"Taylor? Can I come over?" "Of course you can sweetheart! I'll call the rest of the girls and we'll all have a sleepover like we used to!" I could hear the excitement in her voice. "Thank you so much. I'll see you soon."
As soon as I got off the phone with Taylor I went to my room to pack a bag full of clothes, pajamas, etc. I walked over to my vanity to begin packing my makeup bag. I stopped to look up at my reflection in the large mirror. I noticed my wrist was still wearing the bracelet Louis gave me. While looking in the mirror I also noticed his jacket still hanging on the back of the chair at my desk. I walked over to where the jacket was after removing the bracelet from my arm and placed it in the pocket of the jacket. I picked up my phone that was laying on my desk and saw my wallpaper. The picture of Louis and I at the beach. I pressed a button and I watched the screen turn black. I decided to leave my phone behind to go to Taylor's house. I want to have a drama-free weekend with the girls. I can't wait to see them. I love Amber, Marshall, and Travis and I'm so thankful that they've been with me through these last two months.
When I arrived at Taylor's house the other four girls were already there sitting together on the floor with Taylor. One by one they stood up to give me a hug when I walked through the door. Before I even had a chance to shut the door the voices of my old friends were echoing in my mind to the sound of "How are you?" and "I've missed you so much!" Taylor stepped back from the group and said "Guys, give the girl some room to breathe. She's had a rough couple of months. She'll tell us what happened when she's ready." She flashed me a supportive, friendly smile, which I returned before sitting down on the couch with the girls following.
They began telling me everything that's happened in their lives since I last saw them. They all seem really happy. Alison and Jordan both have boyfriends now, Taylor got a new job, Abigail got promoted at her job, and Lauren seems to be enjoying life as usual.
It felt great to see them again. It feels like I haven't seen them in years, when in reality it's only been a couple of months. Catching up with them makes me feel like nothing's changed even though everything has changed.
It was fun sitting there listening to them go around one by one and tell me updated stories on their lives. It started getting late so we decided to move our exciting party to Taylor's room. This was so much fun. We felt like we were back in school, setting up our sleeping bags all across the floor. We were reminiscing about all of the sleepovers and times we spent together when Caty was away at college in the states. I noticed on one wall of Taylor's room she had a cork board with a collage of pictures pinned onto it. One of the pictures stood out to me the most. It was a picture of all of us with my sister on the night of my birthday. The last night I saw her. Suddenly I felt someone's arm reach across to touch my shoulder. I looked to see that it was Allie. "She'd be proud of you, Liz." "For what? Dating the guy that killed her?" A chorus of shocked "What's?!" erupted in the room. I sat down to finally tell them the whole story.
I told them everything. Every date, every sweet thing he said to me that now meant nothing. I told them about the things Marshall, Travis, and Amber said about us. I even told them about the necklace and the jacket.
The room was silent after I finished telling them everything that happened with Louis. Finally Jordan spoke up and asked "Did he achieve his goal?" "Huh?" "You said his main goal was to make you happy. Did he achieve his goal?" I sat there in thought for a few seconds. "Well at the time, yeah, I was really happy. I just don't think I could ever forgive the reason my sister is dead." Abigail piped up, "I completely understand that, but try to look past that for a moment. Think about the guy you were dating before you found out what he did. The guy that made you happy. Accidents happen. All Caty would want is for you to be happy. That's all we want too. Maybe he'll keep coming back to you just like his jacket kept coming back to you. As awful as this may sound right now, everything happens for a reason."
I knew the girls were right. Part of me feels like I still need time to process all of this before I just forgive him with no explanation but the other part of me really misses the guy that made me happy. "You should call him, Liz. Just hear what he has to say." Allie suggested. "I actually want too. But I didn't bring my phone." "Use mine." Taylor offered as I took her phone. I dialed Louis' number and all of the girls stared at me as the phone continued to ring in my ear. Suddenly I heard the sound of his voice. His voice mail. "He didn't answer." I said, handing the phone back to Taylor. "Don't worry," she reassured me, "he could already be asleep." I nodded and tried to keep that thought in my head while I changed the subject.
The next day when I got home from Taylor's house the first thing I did after tossing my duffle bag on my bed was look at my phone. I had 1 text, 3 missed calls, and 1 voice mail. All from Louis. The voice mail left me completely stunned.
Liz, it's me. I know I'm the last person you want to talk to at the moment but they said I could call one person and there was no one else that came to mind other than you. I have to make this quick, they said I don't have much time to talk to you. I'm so sorry, Liz. I really am. I know you probably don't believe me and I don't expect you too. But I really, truly care about you Liz. Every conversation, every thing I told you, none of it was a lie. It was an accident. An accident that I will regret for the rest of my life. It's been tearing me up inside this entire time. The guilt just got worse when I lost you. The guilt was killing me so much that I turned myself in, Liz. I deserve to be in here. I deserve to rot in jail. I hope you have a wonderful life. You deserve it. All I want is for you to be happy, whether it's because of me or not. Liz, I lo-
His voice disappeared and I just stared at my phone in shock. I didn't know what to think. He turned himself in. He's in jail. Now it's time for me to feel guilty. I remembered I still didn't read the text that he sent. I finally got the courage to read it, still trying to process what I just heard. I opened the text to see 2 simple, yet heartbreaking words. "I'm sorry."
