For a while, Aimee just paced up and down the alleyway. Then, she tugged her hair and hissed, "Are you both out of your mind?"

"What do you mean 'both'? I'm not the one who started it!"

Between gritted teeth, I hissed at Dylan, "Keep talking and I'd throw you into the garbage behind you, where you belong!"

His eyes snapped off Aimee and glowered at me. "I dare you to fucking try. How's that lip of yours holding up by the-"

"Okay, enough ! And keep your voices down, jeez! You're both lucky I managed to convince Karen not to call the police when you both got into a fight inside, I don't need you both drawing the attention of customers here !"

Her words certainly didn't reign in my temper. Rather, as I took out tissue and wiped it across my bloody lip, I was reminded about the fact that I'd been dragged off Dylan way too soon. Nevermind the fact the area around one of his eyes was darker than the other, courtesy of my fist.

I wanted to do so much worse to him.

But instead, thanks to Karen's (the girl who was behind the counter) threats to call the police, I had to allow myself to be dragged by Aimee into the alleyway beside The Eatery, alongside Dylan.

So there we were, surrounded by trashbags as we glowered at each other.

Speaking of Dylan, he huffed at Aimee, "That still doesn't explain why you're blaming me. It was Smith who attacked me like a fucking psycho for no reason-"

"For no reason?"

"Angelo, calm down."

My glare averted to Aimee. "Don't tell me what to fucking do! Oh, and you're looking for who to blame, right? How about you blame yourself? 'Cause you sure as hell aren't innocent in all this!"

She frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah that's right, you heard me. You think you're innocent in this?" I gave a dry laugh, "None of this would have happened without you!"

"What are you talking about? I'm not the one who started a fight in The Eatery-"

"No, but you're sure as hell the one who lied about having a shift at work, only so you could get some time off with him!"

Just as the words automatically exploded out of my mouth, one of my fingers flew up and jabbed itself at Dylan.

Growling, he slapped it away. "Get the fuck out of my face!"

A growl ripped through my throat as my body instinctively readied itself to pounce on him. 

Before I could though, Aimee stepped in my path and pressed her palms against my chest. "Calm the fuck down!"

Instantly, I jerked away like her touch like it burned me. "No, don't fucking touch me! If you want to touch anyone, touch him. After all, that's all you think about, right?"

"Oh my god, stop acting like a fucking pussy!" Dylan groaned. "Even if we were on a date-"

"Shut up, Dylan!" Turning back to me, Aimee said, "We weren't on a date, alright? We were having a freaking study session, entirely friendly, nothing wrong with it!"

"N- nothing wrong with it?"

After a few moments of staring into Aimee's hardset eyes, I scoffed and shook my head. "You don't even see a problem with what you did, do you?"

"That's because there's nothing to see! Okay, so maybe I lied, but it was for a good cause. Maybe I wouldn't have had to if you hadn't acted the way you did the last time I mentioned a study session with him!"

"Honestly, I don't even know why you're explaining yourself to him-"

My fists clenched as I snapped my eyes to Dylan. "You better mind your fucking business-"

"Or what?"

Leering, he stepped closer towards me, so much so that the hairs at the back of my neck stood on end. Without much of a thought, I shoved him backwards, sending him nearly tumbling on top of the bin behind him.

"Angelo!"

"No, this is all he knows how to do." Picking himself up, Dylan dusted his clothes while looking me dead in the eye. "Get angry, throw words, get physical. All the while running from anything he doesn't want to confront, which, in this case, is the truth. He's always been like this, right since he was a kid: spoiled, demanding-"

That last part of his speech snapped open a lock in me, letting out words that I had never let touch anyone's ears ever before then.

But at that moment, I didn't give a fuck.

Humorlessly, I laughed. "You want the fucking truth? Fine. Truth is, I don't so much care about the fact Aimee lied. In fact, if she was with anyone else apart from you, I probably wouldn't even care half as much."

"Oh yeah? Then what the fuck makes me so different?"

"I'm glad you asked! So, why don't we take a trip down memory lane, hmm? Since you wanna bring up the past, let's talk about it. Let's talk about how you abandoned your so-called best friend because of popularity once you entered middle-"

"Oh stop playing the fucking victim, I didn't 'abandon' you. In fact, I tried to talk to you, multiple times! You were the one who always gave short answers and shut down conversations-"

"Oh, forgive me for being distant! I mean, I'd only just been trying to deal with grief and trauma after having found my parent's dead bodies at the age of eleven, but I should have been able to snap out of it, right? So that poor Dylan, who already had a bunch of other friends and easily made new ones, wouldn't feel 'lonely'!"

Silence reigned for a few moments after my outburst. Despite the fact the sound of cars roaring by and the chatter of passerbys still floated around, right then, they didn't matter. It was like the three of us in that alleyway were in our own bubble, cut off from the rest of the world.

When Dylan opened his mouth again, he stuttered, "I- h- how the hell was I supposed to understand that when you wouldn't tell me?"

"Oh, I don't think you understand." I gave a dry chuckle. "I'm not blaming you for drifting away from me. Why would I? You don't even have to give an explanation for why you did. After all, what you said was right. As a kid, despite my mother's best wishes, I was spoiled and demanding. I was too difficult for other kids to handle, even the ones who came from really rich families like mine, so it wouldn't be too far-fetched to think I grew too much for you to handle as well."

"Then in middle school, my reputation changed. From the spoilt rich kid, I became known as the brooding creep who always sat at the back of the class and never said much. Of course, there were the people who'd been sympathetic to me because of my parents deaths, but even they stopped reaching out eventually. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming them either. I didn't exactly make much of an effort to keep up communication, after all."

The more I spoke, the more I dived deeper into the past. Memories that I had kept locked away until then flitted around in my mind, giving me a clear picture of all I was describing. The seats at the back of classrooms, the secluded corners of the library I'd spent my lunch break in, the brief responses I'd given anytime I was spoken to.

And with those images of the past, came the feelings as well. The constant desire to stay away from people, yet the lingering yearning to reach out, to talk to someone.

My voice cracked as I said, "No one owed me friendship, of course. But still... it would have been nice if someone had reached out and just... just checked up on me every once in a while."

My face grew warm as I let out those words and my eyes averted from Dylan's.

But yet, they sounded right coming off my lips. Just the product of raw emotion, with no filter applied.

Another moment of silence passed, then Dylan stuttered, "Sh- shit dude, I didn't know that's how you felt."

Immediately, heat coursed through my veins and my eyes snapped back to his. "Oh save your comments, because I'm not done. When you think about it, isn't it funny how it was because of you that I got so popular in high school?"

"What-"

"Oh maybe not directly because of you, but you certainly played a role in it. After all, I would never have beaten you up if you hadn't done what you did. Would you like to recall it, or shall I be the one to?"

Dylan's eyes fell to the ground, and he didn't say anything for a while.

Then, he murmured, "It was a fucking mistake, alright?"

A laugh broke free of my lips. "A mistake? That's what you're calling it? Okay then, I guess your memory must be foggy, so let me remind you of the events of that day."

"Look, there's no need-"

"You and your buddies were harassing Sunny because he didn't want to let you guys copy from his math homework, remember?"

When he didn't reply, I added, "Sunny, boy who left our class in ninth grade-"

His eyes finally flew up to mine. "I fucking remember who Sunny is!"

I smirked. "Good, so it seems like your memory hasn't completely failed you. Then you might remember that I tried stopping you-"

"You- you should have minded your own business!"

"Really?" I cocked my head to the side. "Well then, allow me to offer my condolences. I shouldn't have been puzzled why you of all people would have needed to copy someone else's math homework, even though you were flourishing in that class."

Dylan's jaw tightened, but he didn't say anything.

"So, I decided to get you to back off from him, and what did you do? You decided to insult me, then proceeded to beat me up on the school's field-",

"I- I didn't want to!"

"Oh, I remember you were egged on by your stupid friends, but that's not the point. The fact is you still did it. So, plain and simple, that's why I detest you so much."

Dylan's eyes dropped to the ground. For a while, there was silence in our bubble, broken only by the occasional sniffles that sounded like they were coming from Aimee's direction. I refused to confirm if they were hers though. For with every passing second, I could feel myself being drawn back into the present situation then, and the weight of my words began to register in my head.

I had to strain to hear Dylan's voice when he finally spoke.

"Look, honestly... I- I don't know what to say-"

I snapped, "Good, because I don't want you giving another excuse-"

"And I'm trying not to!" His eyes snapped back up to mine. "I know I fucked up, okay? I let myself get influenced by a bunch of assholes, and I became one myself. I'm not trying to paint myself as the victim, but I've felt really bad about that for a long time-"

"Really?" I gave a bitter laugh. "And yet, all this while, you never even bothered to give so much as an apology-"

"Let me ask you something: if you were in my shoes, would you have apologized? Would you find it easy to walk up to someone who you think most likely hates you and be like, 'hey, I'm sorry?'"

I must have hesitated for a moment too long, because he grimly said, "Exactly. Besides, what would an apology have done? It wouldn't have changed what happened. I'm not a freaking time traveller."

My mouth remained drawn in a thin line as the harsh truth of his words settled over me.

"So what exactly do you expect me to do to make up for what I did? Huh? You wanna hit me? Go on then." He spread his arms, "You get one free hit. I won't fight back, or complain. Put as much force as you want."

He paused, then added, "Only use your fists though."

I glared at him, silently turning his words round in my mind. After a while, I nodded. "Alright then."

I heard a gasp from behind me, like Aimee wanted to say something. My feet carried me forward nonetheless, until I was a short distance away from Dylan, glaring into his hardened golden eyes.

Raising up my fist, I drew it back, then shot it forward, straight at his nose. A smirk came over my face as I saw his eyes squeeze shut, then I immediately stopped my fist in its path and shot my knee up, slamming it into his crotch.

A loud gasp erupted from his mouth and his knees buckled. The only thing that kept him on his feet was the hand he clutched around the edge of the bin, and even then he remained crouched over, clutching his family jewels.

"This doesn't mean we're even, by the way. I just don't want to waste any more of time focusing on you." Turning back, I nodded at Aimee. "Come on, let's go back inside."

Her wide eyes flew from Dylan's face to mine at the sound of those words. "Huh? Oh, um... sure!"
.      .      .

It was only when I was back in The Eatery, staring at the books scattered across the table Aimee had sat at, that I finally remembered Aimee's involvement in the situation.

As if reading my mind, she said, "Well it's safe to say that with all that has happened this afternoon, it's best if Dylan and I postpone our study session. Which means I'm free to... you know..."

For a moment, I was tempted to turn down her offer. After all, she still hadn't apologized for her lie. But I ended up agreeing with her offer.

When I did, a smile spread over her face. "Great! Lemme just go check whether Karen is upstairs. Still need to make sure she's not gonna report this incident to the manager."

Sitting down, I waved her off, which led her to raise an eyebrow at me. She still walked away though, albeit shaking her head and muttering to herself while she did so.

With Aimee gone and Dylan still not back inside, I began to pay more attention to my surroundings as my eyes scanned across it. Unlike earlier, the bakery contained more customers, albeit only a few. Just an old man and a woman, two grown men-

A sharp chill spread throughout my veins when my eyes met the pair across the room that were fixed on my face.

Eyes I have only seen on one person in my life.
 
Green eyes that didn't faze when they they were met with mine.

I was trapped in their brilliance, unable to think of much apart from them.

Goosebumps rushed over my skin as a chilling smile spread across their owner's face.

Then, helplessly, I watched as Lucas Terriere stood up and began to slowly walk towards me.
.       .       .

In this author's note, I just wanna take a moment to appreciate each and every one of you's strength. Seriously, it must not be easy having to wait a few days to read a new chapter 😅. And with everything that I have planned, well... I've said too much 🤐😉

What did you think of this chapter though? Let me know in the comments , and pls don't forget to vote if you liked this chapter !

Till next time !