Vanilla [DISCONTINUED]

33| He's Cute

Mariah's POV

We drove my mom's car to the shopping mall, getting stares from several people. Maybe because of our PDA, but it didn't faze me. "Have you spoken to Jess lately?"

His question caught me off guard so I choked on my own air. "Um...truth be told, ever since you left I cut everybody out of my life. So no."

"Don't you want to contact her?" He looked at me worriedly.

"Of course I do, but I don't want a lecture when I get to it. She will reprimand me on how bad a friend I've been and I just can't face that. I'm so disheartened by it and I'm scared of rejection. I wish I could just apologise to her." I vented.

"Well..." He trailed off. "You can because she's waiting for you at the café, right over there." His finger was directing me to where by once blonde best friend was sitting and sipping on a cup of coffee with a piece of caramel cheesecake in front of her.

"Oh my gosh, what?! How could you do this to me?"

"I know you need this. Don't get mad yet because she told she wasn't leaving until she got answers. Hash things out with your best friend and I'll be back." He pecked my lips before disappearing off to the next passage.

I took a deep breath, telling myself I could do this. That my best friend would forgive me and I wouldn't have to live with the guilt of ignoring her for six months straight without a trace.

I approached behind her, preparing myself before letting out a timid "Hi."

She turned her fiery red head around to gape up at me. Her immediate reaction was to leap out of her seat and squeeze me tightly, as if she was scared I would disappear again. "Mari..." I felt tears against my neck as I embraced her with as much vigour, with my own threatening to come out.

We sat down. I ordered a vanilla cheesecake with some white hot chocolate before getting started. "I'm sorry." I started. "I'm sorry I cut you off and that I didn't even let you know what was happening. I'm sorry that I didn't trust you enough as my best friend, and I know that there's no excuse but please find it in your heart to forgive me."

She looked at me with the stank eye before popping her neck to the side. "First of all, you're damn right there's no excuse. What was going through your thick skull? Obviously stupidity. I don't even know why you thought you had the right to do that. I wanted to find you myself and kill you, resurrect you just to kill you again. Second: I'm so glad you're okay. You had me worried sick about you. I called everyone you knew. Nathan, Josiah, Adonis, Lucas, Will and even your father— and you know that it's serious when I have to interact with your father. I just wanted to know what was up with you goddamnit. Having me running around like my head ain't screwed on properly."

"Well, that's because it isn't." I smiled at her while she cackled. How she went from crazy ex-girlfriend to overbearing soccer Mom was no mystery to me because underneath her new demeanor, she was still the same old Jess I knew when we stopped talking.

"Tell me everything, boo." She held my hand.

"Scorpio...he left. To Italy. Stayed there for an unknown time. I had no ways to communicate with him so I went into a state of depression. I didn't really want to feel happiness without him around so I severed ties with all the people I knew. I drove myself crazy, unable to sleep properly at night just worrying about him and praying that he was okay. I was basically a living ghost, Jessy, and it was a miracle I even coped. I needed someone and I didn't have them so I decided not to reach out to anyone."

She sighed and rubbed her thumb on my hand. "Oh, baby. It sounds rough. I'm not gonna say you had me because I really don't know if I could have helped and to what extent. I'm just glad that I have the opportunity to see you again. To be honest, I was afraid you pulled the car accident stunt again. I was so terrified to tried to commit again and..." Jessica paused and swallowed. " I just don't want to lose you. You're my family and not being able to do anything to help you as tearing me apart inside."