After the Storm

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Yeah, thanks."

Ang nodded as she began to answer both surveys at the same time, filling in the same question on each sheet before moving on to the next.

"I'm going to say you hated everything," she whispered.

Again, I smiled. The amount of times Angela had been able to make me smile while in this horrendous mood had to be some form of world record.

Angela was the best.

And I didn't deserve a friend like her.

"All done," she announced, stretching her arms out in front of her.

"Thanks. Angela, seriously, I feel so horrible of how I've treated you, you have no idea."

"No, I think I have some idea," she said, looking at me with soft eyes. "I know how hard you are on yourself, Camille. I know you're beating yourself up right now."

Yeah, because I should be.

"Yeah. I want you to know that I was never mad at you. You were just telling me things I didn't want to hear and then once I realized how much of a bitch I had been, I was so ashamed that I couldn't even face you."

Angela shifted so that more of her body was directed towards mine.

"Whoa,  you're making it seem like you tried to murder me. You may have just said some things you regretted—and I did too, by the way—but you were heartbroken. Honestly, you could call me a bitch a thousand times if it'd make you feel better when you're hurting."

"My god, I really did call you a bitch."

She laughed. "You did."

"Ang, I'm so sorry."

"You said that already," she joked.

I just nodded in response. My throat was constricting, and my lips felt glued together. I was emotional. The only thing I could do was try to make my eyes as big as possible so that the tears didn't fall.

"Camille, please don't cry. Now you're breaking my heart. Are you crying about... him?"

I shook my head.

I'd deal with The Taylor Situation later. Now was about Angela.

"I'm okay, seriously. I think this was the first time in our entire friendship that we've actually been mad at each other."

"Yeah, you're right." My voice sounded thick, but my words were still understandable. "Because I'm too afraid of confrontation."

"Could've fooled me!"

That one didn't work. I tried to smile but the crushing weight of the guilt pulled my lips down into a frown. Angela looked at me with a sympathetic expression.

"Camille, can you promise me one thing?"

I nodded.

"Don't pull away from me. Don't punish yourself by avoiding me because you think it's what you deserve. These things happen, but our friendship is stronger this. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Good. That's my girl."

She hooked her arm into mine and we spent the rest of the flight connected at the elbows.

We didn't get home until after midnight local time. I knew that by the time we got organized and got our bags after the plane landed, it would be a few hours past my parents' bedtime. So, even though I was almost certain that they'd be waiting up for me, they'd be way too tired to drive safely. Considering that the school was also willing to pay for taxi rides from the airport to wherever we had to go, it didn't make sense to risk it.