her.

Chapter Eleven; Too Late

Natyra and I were sitting in the food court. Tyler was sitting with us too. The both of them were talking while my mind was elsewhere. They had gotten considerable close recently as Natyra and I started talking again, and I'm glad because we used to be three peas in a pod before everything went down. 

This time I wasn't thinking about her, but at the same time, I was. I was worried about her child and how fucked up their life would be since their parents aren't together and their mother is going through things.

I wish her the best though. I mean, even though we aren't on speaking terms, she is still someone that I cared/care about.

"Noah is a wussy pussy." I heard Natyra say, snapping me out my thoughts. I looked over at her, confused was an understatement. I was lost at what they were talking about and why my name was put in the middle of it.

"What?" I asked.

"You never listen," Natyra said with a pout. "It's about that girl that you don't want to talk about." I rolled my eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I lied, crossing my arms. "I was thinking about whether or not I wanted to order another slice of pizza." I lied again.

"Why would you order another piece of pizza if you barely even ate that piece?" Tyler said, motioning to the pizza in front of me I looked down at it, noting that I only took a few bites before abandoning it.

"That's why I was thinking about it. Maybe I want another piece for later." I said, still standing on my lying ground.

"Yeah, sure whatever," Tyler said dismissing me. I rolled my eyes, noticing that Tyler was staring at something behind me for a bit before shaking his head. "No." He said suddenly. I furrowed my eyebrows. 

"What wrong?" I asked. I turned, looking where he had just been looking, seeing Shyla. She was facing our direction but she wasn't looking in our direction. She was talking to someone, dressed up in a uniform. And based on her uniform, I could tell that she got a new job. It wasn't the infamous Jacksters uniform. It was new. 

In her hand, she held a tray full of samples and every so often, she'd move the tray offering people to try some. Some people would get some while others ignored her as most people would. She continued talking to the person, turning slightly allowing me to see her features some more. 

She looked tired. The area around her eyes were darker than usual and her eyes themselves looked droopy. As if she was trying to keep her eyes open, or if she was high. But I know she would never get high. I mean, she is pregnant.

Remembering about her baby, I looked down at her stomach. Seeing the size almost doubling since the last time I have seen her. I mean it's been a month and she's around four or five months pregnant so she's definitely going to show now. 

"She looks a lot different," Tyler noted. I nodded, swallowing hard. 

"Is that the girl?" Natyra asked. 

"Yeah." 

"He must have a thing for broken girls huh?" she halfway joked. I cut my eyes over at her. She smiled weakly. "She is beautiful though," she said putting her hands out. 

"I need to talk to her," I said suddenly. I stood up, starting to walk over to her but I was stopped by Tyler when he grabbed my arm. "What?"

"What are you doing?" he asked. 

"What part of I need to talk to her, don't you understand?" I asked. 

"Noah, I'm sure she doesn't want to talk to you." I sighed. 

"I miss her," I told him honestly. "And I'm worried about her." 

"You both need space," Tyler said. 

"Honestly, I think you should apologize for whatever happened," Natyra said making me look back at her. 

"I didn't do anything." I defended myself. 

"Y'all never do anything." I rolled my eyes. "Apologize and see what happens," she told me. 

"I don't think you should go over there," Tyler spoke up. 

"I just want to try the sample," I said. 

"You go over there and you do something stupid as fuck, I don't know you." 

"Then we can all go over there to make sure you don't do anything stupid," Natyra offered. Tyler pondered in thought for a little bit, before nodding. 

"OK." We quickly gathered everything off the table, throwing away the trash before walking over to where Shyla was standing. The person she was talking to was long gone. So that gave me the perfect opportunity to talk to her without having to interrupt her conversation. I looked back at Tyler and Natyra who walked in front of me.

"What's this?" Natyra asked. Shyla smiled at Natyra, a weak and tired smile before explaining that it was a new strawberry and pineapple smoothie her job had made and wanted people to try. Natyra smiled before grabbing one of the small cups and then took a step back, allowing Tyler to get one. 

Both Natyra and Tyler took a step to side allowing Shyla and I to see each other. When our eyes met, she took a step back. "What are you doing here?" she asked, looking around. 

"This is the mall. I can be here if I want to. I'm not banned." I deadpanned. She flinched visibly making me mentally curse myself out and took a step to her. "I'm sorry." I whispered. 

"You need to leave, Noah." she whispered back to me. 

"Shyla, I said I was sorry."

"Sorry doesn't fix shit." she seethed, her voice still low. Obviously, she didn't want to cause another scene in the mall for the second time in a month for many reasons.  I didn't want to cause a scene either, but I was concerned for her. 

"Shyla please." 

"You left me alone." she said as tear sliding down her face. 

"I'm sorry."

"I just told you that sorry doesn't fix or change shit that had happened."

"What happened, Shyla?" I asked. 

"It doesn't matter, you left me when I needed you the most." 

"You told me to go away!" I whisper shouted. 

"I never said that!" she said back in the same tone. She looked around, seeing that no one was looking beside Tyler and Natyra. "I'm not doing this again, Noah. Leave me alone." 

"How's the baby?" 

"Noah, you have five seconds to leave before I call security." 

"I'm not-."
"Five!" I sighed. 

"Shyla I'm not doing this. I'm sorry for just leaving and not trying to work out the shit. I want to make things right with you." she shook her head furiously. I watched helplessly as more tears slid down her face. 

"It's too late." she whispered, sniffling. "Please, leave me alone. I don't ever want to see you ever again."