CATASTROPHE CAREN (Completed) ✔

45: All Is Forgiven

"Who would have thought that Halle was behind all of this?" Jill asked as she and Caren pushed their shopping carts through the canned goods aisle at the grocery store.

"I know right!" Caren shook her head.

"I always knew there was something off about that girl. Anyway, glad you found out just in time and came back to your dear friend Jill." She sighed.

"Oh come on, you're making it sound like I stayed away from you because of Halle which you definitely know isn't true."

"Of course it's true! You were always doing everything with Halle and I'm sure that made her super happy because she hated me." Jill rolled her eyes.

"Not at all! Even Halle complained that I was ignoring her at some point. Before I lost my job, I hardly went anywhere to have fun because I was always so tired after work. On Wednesdays like this, I'd always think about us hanging out or doing something fun together since I know it's your day off, but as soon as I get home, I fall asleep. If only you didn't work most weekends, it would have been much easier for us to spend more time together."

"You're right about that! Plus we don't live very close to each other so that kind of played a role in us not seeing often. At least, we were always texting back and forth from time to time so I guess that's okay."

"No it's not! I should put in way more effort into our friendship. I think I have an idea."

"What's that?" Jill asked.

"Now, that I don't have much doing, I'm pretty much free most of the time. Why don't you call me anytime you're less busy? We could hang out at your place or go see a movie or something. How about that?" Caren smiled.

"Sounds like a great plan." Jill chuckled.

**************

The taxi dropped Caren in front of her apartment building. She divided the number of grocery bags she had with her, in a way that she would be able to carry them with both hands up the stairs.

"Can I help you with that?"

"She turned around and saw Calvin walking towards her.

"Hey, wh..what are you doing here?" She asked seemingly surprised.

"Uhm, I came to see you. Is it a bad time?"

"No, not really. Is everything okay?" She asked inquisitively.

"Yes, everything's fine. Is there anywhere we could sit and talk?" He asked.

"My apartment is available, or better still, there's a coffeehouse just around the corner."

"Okay, we can go to the coffeehouse then. Do you need any help with those?"

"No, it's fine. I'll be right back!" She said and went into the building.

A few minutes later, she emerged from the building and they walked to the coffeehouse. One of the waiters motioned his hand to a table with 2 seats close to the window and they sat down there. He wrote down their order and left.

"Uhm Caren..." his eyes fell to the table and back to her, "I know you're eager to know why I'm here."

"I am! Quite a surprise. How long were you out there waiting for me?"

"About 45 minutes. I called your phone but it was unreachable. Someone from the building said they saw you going out. I thought I'd wait a while."

"Oh... Well sorry to keep you waiting." She smiled seemingly nervous.

"No, please! You weren't expecting me so no need for that. Listen uhm, I'm actually here to apologize to you for everything that has happened between us over the past few weeks. I can't imagine how you must have felt trying to cope with my rude and disrespectful behaviour all this time. I really and truly regret all my horrible actions and I'm hoping that you can find a way in your heart to forgive me."