Take note to the good things in life.

But don't forget to look to the bad.

For the outside is never what it seems to be anymore.

Disclaimer: I only own any character you aren't familiar with, as well as the plot. End of discussion.

Layla spots the most unlikeliest person at the cemetery, and is resolute to find out why. When she does, she wasn't expected to be warped into this whole mess. This whole story. Why is the deceased Crystal Skye determined to make Layla know?

-

-Past-

"You still…came." He shivered, gripping the blanket before I could get the chance to wrap it around him.

"Yeah, totally." I muttered, pushing him along. "Now that I think of it, I'm surprised you aren't crumbling." With this cold weather, the temperature could have made him a fragile piece of…something. It'd have been horrible.

Lash released a stiff laugh into the air, and we reached the gate soon after. "Where…are we going?"

"My house."

"W…why?"

"Cause you take the Southside busses, and this is the Northeast. I live on the North side." I said knowingly, bringing my elevator-branch along to lift the two of us.

And just when I thought he'd protest, he surprised me.

"Oh."

-

Once we stood outside the house, Lash was convulsing - I needed to get him inside. "We can't go through the front door. We gotta climb through the window."

Lash sent me a weird look before wiping water from his face. "Wha-y?" I shrugged, tugging him onto the grass and up close to my window.

"You ask too many questions. Can you stretch up?"

"Too…cold." He muttered, hugging himself a little tighter to the blanket. I sighed, and ducked below my oak tree, creating another elevator-branch.

Once inside, I shut my window, chucking the umbrella across the room to look back at Lash. "Take off your clothes." I ordered, tossing my hand into the air at him.

Even as he continued his convulsions, I knew he was smirking. "Gee, I dunno, Williams. I…I mean I know it would keep me warm, but I don't think you can handle me." I glared darkly at him as I tore off my jacket, kicking off my shoes with the process of taking off my shirt. Lash was being a stupid idiot, but he needed heat. It made my stomach sick just thinking about it, but I would be doing something good. It wasn't like me to ignore someone to the point of their misery.

"Lash, I'm not having sex with you." I whispered loudly, pulling away the blanket to see his shivering blue lips, his chattering teeth.

"Then, what…what are you -" He started, watching me tug upon his now skin-tight shirt with major difficulties. "Doing."

Stand up and take off your clothes, Livingston. You need body heat." He managed to roll off my bed, but had trouble getting to his feet with just a small push on the floor.

Once he was fine standing, we got his shirt off, and he finally seemed to realize that I was topless. "Whoa, Hippie." Hey, I had a bra on, thanks.

"Shut up and take your pants off." I growled, glaring up at him. I looked away quickly, though, because his lips were getting worse. He needed heat, or he'd be in more trouble than he was already in.

It took a while to get his pants off, and I shimmied off my own uncomfortably, knowing that if for one day, Will would find out about all this, he'd forgive me - he'd understand that I needed to save a life. That I would have forever a scarred conscience if Lash died on my hands. I was okay. But I still didn't like the fact that Lash would be the one I'd have my arms around, half naked.

Oh great. Now I feel like crying. This was so wrong.

We climbed into bed, and I breathed into my hands before I placed them around his neck, his own crossing over my waist a few times before he rested his chin into the dip of the pillow and my shoulder. "This is so…"

"Awkward." I muttered, feeling the shaking of his body against me. There was silence for a moment, so I brought our covers up to our ears, using my right hand that was beneath him, to try and wring his hair out.

"Yeah." He laughed, his hot breath making me shiver. His lips were still ice cold, and I noticed that they were resting against my shoulder. Blinking my eyes shut, moving my head slightly so that my cheek wasn't in his dripping wet hair, I knew that Lash would be okay in the morning. Sure, he'd have a cold, but he'd be fine. "So…" He whispered, his head still and his lips continuing to shake. "What did she do?"

My mind took a while to comprehend what he was talking about. After all this, even with Lash breathing down my neck, I had forgotten this was a message received from Crystal. "She…met me at the gate and led me to you." He was suddenly quiet - even his breathing slowed. "I didn't want to believe it was true when I woke up, that you were there, but I brought myself to it. I had to make sure."

"You're insane." He murmured, fidgeting his arms so that I was loose.

"You're the one to stay and almost die, Lash!" I nearly cried out, gripping his arms to hold him still. His lip quivered as he pulled away to look at me, and the look on his face told me that something inside wanted to tell me.

He broke down. Piece by piece his features fell, his eyes watering, his nose crinkling before he ducked his face into my neck to take a large breath, shaking terribly as he exhaled. "I wanted to die."

Lash lost his guards. Once those words tripped from his mouth, he just lost it. Everything. "…Why?" I asked, curious.

Furiously, the lanky boy shook his head, and I protested with my plea. "It was my fault she's gone. If I had gone out there last time, she'd be here, and I wouldn't be completely miserable." He was making no sense to me now, but he kept on. "If I had known she'd be affected, I would have gone out there instead."

Lash was shaking his head, and he grasped me tighter. I was biting back a sob.

"What…?" I managed to say, hearing him repeat his last words over and over. I would have gone out there instead. I would have gone out there instead.

"She's gone because of me."

"Wait." I whispered, making everything go silent. I needed to think. I could piece this together, right?" "What happened the night she died?" Last time. Last time. "Was there a storm like tonight's?" He merely nodded, and I brushed my hand through his hair, deep in through. Last time - in a storm - she'd gone outside. But, for what?

"There was a blackout." I heard him whisper, and I nodded slowly, stopping the fingers in his hair. If he was going to tell me, I wouldn't have to guess. "An'…and she told me she'd be back soon. She'd be out at the powerbox by the patio at her house." Lash leaned back to look at me, and I closed my eyes, dropping my hands to his shoulders. "When she didn't come back inside after five minutes, I knew something was wrong." Now was not the time for him to see the pain in my eyes. I could already hear the hoarseness of his voice, the strain to not tear up, break down terribly at the memory.

Something hit a nerve in my shoulder, and it tickled me throughout, making me fidget in the awkward embrace he held me in. It started to slide down the skin, and turned cold once Lash breathed out on me. Taking a guess at what it was, I imagined a salty tear.

"That's why she was so frantic." I whispered, lowering my face into the pillow. "But you're rubber! If you were shocked, you wouldn't be affected."

She was absent that day in chemistry class." He laughed with sarcasm, his body shaking with the warm feeling of the chuckle. But then he sniffed, exhaling so lightly that I opened my eyes to make sure he was still okay. "Crys was smart. She thought she'd be able to fix it in time before something serious could have gone wrong."

"Oh." Is all I could muster.

"Yeah."

"So then why -" I stopped as he shifted me in his arms once more. One hand on my back, and an arm climbing my spine to cradle my head. It was a position even Will has never held me like. And it felt okay.

"She had telekinesis - so I'm thinking, her leftover energy sensed that I wasn't doing good, and sent a message via dream - to you." His chin hit the top of my head. "'Cause she knew you'd come around."

"I think you might be talking out of the rain here, but that didn't make a lot of sense. I mean, it did, but not a…lot." I heard him yawn, and hold me a bit closer to him. If I just imagine Will, I could handle this. And I could fight the urge to kiss him.

Goodnight

Sleep tight.

No more tears.

In the morning - I'll be here.

Cause duh. Lash wasn't Will. He never would. The guy holding me was a jerk.

And when we say...

"Goodnight."

"Just go to sleep, Layla." Lash muffled out. I sighed, and snuggled into his shoulder, completely not comprehending the fact that that was number two that he's said my first name.

Dry your eyes.

I felt woozy. And the pitter-patter of rain against the window, the roof, made my eyes droop closed. And my senses were heightened in the dark, so I knew what I was hearing.

Because we say...

"Goodnight."

And not...

"Goodbye."

Yet the soft, light, airy singing in my ear was not real. There was no one but me and Lash upstairs, and it definitely wasn't him.

We say "Goodnight."

And not...

"Goodbye."

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