Pieces Of Love

♡ Chapter 24 ♡

"So you talked to him?" Zaria asked excitedly as she looked at Aubreyanne with a smile. Aubreyanne nodded with an equally large smile on her face.

As much as she had avoided talking to her brother. That child inside her that was forced to grow up too fast missed her older brothers so much. She had only talked to Auden and not Austin but it was still progress.

He'd promised to call more often and keep it this time, but Aubreyanne didn't hold his word to anything, he might as well have not said them. To her, if she found herself being the only one putting effort again she'd just stop for good. Expect nothing and you won't be dissapropitned, at least she was trying to put it into practice.

Aubreyanne handed Zaria a mug of coffee, sitting beside her on the sofa. "So what did you want to tell me?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

It had been two weeks since the night at the park and they'd gotten so much close now that both their defenses— subconscious or not—were put to rest.

Zaria felt her stomach drop. She'd already talked herself into coming here and she had told Aubreyanne it was super important news she had to share. It was killing her, and Serna had encouraged just tell Aubreyanne. What's the worst that could happen?

"Zaria. Are you alright?" Aubreyanne asked setting her mug on the table and turning to Zaria with a worried expression. "Did he come back again? I swear to-"

"No no that's not it," Zaria said stopping the string of colorful adjectives that would have followed. "I uh-" She averted her eyes and reached over to her bag and pulled out a folder with a few papers and handed it to Aubreyanne.

Aubreyanne carefully took it and examined it, the room fell into dead silence with the exception of Zaria's nervous shuffling from time to time as she watch Aubreyanne scan the document and then finally look up at her.

"This is yours? For you?" Aubreyanne choked out. Zaria slowly nodded, feeling guilt rise on her chest at Aubreyanne's expression. Her eyebrows furrowed and lips tilted in a frown. She only looked at Zaria with her confused and sorrow-filled eyes then back to the document.

"Why?"

Zaria looked away. "I've given it a lot of thought...for a long time now." She mumbled. "It's been about a year since I started working at the company and I've enjoyed every moment of it, and working with and for you was a lot of fun"

"So why are you handing in your resignation notice?" Aubreyanne asked. Her tone made Zaria want to grab back the file from her hands and tear it into sherds and forget about it.

Instead, she sat on both her hands, as her leg bounced anxiously. "It's not something I want to continue in even a year to come" She admitted. "I'm more of a people's person. I want to interact with people for my job not be in an office with computers and documents"

"So..." Aubreyanne bit her lip as she seemed hesitant to ask. "Does this mean you'll be moving back to your old town or somewhere else?" She asked sadly.

Zaria felt the need to reassure her, but he'd just decided to go with the honest route, lying would get her nowhere. "I don't know. I plan to go back to school" She mumbled. "I already have my degree in business, and one his hospitality"

"So you might leave?"

Zaira nodded. "Maybe, but Serena told me her college might offer a more in-depth course for hospitality management. I promised to check it out, but also my brother does insist I can just do it back home which makes sense" She mumbled and Aubreyanne just slowly nodded and placed the file beside her cooling and long-forgotten coffee.

"I wanted to give it to you when it was just us as friends, in an unprofessional setting," Zaria said. "I'm sorry if it's inconvenient for me to be quitting now, but I'll technically still be working for the next two months"

"So you've already made up your mind?" Aubreyanne asked leaning back.

Zaria nodded. "It's been in the back of my mind for a while, since my attack. It's not what caused it, but y'know. There was that time I was talking to Zach about it when you came to pick me up and I thought you'd heard it"

"I remember that" Aubreyanne mumbled. She didn't want Zaria to leave but she also didn't want to admit that. Why was it that when things were going right something had to go wrong in exchange? She makes up with her brother, only to potentially be losing Zaria

"But even if I do leave. I'll always come to visit" Zaria said with a smile.

"You better" Aubreyanne scoffed.

Zaria chuckled and leaned back, causing their arms to brush against each other, despite being in the center of a decently sized sofa with room for two people on either side of them. Neither woman made an attempt to move and they changed the subject to talk about other things.

Hours later Zaria glanced out the window only to be met with her reflection and the dim glow of the street light down the driveway.

"I should get going," She said glancing back to Aubreyanne who was looking at her.

Aubreyanne wanted to insist she just say, but one look at the file on the table and she was on her feet with a nod. She silently walked Zaria to the door as she made sure she had all her belongings.

"Are we still up for drinks?" Zaria asked as she stood by the door.

Aubreyanne nodded. "Of course. Case said she'll be able to come, but Jackie insisted on staying home with Kathy to spend some time with her"

Zaria nodded with a smile. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow Regan," Aunbryeanne said with a wave as she watched Zaria leave.

Once her car was out of the driveway and disappeared down the street Aubreyanne walked to the living room and glanced at the file on the table. She'd hoped it would have disappeared by now.

She didn't want Zaria to leave her life. She was well aware why she was so reluctant to let go, but her mind was well trained at ignoring whatever her heart pleaded for.

It only led to pain after all, and she'd suffered enough already.