What Once Was | $crim

3. Vesunna

My nephew was five years old when I left and liked dinosaurs and Winnie the Pooh now he's almost seven and refuses to acknowledge that he would sit in front of the TV for hours watching the same episode over and over again.

Oh, how time flies by.

Earlier that morning, my mother and I had discussed her taking Faye out to see some of my aunts, uncles, and friends. Of course, I agreed. This would be the first time I've had one whole day without her since she was born.

"Oh...my...god," a familiar voice behind me said. I whipped around only to see my best friend, Claire, standing in my bedroom doorway. Next to her stood our other best friend, Emery.

"Is it really you?" Emery gushed. I pulled them both into a hug. My, have I missed my friends... "Where's little Faye?"

They were both disappointed that they had missed her, but I compensated by showing them pictures on my phone.

"Is that the only reason you came over?" I taunted.

Emery, Claire, and I have known each other since we were ten. When my family moved to this new house, they were one of the few neighborhood kids that would go out of their way to make us feel truly welcome. We've been inseparable ever since. If anybody were to compare to my friendship with Scott, it would be these two, who have been with me through thick and thin. Apart from my mother, they were the only two that knew everything since I had left home, though I did often leave out the specifics of what was going on with Isaac.

I quickly gave them a recap about everything that's happened since I last spoke to them. We then headed out to get something to eat.

"We wanted to give you a few days to get settled in," Claire admitted as we sat down, "but I just couldn't wait to see you!"

We slowly ate our meal while we talked about everything under the sun. Going from talking every single day to maybe once a week was absolute hell on us. We had a lot of catching up to do. At least, until they asked about the inevitable.

"Are you going to talk to Scott?" Emery asked.

"Theoretically..." I trailed off. "But I don't think he wants to see me. I'm sure I'm not his favorite person right now."

"He'll understand once you've explained," she rebutted, but I know Scott and it won't be that easy. He likes holding grudges.

The thought of having to talk to Scott made the food turn sour. I made my way home, listening to my friends ramble about the ins and outs of their office drama or the new TV show they were watching. It was nice to have a normal conversation for once that didn't revolve around Isaac or Faye.

Later that evening, Cian returned home to help me finish cleaning up Faye's new room, which used to be his old room. One by one, we carried everything out into the shed we have in the backyard. As soon as I finished setting up what I could of her room, my mother was calling me downstairs.

"Your friend is here," she told me. Expecting to see Emery or Claire again, I turned into the living room to see Ari sitting on the couch with Juno, the family cat.

"Your mom let me in," he said nonchalantly. I didn't mind, though. He's been to my house a million times before. I asked him if he had talked to Scott yet but he didn't answer me. "Did you?"

"No," I sheepishly replied, keeping my eyes glued on the floor. "Did you tell him?" He shook his head. "Thank y-"

"Don't thank me just yet. I came here to see if you had talked to him. He already knows you're back. Fiona told Gage who told Scott." Fiona is friends with Gage, Scott's little brother. "I don't know what he said, though. He hasn't shut up about you since."

All the color drained from my face. I didn't have a choice now. Either I tell Scott or Ari does. I couldn't decide which is worse.

"I promise, I'm not trying to keep anything from him. I've only been home two days and I need to just calm down. A lot has happened since I've been gone; I don't want you to think I just up and left him because I didn't. Okay, I did but I didn't intend to stay," I explained. It kills me to think of all the pain I caused my friends by leaving, only for them to think I was purposefully depriving Scott of his child. "I didn't know I was pregnant when I left. I don't want to talk about it right now, but...things were just complicated; please understand that."

Before he could pry any further, my niece, Saoirse, comes rushing in to tell us about a worm she found in the backyard. Cian followed suit, trying to wrangle his daughter.

Ari didn't hang around much longer, mostly because my mother was shoving him out the door too. She would never let me have someone stay past nine, even in adulthood.

"I know you'll do what's right," Ari cryptically replied before giving me a hug and heading out the door.