Didn’t text either.
At school, Taylor fell into step beside her as she came into the building.
Ebony smiled at him, the action feeling a little stiff. After a few days of Gavin's silent treatment, it was more than a relief to come to school and have Taylor by her side.
Going into her literature class, Ebony's heart hammered in her chest. When she had gotten down stairs that morning, Gavin had already left but when she got to school, she hadn't seen his Bronco in the parking lot. The chair next to her stayed empty as students filed into the room. She could barely listen to what Taylor was saying as she tried to keep an eye on the door. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she caught sight of Gavin. Taller than most students, his curling white gold hair peeked out above the rest and she caught a glimpse of him as he leaned in to say something to Ethan.
Ebony bit the inside of her cheek impatiently. What were they talking about? Class was about to start any minute.
Ethan's back was to her but she could see him nod before they both turned to come into the class. Ebony looked at Gavin expectantly, hoping they could use this time of forced proximity to talk but her heart stuttered in her chest as he walked to the other side of the room and took a seat. Next to her, Ethan pulled out the chair and sat down.
She looked from Gavin, who had yet to look at her, and then to Ethan, who gave her a small apologetic smile. Her heart sank painfully into her stomach.
"Hey Ebbs," he said in a low gentle voice. "Looks like we're seat mates."
It felt as if her breath had suddenly been stolen. Empty and hollow, she forced herself to smile back at him and nod.
Around her, she could feel the other students watching and staring. She could just imagine the shared whispers and the exchanged texts. But she could hardly pay attention to any of that. All she could do was look at Gavin's profile. His set jaw and cold eyes stared at the teacher as she began to talk.
Ebony waited the remainder of the class for one look. Just one familiar smirk from him. Anything.
Nothing came.
After days of the same, one worded replies and avoiding her at every turn, she couldn’t take it anymore. Every minute that dragged on like this felt like a lifetime of suffering. Her world was turning dull and gray while her patience was dwindling and her mind was jumping from one conclusion to another. Did he hate her? Why would he change so suddenly? What had she done to cause this sudden rift between them?
Again, she got home earlier than he did. Which wasn’t hard since he was arriving later and later each day as if he was spending every possible second outside of the house. Avoiding home. Avoiding her.
Finally, her phone dinged with an alert from the garage door opening. The house was quiet as she waited, pacing her room waiting for him to come upstairs. Duke, sensing Gavin was home, ran from her room and into the hallway and greeted him.
Ebony heard Gavin's deep somber tone. "Hey, boy."
She couldn’t wait any longer; she stepped out into the hall just as he crossed her open doorway.
She was fed up. She wanted answers. “Did I do something?”
Gavin froze, his hand midreach for his doorknob.
She watched the slow rise and fall of his shoulders as he sighed. “No.”
“Then why are you…” Her voice dipped. She was staring at the back of his head. He wouldn’t even look at her. “Why are you acting so weird? You’ve barely looked at me. We used to-”
Gavin inhaled sharply and turned on his heel and looked at her. There was a flatness to his eyes she had never seen before, it made her want to take a step back. “Ebbs,” he began, a tiredness to his tone as if she had been asking him this same question all day. “I'm not acting like anything. I'm just trying to come home and finish up some work.”
His words felt like a gunshot further opening the wound in her chest. It was like being told you’re crazy while drowning.
Defeated and not sure what to say or do, she nodded. “Okay,” she whispered, through her tightening throat, praying her voice didn’t betray the tears threatening.
She turned and went across the hall to her room and closed the door just before they fell.
Ebony spent the weekend in her room. Like a summer rain that started slow, messages trickled into her phone turning quickly into a downpour. Her phone vibrated with concerned texts from Taylor to a few girls in her Calculus class, even Cameron sent a few. But none from the one person who started it all. Ebony ignored them all; putting her phone on silent, she let it slide off the bed.
She felt lost at sea amidst her pale pink sheets as she stared up at the ceiling. Sunlight slipped in past the partially open curtains cutting through the thick gloom of her room and speared a shaft of light across her ceiling. She watched as tiny little particles danced in the stream of light, like tiny fairies made of gold.
Everything around her felt so still and lifeless. Once or twice, she heard movement from the hall and looked toward the door to see the shifting of light beneath it. It could have been Duke but a part of her knew it was Gavin the way the shadow stopped at her dooras if deciding what to do. She held her breath at the shadow's pause although she didn’t know why. He didn’t stay. He didn’t knock. He didn’t come in asking her why she hadn't left her room. The shadow simply moved on.
Was that it? Had Gavin simply moved on from her?
The pain that had grown in her chest all week had festered and spread throughout her body leaving her drained and tired. And still, her mind refused to rest, looping over the same unbearable truth: Gavin was treating her like she meant nothing. It felt like being nine again, trapped in a house with a boy who seemed to hate her. The same boy who used to wave the fish head at her face whenever their parents ordered the branzino at Le Palais, laughing when she cringed away.
