The Tourist

Chapter 23

RECAP:

Before i could shout out another random vip celebirty, a masculine voice was heard, "I hope i'm not to late for the party"

My eyes nearly bulged out my sockets and my smile grew brighter. Next thing I knew I was running up to him

"Ernie!"

My shriek and hug attack nearly knocked us over, but I hardly noticed. 

My bestfriend was here.

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Chapter 23

"I knew you missed my good looks" Ernie joked. Normally I would have gotten annoyed for that cocky remark, but right now I could care less. He could be as cocky as he wanted and I wouldn't even punch him like i normally would.

"You have no idea" I muffled because my head was buried in his white crew neck tshirt "I'm so glad you're here"

I could his chest reverbrating from his laughter "Mee too Coral, me too"

"So what are you doing here?" I asked once I pulled away from him. He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged, something all his gang members did. It didn't necessarily mean anything, it was just their normal posture

"Sophia came to the neighborhood looking for me"

I gae him a confused look "But she said she ran into you"

"That too"

So we sat in conversation like that for the next thirty minutes catching up on anything and eveything. Ben and the rest left to leave us alone but still nearby. Since no one but Blake and Mrs Elizabeth knew about Ernie, but they both weren't present at the moment so my best friend posed as a possible threat.

"So Coral" Ernie broke me out of my thoughts "Where's Betty Crocker? You guys official yet?" 

I held in a laugh at the mention of his nickname from Blake from when they first met, but at the mention of Blake I froze, not really wanting to explain after I had promised myself to start fresh.

But Ernie saw right through me "Tell me what happened. Did he hurt you?" his tone showed that protection that others would find threatening and scary. Ernie could be just as ruthless as he was funny.

I didn't answer at first and his fists balled together. Before he could get up and find him I grabbed his hands and attempted to unclench them, "It's not worth it"

"No one plays with my best friend and hurts them like that!" he growled, his hispanic accent growing thicker "tell me what happened."

And so the next hour I retold my story starting from the first day I met Sophia when Blake had first starting showing signs of affection up until this moment while he listened patiently without interupting like I asked him to do.

"Why didn't you tell Sophia about this? I thought you were supposed to talk about this crap with your girlfriends"

I contemplated for a moment trying to find the right explanation "She was away at a business meeting Ernie. If I told her she would have been on the plane out of there to do the same thing you were about to do an hour ago. I couldn't let her get in trouble at work just because I was having a bad day. I told Ben because he's like a brother to me and he was the one that saw us at the beach when it happened."

"And i'm not like your brother?  I'm shocked you would even inult me like that!" he faked hurt "I guess your new life here has a few bad influences"