All She Wishes | Shawn Mendes | ✔

19. Of Wishes And Texts

"There are two kinds of sorry.
There is the sorry imbued with regret. And a pure sorry.
The one that is merely asking for forgiveness, nothing more."

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One week and a whole lot of school work later, I walked into the bustling cafeteria with a full blown grin on my face.

For some strange reason, I was happy and I didn't know why. Tanner's rumors had died down a little bit, but that didn't mean that everyone had completely forgotten about it. I still got major stares and glares from ninety percent of the female population at the school.

I bought my food and headed to my table. Lynelle had abandoned her cheerleader friends and had started sitting with Jace and I now. Both of them were already at the table and I watched them from afar off.

Lynelle got some ketchup on her cheek due to her fries and Jace pointed this out, wiping it off with his thumb. His thumb lingered on her face for a minutes as they looked into each other's eyes. Lynelle flushed and there was a dusting of red on Jace's cheeks.

I giggled at their cuteness, wondering why they hadn't started dating yet when it was so obvious that they were head over heels for each other.

I lowered myself in a seat at the table and popped a fry into my mouth.

Lynelle turned to me immediately, "We should go to the mall today, Eiffel,"

I thought about it, chewing like I had all the time in the world.

"Jace can come with us too," She looked at the brown-haired boy across her.

Jace shook his head, "No, thank you. I'm not a huge fan of shopping, especially with a duo of fashion-crazed teenage girls,"

"But I didn't come in my car today, so there's no one to drive us there," Lynelle batted her beautiful long eyelashes. "Pretty please?"

Jace chewed his bottom lip, unable to say no, "Okay, fine. I'll come."

Lynelle clapped her hands before a stern look crossed her face. "And I am not fashion-crazed."

"Yeah, right," Jace rolled his blue eyes, taking a bite out of his food.
Lynelle stuck her tongue out at him like a child before turning back to me.

"So what do you say, Eiffel? You in?"

"Yeah, sure." I shrugged, chewing another fry.

I nearly choked on that fry when I noticed the figure that had just occupied the fourth seat at our table.

It was Tanner. The Tanner Lynch. The one who'd spread rumors about both of us being in a relationship together. Tanner had a bruised right eye that had almost healed. This made me realize that Tanner was the one that Shawn had fought with.

"T-tanner?" My voice came out in an involuntary stutter.

"Eiffel," he addressed me and I noticed that literally every eye in the cafeteria was on us.

When would these gossip addicts learn to mind their own business?

"What do you want?" I challenged the blond Greek god.

He clasped his hands together before speaking, "I came to apologize. For spreading those rumors about us,"

Lynelle exchanged a knowing glance with Jace before their gazes returned to the scene playing out in front of them. I waited a beat before speaking.

"Go ahead," I said with a newly found confidence. "Apologize."

He sucked in a sharp breath, "I shouldn't have spread those rumors about us and I feel so stupid for doing so in the first place. I don't want it to come in between us and wreck our friendship, so I just want to say that I'm sorry,"

I looked down at my plate of fries, chewing on my bottom lip. A lot of thoughts ran through my mind. I didn't know if to forgive him or not. His rumors had temporarily made Shawn angrier and ruder than he was on a normal day, which was something I didn't like. The night that I'd helped Shawn with his bleeding nose flashed in my memory. That was the last time I spoke to him and it made me realize how much I missed him.

"How can I make it up to you?" Tanner asked, bringing me back to reality.

"You don't have t-" I started to say, but I was cut off by Lynelle.

"Tell the entire school that what you told them was a lie. And make sure they hear you loud and clear."

Lynelle rested her elbows on the table and gave Tanner a so-there face. I was about to protest that none of it was necessary, but Tanner had already stood up, ready to address the students in the cafeteria. 

"Hey," Lynelle placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I needed to make him pay for what he did and with the speed at which he took up the challenge, I'd say he's really sorry."

I clasped my face in my hands, feeling uncomfortable that all the attention was directed at me.
I felt like a celebrity that was trying so desperately to get out of the public eye. I felt like I needed sunglasses and a disguise to hide myself.

"I'm sure you all can still remember something that was being said about me and Eiffel Perrin." Tanner started.

Alice, a girl with light hair and tons of freckles whom I recognized as the writer for the gossip column in the school's newspaper spoke, "Just come out plainly and tell us the truth. Are you dating Eiffel or not?"

I managed to wrap my head around the idea of how people could be so interested in the private lives of others.

"No, I'm not," Tanner clarified. "I was the one who told a blatant lie and I'm sorry for that. All I have with Eiffel is friendship, and nothing more."

Murmurs came from one end of the food hall as Tanner lowered himself in his seat. Jace patted his back.

"Good." Lynelle said to Tanner. "You're officially one of us now. We're your friends and you're our friend."

She reached out for a handshake. "I'm Lynelle Shelton. Nice to meet you."

The bell rang almost immediately and students hurried out of the cafeteria. I was almost out of the place myself when my phone buzzed in my hand. I flipped it over so I could check out my notifications. My breath hitched in my throat.

One text from Shawn.