Disabled.

Thirty-One

Forever Loved

Almost immediately, Nadia felt tears falling out of her eyes as she read and re-read the words on the tombstone. She looked over at Mason to find him on his knees beside the tombstone, running his hands along the letters with a sad expression on his face. 

"Selena left a message saying that she wanted a private funeral so that's why you weren't invited," he said. 

"Do you still have the message?" Nadia asked, curious to know what else she might have said in the message. He stood up and took his phone from his pocket. After a few moments, he handed the phone to her. She noticed that the message had been left on Instagram. 

Hey Mason. Knowing you, by the time you're reading this I'm probably gone already. I never got why you couldn't open Instagram like me who couldn't stop herself from opening it every 5 minutes. Anyways, this I'm afraid this isn't a happy message that I'm sending you. I just want to say thank you for everything that you've ever done for me. In our last school, you were the only one who stood up for me when I got bullied almost every day. And I strongly believe that even if we weren't cousins you would've done the same. And even though you didn't have to, you moved in with my parents just to make sure they were doing okay while I was still in a coma. You're honestly one of the best people I've ever met and I'm sorry for saying goodbye to you like this. But I know you would've tried to stop me if I said this in person. So once again, I'm sorry for leaving you again after I promised that I wouldn't. I don't want to talk about what happened that made me decide to do this; I just want you to respect my decision as hard as that might be. I don't want this to be any bigger than it is so all I ask is that you show this message to my parents and ask them not to go overboard with my funeral. It's so weird talking about my funedkjfbgldakjbgajbgldjajldhfbgljdblj

I guess. It's time for me to go. Now. I'm sorry. Mason. 

And tell Nadia. I'm.

So.

Rry.

Besides you she was my only. Friend.........

Nadia was still crying when she finished reading the message, noticing the change at the end; most likely when the drug she had taken had began to take effect. She looked up from the phone, towards the tombstone as she wished that for the last time, she could see her and apologize to her for not trying to hold onto her when she tried to push her away.

Reading that she still thought of her as a friend, despite how she had treated Nadia, hurt her even more. Because if she had known, she probably would have gone out of her way to help her. 

---

One Week Later

The week which followed their visit to Selena's gravesite was surprisingly easier than Nadia could have imagined. Even though she and Mason both felt that Ashley's suspension was no where near enough of a punishment for what she did, they couldn't deny that they felt like justice was being served for Selena. Because they knew that a small punishment was better than nothing at all. 

Nadia had been so occupied with what was happening with Mason that she had completely forgotten that she had promised to go on a daddy-daughter date with her father. Because of that, when he knocked on her door the night before, asking if she was still okay to go, she couldn't ignore the guilty feeling she felt as she forced a smile and said,

"Yeah." 

Now, as she looked at him from where he sat across from her in their favorite restaurant, she still felt the guilt. But she continued to remind herself that being with him physically, while her mind was still with Mason, was at least better than not at all. She smiled as she looked at her dad who looked back at her with the largest smile she has ever seen from him. 

"I'm really glad you agreed to do this with me Nadia, it's been too long," her father said as his smile widened. Nadia couldn't stop her smile from also widening instinctively. 

"Remember when you were five and we went on our first daddy daughter date?" 

Nadia nodded as she remembered going to the amusement park with her father for the first time. A warm feeling suddenly surrounded her, taking away a majority of the guilt, as she remembered how her father had walked around for most of the day with her on his shoulders. 

"I never forgot how much you smiled that day. Every time you would get off a ride that I was too big to go on, you'd run into my arms and hug me so tight as if you were afraid I would have left while you were on ride," her father chuckled as he recalled the memory.

"Do you have any idea how scary it was when I couldn't see you on a ride that went in a circle?" she told her father, causing both of them to laugh. 

A sudden moment of silence surrounded them when they both stopped laughing, causing Nadia to wonder if something was wrong.

"Are you okay, dad?" she asked. Her father nodded as a small smile remained on his face.

"I just realized that it's been too long since I last heard you laugh--ever since the accident. I guess it's probably because I've been too busy to spend time with you. I'm sorry Nadia."

"Why are you apologizing?" Nadia asked, her voice cracking as she said the last word, as she began to feel choked as tears threatened to fall.

"After the accident, I should have spent time with you to find out how you were doing and what I could have done to help you. But instead, I threw myself into work and left everything to your mom--" 

"But that's not your fault. Mom was the one who decided to stop working to take care of me."

"But still, I shouldn't have left everything to her. Even though she was always there for you, she couldn't be your dad too. You still needed me." 

A tear fell from her eye, causing her to immediately wipe it away but as she finished, her father held onto her hand.

"Even though I wasn't there, I'm glad you were able to make a friend like Mason. He's a really good guy. And you have no idea how grateful I am that he has stayed with you since he met you. This might be hard for you to hear, considering what happened with Jackson, but I think the two of you look great together." 

Nadia was at a loss for words when she heard his last words.

Her and Mason? 

Good together? 

Even though Jackson's mother had told her to move on, she still found herself always comparing everything about her and Mason to Jackson. And even though she had begun to realize that her feelings towards Mason could be more than friendly, she couldn't shake the feeling of betrayal that she felt at the thought of Jackson. 

* * *

A/N:

Hello dear readers! Like always, thank you so much for taking the time to read my story! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Tbh, this chapter was a bit hard for me to write because it felt like it was all over the place. But this story has gotten a lot longer than I had originally planned so this chapter was supposed to speed things up a bit. Hopefully, we can start getting to the good parts soon!

As always, let me know your thoughts, comments or concerns! I'd love to hear them.

~candysweet101

P.S.: This chapter is unedited because I was too lazy to look it over after I finished but I'll be going back (hopefully before the next update) to edit it. So sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors you may have run into while reading.