Ghost In Red

Chapter 5 - I Do, I Don't Care

*Sydney Roswell's POV*

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I received another text message from my best friend after she had called two times, but I didn't pick it up, and I opened it. I just don't want to talk or have any type of conversation with her right now. Not that I am mad at her for wishing my greatest foe to have a worse condition, but I don't want to hear anything that she will say about OJ. I'm not ready.

I let out a sigh of relief when I read what she sent me, "Sydney, it's not purely about OJ, alright? I have no other news about her for now. It's about you. Mostly. And it's so damn important."

Well, for me right at this moment, nothing is more important than OJ being okay.

When Vidia redialed my number, I rejected it and turned off my phone. There. Some peace.

"Have you eaten dinner, Syd? Or are those precious foods just solely for me?" I heard Emma ask, and I turned my head to look at her descending the stairs with a towel wrapped around her wet hair.

"Nope. I don't feel like eating." I answered, standing up, and grabbed the plastic bag that contained the food, and then we walked into their dining area.

"Wow! I hope I can do that." She let out as she pulled a chair for me to sit, and I asked her, "Why? The what?"

"Not wanting to eat. No wonder why you have a nice body. Less food, more hotness." She answered and winked at me at the last part, and I just rolled my eyes in response.

"Said someone who has a waistline like an ant. A giant ant." I replied while taking out the food containers, and she laughed maniacally as she went to get some wine glasses and a bottle of wine from her father's cabinet of liquors.

"Well, that's one of my dilemmas, Syd. I eat a lot; then I work out a lot more and more. And it's hellish. Why? Because... Still, I'm single as f**k, no matter how hard I try to look good enough. Goddamn it!" She ranted in frustration and sat down on the chair adjacent to me.

Then she grinned and looked at me with her spooky gazes again and uttered, "I guess I wouldn't worry too much, because... you, yourself, have been single since birth. I think I am not that much of a failure, and awfully unpleasant for guys to ask me out. Hah! I'm not alone!"

Well, I'm not gonna lie, this lass looks pretty, and a bit hot enough to be hit on by any species known living that has eyes, but... maybe she has stuck herself a bit too much around my circle of friends that she doesn't have the time to notice other people who have set their interests in her.

And about me having a happy, peaceful, and romanceless high school life? It's just because I am simply known as being on the top of the list of the pickiest girls on PWA. I just turn down everyone who asks me out to the point that no one asks me anymore, and I couldn't be more than happy about it. I enjoy my student life very much. I study hard, I have my family, I have my friends, I have part-time jobs, I have a dog, and most importantly, I have my attic.

---

After chatting about a lot of silly topics, mostly Emma was the only one talking, there was a long silence, then she let out a deep sigh, which made me look at her with my face like asking, "What's the matter?"

"Mmm, you hadn't answered my question by the time I opened the door for you, Syd." She began and took a sip of her wine, then focused her gaze on my face.

"What question?" I asked her, puzzled, and she just kept staring at me intently. I don't remember what she asked me.

"What are you here for? Don't get me wrong, because you haven't visited here by yourself for a while, since I have been the one that barges into your house almost every weekend. You don't go here just to talk to me and listen to my rubbish rambles. Do you have a problem? Of course, you have. But... Do you need counseling, advice? We could change the atmosphere into something more serious or dark. Or... Do you want to just have a date with me for this occasion? We could watch a movie. But not a romantic one. What do you say? Horror?" She let out like a damn inspector and slouched just to examine my reactions closer.

A soft laugh escaped my mouth as she really got me right. Usually, I go here, but I am with Kevin or Vidia or both.

After scanning my face using her X-ray blue-green eyes, she slammed a hand on the tabletop and cheered, "Aha! You have a problem! Something big. Maybe bigger than the raven-haired and hazel-eyed girl. Am I right?"

I inhaled deeply and shook my head in response, and told her, "No. It's about her."

"Oh, okay. I thought you wouldn't want to talk about her. Is it about the issue you both had earlier? Do you want to plan an attack?" She replied and asked curiously.

"No, it's something bigger," I uttered and drank all the contents of my glass.

"Mmhmm. Bigger? I know it. Is it about all and all the issues and arguments you have had since you first met in pre-school? That's surely bigger." She replied and took a bite of the piece of the roasted chicken in her left hold.

"You have not watched the news?" I asked her, to which she laughed out loud and answered, "Me? News? Watch? Are you kidding me, Syd? I watch the news once in a blue moon. You know that. But what's with the news that made you come here, if it's not you wanting to have a date with me?"

"OJ got into a road accident at the same spot where my parents died. She's in bad condition right now. And I have no idea how she's doing." I told her seriously, which made her jaw drop in shock.

"You're kidding?" She asked, looking so worried, and I shook my head in response and let out a sigh.

"I wish I am, Ems," I uttered, trying to sound fine, and there was a long silence between us.

"Damn, that's... Not good. I hope she's fine. I mean, Syd, not that I am worried about her... I am just concerned because it's someone's safety and life involved. So... I am just... Wait... Hmm. You came here to tell me that?" She let out and asked me with suspicion, and I just shrugged my shoulders in response.

"Alright. Well... Look what I found. I guess I am not the only one concerned about her situation." She uttered confidently, which made me look at her with my somewhat puzzled face.

"What do you mean?" I asked, and she let out a laugh before answering, "You cared about OJ."

When what she said sunk in my mind, I shook my head and said, "No, I don't." Lie.

"Really? Why am I not convinced, Sydney?" She teased while a broad smile was forming on her annoying face, and I just averted my gaze to the bottle of wine to pour some on my glass.

"I just want to tell you about it because it's something big," I told her as I don't want to give hints that I really am worried about the girl.

"Mhmm. Nope. People who are not worried about something or someone don't go to someone's house unnoticed and once in a while, don't have the appetite to eat, sighing that could kill candlelight, and look like she's carrying the whole world on her shoulders. Yep. You are Captain Obvious, Sydney Roswell. You cared about OJ." She enumerated, sure that she was correct, and wiggled her trimmed eyebrows.

"No. I am not worried about her, and I don't care about her. I just... I am just---" I repudiated after taking a sip of my beverage, and she cut me off saying, "Concerned? That's exactly the same thing, Sydney. And based on your vibe, your mood, you aren't glad that she might be suffering right now. You look the other way around. That's it. That's my final evaluation. You. Cared. About. Her. Yep, I knew you enough years for me to tell if you have something that you are denying. But if you are gonna deny it, it's up to you. You know your truth, and I am just letting out my observations."

I let out another heavy sigh and another. And, she raised her glass to me.

This time, I just can't pretend that I hate her. It's her state, which I am so worried about, is something else that needs to be taken seriously, and I can't put on a show about it. I can't, and I won't.

Should I tell this girl the whole truth?