The Fragile Fall by Kristy Love Page A

like he’s barely holding on. And he’s always fucking running. I see him run before we leave for school and then he goes again when we get home from school and then again at night.” He was quiet for a moment.
    When I thought about what he said, I realized that I had noticed Will running more lately. His runs had gone from once a day to twice a day, and in recent weeks he always seemed to be running. I wondered what he was running from.
    “I shouldn’t be telling you what to do with Will. It’s none of my fucking business.” Jax shoved a hand through his hair. “But how can he handle the pressure of a girlfriend when he seems to be drowning in life?”
    “I’m worried about him too. I can back off. Him being okay is more important than anything.”
    “That’s the thing, I saw the way he was with you tonight before everything went shitty. He was happy. He seemed like he was doing okay, and that was the first time I’ve ever seen him around that many people where he didn’t look like he was going to vomit. Maybe you are good for him.”
    “I don’t think it’s something either of us can answer. Let’s just find him. We can figure out the rest of this later, okay?”
    “Yeah.” He pulled into the driveway and got out of his truck. We both rushed over and rang the doorbell at Liv’s. No one answered. “Do you think maybe he hasn’t made it home yet?”
    “I don’t know. Call him.”
    Jax pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Will. No answer. “Should we go drive around and look for him?”
    “I have no idea what to do. Maybe he just needs time.”
    “Yeah, maybe.” Jax ran his hand through his hair. “We can go get your car tomorrow, okay? I’m not in the mood to get it tonight.”
    “No problem.” We walked back home, though I kept looking over my shoulder hoping that Will would open the door.
    He never did.

    “He didn’t show up at school today?” I asked Jax.
    We had both tried to get in touch with Will all weekend, but we weren’t able to. When Jax went over and talked to Liv, she said he wasn’t feeling well and was lying down. I was going out of my mind with worry. I wanted to talk to him and make sure he was okay, but he was avoiding us.
    “No. I texted him a few times, but he never replied. I even called him. No answer.”
    “Do you think he’s mad at us?”
    “How the fuck should I know?”
    I sighed. “I’ll call Liv and see how he’s doing.” I fished my phone out of my pocket and called her. She answered after a couple rings.
    “Hello?”
    “Hey, Liv.”
    “Ryanne, it’s good to hear from you. How are you doing?”
    “I’m okay. I was calling about Will.”
    “What about him?”
    “I was just wondering if he’s okay. Jax said he didn’t go to school today.”
    “Oh.” She paused. I wondered what was wrong that she wasn’t saying anything. “He hasn’t felt good all weekend, so he stayed home. I think he’ll be in school tomorrow.”
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I’m not sure. He wasn’t really specific about what was bugging him. I think he just needed a couple days of down time, you know?”
    “Yeah.” We got off the phone a few minutes later. I told Jax what she said and we both decided to give Will some time. It seemed he needed it.
    Later that night, I was in my room, sitting on the little bench in front of my window and staring outside. I was supposed to be working on a paper, but my thoughts were too scattered to form coherent thoughts. Will turned onto our street, running yet again. I watched until he was out of sight, my chest aching the entire time. My fingers rested on my lips, feeling the ghost of his lips against mine. Anytime I thought about the kiss, my lips tingled and it felt like he was right there with me.
    Except he wasn’t.
    I stared at the empty street for a few minutes, then went back to working on my paper. I kept getting up and going back to the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Will. Finally, I took my laptop to the