𝐍𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐁𝐎𝐑

22

nessa struggles to pull her unnecessarily large suitcase across the floor. her friends are a few feet ahead of her- clearly they have no issue dragging their own luggage because they're not 4'11 and unfit .nessa catches up to her friends eventually though and they check in together.

"i can't believe we go home today" skylar pouts, taking a seat.

the girls express their shared sadness about leaving la through mumbles and sighs.

with her head in the clouds, nessa wonders off to the starbucks stall, in desperate need for some coffee. she lay awake all night thinking about what josh said. he fell asleep after he told her that he has feeling for her and despite nessa's best efforts to wake him up, he didn't budge. it's been driving nessa crazy all morning and she hasn't been able to think straight.

"that'll be $5.23 please ma'am" the barista smiles politely.

nessa shakes herself back to earth. she can't even remember ordering.

"i'll get that".

nessa whips her head around to see a smiling jaden holding out his credit card for the barista to take. she does then gives him it back just as fast.

"hey!" nessa smiles, hugging him. "what're you doing here?" she asks.

jaden returns the hug while grabbing his card and nessas drink. he gives it to her as they start walking back towards their friends.

"the whole gang is here, we couldn't let you leave without saying goodbye now could we?" he smirks.

when the pair arrive back at the seats, mads hops up from her seat and takes jadens hand in her own. nessa and him share a look, jaden blushing.

nessa greets the rest of the boys but can't help but notice josh's absence. she wonders what's going on and why hasn't he showed up to say goodbye? does he regret telling her? did he even mean it? her head at this point feels like it could explode as there's so many unanswered questions.

"where's josh?" she asks without meaning to.

the boys exchange a glance.

"he had a killer hangover and we couldn't get him out of bed, i'm sorry nessa" bryce shrugs sympathetically.

nessa choses not to let her friends see how hurt she is. if josh doesn't want to get a grip of himself and see her before she leaves then that's his issue and she's going to enjoy the last half hour she has with her friends because god knows when the next time she'll get to see them is going to be.

after the half hour was over, nessa's flight number got called and it was time for them to say goodbye. nessa hugs  her boys and has a moment or two with mads- her new la best girl friend. nessa takes a minute to take everything in. she's a very sentimental person and today is no exception- she's for sure going to cry her eyes out on the plane.

everyone leaves and it's only nessa and the girls left. they take some last photos and insta stories together before it's time to board the plane.

"nessa".

stopping in her tracks, nessa turns around and feels her heart drop when she sees josh standing at the other side of the gate with his messy bed head and favourite sweater.

nessa's instinct is to run straight for him and she does, dropping her backpack and sprinting over to him with the cheesiest grin on her face. she leaps into his arms and they spin around, laughing and squealing.

"i thought you weren't going to say goodbye" she mumbles, squeezing him.

josh tightens his grip on her so she doesn't fall.

"i would never not say goodbye" he tells her, resting his head against hers.

josh puts nessa back down onto the ground safely. they look at each other with what can only be described as pure admiration.

"josh about what you said last night-"

"i'm sorry! it was dumb and i never meant it. the alcohol just took over and yeah, i'm sorry".

if he's being honest, josh doesn't remember what he said last night. he doesn't remember anything after his talk with mads thanks to her bottle of vodka she left behind. but he can imagine it was something stupid so it's better if he apologises anyway.

nessa's smile slowly disappears as the reality sinks in. this was supposed to be her turn to tell josh how she feels about him but he didn't mean what he said. she can feel her stomach churn and heart ache as she pushes the words she wanted to say back down.

"oh okay" she whispers loud enough.

her voice would crack had it been any louder.

"nessa come on we gotta go" mishka calls from the boarding gate.

nessa forgets about the last few minutes and decides to not let her current state ruin the goodbye. she hugs josh tightly and turns to walk away.

josh puts his hands in his pockets and brings out the small black box.

"ness wait!" he calls, walking towards her.

nessa halts, curious.

"i got you a little something" josh tells her, handing over the box.

nessa carefully unwraps the packaging and her eyes light up like christmas lights when she opens the case to reveal two rings, one gold, one silver. her mouth drops open and she looks up at a smiling josh with disbelief.

"what are these for?" she asks, chocked up.

josh takes the gold ring and slips it on his right ring finger before taking the silver hoop and placing it delicately on nessa's left ring finger. he grins.

"they're friendship rings. gold for me silver for you. the engraving on the  inside of them is the number six which is the number i changed the last digit of my phone number to when i first texted you. they also say number neighbour and i thought that it would be a nice reminder for us both that no matter where we are, we'll always be friends".

nessa smiles, wiping away the few tears that stream down her face. she laughs, pulling josh in for another hug. she loves the gift and regardless of how josh feels- she loves him dearly.

"best friends". she whispers.

_______________

well then ..... :)

comment & vote
PLEASE