KEEP DRIVING - H.S

Chapter 21

November 15 2021, San Diego

"HOLD ON, YOU'RE FRIENDS WITH ALL YOUR EXES?" Sarah repeated, doing a double-take. "That's not possible."

Alliah shrugged. "Maybe not close friends, but we stay in touch and I always end in good terms..." Alliah pondered for a moment before adding, "With one single exception."

Harry looked up from the journal where he'd been writing. He frowned, turning to face Alliah. "Hold on. I don't know this. What's the one exception?"

Alliah glanced in between the three other people in the room. Harry, Sarah and Pauli.

She could trust them with her life.

"Alright," Alliah sighed, sitting up and sitting criss cross on the couch. "It was a while back, in 2019, and I was dating this girl named Janaa. I'd met her years ago, when we were teenagers, and we reunited. She was... a very intense person. She was free, and beautiful and funny. We fell in love quickly, and like with all things that are intense, not only was it really good it was also really bad."

"We fought all the time over the smallest of things, and then all of a sudden she'd turn sweet and loving. Janaa could change her mind in a split second. One moment she would love you, the next she hated you, and then back again just as quickly. One time, we had a really bad fight, because I hugged my friend, and she got super jealous. Janaa thought we'd broken up, I thought we'd just had a fight. She left, got drunk and slept with some guy. When I found out, we fought, said a bunch of stupid shit to each other, and oficially broke up."

Sarah exhaled. "Jesus. That's such a shitty thing to do. I mean, did you ever say you were over before she slept with that guy?"

Alliah shook her head. "Nope, we fought, and we said stupid shit, but nothing about breaking up. Janaa's excuse was that our fight was so bad, she thought we were over."

Pauli nodded. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. You deserve better."

Alliah scoffed a laugh. "Yeah. Even in our last fight, when we broke up, I knew I'd fucked up, said a bunch of shit I shouldn't have and I went too far. So a year after we'd broken up, I texted her. Apologized for what I said. Janaa read it, and then blocked me."

"Holy shit, seriously?" Harry questioned, leaning forward. "She just blocked you?"

"Janaa knows how to hold a grudge, I'll tell you that. It hurt at the time, but I don't really give a shit anymore. I apologized, because she deserved an apology, and she made her choice. And that's fine. I did my part, and there's nothing more to it," Alliah explained, adjusting the straps of her top. "Either way, I don't really want her back into my life. She wasn't good for me, and it just didn't work."

"Good for you, I think if someone isn't good for you, it's alright not to have them in your life," Harry said.

"Amen, man," Alliah said, giving Harry a high-five. "What about you guys? How'd you guys end it with your exes?"

Sarah shrugged. "I'm not really in touch with any of them, and I dated a couple of assholes in the past, and it's mostly zero contact with exes."

"I ended on good terms with my exes, but I don't stay in touch with them. I've only ever had one toxic relationship," Pauli admitted.