ɴᴇᴡ ᴛᴏᴡɴ, ɴᴇᴡ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ | ᴀʙʙʏ ʟɪᴛᴛᴍᴀɴ

16ᵀʰᵉʳᵃᵖʸ

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟔

"ᴵᶠ ᵃⁿʸᵒⁿᵉ ⁿᵉᵉᵈˢ ⁱᵗ, ⁱᵗ'ˢ ʸᵒᵘ ᴳⁱⁿⁿʸ."

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After school Florence and her friends had gone to the café but when they entered they were met with Mang because the only seats left were the ones with them.

Andrea leaned over to Florence and whispered to her, "It's a good thing you two already made up otherwise this would have been very weird."

Ginny came out with Mang's food order. "Do you think you can get Florence into therapy too?"

Abby turned to Florence wondering what she would need it for. Florence was quick to shake her head to Abby and Ginny. "I do not need therapy."

Ginny fixed her napkin and apron, looking back at Florence. "Oh no, you really need it. You never talked to anyone about what happened last year and don't get me started about yesterday in the car."

"What? Me? If anyone needs it, it's you Ginny." Florence shook her and turned to Esme and Andrea, whispering to them, "She's talking about Olivia and some stuff with my dad."

Ginny gasped at Florence but then was called over by Joe, "You're lucky I'm working right now."

"Yeah, bring me my coffee." Florence shooed Ginny with her hands.

Now that her sister was gone Florence was more comfortable at the table, she looked over to Mang and Abby was looking at her concerned and curious. "Flo, do you need to talk to someone? My parents are therapists."

Florence gave her a polite friendly smile. "No, no I'm fine, really."

Ginny came back after a minute with Florence's and her friend's order. That was when Maddie barged into the cafe and went straight towards them. Maddie sat right next to Max and was talking with them, everyone was speechless just watching her. Ginny went off to talk to Joe.

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Florence picked up the avocado that Georgia had dropped when Ginny was talking about Maddie.

Ginny looked at her phone then back to her mom. "Um, Mom, I know you're having a nervous breakdown, but Maxine just texted me, and our yard is on fire."

Hearing that the yard was on fire, Florence dropped the avocado laughing while kneeling down on the ground. "On fire?" Florence and Georgia said at the same time. One was serious and the other was the exact opposite.

Georgia and Ginny hurried to go outside while Florence went to put the avocado on the kitchen table to follow after the two.

"My garden!" Georgia was running to the garden that was currently on fire.

Max stood outside the fence with her hands on it. "It's on fire." She casually said out loud.

Florence slightly widened her eyes at all the fire. "How-"

That was when Austin and Caleb ran in front of the yard, Austin told Georgia that it was Caleb who did have the torch in his hand.

Ginny looked super annoyed, she turned to Max. "Can I go to your house?"

"Fine. Nothing this fun ever happens there." Max shrugged her shoulders.

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Florence had a cup of ice cream in her hand as she walked down by the lake with Abby.

"So what was Ginny talking about earlier? What happened last year?" Abby asked Florence in a soft voice, wondering what happened to Florence.

Licking the ice cream off of her own lips, Florence looked at the moon. "Uhm I had a friend who passed away, her name was Olivia." Sometimes she felt like a part of it was her fault, that she could have done more. Abby was staying quiet, listening to her talk. "I want you to know that I'll always try my best to be there. My friend, she had a hard time talking to me about certain issues. I just feel like I should have tried harder, I didn't let her hear the right words that she needed to hear." After realizing that she was rambling on, Florence fake coughed and went quiet. "Sorry I-you probably don't want to hear about all this-"

Abby quickly went to interrupt Florence. "No-no, I do, I'd like to hear more about her."

Florence was a bit surprised that she wanted to listen to her talk about Olivia. "Really? Well, how about how we first met?" She had a smile on her face now, happy to tell her more about Olivia. Florence began to tell her about how she first met Olivia.

Abby was smiling at just seeing Florence's face lit up with a smile when she talked about her old friend. She then laughed, "You really punched the girl. Oh I wish I could have seen that."

Florence looked away with a shutted guilty smile. "Yeah I can be short-tempered sometimes but for the most part i'm good with my emotions"

Florence drove Abby home and stopped in front of her house. Before leaving out of the car, Abby stayed in the passenger seat, looking at her fingers. "Do you want to stay over for the night? It's an empty house and I just don't want to be alone."

"Yeah of course. I wouldn't want you to be alone either." Florence got out of the car and took a bag out of the trunk. "I always keep spare clothes with me."

Abby walked Florence into her house and straight to her room, she didn't want Florence looking at any of the family photos. When Florence came out of the bathroom in her change of comfortable clothes she saw Abby had changed into new clothes too, she had sweatshorts on with a long sleeve. "I think we've passed the part of who sleeps on the bed and who takes the floor." Abby told Florence.

Florence nodded, acting like she understood what Abby was saying. "Yeah, I'll take the floor."

"No-" Abby shook her head. "We're sleeping on the bed together." She then grabbed Florence's hand leading her to the side that she would be sleeping on.

They both laid on the bed together, facing each other. They talked about anything, Florence even told her about how her aunt was staying over at their place, keeping small details out. After an hour of talking, Florence's eyes started to slowly shut.

"You can go to sleep if you want to." Abby smiled at her, watching Florence fight her will to sleep.

Florence had her eyes open halfway. "But then you'd be awake by yourself."

Abby softly smiled at the view in front of her, she put her hand on Florence's forehead, moving her hair out of the way to kiss her forehead. "And you're sleeping." She softly chuckled to herself from seeing Florence who was now asleep.