This feels so awkward and uncomfortable.
We're all just sitting, eating in silence for the past 10 minutes now. After we all arrived at the restaurant and made small talk about how our week went, we just ended in silence. There's so much tension still between me and Jacob and Alice and, Jacob and Ian.
It's sad that our first gathering together after what happened, ended up being at Sydney's birthday dinner. I can tell that no one is enjoying their time being here.
"Alright guys, listen, " Sydney suddenly speaks up, gaining everyone's attention.
"Thank you all again for the birthday gifts and wishes, but I have one wish for all of us and that's to continue being the amazing friends that we once were. We used to be so close and speak about anything and everything without any of us fighting or bickering. We used to crack jokes all the time and go on so many adventures without any tension lingering in the air, " she looks at all of us as she speaks.
"I know that shit went down recently and clearly the issues haven't been resolved yet. We can't continue like this. If you all want us to stay friends, you guys need to talk things out and reconcile. Jacob, you and Chloe need to clear things out the same with you and Ian, and Alice and Chloe you guys need to speak as well. You and you need to apologize if you haven't done so already, " she says, pointing at Alice and Jacob during her last sentence.
"You three also need to talk together, " she says pointing at me, Ian and Jacob.
"Elise and Felix, you're doing great honey keep it up, " she says, chuckling with them.
"I advise you guys to start doing so from now, so we can hopefully enjoy some of our food tonight. If you want privacy to talk, then you can go outside for a few minutes."
I look at Ian, seeing him shrug and give me a lopsided smile. I make eye contact with Jacob first since I already wanted to speak to him. He looks at me and stands up.
"Shall we go outside to talk?" He asks me, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Yes, we shall, " I say.
I turn to kiss Ian on the cheek before standing up and putting my coat on, moving towards the front door.
"Look, I just want to apologise again, " he starts talking once we're outside but I put my hand up to stop him.
"No, you hear me out first, " I say, trying to keep my anger in check.
I haven't forgotten what he said to Ian.
"We both agreed when I rejected your romantic advances a little bit too kindly maybe, that we wanted to stay friends right?" I raise an eyebrow, looking at him.
"Right, " he nods.
"Good, so why is it that you seemed to have forgotten that? First, you insulted me whilst drunk which I decided to ignore and accept your apology and then while apologizing to Ian you said that you felt like I lead you on. Why didn't you say that to me? Why to him? What were you trying to accomplish?"
"Look, I just... I was, " he starts mumbling, walking back and forth.
"Were you trying to put doubts into his head? Were you hoping that we would have a fight about it and break up and then I would what exactly? Did you think I would run into your arms? Did you think that we would magically stop feeling what we're feeling for each other? What happened to us maintaining our friendship? Did that go down the drain and I didn't know that?"
"No, of course not, just listen to me, please, I don't want us to fight again, " he says, taking a couple of steps closer to me and placing his hand on my shoulder.
"I'm listening, " I say, crossing my hands over my chest and shrugging his off my shoulder.
"I'm heartbroken that you don't feel the same about me, Chloe. You of all people should know what's like to have your heart broken cause you had relationships in the past that didn't work out. It's not easy for me to have to see you constantly, knowing that you don't like me the way I do and on top of that I have to see you being with the person you're dating. Do you think that's easy for me? Did you think I'll magically stop liking you this way because you don't feel the same? Feelings don't go away overnight Chloe. I've liked you for months, thinking about what would be the best way to approach you about it without scaring you off or being too pushy. I'm hurt, " his voice breaks a bit at the end.
He didn't tell me any of this when he was apologizing to me.
"I think you were leading me on without realizing it. Everyone else found out that I liked you and I'm pretty sure you knew as well after some time, even if you denied it. You weren't pushing me away or showing any discomfort or saying anything when I would put my arm around you. You would snuggle up to me whenever we were sitting together and watching a movie. You didn't have a problem dancing remotely close to me when we were going out and then you kissed me twice after rejecting me which was nice but confusing," he chuckles.
As he was speaking, I was making mental pictures of those moments. I didn't realise that it was coming off like that. I just thought we were friends. Friends cuddle and dance and hug each other and everything. If he was confused about my feelings after the kiss why not ask me to clarify one more time?
"I'm not angry at you. I realize later on that you weren't doing it intentionally, but I was a bit bitter when talking with Ian. I'm angry with myself for how I behaved that night of the fight. I'm disappointed with what I said to pick a fight with him. I really do value our friendship and I never want us to stop being friends. I'm sorry I handle it wrong, " he looks at the dark sky as he leans his head against the wall.
"I'm sorry as well, for leading you on even without realizing it. I'm sorry that things didn't work out for us on a romantic level, but that doesn't mean they won't work out on a friendship level. I know it takes time to heal a broken heart, especially when you have to interact with the person that broke it quite often. I know things are going to be a bit awkward for a while, but at least hopefully not on this degree. I have one last question though, if I confused you with the kiss why didn't you ask me right then and there? " I say.
"I don't know. I think I was pleasantly shocked about it and too happy that it happened to risk hearing the real reason behind them, I'm sorry again," he says as I turn my head towards the door once I hear it open.
"Is everything okay?" Ian asks, coming to my side.
"Yeah, everything's fine, " I say, reaching for his hand.
"I'm sorry again Ian, for what I said that night, provoking you continuously and then when I was apologizing to you. I was just bitter and hurt and I'm sorry, " Jacob says, looking straight at Ian.
"It's okay, let's just put everything in the past, " Ian says, extending his hand towards Jacob.
"Okay, thank you, " he says, grabbing his hand.
"Now, let's go back inside cause there's someone else that wants to speak to Chloe, " as Ian says that I see Alice approaching us.
"Everything is going to be fine, " Ian whispers to me, smiling at me as he and Jacob go back inside, leaving us girls alone.
"Hey, " she says.
"Hey"
"Look, I'm sorry for how I reacted when you told us you were dating Ian. I was caught off guard, to be honest with you, I wasn't expecting that at all, " she sways her body looking down, for the most part, glancing at me every now and then.
I can tell she feels super uncomfortable.
"I was annoyed because I really thought you and Jacob will be great together and I knew how much he liked you since I was the only person, he told that to. Jacob is a really good friend of mine. I was feeling bad for him when you rejected him, and I got angry and reacted the way I did because I was reassuring him that you will like him back or that you would at least give him a chance. When I heard that none of that happened, I was...I don't know, I'm just sorry, " she says now finally looking at me.
"You shouldn't be reassuring him without knowing how I was feeling. You should be happy for me regardless of who I end up with. If I'm happy then it shouldn't matter who was the person making me feel that way. I understand that you and Jacob are good friends and you wanted to help him and see him happy but maybe that only did him more bad than good in the end. We are also supposed to be friends here by the way in case you forgot. You should have talked to me about it but anyway I don't want to drag this on, I accept your apology and I just want us to move on from this, yeah?"
"I am happy that you're happy, I'm sorry for not showing that. I didn't forget that you're my friend as well it's just that I got caught up in excitement about it and yeah...let's just put this behind us, " she says, smiling.
"Good, now let's go back inside, " I say, hugging her briefly before heading inside with her by my side.
As we approach back to our table, I see Felix and Ian whispering about something but once Felix notices me, he goes back to his seat. I sit back down next to Ian and see him smiling at me, placing his hand at the back of my chair. I'm glad that Felix and Ian hit it off so nicely and have become buddies.
"Great, so now that's all over let's enjoy our dinner, " Sydney says with a big smile on her face.
I can already tell the difference in the air. Everyone is much more relaxed and seems to be in better spirits than before. We resume back to eating and talk about plans for valentine's day which's in two days. Everyone is back to normal and joking around which is nice.
"Oh, I forgot to announce the exciting news, " Sydney blurts out.
"What is it?" Elise asks, eager to find out as she shoves mashed potatoes in her mouth.
"I and Alice decided to move in together!" She yells, shocking us.
"Omg, congratulations!" I say.
"What? When? Where?" Felix starts spuing questions.
"Well...we're still looking for an apartment, but hopefully we'll be able to move in together by the end of summer, " Sydney says, holding Alice's hand on the table.
"Yes, and don't worry, we're not looking too far away from the centre. We're actually looking somewhere..." and so Alice goes on and on about their apartment hunting experience.
Hearing all this only makes me think about the time that I and Ian will decide to move in together if we are still together of course, but I think we will.
I turn to look at Ian, seeing him already looking at me smiling.
Yeah, we will.
A/N
Everyone had a chat and solve their issues and seems ready to move on, well almost everyone!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the next one coming out tomorrow as it's Valentine's day for the characters...👀❤️😉
Feel free to comment & vote ❤️
I hope you have an amazing weekend! Xx
All the love -M ❤️