in the clouds,
Got no weight on my shoulders.
I should be wiser,
And realize that I've got . . .
-Problem, Ariana Grande
~*~
"What about him?" I asked, my voice escalating.
"Um." Zach eyed me nervously before continuing. "I think you should give him another chance."
"Okay, hold up." I held up a hand to stop him from uttering another word. "Firstly, what? Did he send you down here to tell me that? And secondly . . . um, there isn't a secondly."
He scrunched up his face as if he was confused by my question. "No, Jace didn't send me here. I came because I hate to see both my friends getting hurt because of this stupidity," he said like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
"Stupidity?" I narrowed my eyes dangerously, my tone warning. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I think . . . " He swallowed once, and calculated his words, I presumed. "I think you should chill."
That particular word was what set me off again.
"Jason ran out on me in the middle of the dance without an explanation. He let his best friend lie for him and take the blame. Then, he starts kissing me like he did nothing, and I go along thinking everything's fine. And now, I should chill?"
Well, he's right, I thought to myself as I took deep breaths, surprised by my sudden outburst myself. I really should chill.
"When you put it that way . . . " he mumbled under his breath, the rest of his words not catching my ear.
"You don't have to solve everything, Zach," I told him, my tone softer than before, the rage having died down. "This is between Jace and me."
"Just talk to him." Zach stood up, tucking his thumb in his pocket. "You don't have to do anything, but just hear him out."
I was about to protest loudly, saying that he didn't deserve that. He'd lied to me, more times than I could count.
But the calmer part of me, the illogical part -- which had told me to kiss Jace and forgive Zach -- stopped me from doing so.
I was reminded of the saying I'd followed since the day I was born.
Everyone deserves a second chance.
• • • • •
Inhaling deeply, I went over the words in my head. I'm here to listen, not to forgive.
Once I was completely confident, my hand reached forward to ring the doorbell. However, I couldn't prevent it from shaking slightly as I did so. As it turns out, I was more nervous than I thought.
"Who's it?" said a voice which I'd grown accustomed to since I was a child.
"Catherine!" I answered back, a small smile on my face. I'd missed her a lot; I hadn't seen her around in days and it was always a pleasure to see her ever-cheerful self.
"Oh, come right in." I swore I could hear the smile in her voice, too.
Sure enough, when I pushed open the door, Jason's mother stood there to greet me with a grin. Her dirty-blonde hair was tied up in a tight bun and her deep-blue eyes -- which Jason had got from her -- twinkled with light humor.
"Catherine!" She held out her arms and I was ready to hug her. She was almost like a second mom -- or a third mom -- to me, since technically, I already had two. When we were younger, I used to practically live in Jason's house, after having messed things up with my dad.
