The Truth about Heather (gxg)

17 💕

Drew and I barely ever fought which was why this whole thing felt incredibly painful. I wanted to reach out and speak to him but Drew was being his usual stubborn self and wouldn't answer a single one of my calls.

That was why I ended up spending some time with Abbie, on a dark October afternoon before Halloween. The red and orange leaves fell gradually to the ground as Abbie and I walked on down one of the park's main pathways and Abbie soon turned back to me with an inquisitive expression upon her face.

"Something happened, didn't it, Zoe?" she asked me.

I felt tempted to sigh but I avoided it.

"You know that you can't hide these things from me. Abbie sees all and knows all," she told me.

I felt my eyebrows slightly crease together after she told me that.

"You know that it is incredibly weird when you refer to yourself in the third person," I told her.

Abbie shrugged, as a small smirk made its way onto her face.

"I don't know if this is salvageable," I said.

"Don't be oblivious, Zoe. Drew may like Heather but Heather is your friend first and foremost. You clearly matter so much to her but you also matter to Drew too," she told me.

I guessed that she did have a good point but it didn't change the fact that I was hurting.

"What's on your mind?" she asked me.

"I don't know," I replied.

Abbie pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I swear you can be one of the vaguest people imaginable at times. I'm going to persevere with you, though, until we come to a clear answer about why you're so upset," she said.

"I'm not upset," I said, as I slumped myself down upon one of the park benches. 

"Sweetheart, I know that expression and I know that you're upset, Zoe," she replied.

I simply looked out at the trees in front of me and thought back to my co cessation with Drew for a moment. Maybe I shouldn't have said what I had. I had almost told Drew about my feelings for him! That alone had the potential to destroy everything. I liked to think that Drew and I had been able to talk about anything but ever since the start of the school year, matters had certainly changed.

"Zoe Pine. Earth to Zoe," Abbie said, as she waved a hand nearby me.

I turned to her and felt my eyebrows crinkle together slightly in my confusion. I had been slightly space out again. I really did spend far too much time living inside my own head. Sometimes I felt as though I could make up realities there that suited me much better than the real world did.

"Abbie Smith?" I replied.

"Listen, Zoe, I'm only going to say this once. You're seventeen, girl. You have the rest of your life ahead of you and you deserve more than to spend so much damn time thinking about what's going to happen between Drew and you. You two have been friends for so long. I don't know how you could ever think that would ever end. Objectively, the two of you are amazing friends and will continue to be amazing friends. You simply need to be honest with each other," Abbie told me.

I exhaled in slight nervousness.

"I can't tell him everything," I said.

"Why not?" Abbie asked me.

"I just can't," I said.

I knew that I was being vague again but I couldn't give much more if an answer than that. That was mostly down to the fact that I knew it was going to be far too painful to blurt out the truth to Abbie. It didn't matter that the two of us were so close. Some things I tended to keep to myself. It may not have been the healthiest way of dealing with a negative situation but it was the one way I could try to get through it without constantly forcing myself to face the pain.

"Have you ever considered that maybe Heather will never like Drew back and he will move on from her. That would give you the perfect opportunity to tell Drew about how you truly feel," she told me.

Sooner than I could respond to her, I heard footsteps nearby the two of us and I turned to see that Wesley had joined us.

"Isn't it just a beautiful afternoon?" he asked, "Wait, Zoe, what's wrong?".

"Nothing is wrong," I said.

"Something is wrong," Abbie argued.

Wesley's eyes settled on me as he raised an eyebrow in his state of intrigue.

"What happened, Zoe?" he asked me.

"Drew and I fell out," I said.

Wesley's eyes flickered with concern fleetingly, until he smiled again.

"I'm sure the two of you will figure everything out. You're Drew and Zoe, you know. The both of you have been friends for a very long time and that's hardly going to change overnight," Wesley stated.

I was glad that Wesley was being his usual optimistic self. It certainly helped me feel a little better during all of this.

Abbie scooted up a little on the bench, so that Wesley could come to sit beside us too.

"Thank you, Wesley. Maybe it was my fault. My mood changed so fast. One moment Drew and I were just enjoying our cheesecake and then I left the restaurant because-" I began to say, until Wesley interrupted me.

"Hold on a second. Let me get this right. You left The Cheesecake Factory?" Wesley asked me.

"Well, yeah, I was very upset," I replied.

Wesley shook his head slightly.

"I can't believe that you left The Cheesecake Factory for a boy," Wesley said.

"I didn't leave the restaurant for a boy. The both of you assume far too much," I stated.

Abbie and Wesley looked at me with expressions of disbelief.

"It's killing me to see you doing this to yourself, Zoe. I'm going to tell you this now because I care about you. You need to tell Drew how you feel about him and you need to do it soon," Abbie said.