Ocean full of Secrets

Part II_3

Cassie has been sitting in the tree house for half an hour already, waiting for Nick and Saki to finally arrive, all the while trying to figure what she could say to them that might adequately express everything she wants them to know. 'I'm sorry', simply doesn't seem to be enough. With every passing minute she becomes more and more agitated and tense.

What are they waiting for? Why can't they finally arrive so I can get this over with?
But get what over with exactly? She just can't find the right words to properly convey her feelings. How can she make them understand that she only did what she did thinking that it was the only way to protect them? And what about Saki? How can she even as much as look her in the eyes after what she put her through?

But she doesn't have more time to think about all this because in that very moment she is being pulled from her thoughts by the sound of someone climbing up the wooden ladder leading up to their fort. Nick enters first, closely followed by Saki. Both start to hug her simultaneously the moment they enter the small room. Saki proceeds to tell her how happy she is to see her again and that she's okay and how worried they had been but that now everything was fine again and that there was so much she has to tell her and how much they have missed her. But her words don't find their way to Cassie's ears. Nick, on the other hand, stays in the background, not wanting to interrupt Saki once she started talking, but smiling at Cassie encouragingly, which she didn't fail to notice.

"Saki, stop, please. That's all really sweet, honestly. But please let me apologise to you first, okay?"

"But there's nothing to apologise for."

Saki has pulled away and is now sitting down one of their makeshift beer-box benches, her dark brown eyes still staring at Cassie intently.

"Yes, there is. I behaved like a complete arse over the last few months and you two did absolutely nothing to deserve this. All the time I was telling myself that I was only ignoring you for your own good, but A, I can now see how utterly wrong I have been, and B, that's still not an excuse. There is no excuse."

"Sure there is: Extraordinary circumstances."

Nick sits down next to Saki, who slides away from him ever so slightly. Still, it didn't escape Cassie's notice and she can't help but wonder what had happened between the two of them. Nicks seems to have noticed it as well, but he doesn't bring it up and so Cassie decides to do the same.

"I suppose, but you still didn't deserve the way I treated you and I wish there was something I could do to make it up to you. I've been sitting here for about thirty minutes already, thinking about it. But I just can't seem to come up with anything remotely appropriate. Nothing I can do seems enough and nothing I say can fully express just how sorry I am. Particularly to you, Saki. I'm so sorry for what I put you through. Especially since I know it must've brought back old memories. I just ... I never thought about how my actions might affect others. I'm so sorry."

"That's alright. Just ... let's just not talk about it, okay?"

Saki is now avoiding Cassie's gaze and starts to fiddle with her bracelets that cover almost half her lower arm, a nervous habit, as Cassie knows. She always wondered why Saki still bothered to take them off before every practice and put them on again afterwards. She wouldn't have had the patience to do that.

"You could take us out to dinner and a movie, though."

"What?"

"You know, to make it up to us."

All of a sudden a smile spreads across Saki's face again and all the previous tension between them disappears, being replaced by the sound of laughter filling the room, as the three friends start joking around and laughing light-heartedly while talking about the most trivial things.