A Quarter Mile Away

34 - Dont Be So Hard On Yourself

Please listen to Don't Be So Hard On Yourself - Jess Glynn for this chapter.

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"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Isaac questioned, sounding skeptical. I placed my phone on loud speaker so that I could go through my things.

"I don't have a choice Isaac, did you not read his message I screenshotted to you?"

"Is 'screenshotted' an actual word?"

"Oh my God. Will you focus!!" I yelled but had to smile at his stupidity.

"You know, you have me, Drew and Jaxon who could take care of him?" The mention of Jaxon's name was a stab in the heart, Isaac wasn't to know though because I hadn't gotten around to telling him. Not that there was much to tell, he saw what happened last time between us at the race.

He let out a sigh, "Sorry BooBear, I didn't mean to bring him up."

I nodded my head knowingly aware that he couldn't see me. "Maybe I should go with you."

I noticed that he wasn't necessarily asking me but it was more of a statement of fact. That confused me a great deal, I thought he and Nikki were going quite strong.

"What about you and Nikki?"

He let out an angry sigh, "I dunno Avery. She's a sweet girl and all but she keeps wanting to know about Annie and... I dunno if I'm ready to talk about that part of my life. You know?"

One of the reasons why Isaac and I got along so well, was because we were literally the same person in different bodies, I knew exactly where he was coming from. "Isaac, if you're starting to care for her, just tell her that one day you'll explain but you're not ready. If you have no feelings whatsoever for her then by all means, come with us"

"I think I'm falling in love with her" he whispered in defeat. I immediately smiled at his words, it's been a long time since I've heard him say these words. We both knew he wasn't going anywhere.

"I'm happy for you BooBear. Looks like we both know you're staying here. Listen I gotta go meet up with Drew, I'll talk to you later"

"Ok. Laters"

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"What?! What do you mean?! We just found each other!" Drew dropped his burger on his plate as he creased his eyebrows at me. I bit my lip anxiously, how do I explain the full detail about Noah with Alena sitting there. When he saw the way I looked at Alena, realisation sunk in and he nodded lightly.

Drew had brought Michael with him, apparently his parents decided to explain the situation to him. The good thing about kids, they never stayed angry for too long. Apparently he was excited about having sisters, reminded me a lot like Alena. That's probably why they got along so well.

We spent all afternoon with each other, first we went bowling, then we played in the arcade centre and finally we decided to eat burgers. It felt like no time had passed between us and that we had really been in each other's lives since we were kids.

"So he hasn't left you alone since you broke up?"

I looked at Drew as he asked the question. We finally found some time alone since the younger ones wanted to play more games in the arcade centre.