Mrs. Archer Xavier (REWRITING)

Chapter Two

The One Where She Leaves

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"Marianne, are you awake?" I whisper even though I already knew the answer, crawling onto her bed. She turns to me and sighs. "I'm going to miss you, traitor," I pull the covers up to my shoulders as I lay on my side. She laughs but sniffles.

"I can't say I'm sorry," She states and I know she means it. We lay in silence for a while. I was hoping it would actually help me sleep, but it didn't. My mind kept racing and my heart took that as a competition. I sit up, pushing off the covers.

"I can't sleep."

"You want to go to Annie's?" She suggests with a grin. Annie's is a family owned cafe that has the best deserts and pastries in town! "I'm calling Aren," she says, already slipping on a hoodie and into sweatpants. I do the same. I may love my city, but that doesn't mean it's the safest place to be.

We creep out but leave our pre-made reusable sneak out note on the fridge. We always go to Annie's. We slip into Aren's car as soon as he pulled up the drive way. "Oh my god, it's so cold!" Marianne complains, getting hit in the face by the cold air in the car. "Why do you have your a/c turned all the way up?"

"It's hot!" Aren shot back. I'm actually going to miss this. "It's freezing!" Marianne tries to turn it down, but he puts it back up. "Jianna, tell him it's cold," Marianne turns to me, dragging me into their little lover's quarrel. "Guys, let's go," I groaned in attempt to change the conversation.

Defeated, Marianne only slightly turns the a/c down as Aren pulls out of the driveway, rolling his eyes at her. They should just kiss. Would you believe me if I said that they never kissed? Because they haven't. They haven't even told each other they like one another. Now, I'm gonna miss that.

It took us less than 10 minutes to get to Annie's. There were only a couple of people in there. They were in their own little bubbles. "I was wondering when you'd drop by," Annie's daughter, Louisa, greets us, glowing as if it's not almost midnight. She's been running the shop since Annie passed.

"Hey," I reply. She knew I was leaving. I would miss her too, actually. She was like an auntie to me. She gives us three a hug and we sat on our usual spot. We had also invited her to come sit with us if she wanted to. But she refuses, saying we probably needed our time together.

"Are you crying right now?" Marianne glowers at Aren. I follow her gaze and he sniffles, taking a bite into his Danish pastry. "Aren," I coo, reaching for his hand. "Stop it," Marianne mutters. Horrified, I turn to look at her. Her eyes water, staring at me.

"Stop crying, Aren. Dammit, you're going to make me cry." She tries to blink back her tears, fanning her face with her hands. "Guys, don't, please — oh no," I ramble but before I knew it tears were falling down the side of my face.

"Dammit, Aren," Marianne cusses, bursting into tears. Aren latches onto my arms, still holding onto his Danish by the way. Marianne wraps her arms around me. It was the most uncomfortable comfortable hug in my life. I try my best to wrap my arms around them, sobbing uncontrollably.

Usually, I'd be concerned about people watching but it feels like this would be the last time I ever hold my best friends close. We sit there, crying for an hour or so as we mumble memories we shared over the years.

"We should go," Marianne says after checking the time. The cafe would close soon, and Louisa deserves to rest earlier. I say goodbye to her before we leave.

"Where are we going?" I ask, sniffling still. Aren drives opposite the direction of our place — not even towards his house. "Tying loose ends," he mysteriously replies. A grin was on his face though. This was mirrored by Marianne. What the hell are they planning?

This better not be a surprise farewell party.

"Who's house is this?" I questioned when the car stops in front of a blue house with a fairly familiar car in the driveway. I've seen it before but I can't recall who owned the car. They don't answer me. For a minute or two, we just sit there, listening to Aren's music again.

"Is this your ex's place?" I cut through the silence. Marianne turns to me this time. "Whose ex?" she giggles, alluding to the fact that none of them have ever been in a relationship. "Just wait," she sternly utters after she finishes laughing. "You sound like Aunt Marge."

"Hey!" She turns to me with a scowl and I couldn't help but laugh.

I almost choke, when I recognize the figure walking out the house. "Oh my god. What are we doing here?" I panic and hide away from the window. My so called friends had other plans though because the window starts sliding down. I try to keep it closed but it starts to get ridiculously embarrassing.

"Hey," he chuckles, coming up to my window. "Hi," I managed to squeak out, feeling the pitter patter in my chest starting to race. I get out of the car as not to arise suspicion of an illegal exchange in the middle of the night. "So you're leaving tomorrow?" he begins as we slowly trail away from the car.

"Yep," I briefly reply, feeling incapable to say anything more than a word. I feel nervous again. He doesn't say anything about it. "I guess this is goodbye then?" He continues unsurely, hinting that he's hoping for more or that this — whatever this is — doesn't end here. He can't possibly like me back. He said so himself, he didn't even get to know me.

"Probably," I mumble. This time, he stands in front of me, stopping me from walking further from the car. I look up at him and he sighs. Suddenly, he pulls out a small gift from his pocket. "Zach, you didn't have to get me anything—"

"Open it," he sternly tells me, playfully crossing his arms over his chest. I could see Aren and Marianne peeking out the window when I glance towards the car. Zachary chuckles, following my gaze. I open the gift he got me. It was a charm. "It's for your bracelet — but you don't have to put it on. I was just — um, I don't know..." he trails off, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

I hand him the box as I added the silver skateboard charm on my bracelet. "Thank you, Zach," I say, showing the charm on the bracelet to him like a child to their parents. "I didn't want you to forget me." I could never forget him.

—

The next day after that was a mess. Well, it went by smoothly. I just meant we were crying as I double check on my things, as we drove to the airport, and before I board the plane. This was the worst thing I have ever felt in my life.

No, I don't remember what it was like when I was leaving my family in New York.

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a|n: heyyy, hehehe.

i kind of owe some of you an apology. i know i said i was just rewriting but i kind of just dipped and left the book unpublished and discontinued for a while. it literally has been more than a year. i was going through something, ngl.

i still love the idea for the book, it's just that the stress kind of got to me last year. i'll try to make it up to you and myself this time around.

i know it's not the best but i hope you liked the chapter!