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"Autumn?" Roxy says, waving her hand in front of their face. Qiu's been spacing out for a while now as they head outside of the school. At the moment, Roxanne is the only person Qiu can talk to without much problems. Even things seemed bleak with Ren at times, they barely talked, but they were comfortable with each other.
Qiu still doesn't move, except the fact that their legs continue to stroll down the familiar road. Roxy clears her throat and blinks awkwardly, something must be up. She continues to walk, but her best friend still remains silent. However, she can't tolerate the silence anymore and coughs again to get their attention.
"Qiu-liet." She squints her eyes, her face moving a bit closer to Qiu's. Finally, she gets their attention at the nickname, seeing them flinch and scratch the back of their neck. "Yeah? What's up?" They reply, sipping on their water bottle they bought from the cafeteria earlier lunch time.
Roxy squints her eyes even more, shooting them a suspicious stare. She tilts her head and blinks. "I could ask you the same thing. What were you thinking so deeply about?"
Suddenly, Qiu chokes on their water and coughs uncontrollably. Roxanne's doubtful look is now replaced with a concerned one as she reaches out, pulling them closer to rub their back, she chuckles awkwardly. "Are you okay?" She asks, her tone much more softer than earlier.
They drink more of their water and clear their throat. "I'm fine, don't worry. It happens at times." Qiu sighs, feeling thankful for Roxy trying to sooth them. They look down at the ground blankly, lips squeezing into a line. "It's nothing. Really. Just gender stuff."
As much as Roxy feels concern for them, she doesn't want to pressure Qiu into opening up. They could take as much time as they needed, she would only leave if they wanted her to. "I see. When things get too hard, you know you can talk to me, alright?"
Pulling her hand away from their back, she gives Autumn a genuine beam. She would usually smile half-heartedly especially right after class or when talking to classmates since she enjoys school even less than Qiu, but she can't help but smile with her eyes earnestly as she looks at her best friend.
"I'm aware. We're best friends, aren't we? I'm here for you as well." Their lips curl slightly, not being able to smile too widely right outside of school. However, the same sincerity is shown whenever Qiu grins when they hang out in their room.
Comfortable silence washes over the two as they walk home together, reaching the sidewalk, Roxy stops and gently holds their wrist to move Qiu so that they can switch places, her being closer to the side of the road now.
"Chivalry isn't dead. I still have you." Autumn chuckles, feeling a bit bashful at the gentlemanly gesture. Their words elicit a laugh from Roxy as she pokes their cheek, finding their sheepishness adorable.
A smirk creeps up on her face as she pinches their cheek and pulls it, Qiu groans but can't help the smile that forms on their face. "You are too cute."
"And you're being ridiculous." They roll their eyes and glance away awkwardly, but meet Roxy's eyes again, smiling a bit wider now after completely leaving the confines of Riverpeak View as they enter the neighborhood.
Finally reaching Qiu's porch, Roxy drops them off, giving them another smile of hers.
"I'll see you tomorrow? We can do something after class if you want." She beams, tilting her head a bit as she stares at Qiu.
Their grin fades and they stay silent, but Autumn gets over it, not wanting to bother Roxy. "Yeah..." They reply quietly and Roxy notices, but she doesn't say anything, they must be tired from today. Temporary quietness is present between them, but instead of the usual, Qiu decides to break it.
"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" Qiu raises an eyebrow, crossing their arms.
"We live right next to each other." Roxy rolls her eyes but smirks, letting out a light-hearted chuckle. "Besides I'm sure my mom is sick of seeing your face." She teases, poking their nose. Qiu scoffs at the poke, swatting her hand away.
"But I'd never be sick of seeing yours." She smirks wider, shooting them a wink.
"Yeah, yeah. With a face like mine, it's impossible to get sick of me." They smirk, but their cheeks redden a bit at her flirting.
Roxy rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, mirroring their actions directly. "Alright, if you say so." She steps down from the porch's stairs and waves for a bit.
"See you." She speaks, and they wave back as she walks back to her place right beside Qiu's house. The evening quickly becomes the night as Roxy tucks herself into bed.
In the middle of the night, her phone suddenly vibrates. She rubs her eyes, still feeling tired. Her alarm hasn't rung yet, what was the notification for? Her eyes widen seeing Qiu's message in the preview.
Roxanne types out the words on her mind anxiously, hoping that her words could help Qiu feel better.
Frantically, she tries to come up with more things to reply with, her fingers tapping away quickly.
"And I love you too? Really?" She mutters, her voice still hoarse from fatigue. She rubs her eyes, wanting to edit the message. As she holds the message with her finger, Qiu already sees it but they don't say anything.
"That must've weirded them out." Her eyes are stuck on the "seen" text right below her message, although, they hearted the reply. She doesn't think too much of it and places her phone back on the nightstand and presses her face onto the pillow, going back to sleep.
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The next day, Roxy knocks on Autumn's door. His mom answers and she beams, holding the backpack's strap with one of her hands.
"Good morning, Roxy. Qiu can't go today." She greets Qiu's friend with a blank expression, Roxy's smile fading.
Roxanne clears her throat, showing Qiu's mom a forced smile. It's not that she didn't want to see her best friend's mom. It was just that she expected Qiu to go, was that why they were hesitant with their answer yesterday?
"Why is that?" She raises an eyebrow, and Mrs. Lin leans in closer to whisper in her ear. "Qiu's under the weather."
Her eyes widen as she instinctively enters the house, but Mrs. Lin gently stops her by covering the front of the door.
"Oops, sorry. I got carried away." She chuckles sheepishly, scratching the back of her head.
"Don't worry too much. They just need some time to process things." Yi reassures Roxy, patting her back gently.
"Thank you, Mrs. Lin. Have a great day." Roxy nods, feeling a bit depressed at the fact that she'll walk to school alone. Just like how she used to before Qiu came around.
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One day became two, three, four, five, and six. She lets out a defeated exhale as she lays in her bed, recalling the fact that walked back home alone for four days straight, contemplating whether she should leave a message or not.
"I should stop being so prideful. Qiu needs someone by their side, I should keep trying." Roxy sighs, opening her phone to leave a few more messages just like last time.
She sighs, there still hasn't been any updates from Qiu after two hours since she last messaged, even her previous messages from a few days ago haven't been seen.
After another hour passes, she yawns, starting to feel a bit tired over the weekend. Tomorrow was the start of another exhausting week at school. Her phone rings and she jolts at Autumn's name in the notification. They didn't respond, but they hearted her message.
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She lets out a sigh of relief, now becoming restless as the night ends. Waking up early, Roxy does her usual routine before heading to school. However, something's different. She doesn't knock on Qiu's door like she did the last few times, it would be pointless like before.
Walking alone to school, she lets out a long, exhausted groan. It was lonely not having Autumn around, and her frown lowers even more. Going to school was never exciting, but this is straight up killing her.
Groggily, she enters the building, still not feeling much better. Her frown turns into a blank expression, feeling incredibly pensive. Roxy misses Qiu, so much. But she can't do anything except wait for them, after all, Autumn has done so much for her. This is the least Roxanne can do to repay the favor.
Her train of thoughts stop as Roxy suddenly notices a familiar figure in the distance. Of course, Qiu's olive skin and dark brown eyes always glimmer, even during the cloudiest days, even with any kind of expression on their face. The past 4 years they've spent together mean so much to her, and even when their personalities and styles have changed, they've still been able to lean on each other.
"Qiu..." she murmurs, her voice barely above a whisper. Suddenly, she loudly clears her throat and shouts. "QIU LIN!!!!"
Autumn looks back, a bit shocked. Roxanne was usually not that loud, especially in public. I guess it was worth it going to school after all. "Roxy!" They finally grin, almost running to her until somebody bumps into them. That was anticlimactic. "I'll meet you!"
"No, Qiu." She replies sternly, as Qiu's smile disappears. Roxanne lets out a chuckle and grins bittersweetly. "I'll go to you."
Her sudden straight-forwardness makes them nervous, what was even going on? They space out for a while, before Roxy's body bumps into them, a bit of Qiu's cheek pressing against her upper shoulder. Roxy closes her eyes, holding them tightly.
"I missed you, idiot." She grins, patting their back with one hand and the other on the top of their head. "Finally, you showed up. I was getting so damn worried about you. How could you just leave me in this dreadful place?"
Autumn closes their eyes as well, finally snapping out of thought and reaching out to hug her back. They blush at her sincere admissions and let out a chuckle. "Yeah, yeah, school is that dreadful after all... I just had to after all the messages you left me. I'm sorry."
Qiu clears their throat, refusing to pull away from the hug. If Roxy wanted to keep hugging them, why would they let go?
"Rox, I missed you too."
Her eyes widen, but she doesn't say anything. She shuts her eyes again and beams sweetly, probably blushing. They both secretly hoped that they wouldn't notice each other's bashful states right now.