."

"How are you?"

I chuckled. "We just met this morning, but I'm good. How are you?"

He grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards his car, thankfully away from the trash can.

"Actually, Meera's waiting for me—"

"Tell her to leave. You're coming with me."

"Matt." I sighed. "You know I can't do that. Blake's probably—"

"I'll drop you off a block away. How's that?"

I thought for a second, then nodded. "Okay." I stood up on my tiptoes and waved to catch Meera's attention. She seemed to be looking for me already when she noticed me behind a few cars.

I pointed towards Matt, then to his car. She nodded, gave me a thumbs up, got into her car, and left.

"So..." I crossed my arms just like he did earlier and smiled. "Why didn't we think of that before?"

"Desperate times." He shrugged.

I nodded slightly. "Well... I'm sorry. I know lately—"

"This is the part where you tell me what's wrong with you."

I blinked, then did my cover-up chuckle. "What? What could possibly be wrong with me?"

"Did your brother say something when he saw you with me yesterday?"

I licked my lips. My act had probably dropped because his expression changed into a serious one as he asked sternly, "What did he say?"

"He told me to stay away from you," I muttered.

Letting out a deep breath, he ran a hand through his hair. "Becks, if you can't tell him, let me do it for you. I don't mind. The question is, do you want him to know?"

"Of course I do."

"Then I'll tell him."

"There is absolutely no way I'm letting you tell him. He doesn't even wanna look at you. I can't imagine what he'll do if you just walk up to him and say 'hey I'm dating your sister'."

He let out an exasperated sigh and looked away.

"Matt," I grabbed his arm and squeezed. "I'm sorry. I'll sort this out. I promise."

"No. It doesn't matter to me." He shook his head. "I've already told you. I don't care about your brother or what he thinks. But all this is bothering you."

"And I..." He stopped to lean down and cup my face, a soft look of concern sitting in his eyes. "...am not getting used to seeing you like this."

A feeling of warmth settled inside my chest as I stared into his beautiful brown eyes. His eyes were my comfort. His face was my comfort. He was my comfort.

"This is temporary, I promise."

"Oh, I'll make sure of that," he said with resolve, a spark of mischief dancing in his eyes.

I tilted my head, baffled. "What do you—"

The next thing I knew, he was hauling me up to the hood of his car, making a surprised gasp escape my mouth as my arms flew around his neck for support but with his arms around me ever so securely, I wouldn't have fallen anyway.

"I like you better smiling or sassing me, Andrews." His eyes flicked across my face. "So are you gonna give me a smile or something now, or do I need to start tickling you to get some laughs out of that beautiful, smart mouth of your—"

I placed my lips over his and kissed him with everything I could muster in that moment. I'd been feeling exhausted for a while, but being with him somehow lit me up from the inside. Like he was my powerhouse.

It was like an involuntary move when he wrapped a hand around the nape of my neck, and with my eyes shut, I slowly melted against him. He was taking away all my troubles, and he didn't even have to try.

Once we pulled away, I buried my face in his chest and closed my eyes. "I don't wanna go home."

His hands rubbed my back soothingly as he brought his mouth to my ear and kissed my earlobe while saying, "we can camp at school from now on. Nobody's gonna know."

I chuckled and pulled back. "I like that plan."

He traced the back of his hand across my cheek and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"You know," I started. "I was thinking about what happens when you go to college. Just out of curiosity, what are your thoughts on long distance relationship? And what kind of podcasts do you listen to?"

His brows pulled together, and he looked as lost as a little puppy. I held back a laugh and the urge to squish his cheeks. "I don't know because I've never been in a relationship, let alone a long-distance one, and I listen to whatever's on the radio. What's this about?"

"You're not planning to break up with me before college, are you?"

"Oh, you mean that. I thought it was obvious, Becks. It's what every guy does. Long distance rarely ever works."

My jaw dropped, and I could easily imagine the horror he saw in my eyes as I stared back at him.

He pressed his lips, which was an obvious attempt to stifle his laugh, and I released a breath I didn't even realize I was holding.

"Dammit, Matt!" I smacked his chest with my palm, and he burst out laughing.

"For a second there, your face was priceless."

"Shut up. That was not funny."

His laughter slowly subsided, and he grabbed my chin, angling my face up. "You're not getting rid of me that easy, baby."

I grinned like an idiot at what he'd just called me.

"You like that, huh?" he teased, bringing his hands to my waist, and I burst out laughing when he started tickling me.

"Matt, stop!"

"What? I can't hear you." He locked one arm around me so I couldn't escape the hood as his fingers tortured me. Another second, and I would have tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard. I was very ticklish.

I would've stayed like that on the hood of his car all day if it meant getting to be with him. Even if the tickling was torture, the fact that he was doing it made up for it.

But something caught my eye. A very familiar car rounding into the parking lot.

My brother's car! Shit!

Like he'd stung me, I pushed Matt's hands away and jumped off the hood. He was obviously taken aback and suddenly worried that maybe he'd hurt me as he watched me distance myself from him.

"Becks, what..."

When he noticed my brother's car, he remained immobile for a moment, then he turned around as if we didn't even know each other. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him cut me a glance, and when I looked at him, I saw the hurt in his eyes.

But he quickly looked away, pulled his phone out, and pretended to mind his own business.

I'm so sorry, Matt. I wished I could say that aloud right then.

My brother pulled up right next to me and rolled his window down.

"Blake, what are you doing here?"

He'd heard me, but he was busy eyeing Matt and the nearly empty parking lot.

"Where's your friend Meera?"

"She just left."

"How were you planning on getting home then?" He raised a brow.

My mouth opened in surprise.

Fuck!

"Rebekah." He shot me a glare. "Were you going to ride with him again?"

Thankfully, Matt had already gotten into his car, so there was no way he could hear us.

"No! I was gonna ride with...my other friend who is also my classmate. But what are you doing here?"

"Just thought we could get some pizza after school." He shrugged, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe I'd successfully dodged his questions. "You up for pepperoni?" he asked.

"Always."

"Get in, then."

"Sure."

"Becks?" I'd started to round the car when his voice stopped me. "Aren't you gonna let your other friend know that you're leaving with me?"

"Oh... right." I looked around the parking lot nervously and pulled my phone out, dialling Meera.

"Hey!" I said the moment she picked up, careful not to say her name. "I'm leaving with my brother. You can go ahead."

"Huh?"

"Yeah. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

I hung up and smiled at Blake, who was watching me with suspicion.

"Let's go?" I asked.

"Sure."

"Why the sudden pizza plan?" I questioned as I buckled my seatbelt and threw a subtle glance outside. Matt's car was gone.

"It's nothing." Blake changed the radio station, and after about a minute of silence, he cleared his throat. "Yesterday, I think I was a bit too harsh on you. I was angry at Matt, not at you."

"Oh." I nodded slowly.

"It's just that I can't stand the guy. When you stepped out of his car yesterday, I think I lost it for a moment there."

"I-it's fine, Blake." I took in a shaky breath, internally punching and screaming at myself, do it, Becks. Do it! Tell him!

"I have to tell you something," I meant to announce it, but it came out as a whisper.

"Did you say something?" He lowered the music volume.

"I have to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"I-I..." I cleared my throat, eyes lowering down to my lap where I was fidgeting my fingers without even realizing it.

"What is it? Why are you turning pale? Are you okay?" And now he looked worried. Oh, great! The last thing I needed was my brother on edge.

"Yes, I'm fine. I-I've been keeping something from you."

"You can tell me anything. You know that. What's bothering you?"

"I just wanted to tell you that Matt..." I trailed off at the scowl that formed on his lips just at the mention of his name.

"Matt what? Has he been bothering you at school?" His eyes turned murderous like he was ready to catch up with his car and confront him.

"No. He's...him and I... he helped me once."

"What?" Now he was baffled.

"Or twice. Or more. I mean, you know how good he is at music, right? So, he's helped me a few times, preparing me for the challenge."

"Oh." He frowned slightly, but it wasn't as bad as I'd thought. "So that's why he must have come over sometimes like mom mentioned. That's why you didn't tell me about music before—wait! Is that why you've been so worried? Wondering how I would react to this?"

"Yes, exactly! How do you feel about this?"

He thought for a moment, then shrugged. "He only helped you a few times. I guess it's okay as long as you don't befriend him and start hanging out with him." He chuckled.

I sighed.

"But seriously, he hasn't been giving you any trouble, right? At school?"

"No! Not at all. He's actually been pretty helpful with the whole music thing. I think he's really grown up now, Blake. He's changed."

All humour left his face, and now he looked serious again. "See, that's where you're wrong, Becks. People like him never change. If he helped you one time, good. But don't expect anything more from him, okay? I'm gonna tell you again because I'm your brother and I really care about you. For your own good, stay away from Matt Williams."

I swallowed, nodding. "Okay."

*****

"I tried to tell him about us today," I muttered, settling on the edge of my bed. He watched me from across my room, leaning against the study table with his arms crossed over his chest.

I was surprised he'd actually shown up in my room after I'd texted him. With the way I'd treated him in the parking lot, I was convinced I'd be the one climbing up his window to make up. But just one text asking to see him and five minutes later, there was a knock on my window.

But something about the way he looked at me told me that he hadn't let go of the way I'd pushed him away, as much as he was trying to.

"And?"

"I couldn't."

"What happened?"

"Blake isn't ready to accept that you and I could even be friends. I don't have the heart to tell him the truth."

I was sick of hurting and letting Matt down like that. He should've been so angry at me. Hell, I was angry at myself. But all he did was look away to avoid my eyes and gave me a stern nod. "That's okay. We'll think about this tomorrow."

As he started making his way to the window, I got up and stepped in the way. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"Not just for this. For what I did earlier in the parking lot. I'm so sorry."

He nodded. "Rebekah, it's fine."

Rebekah

"Stop lying."

He'd still been avoiding my eyes until I'd said that. Now, I could see the anger in them and him trying his best to hide it as he exhaled in exasperation. "What do you want me to say? I don't wanna get into another fight with you. That's the last thing I want."

"Me, too."

I couldn't tell if he was bothered by everything that was going on between us or because of something else—like the upcoming football game or the finals. Either way, he looked exhausted.

"I should go," he finally said.

"Do you really have to go right now? We can talk...about stuff. About our day..." I trailed off, realizing that it was kind of selfish of me to keep pushing him away when my brother was around and then demanding his time whenever I felt convenient, especially when I could see how tired he was of everything. So, I quickly shook my head before adding, "You know what? You're right. You've probably had a rough day. We can talk tomorrow."

"Yeah..." he looked between me and the window indecisively, then exhaled. "Honestly, I'm just looking forward to some sleep right now."

"I understand!" I nodded, stepping out of his way. "Goodnight, Matt. I'll see you tomorrow."

He watched me for a second as if considering me, then he started walking. But instead of making his way to the window, he walked over to my bed and took off his shoes next to it. Then, he threw me a look over his shoulder and raised a brow. "You coming?"

"OH!" I blinked, barely being able to hold back my smile as I trod over to him. He took off his jacket, crumpled it, and aimed on my chair. We slipped under the blanket, and he briskly pulled me to his chest.

Something about the way he held me made me want to cry. It was different, I could tell. He held me like he thought I was going to slip away. Like he was going to lose me.

Not anytime soon, Matt.

I buried my face in his chest and shut my eyes. It was the first time we were actually spending the night together, but it all felt way too familiar—being wrapped up in his arms and having my face pressed against his chest. That's how much I'd grown used to him.

"Goodnight, Matt," I whispered, wondering if he was still awake. His even breathing told me otherwise, so I shut my eyes and breathed in his soothing scent, letting sleep take over.

I was half asleep when I felt his lips against my forehead and heard him mutter, "Night, Becks."