Valerie

16 - Val

"I'm still not sure I even want to go." I mumbled to Mable as she was grabbing both of our coats off of the hook by the door.

"Come on, Val. Please?" She gave me puppy eyes.

"I don't know anything about hockey!" I pointed out. "And neither do you."

"Sure I do." She said confidently.

I narrowed my eyes. "Okay then, what's the name of the team?"

She hesitated and I raised my eyebrows.

"Fine! I know nothing but that isn't the point. Marcus invited us."

"Marcus invited you." I returned.

"Yeah, but he knows that we come as a pair. Plus, I'm sure Thomas would want you to be there. You guys are like friends now. It's weird but not a bad thing."

I mulled this over. The past week or two with Thomas had actually been kind of fun. He would come over, I'd make him a cup of tea that he pretended to like even though I saw him grimacing when he thought my back was turned, we would talk for half the time and then we'd actually study. I won't lie, I think I preferred the talking part. He was funny and asked me questions about myself like What's your favourite colour? I'd say green and then he'd ask Do you prefer Summer or Winter? Winter of course. He was... nice. And I found that I had started to like him more and more.

"What exactly is going on between you and Marcus?" I decided to ask.

Mable averted her gaze from my eyes. "We're just... hanging out."

"Hanging out?" I said, raising my eyebrows.

"Don't give me that look." She said, frowning.

"Okay but didn't you swear off of dating for the rest of your life?" I remarked.

A sad look passed over her freckled face.

When Mable was eight, she moved houses. Not a huge move, just a Victorian terraced house with insane views and worth millions of pounds a couple streets away from her equally lavish old house.

Her Mother made her bake cookies to give to their new neighbours and that was where she met Lucas. Lucas, the nine year old next door, was Mable's first love.

They quickly became friends and at 11 and 12, he was her first kiss. At 13 and 14, they declared themselves dating and Mable was head over heels in love. It seemed that Lucas was as well.

For a couple of years, they went everywhere together and were the perfect couple and had love that I always aspired to have but knew that deep down it would never happen due to factors out of my control. (My family).

Anyway, Lucas did everything for her and in return so did Mable. He played football (he was a sub) and Mable still went to every single one of his games.

When Mable and I were 14, he started coming to our ballet shows and I became friends with him also. I'd only seen him at a couple because I quit shortly after but this was where he met Bee Harris. One of the girls in our ballet class.

Unknown to Mable, he had been cheating on her with Bee for the last two and a half years of their 3 and a half year long relationship.

Mable found out at 16. She was an emotional wreck. The majority of her relationship had been built on lies when she was sure she couldn't be happier.

She endured living next door to him, she endured and ignored his apologies and so when I offered the chance to run away to New York, she agreed promptly.

Since then, she has sworn off of all relationships, never seeing the same man twice... until Marcus.

"I know, but it's been two years and he seems really genuine." She said quietly.