Halfway There | COMPLETE ✔ + Sequel

HWT Sequel - 07

A/N: This chapter sucks but I wrote it fast and sloppy because I wanted to get something out there. I keep forgetting that nows not the time to make things look pretty. Now is the time to write, write, write and then I'll go back to fix plot holes, grammar and punctuation. I need to stop procrastinating. Well, here the long awaited chapter 7! Hope you enjoy!

Nova sits quietly at another small table in a new motel room. His eyebrows pushed together as he runs his free hand through his hair, the other holding his phone up against his ear listening intently. He sighs and nods even though the person on the other line can't see him. I'm not sure who he's speaking with but since the only other person who knows the number to that phone is Kyle, I think it's safe to assume it was him on the other line.

    He glances at me for a brief second, sensing my gaze on him, before he turns away again and shifts in his seat. I sigh, exhausted but now used to the ever constant cold shoulder. He hasn't talked to me in weeks and if he does it's only ever to confirm plans or give me some smart remark.

    We're in a new state now, I'm not sure which one. Possibly Oklahoma, maybe Colorado. I stopped keeping track and I didn't bother to ask. At this point I am a sheep, following my shepherd to keep me from being eaten by wolves.

    Bella sat quietly on the bed with her stomach faced down onto the sheets as she read a magazine that was left behind by a previous tenant. Will sat on the floor of the edge of the bed I was on and stared at the TV. Something on the look of his face made me think he wasn't really absorbing what was being said.

I shift my body so that I'm laying down with my head at the bottom of the bed. Will doesn't look up but smiles when I start to pay with his slightly grown out hair. I smile at the idea of Will getting his hair back so quickly. His soft curls had always been one of my favorite features of his.

I had lost Nova months ago. I have come to accept that the friend I had with him, the person who once knew secrets not even Bella knew, was no longer with me. But I knew that as long as Will was around, I could trust him wholeheartedly. I wouldn't be betrayed or abandoned by him. That thought alone brought me comfort.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked when I noticed him bite on the loose skin on his lip as he stared at the TV.

"Hmm?" He asks, slowly returning to earth.

I look at the TV and notice the main character is an older gentleman. Someone who looked old enough to be a grandparent. "Are you thinking about your grandparents?" I ask softly.

He smirks with sad eyes, "How'd you know?"

I shrug, "Just a guess. It must be hard being away from them."

"Yeah," He sighs, " Parents probably don't even know I'm gone and not going to school. I haven't talked to them since I first started my classes so that's not really a big deal. But my grandparents?" He shakes his head and I wait for him to continue, "They're worried sick. And with my grandpa being admitted into the hospital... they just have enough stress on their shoulders."

For a minute, just a minute, I don't even realize what he says. It doesn't even register with me. But when his words finally sink in, I draw breath and hold it for as long as I can. I don't move as I replay his words in my head once, twice, three times, praying that what I heard him say was wrong. Maybe he meant something else? Maybe he misspoke? But as I replayed his words in my head there was no denying what he said.

But still I had to confirm it. I had to give my best friend the benefit of the doubt, "What did you say, Will?" I asked quietly. I noticed from the corner of my eye Nova slowly rise from his chair. Had he heard what I heard?