Wretched Roses √

Chapter 44-Talk

"He cheated on me, graduation night as well. Some way to end high school, am I right?"

I gave her a sympathetic look, despite the sarcasm apparent in her voice, I could tell it must have hurt. But I couldn't deny I called it. He was an asshole, the walking stereotype of some arrogant 'bad boy'. The would never have lasted, even if that was harsh.

She continued, "I guess that's what made me realize I had to stop being such a bitch. Well, that and maturing. College helped me with that. I know I must have apologized a dozen times by now. But I'm genuinely sorry for high school."

I made a dismissive gesture. "It was over four years ago. I moved on a while ago. And I'm sorry, for Phoebe."

Despite not needing to apologize for something that wasn't my fault, I still felt it necessary. They were close before we got together, anyone could see that. And it did bring me an ounce of guilt knowing our relationship drove them apart. After all, we were friends now. Which I would have never believed we would end up being in high school. Never.

"Oh, by the way. Why did you break up?"

"Way too different dreams. As you probably know, she wanted to travel the world and I wanted to study. We broke it off a few months before graduation, it was a mutual agreement. I liked her, I did. But I wouldn't say I ever got the point where I loved her. I probably would have, though. If got a little more time. But in the end, it worked out for the best," I explained, remembering the past.

Her face fell. She looked down at the floor. Maybe it hurt too much to remember. "Yeah, I know. We were gonna travel the world together."

I smiled. "Do you have her socials? You can always check how she's doing."

She frowned. "Isn't that a bit creepy?"

I shook my head. Okay, maybe a little since they hadn't spoken in at least four years. Nevertheless, there was no harm in checking up on what was going on with her. It's not like I suggested she stalked her or something.

"Not if her account is public."

Zarah seemed a bit hesitant about her idea. Eventually, though she pulled up her phone from her pocket and turned it on. I scooted closer to her, so our shoulders were touching to see better. She searched for her name on Instagram and quickly found her account.

My eyes widened when I saw the amount of followers she had. One million, surely that must count as impressive. Zarah scrolled down, by the looks of it she was some sort of model. She had traveled the world like she planned and it appeared she was doing good. It was a bit strange looking at my ex's picture, and it was starting to feel like stalking.

"Okay, yeah. This is a little creepy," I told her and she blushed, turning off her phone and putting it back in her pocket.

Exhaling through her nose, she said, "I would lie if I said I'm not a little jealous."

"Not gonna lie, me too. But I'm happy for her, she's probably doing better than half of the idiots at our school."

At that, she let out a loud laugh. "You're not wrong. And I'm happy for her, a tad jealous, but happy."

I observed her. She looked down. It was obvious she missed her best friend, even after four years of not seeing her. But there was something I felt like I was missing. Some sort of crucial information. A longing of some sort glistered in her eyes, perhaps, there was something more going on in between them. That I didn't know of.

Maybe I was just looking into it too much. She could have simply been jealous or missing her best friend. Maybe they had a fight that I didn't know of. Regardless, something was going on. And I was curious.

"I'm missing something."

"Huh?"

"Something happened between you two, didn't it?" I clarified when I noticed she was taken aback and confused by my sudden observation.

"What, no. Why would you think that?"

"First of all, your defensiveness is giving it away. But also, the look in your eyes was hard to miss."

When she shut her mouth and went silent, I was afraid I'd gone a step too far. It wasn't my business what had happened. Or if anything had happened. However, before I could apologize for being intrusive, she answered me.

"We fought. I don't want to talk about it but we did. Not long after you broke up. I thought we would makeup but we never did." She sighed. "I messed it up."

"Oh."

"I was in love with her."

"Oh." I looked like an idiot with my jaw basically on the floor.

"How hypocritical of me, right? Here I was. In love with my best friend and complaining about my boyfriend cheating on me."

I moved closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, bringing her in for a hug. A tear fell, she wiped it away and hugged me back. I was glad we were having this conversation. It was good for the both of us to talk things out.

"You never acted on them right?"

"No, but I should have broken up with him anyway."

"You can't take back the past. It's scary, I get it. But you can't compare that asshole to you. You can control your actions, however you can't control your feelings."

"You're right."

Grinning, I said, "I always am."

The way that I'm so tempted to write a spin off for Zarah and Elora. However, I've already planned one for Gabriella (and briefly started) so I don't know if that'll be too much. We'll see, maybe I'll do one of them at least. Feel free to tell me what spin off you would prefer.

Anyhow, hope you had a good day. I have a math test tomorrow, not excited for that, especially since I've barely studied. We'll see how it goes.

See you next chapter!