Ms. Jones, You're My Trigger (GxG)

II - Chapter 16

Sam handed us the s'mores and smiled wearily.

"Oh..." Mason whispered with disappointment.

"What's wrong?" Daisy asked not liking to be in the dark.

My curly-headed friend backed away so he could take a proper look at all of us. "Well, I wanted to tell you when you guys find out, but..." he observed us for a second before sighing. "I will be starting intense treatment and therapy sessions, so I won't be allowed to see you too often. It's going to last for a while, but the results could be promising. Mark offered to pay for it from his own pocket, so... I will be fine you guys, please keep on moving forward."

I was speechless, we all were. Why didn't we hear about this before?

"Why you are telling us now...?" Daisy muttered, looking conflicted.

Mason chuckled shortly and smiled, "Because I can tell from your guilty ass expressions that you guys got accepted already. So again, take it you fools."

Sammy groaned and hid his face in his hands. "I hope you understand how infuriating it is whenever you can read us this well!" he accused upset.

"Seriously Mason! That's h-huge news!" I exclaimed excitedly, still in disbelief.

Mason was always against the therapy treatments, terrified of having to remember the day of the accident and the bodies of his family, and even though we knew it wasn't good to not give it a shot we also never pressured him into anything.

"Yeah... Didn't want you guys to worry about me, so I'm gonna try to get better while you are out there studying, okay?"

Bringing him into a hug I nuzzled my face against the side of his neck. Mason always smelled like home, my safe space. "I'm so happy," I whispered so no one else could hear us. Feeling him pat my back a couple of times I finally let him go.

"Well, then this calls for celebration. A smoke?" Daisy suggested with mischief. We didn't do it in a while, so there was no harm in letting loose just a step further. Isabel played the music from her portable speaker and we let the weed do its work.

Don't ask me when and how we got home because I couldn't put it together, but I was pleased to wake up in my bed with Daisy back at her sofa chair cuddled into Isabel and boys crushing on the floor.

We sure went overboard.

My heart skipped when I saw the time. I had an hour to get ready and be at the park where I promised to meet up with Vanessa and Amira on a Sunday morning.

Pulling myself up I rushed into the bathroom while skilfully avoiding Mason and Sam sleeping on the floor. An ultimate speed mode was on.

"Alexis!" Amira screamed from the playground and rushed into my hands. I had to pretend that I wasn't tired so as usual, I picked her up and swirled around a couple of times.

"Hey, princess," I greeted with a smile.

Today she was wearing an adorable orange dress, with white flowers imprinted all over it. Her hair was beautifully made into two perfect braids, which Vanessa must have made with ease.

"Come on play-play!" she gushed excitedly and dragged me towards the playground.

Vanessa was standing on the side, giving me an apologetic smile. I mouthed a quick 'it's fine' and happily went to spend some time with Amira. Children's playgrounds were pretty cool, I never really used it as a kid so it was fun to watch little princess smile.

"Good morning," a warm breath has hit my ear.

Shivering I turned my head backward to look at the woman, before replaying with a quick, "Morning."

Vanessa raised a brow, and I groaned inside.

"You look tired," she pointed out with concern.

I chuckled nervously and carefully so no one else noticed, I entangled my fingers with hers.

"We k-k-kind of overdid it yesterday," I confessed.

"Uh-oh, I see," she took her hand away and moved my loose messy hair out of my face. "That's good," she surprised me with her answer. "Glad you guys had fun, as long as it safe," she told me reassuringly, which made me love her even more. "But... Let me do something about your hair because it is a mess," she let out a throaty laugh.

I puffed my cheeks at her comment, but I knew she was right and allowed her to make a nice single braid out of my long brown hair. Amira was watching the entire process, almost as if hypnotized because it was rare for her to be this quiet. However, the second Vanessa finished our Amira was back when she screamed, "Now we look the same, look!"

She began showing off her two braids and spinning around until I stopped her from falling on the ground.

"Okay, h-h-how about I treat y-you both to some ice cream?" I directed my question towards the girl but looked at my queen for confirmation.

Amira knew the drill because she instantly looked at Vanessa with her ultimate puppy eyes.

"Please mummy?" she asked sweetly – Oh, this girl knew how to bribe.

Shaking her head, she sighed and dismissed us. "Fine," she complied and took Amira's hand into hers, while I walked next to them.

What I liked about Vanessa was that she didn't treat me like an incompetent younger person, but an adult - Her equal.

When I wanted to treat them to something she always allowed it, unless it was very expensive, then I think she just felt bad. Like that one time when I wanted to buy a set of earrings for Amira, but she told me not yet, which I respected, but at the same time got slightly upset, because those would have fitted her so well...

When ginger headed girl was preoccupied with her ice cream, I decided I couldn't hold it in any longer. "I think we are gonna take the u-u-university offer.. you told me about," I said out of nowhere.

Her pupils dilated and the widest and happiest smile appeared on her face – Wow, I didn't know it was going to make her this happy.

"Really?!" she almost squeaked. "That's amazing Alexis! I'm going to take care of everything starting Monday, just make sure to choose between the courses I gave you since those are the only ones that will provide the best benefits."

I chuckled at her reaction, "S-so you want to get rid of me this b-b-badly, huh?" I teased.

Her smile fell in an instant and I immediately regretted my words. 

"I'm s-sorry, I-"

However, Vanessa interrupted me before I could explain.

"No. Listen, Alexis, I hope you understand that I'm going to miss you terribly, and it's going to be extremely difficult for me to see you so rarely for the next couple of years..." I tried to say something, but she wasn't finished. "But I just know from the experience that you should do this. It might not always be great and fun, heck it will be hard at times, but university isn't just about education but the experience, which I believe you won't get anywhere else. So, I want you to go, I really do. Because I'm almost certain that you will come back stronger, more confident, and wiser once you finish."

Her words touched me, I didn't think about it so deeply, but maybe she was right and I should have been taking it more seriously. After all, it would be a new step in my life, a step that I never thought I would even be able to take.

"Thank you..." I whispered feeling shy.

As we sat on the bench her hand crept closer to mine until I decided to connect them.

"I'm so happy that you are here with us Alexis!" Amira blurted out causing my heart to swell.

Giving her a gentle boop on the nose I said with a smile, "So am I, sweetheart." 

I was happy.