Take My Breath | Catnipz

twenty eight

"I do care," She trembled. "I care about her! Ok? I care about her a whole fucking amount, Mason. Why do you think I'm in this mess? Huh. For the sake of it? Do you think I'm enjoying this?"

I held a hand to my forehead. "Jesus Christ," I hissed. "You sound ridiculous right now," I laughed. "First you don't like her but of course you care. A whole fucking amount!" I spat.

"I don't have to like someone to give a damn," Mara replied. "Ever since she walked through that field. I've cared about her ever since I walked through her front door. When she stood by me when you weren't around. Is that such a bad thing?" Her tears ran mercilessly down her face.

"You sure you don't have some tacky love confession to go with that speech of yours?" I watched her empty the wine from the bottle in one giant swig. "You're just wasting my time."

"Then leave." She taunted.

I ran my tongue against my cheek and pushed my chair back as I stood in haste, grabbing my clutch and resting it against my hip. "No problem." I threw my napkin against my cold untouched dinner and stormed through the aisles with hardly a care in the world about the hushed whispers and the long hard stares. I needed out.

༄

The cold evening air pierced through the fabric of my thin black dress, leaving me with a trail of goosebumps down my skin as I shivered.

Cars of all different colours and makes made their way speedily through the intersection as I waited for the light to turn green for pedestrians. "Come on," I muttered. "Hurry up." My lukewarm tears met the ground beneath me, giving those around me a clear view of my mental breakdown.

I wiped away my tears with the back of my hand as cars began to slow down in both directions, "Finally." And when they came to a halt, the little man turned green and it was good to go.

With my belongings clutched between my arms, I hurriedly made my way across the pedestrian and took a deep sigh of relief when I made it to the other side. "Hopefully I can get an uber here."

I walked down the path and looked over my shoulder. There was no sign of her. I sagged my shoulders in relief and kept walking as far from the restaurant as my two feet could take me.

It felt refreshing out here—I felt better too. I didn't know how badly I felt trapped in there until I was welcomed by the fresh air, the openness of the world, the view of the night sky and the absence of her and all those stupid lies.

A large part of me felt stupid for thinking she'd even care to follow me out. There was no apology, no explanation and there was no denying that our friendship lay on very thin ice.

And like I thought it would, my stomach growled and churned with every breath I took and every step further I had taken. "That food looked good." In fact it looked great. I wasted a perfectly good meal due to the altercation between us both.

"Damn you, Mara Jace." I heaved, almost tripping over nothing as I felt my phone buzz in my purse.

I quickly reached for my phone and held it against my ear. "Hello?" I answered. "Who is it?"

No Caller IDs would normally be big enough of a reason for me to let my phone ring out till they dropped the call. But tonight, I could hardly care.