I Miss Her [Jessie J]

Chapter 3 - 28th January 2017 - Meeting With Holly

*Emma's pov*

I had just pulled the freshly baked chocolate muffins out of the oven when the doorbell rang. I was so excited; Phebe was coming around to record her song 'The One' with me. I hadn't seen Phebe for years and I knew it would be nice to have a bit of a catch up. She'd also told me that she was bringing a friend with her that would arrive later than herself. Phebe didn't tell me who it was, so naturally, I was curious as to who it would be but I said they could come anyway. I was in a place in my life where I needed to meet meet new people and hopefully rectify some sort of social life.

I hadn't seen Phebe for longer than I hadn't seen Jess, but my absence from Jess obviously hurt me more. I hadn't heard from Jess herself about the letter but I knew she had read it because Claude had managed to turn it into a song. I heard Jess' version of it and it was beautiful, but I understood why she'd want to give it away. Why would she want to be reminded of me every time she sang at song when she was happy and in love with her new fella? Anyway, at Christmas I marked the beginning of my new life. I kept in regular contact with Jess' parents, I still called them mum and dad, and if I hadn't rung them for a while, mum would ring me just to make sure I was alright. I was so grateful to still have them in my life.

"Hey Emma!" Phebe grinned her toothy grin as her London accent soothed my heart. I'd spent a lot of time in London when I was with Jess, so quite often hearing a London accent relaxed me a little.
"Hey!" I smiled as I pulled Phebe into a hug. "You're getting so big!" I exclaimed.
"I hope you mean singing wise." Phebe giggled as she pulled away. The familiar purple streaks in her fringe fell down the side of her face.
"Of course I do," I blushed, "I'm so proud of you, you look as if you've lost weight actually." I stepped aside and let her in.
"I got myself a personal trainer, best decision I've ever made in my life."
"So you won't want any of these muffins them? I baked them myself." I spoke as I lead her into the kitchen.
"Oh my god, they smell amazing! You know they're my weakness." She whined.
"They're there if you want one," I giggled. "Tea? Coffee?"
"A black coffee would be amazing babe." She answered as she eyed up a muffin.
"Coming right up," I smiled, "I'll take the muffins down with us too."
"Thanks babe." She laughed.

A couple of hours later we were sitting down having a tea, or in Phebe's case, a coffee and muffin break. We had made great progress on Phebe's song, her voice had improved so much since she was Jessie's backing singer. She's amazing. "So when is your friend coming then babe?" I asked curiously.
"She should be here soon!" Phebe told me excitedly. "I haven't seen her for a while so it'll be nice to speak to her again."
"I know how you feel." I smiled a little. It still hurt to hurt to talk about Jess. I missed her.
"I'm sure you do..." I'd made Phebe feel awkward. She believed what everyone else believed, but of course she would.
"You know everyone's been lied to? Only me and Jess really know what happened."
"I don't care what happened. You broke her heart." I froze as Holly's stern voice pierced my heart. I slowly turned to face her and swallowed.
"Holly!" Phebe grinned.
"How are you babe?" Holly grinned as she pulled Phebe into a hug, completely forgetting I was in the room and the person she hated.
"I'm great!"  She smiled and squeezed Phebe.
"How's Jess?" I closed my eyes as Phebe mentioned her name. It still hurt to hear her name and pretend that everything was okay.
"She's okay." Holly replied and I frowned. Jess wasn't happy then? She was just okay? Maybe Jess wasn't happy and in love with her boyfriend. Or was I just over thinking?
"Well that's good." I saw Phebe and Holly have a silent conversation between themselves with their eyes, maybe discussing how Jess actually is.
"I'll refill our drinks. Tea Holly?" I interrupted.
"Yeah, whatever." Holly replied bluntly I sighed and made my way up the stairs.

I didn't know how to react to Holly being back in the house. It felt weird. It was almost as if those nineteen months hadn't passed and Jess would be in the kitchen sorting the drinks and I'd be able to wrap your arms around her tiny waist and repeatedly kiss the back of her shoulders. I missed her.

Holly being in the house was also awkward. By the way she spoke to me, I could tell that Jess hadn't told her the truth. It did upset me that she couldn't even tell her best friend what had really happened. Even I believed Holly wouldn't blab about it. I frustratingly poured Holly a cup of tea. Annoyingly I remembered just how she liked it; very milky with two sugars. Whenever Jess and I were with Holly, I was always the one that had to get the drinks, obviously that was Holly's choice. She had never properly forgiven me after Jess tried to commit suicide, which wasn't my fault. As much as Holly got to me, I knew that I had to stay civil with her just in case Jess and I did become friends again.
"Shit." I mumbled as I knocked over the bottle milk. Clair was sniggering behind me as I quickly picked up the bottle to try and save some and grabbed the kitchen roll. I sighed as I mopped up the wasted milk and threw the flooded sheets of kitchen roll in the bin. "Just relax, Ems." Clair told me as she giggled and parked herself on the counter next to the drinks.
'How can I when Holly's in there judging everything I do?' I thought.
"Holly isn't the important one in all of this. Jess is." I sighed. Clair was right, as per usual.
"Is everything okay?" Holly's voice came from the door way.
"Oh, uh... Yeah. I just knocked over the milk." I told her as I put the milk back in the fridge.
"Right okay..."
"How are you?" I attempted to make polite conversation with Holly as I stood back up.
"Look, Emma," Holly started and I rolled me eyes,  could tell this wasn't gonna be good, "you can make all the small talk you want but it doesn't mean I like you." At least she's straight to the point.
"Thanks for that, Holly. That's exactly what I needed right now." I muttered.
"Look, you broke my best friend's heart. What else am I supposed to say? You promised you'd love her and look after her and you wouldn't hurt her but that's exactly what you did do. I'm never going to forgive you."
"Well, Holly'" I'd had it. I was fed up of being the bad guy. "maybe your best friend hasn't been totally honest with you. I didn't randomly start calling Jess a selfish slut like everyone thinks. When did you ever believe something that was ever written in the papers? And if you hadn't noticed, you told Jess that you'd never forgive me after Jess tried to kill herself and that's exactly what you did do."
"I'm not gonna believe your shitty excuses." She replied. "And yeah, I did forgive you but I'm not gonna be stupid enough to do that again. Jess cried over you for months! I don't know why. You're just a stupid kid."
"Holy I tried to be nice to you but now I'm just done. Go fuck yourself." I grabbed my coat, walked out and slammed the door behind me.

I know that walking out of my own house was very counterproductive, but I needed to get out of there before something I would have regretted happened because I was ready to kill a bitch. My temper became a lot shorter after Jess left and it could get me in some sticky situations and I was not prepared to get back into them, especially if it was going to be over some stupid argument with Holly.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: this sort of came out of no where, I guess it just helps reveal more about the story. If anything confuses you, just ask. I won't be surprised because this chapter links back to IWW quite a bit...

First dedication of the book goes to JadeWithers (who I think has fallen asleep next to me) because I'm with her now and we're both writing our stories. I love you baby :*

The video at the top is Phebe's new single called 'The One'. You should all go and listen because it's amazing! It's also available to buy on iTunes.

So that's about it...

Thanks for reading, commenting and voting,

Emma xx