A Tale of Two Spiders [BEING REWRITTEN ELSEWHERE]

Part 7

I immediately dropped the facade and let the tears in my eyes fall. Hobie saw through every disguise that I put on, even the ones that fooled everybody else.

He was the only other person who I showed my true self to..

'I-I've just had...a really bad day, and I know it's only 8:00 but for some stupid reason, the universe decided to throw EVERYTHING it had at me...'

I found myself telling Hobie all about my terrible day, from the sudden growth spurt to the mean comments and Miles yelling at me.

'Wait, that doesn't sound like Miles. Why would he do that?' Hobie pondered, thinking to himself.

'See, that's what I asked myself.' I sniffed and almost wiped my nose with my sleeve before Hobie silently handed me a tissue.

'I just wanted to know what was wrong. Did I go to far? Maybe its something personal and I shouldn't interfere because-'

'Gwendy, love, you are Miles's best friend. If it was something wrong, he would have told you first that I know.' He rubbed circles on my back to comfort me.

'Maybe I'm just overreacting-or-or I'm taking it too personally or

'Gwen.' Hobie said.

'Yeah?' I sniffed and looked at him. 

Okay...?

'You aren't overreacting. If my best friend yelled at me, I'd feel bloody terrible. And judging by the way the rest of your day sounds, you have every right to feel this way.'

We didn't talk for a while and just sat there. 

It was always peaceful being with Hobie. 

He spoke up again. 'What I'm really interested in is...you said you grew rapidly for no reason?'

'Uh, yeah?' I replied, confused.

'And you've been feeling really weird and overly conscious about things, right?'

'Yeah...'

'And every sound around you is amplified?'

I nodded slowly, not understanding where he was going with this.

'Hmm...' He held his chin in thought.

He was silent for so long that I started to get even more confused. What...?

'Hobie...I'm fine. It's probably just pu-'

'Don't say it.' He shushed me.

'You'll sound like Miles.'

That actually got a laugh out of me. 

Well, a few laughs, actually.

I giggled, which became a snicker, which evolved into a belly laugh - shaking and rocking back and forth and all.

I remember that when Miles was fourteen, every time something weird happened to him, he would blame it on puberty. And I got so tired of it that one time, in front of everyone, I just said, 'I don't think you know what puberty is, Miles.'

He never brought it up again.

I was so caught up in my laughter that I didn't notice that I was teetering at the edge of the metal beam - dangerously.

So I rocked back a little too far...

Off the railing...

Off the balcony...

Off the building.

'AH!' I shrieked as I fell.

'Gwen!' Hobie sprung into action, reaching out his arm for me to catch.

But I was in too much shock and too scared to react.

Instinctively, I placed my feet on the wall and put my arms out to balance myself.

Phew...

Wait, on the wall?

I was standing on the wall.

That's new.

I stood absolutely still, thinking that if I were to move even an inch, I would topple off the side of the building and that would be that.

But it seemed as if Hobie was thinking differently, because what he said next scared the living crap out of me.

'Try walking back up!' He yelled down to me.

Are you crazy?

Word Count: 1139

A/N: Hey everyone, at the time I'm writing this, I don't have any Wi-Fi 🥲, so sorry for the late update, if I had any, I would have definitely updated.

Thank you all for the positive feedback and for all the votes! I'm so grateful to all of you.

If you are a new reader, welcome!

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Thank you for 981 reads!

Signing off for now <3

-katica