𝐀𝐪𝐮𝐚 𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬 ✓

40

The bell chimes as the door to the shop opens, and I look up only to see another unfamiliar face walk up to the counter to order a drink. My eyes dart around, taking in the sight of the shop, the sounds of the people chattering within it, and the view from outside the window I sit by, waiting at a table alone.

I'm anxious, and I'm eager to get my secret off of my chest. I got here early, and Lexi is always on time, so I can only blame myself. I'm the one who put myself into this situation all those years ago, so I'm the one who gets to sit here waiting. My anxiety takes over to the point that I don't even notice when my best friend walks through the door, gazing around until she spots me. I smile at her as well as I can, but I'm sure it comes out looking like more of a grimace.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She says, immediately sitting and putting her hand on top of my shaking one. She looks scared for me, and I close my eyes, steeling myself so that I can just come out and explain it. I need to not worry about the consequences and just get it over with. Whatever happens, we can deal with it.

"Lex, I have something to tell you. I want you to stay quiet while I explain everything first though. You can ask me anything after. Just let me explain," I say and her face pinches. I can see in her eyes that she looks nervous, as I could be talking about anything. She nods wordlessly and I try to put her out of her misery as soon as possible, but no words come out. She grabs my hand again, tightly squeezing it before letting it go and I smile at her.

I take a deep breath and explain everything to her. From the very beginning. She can obviously see what it's about when I tell her about my childhood crush, but her demeanor steels when I tell her about acting on it. Her expressions go from confusion, to surprise, and to pity, but never does she look angry. I tell her everything, crying because I'm afraid of her reaction but I make it through to the end so that we no longer have any secrets between us.

"I'm so sorry. I know I said no more secrets before, but this time I really mean it, I was so scared..." I trail off as she puts her hand up. I'm afraid that she's going to get up to walk away but she begins to talk.

"Faye, I'm sorry." She says and I rear back in confusion. I begin to speak but she doesn't let me. "I'm sorry that I made you feel as though you couldn't tell me this. I want to be someone that you know won't judge you or think of you any differently, because I won't. But I'm sorry that you felt that you couldn't trust me enough to share this with me," She says with watery eyes.

"No, no no no. Lex no. It's not you, this has nothing to do with you. I trust you with my life. I know you would never judge me. I know that. But there was the chance that I could lose you for this, and that wasn't a risk I was willing to take, it still isn't. I just know that no matter what, I won't let you leave me. You're my best friend. You always will be." I say with tears now falling down my face but she shakes her head sadly.

"There was never a chance. That was never a risk Faye. You couldn't lose me if you tried." She says and smiles genuinely at me. I smile back and throw myself over the table at her, causing quite a few people to look over at us but I don't care as we wrap our arms around each other and hug fiercely, promising to never let go, metaphorically of course.

We return to our positions laughing and I tell her again that she can ask me anything. I can tell by her questions that she believes that her brother took advantage of me, especially because I was so young and I feel guilty for possibly putting space between them, but what happened happened and she needs to know about it.

"I'm sorry I didn't realize that you were upset too. When he left..." She says, looking guilty and I immediately halt her thoughts.

"Don't you dare. Your brother left. What I felt was nothing compared to what you were feeling and don't even try to argue. I was there to comfort you, and it was exactly how it was supposed to be. It was never love, even if I thought that's what it was at the time. It's for the best anyway," I say, and smile shyly as I feel the subject accidentally shift.

"Oh was it?" She asks teasingly. "I forgot to ask, how was your weekend away? And the wedding?" I feel myself practically bursting to tell her the entire story, knowing that she needed to hear everything about the past before I could tell her this, but she listens intently and finally, we both end up smiling like lunatics when I get to the end of the night.

"I feel bad that Reece felt that way. Poor guy." She says sadly, her empathetic-self understanding Reece's feelings better than anyone, and I feel a pang of hurt when I think about it as well. "But I know that you guys couldn't have gotten to where you are without that little speedbump. I'm sure he would say that it was well worth it," She says, reading the sadness in my eyes and I nod, still feeling guilty.

"Faye, you had things that you had to work through before you could feel completely for Reece. It wasn't your fault that they had to be worked through while he was there to listen. Better sooner than later." She says and I can tell that she believes her words. I nod.

Lexi slams her hands down on the table. "Okay, Reece has had you enough. I'm sleeping over tonight and there's nothing you can say about it," Lexi says, holding up her hand while she pulls out her phone and seems to be typing a text, probably to Chase.

"But,"

"No buts," She says and I glare at her.

"I was going to say, but can we stop at the grocery store before we do," I say sarcastically and she laughs, nodding emphatically.

"We can't have a sleepover without carbs and sugar," Duh.