Repaying Her Blood

Chapter twenty eight: The truth

Marissa

Determination ran through my veins as I rushed to Pizzaland. The waiter had to be there. He needed to be there, so that I could finally unravel what was lying right underneath my nose.

Even though he was rather creepy, I needed answers and I definitely was not going back to Gracie.

And to think a few weeks ago, I would have gone to Gracie with a troubled mind and a tub of vanilla ice cream. I trusted her then. We were best friends and to her, we probably weren't even as close to being aquaintances. It hurt thinking that I, back then, believed we were the perfect friends.
Now, I understood exactly why she started backing away; she didn't want to get caught. All that time, I was blaming it on people like Isaac or Andrew, I even blamed Jordan at one point, and Gracie turned out to be the one in the wrong.

At the start of all of it, I immediately crossed her off of my list since she was my friend and I could completely trust her then.

It was all different now, though.

Locking my eyes with the neon lights that beamed 'Pizzaland' above the double doors, I made a beeline towards the entrance.

"Do you have a reservation, Madam?" A woman's voice called out once I stepped halfway through the door.

I shook my head before fiddling with my jumper sleeves. "I'm looking for a waiter here. He's quite tall, thin and has ash blond hair."

I waved my hands about whilst describing to the lady who I was talking about.

She quirked her eyebrow up and crossed her arms over her chest. "I think I might know just the person you're looking for. But for starters, why are you looking for him might I ask?"

Nervously, I twiddled my thumbs and thought up a lie which was close to the truth. "He's, uh, my friend's ex. Just trying to defend her and all."

I smiled brightly at her, attempting to come across as calm and credible. However, it felt like I had just been injected and I was trying to hold in the pain from the gigantic, sharp needle.

She nodded silently and made a gesture for me stay where I was. "I'll bring him to you."

"Thank you." I beamed, walking over to the window so that I wasn't blocking the entrance.

Glancing around the room, I spotted about three people from my school. Luckily, they hardly knew who I was let alone what I looked like.

The dim lighting brought a rather rapturous look to the restaurant, causing the same happiness that I had felt in here to bubble up inside of me. Pizzaland reminded me of Lorna. It was bittersweet. Although the raw memory of Lorna was painful to think about, the small, glint of exhilaration that I got from Pizzaland memories with her was worth it.
A tall, lanky guy with ash blond hair came walking round the side of the counter, frowning as his gaze landed on me.
Once he was four feet in front of me, a mixture of emotions began to cross his face- one of them being recognition.

"I thought I told you never to come see me again..." He muttered, running a hand through his messy hair.

My brows knitted together in confusion before I ignored his bizarre statement. "Excuse me, I don't really know what's going on here but I want whatever you are doing to stop."

"I haven't done anything. You told me to leave you alone." The guy replied, screwing up his face.

"I don't even know who you are," I answered truthfully.

"You do...of course you do," he hoarsely whispered, clear pain in his tone.

I crossed my arms over my chest and asked, "What's your name then?"

"Wesley..." he trailed off. "How can you not remember me?"

"Ask me my name," I commanded, realising what was going on.

"That's ridic-"

"Ask me!" I cut him off.

"What's your name?" He said in a monotone voice.

"It's Marissa." I nodded to him, watching his eyes widen.

"No, no, no. You're Lorna and you're just trying to trick me again like you always do!" He cried out, clutching his head.

"I'm not. Seriously," I sternly replied. "I'm her twin and I've come here to find out something. I want to know if it's true."

He met my eyes and nodded slowly before turning towards one of the booths. "It's supposed to be the end of my shift any way."

We made our way over to one of the empty booths, letting silence envelope us both.

"So...do you know a girl called Gracie Harbour?" I asked after a minutes of overbearing silence.

He nodded, fiddling with the edges of the squared napkin.

"How?" I enquired.

Wesley stayed quiet, averting his eyes away from mine.

"How?!" I shrieked.

"She's my cousin, alright!" He responded, his cheeks flushing up at the 'interrogation'.
Cousin? They were related the whole time. I almost felt embarrassed that I thought they had dated in the past.

Their relationship was very different from what I concluded.

"My name's Wesley Harbour," he continued. "If you were wondering..."

I wasn't but whatever.

"Ok...Wesley. I came here today because I stumbled upon something and I wanted you to sort of confirm it for me," I explained. "Is that ok?"

"Ye-"

"You don't really have a choice anyway." I waved him off.

He glanced down, biting his lip anxiously.

"I'm sorry if this intruding in anyway, but...how did you know my sister?" I asked slowly.

"Did Lorna not tell you?" He whispered, pain swirling in his eyes.

I shook my head, a small inkling within that told me he did not in fact know about Lorna, yet.

"She led me on," he blurted out.

I froze up, my eyes widening at the new information. That wasn't like Lorna. She never purposefully hurt anyone.

"You're lying!" I claimed, refusing to believe that Lorna was capable of stringing people along.

"I'm seriously not! I liked her so much and when Lorna told me that she never felt the same, I was distraught," he hoarsely said. "Once Gracie found me one day, with puffy eyes and red cheeks, she made it her mission to deal with her."

I sat there, thoughts swimming frantically in my mind as I came to terms with everything that he had told me.

"Is Lorna ok? Sometimes Gracie can go a bit too far, but she's great at protecting the ones she loves and..." He smiled but that grin soon dropped once he saw my expression. "Marissa? What is it?"

I felt sick. Absolutely nauseous. It may have meant so little to Wesley but what he had just blurted out confirmed every suspicion.
"I need to go," I mumbled, grabbing my bag and standing up from the booth.

"Why? And it's pretty dark outside, you might want to call someone to give you a ride home," he suggested, frowning at my sudden movements.

I took a look outside to see the street lights turning on. I hadn't even noticed that it was getting late. It felt like it was just minutes ago since I discovered Gracie's text messages.

"I'll...be fine. Take care, yeah?" I smiled faintly, wishing right then that teleportation existed.

"Well at least tell me when I can see Lorna. I-I miss her even if she did break my heart," he called out to me as I was a few feet away from the booth.

I paused, turned around and honestly said, "You can't Wesley...I'm sorry."

And with that last sentence, I made a beeline towards the door, making a mental note to never step foot into that Pizzaland ever again.