Set Apart

Chapter 62~

Cristina's POV:

"Hi Topanga."

"Hi."

We stayed silent for a few seconds until Violet came back with the napkins.

"I didn't know how many you needed so I grabbed a whole chunk and just hopped it would be enough." She noticed Topanga and I staring at each other.

"Umm. Violet this is Topanga. Topanga this is Violet." I introduced.

They awkwardly shook hands.

"Nice to meet you" Topanga says.

"Nice to meet you too. Cristina has told me so much about you."

"Really? What has she said?"

I cut in. "Just that You, Cory, Shawn, and I were really close."

"How do you two know each other?"

"We're roommates." I said.

"Oh so you live here?"

"Yeah, Violet and I live in the apartment complex on 3rd."

"Wait...the big brown building with the laundromat next to it?"

"That's the one." I confirmed.

"We just moved in to that complex."

My anxiety made my stomach sink. "A-All three of you?"

"Well Shawn got his apartment next to ours, but yeah. I guess we're neighbors now." She said nervously.

"I guess we are." I saw her move a strand of hair behind her ear and noticed the ring on her left hand. "Wait." I probably shouldn't have, but I grabbed her hand and looked down at her ring. "Did you and Cory—"

"Yup." I let go of her hand and she looked directly at me. "We would've invited you, but we didn't exactly know where to send the invitation."

I know she didn't mean it in a harmful way, but that really stung.

"I'm so sorry." I said as sincerely as I could.

"Where have you been, Cristina?"

I didn't know how to answer the question so I grabbed Violet's hand and we headed towards the door. "I'm sorry. I have to go." My eyes started to water as we practically sprinted to the door.

"Wait!" I heard from behind me. But Violet and I were already gone.

We quickly ran to my car and we drove home. Neither of us spoke until we arrived back at the apartment and Violet decided to break the silence.

"They live here now."

"Yeah."

"What the hell are we gonna do?"

I answered as honestly as I knew how.

"I have no fucking clue."

Shawn's POV:

"Shawn wait!" I heard Cory say from behind me. I ignored him and kept walking. I needed to cool off. I felt a hand on my arm turn me around.

"WHAT?!" I turned around and saw Cory's concerned face.

"What do you mean 'what'? Let's talk about this."

"What's there to talk about?"

"How about the fact that we just saw Cristina after 5 years?"

"No i'm not talking about her. I've spent the last 5 years trying not to talk about her and I think I was doing pretty good."

"Let's just go back to the apartment and talk about this."

"Cory what was I supposed to do?! Make small talk with the one woman who I let myself fall in love with? Only for her to leave just like everybody else?"

"Shawn I know you hate when I say this, but i'm sure there is a reason why she left." I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "I mean come on Shawn. We've known this girl since she was five, she's not the type to just get up and leave for no reason."

"Well maybe we didn't know her as well as we thought we did."

He paused. He was trying to find out what to say to me. He wanted to believe that she didn't just up and leave us. That she had a reason. But he's never been left before. Just because they might haven't a reason, doesn't make it a good one. She had a life here. I mean she was getting coffee with her friend at a little hole in the wall. She wouldn't know where this was unless she lived here.

She was alive and well and never came back.

She wasn't planning on coming back.

"Let's just go home and calm down."

"Guys." Cory and I turned to see Topanga walking very fast towards us. "There's something you should know."

"What could be worse than running into her at the place that was probably going to be our coffee shop? I mean she must live nearby if we ran into each other. Ugh! We just had to move into a complex near her."

"Yeah...about the apartment..."

"What?"

"We may live a little closer to her than you'd think." She said hesitantly.

"How close?" I said worried.

"We're neighbors."