"Levi Daniels in the flesh!"
There she was, Megan Jackson, the infamous ex who could never leave anyone's minds. Despite leaving showing up in time, it was clear Megan had been there pretty early as a half-empty glass of water sat on the table. Even though she dressed nice and was always very pretty, she didn't have that effect on Levi anymore. The only person that had that effect on him now was Skye, and god did he wish she was the one waiting at that diner instead.
"Megan Jackson." Levi walked inside, eyes meeting with Megan almost immediately as she sat from a booth. She stood up upon his arrival, extending her arms out for a quick, friendly hug, for which he returned despite the hint of awkwardness.
"Hey! I like your outfit. You look good." Of course, he looked good! Levi had Skye to thank for that one. Poor guy would have probably walked out in a clown suit without her. Actually, he was already feeling like a clown, so let's call this current outfit a disguise.
"Thanks, my friend picked it out." He said.
Megan raised an eyebrow at the mention of a "friend" helping him pick out his outfit, and having personally known his friend group excluding Skye, she knew the guys couldn't have been responsible for this. "Which one? The only one with fashion sense was Nini."
"Um, Skye. She's the one that told me to come here tonight, actually." Levi saw Megan's eyes widen upon his response for a brief moment, but she quickly collected herself and motioned them to the booth she picked out for them.
"Oh! Well, let's go sit, shall we?" She forced a smile. "I got us a booth."
They went and sat down, picking up their menus to figure out what they wanted to eat. As they were trying to figure that out, Levi couldn't help but wonder what the true meaning of this date was. If he could get the gist right away, then maybe he can tell Megan how he's feeling. "Um, so what's the deal here?"
"Deal?" Megan looked up and furrowed her eyebrows.
"Yeah, like, why did you want to go out with me tonight?" He asked.
"To be honest, Levi, I wanted to properly apologize to you." She admitted. Now, this was a bit of a shock. Megan rarely ever apologized as she would say she was always right until the end of time, but despite the surprise, there was still something that didn't make sense.
"On Valentine's Day?" Megan covered her mouth with her hand as Levi brought up Valentine's Day, and just as he thought this date couldn't get any more confusing, it just did.
"Wait, today's Valentine's Day?" She asked him, showing a side of herself she has never shown Levi before. Since when did Megan ever get nervous? He thought that considering her typical confidence, she knew exactly what she was doing, but in reality, Megan wasn't exactly the brightest lightbulb around.
"Um, yeah?" It was like the poor guy was in an alternate reality or something. Was it suddenly opposite day or something? Was this the matrix? No and no, but the picture was now becoming clear as Megan explained herself and her newfound stupidity.
"Oh my god. With working here on top of going to school and cheerleading I completely forgot about it. I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry." Megan groaned, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment. Okay, she got her days mixed up. It was understandable considering she seemingly had a busier schedule, but he couldn't help but be a little mad that this was the situation.
"You work here?" Levi questioned.
"I got a job here a couple of months ago." She sighed. "They even got me training this new guy who got hired recently too. He's kind of an idiot though, but hey, employee discount."
"Oh, that's cool. I love it here." He forced a smile.
"Yeah, it's alright, I guess." Megan shrugged. It could be better if she were being honest, but she'd rather not make this night worse by ranting about it. "By the way, dinner's on me. I'll even buy you a milkshake too."
"What? No, no, we can split." Even when he was a little bad, Levi would forever be a gentleman. Sure, he wished that Megan would tell him it was okay for him to leave, but he would do the "right" thing and go through this date (if it was even considered a date now) no matter what.
"Levi, I broke your heart then dragged you here on Valentine's Day without realizing it. Let me pay so I can show you how sorry I am." She insisted. Levi couldn't argue with that, plus he knew Megan was stubborn, so he dropped the little argument and let her cover tonight's dinner.
"Well, I guess." Maybe it wasn't so bad that the timing of this date wasn't intentional, but Levi couldn't help but wonder about Skye and what she was doing right now. He'd like to think that she was happier than him right now and riding her bike around town, but he had it all wrong. Very, very wrong. This night had far more surprises in store.
•••
"Hi."
Skye's heart raced as Nikki opened the door. She scanned her every move from the not-so-quiet gasp escaping her lips to the way her eyes widened upon seeing Skye standing there in front of her. They hadn't been standing this close to each other in six months. Even as time flew by, they never forgot each other, and little did Skye know how long Nikki had been waiting for this moment to arrive.
As the moment of shock settled down, Nikki wrapped her arms around Skye out of nowhere, surprising her as she was expecting the door to slam in her face already. She returned the hug, of course, holding her former best friend tightly like it was the last time they'd ever see each other. It was a hug they would have shared that one night if they knew it would have been the last, but this one wasn't going to be.
"You have no idea how much I've missed you," Nikki whispered, a hint of shakiness in her voice as a drop of tears fell on Skye's shoulder. If only she knew this sooner then Skye would have made amends a long time ago, but she always found herself too stubborn to come crawling back. Nikki was just as stubborn, but the only difference between them is Skye was brave enough to knock on her door.
"Can we talk?" Skye said in her ear. As much as she would have loved to hug her forever, this conversation was six months in the making, and she couldn't stand to wait any longer.
"Yes, of course. Come on, come inside." Nikki let go of the embrace and stepped aside, eagerly motioning her to come in to finally talk after all this time.
Skye stepped inside, hearing Nikki shut and lock the door behind her. She noticed how awfully quiet the house was, surprised her parents hadn't come down and ambushed her already. The two girls then walked into the living room, a loud plop noise made as Nikki threw herself onto a lounge chair. "You can sit wherever. My parents aren't home."
"Um, I didn't think you'd be home, actually. Ya know, because of Victor and it being Valentine's Day and all." Skye awkwardly sat down on the couch, placing her hands on her lap as she didn't want to get too comfortable just yet. Now that she did think of it, why was Nikki home right now? Skye knew the reason why she wasn't out on a date tonight, but Nikki? Her reason was quite the surprise.
"Actually, we broke up."
"Huh?" She couldn't believe it. They broke up? When? Sure, Skye was kind of glad to hear that douche bag was finally out of the picture, but she had so many questions right now.
"He, uh, he dumped me at winter formal," Nikki replied hesitantly. The fight, no wonder they broke up. Skye would have been just as surprised if she were still dating him after that monstrosity. "Well, it was more being like "we're over" and then him saying "not if I dump you first", so yeah."
"God, what an ass." Skye scoffed.
"It's fine. I wanted to tell you when it happened, but I knew you'd say "I told you so" and I didn't think you'd want to be my friend again after that." She sighed. Nikki would have talked to Skye sooner after that night, but she knew how Skye would react, and her reaction now was just as predicted.
"Well, I did tell you so." Skye snickered as she shrugged her shoulders, quietly apologizing for it after. If anything, it was kind of deserved, which Nikki already knew.
"Yeah, I know, but what did you want to talk about?" Nikki asked.
Right, the talk. It was the sole reason why Skye was here in the first place. She got so distracted by the brief banter that she almost forgot why she was even sitting in front of her right now. "I wanna make things right, and that starts with you."
"Me?"
"Yeah, Nikki, of course." She softly grinned. "I should have apologized to you months ago. I'm such an idiot."
"No, I'm such an idiot," Nikki said. "I let a stupid boy get in the way of the greatest thing I ever had. I should be the one saying sorry."
"So I guess we can both agree we're sorry?" Skye giggled. It seemed that there really wasn't much to argue about after all. She had been scared this whole time she would be pushed away again, but Skye felt the same way Nikki did; like an idiot.
"Totally. God, boys are so stupid." She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. Skye could finally agree for once in her life, but she didn't want to.
"Trust me, I know."
"Yeah..." Nikki let out a sigh, immediately realizing that Skye was actually agreeing with her. "Wait, what?"
"What?"
It had just hit her. Everyone knew how close Skye and Levi were, including Nikki. She didn't need to know all of the details of their relationship to wonder why she wasn't with him instead. "Why are you here? It's Valentine's Day. I thought you were dating Levi Daniels. You should be with him, not me, stupid."
"People think that?" Of course, they think that. Skye was just painfully oblivious. She was always aware of the stares people gave them, but she didn't think that was the reason.
"Um, yeah!" Nikki exclaimed, kind of like in a "duh" tone of voice. "People talk about you two all the time. You've been the talk of the school for months, Skye."
"I can't believe people think I'm dating him." She couldn't help but blush. Knowing how she felt about him now, Skye couldn't believe she could have been dating him for god knows how long and nobody would have been all that surprised. If only she had seen the clearer picture sooner.
"And you're not?" Nikki raised an eyebrow. Like she said before, she thought Skye was dating Levi, so she was surprised to see her reacting like this.
"It's, uh, really complicated." Complicated was an understatement, that's for sure, but Nikki wanted every detail. Dare she say it, but complicated is her middle name (it's not actually, her real middle name is Abigail, but still).
"Well, tell me!" She demanded, making Skye almost fall out of her seat. "I wanna know why you're not out with a hunk like Levi on Valentine's Day when you guys are so close!"
"Do you really wanna know?" Skye questioned, the answer obviously being yes.
"Yes! I wanna hear what's going on in my best friend's love life! That is if we're friends again, of course." Were they best friends again? Skye noticed how Nikki hesitated at that last part. It seemed like things had never changed, like that fight never happened. They had never fought like this in their lives and knowing that they were both capable of seeing their faults, then it was surely worth giving their friendship a try again.
"I'll tell you."
"Perfect. I'll be here all night." Nikki grinned. She saw Skye saying that she'll tell her everything as a way of saying they're friends again, so she was really glad to hear this. Plus, she wanted all of the juicy relationship drama she had been craving for the longest time.
"Well, for starters, I really like Levi." This was actually the first time Skye admitted this out loud and not in her mind or on paper. It seemed fitting to tell Nikki about it first, and by the look on her face after hearing that, she was right to tell her first. Even Nikki could sense the feelings for him were there, but she would be disappointed in this next part. "But I figured that I shouldn't tell him how I feel because I thought it would ruin the friendship and that I was undeserving of him."
"Skye, are you an idiot?" She furrowed her eyebrows. It was a serious question too, and Skye answered it seriously instead of using a sarcastic tone like she probably would have in any other situation.
"Uh, yeah?"
"God, you should've told him!" Nikki yelled, getting out of her seat to slap Skye's arm.
"I know, I know! And now I'm paying the price for it." Skye groaned, leaning her head back on the couch cushion, closing her eyes, and letting out a loud sigh.
Nikki could sense by her actions that Skye had done something horrible, and she was going to get to the bottom of it. "Oh god, what did you do?"
"I told him to go on a date with his ex-girlfriend Megan and he said he values my advice so he only agreed because of me-"
"Skye." She couldn't even get a word out as Skye blabbered on about what she did. It all felt like one big word bomb as she couldn't talk to anyone else about this, but Nikki wanted to actually help her out. The only way she could do that though is if Skye calmed down.
"-and they're on that date right now and probably getting back together and now I'm gonna lose him the same way I lost you and-"
"Skye!"
"What?" Skye stopped as Nikki yelled out her name, noticing her face becoming serious, which scared her a bit.
"Why do you do this to yourself?" She asked, and Skye let out a sigh. Why did she do this to herself? What did she ever do to deserve to suffer? The answer was absolutely nothing, but Skye wanted to blame it on merely existing.
"I was happy with the way things were, I really was, but-"
"-But you'd be happier if you were actually with him, right?" Nikki interrupted. She took the words right out of her mouth, and Skye frowned as she nodded in agreement. The best thing Nikki could do right now is offer advice from her own experiences, even if it wasn't exactly the greatest advice. "Skye, sometimes we have to be a little selfish. We're only human."
"Huh?"
"Go crash that date." See, not the best advice, but Nikki was merely saying it as she would root for Skye more than anyone else in this world. She always rooted for her, even from the sidelines, but Skye couldn't comprehend this advice.
"What?"
"Go crash that date and get your man!" She exclaimed. "Don't you want to make things right? This was the first step, and that's the next."
"Yeah..." Skye did want to make things right, but was this the right way to do it? She remembered what she wrote to her future self, writing that she had to do something. Was crashing the date that something she spoke of? In the heat of the moment without thinking, it seemed like the way to go, and with Nikki's push, Skye was going to do it. No regrets, right?
"What are you waiting for? Go." Nikki said. It was the same words Skye told Levi before he went off on his date, and it wouldn't be the last time someone said those words tonight either.
"You know what? I will." She stood. For the first time in her life, Skye felt motivated by love. She had never felt this way before either. It felt like one big adrenaline rush, and Nikki was the one to fuel it as she hyped her up on her way out the door.
"Yes, yes, yes! Come on, go!" Nikki was practically physically pushing her to leave. It kind of felt like old times too, this time Skye being the one to pursue a guy instead of Nikki. Crazy how fast things can change, right?
"I'm going, I'm going!" Skye giggled as she stumbled out of the living room with Nikki's hands on her back. Sharing this moment with her reminded Skye of how much she missed the times shared with Nikki. Laughing until their ribs hurt, crying at The Notebook, impulse shopping trips, but most importantly, the times where they vented to each other.
As she finally made it to the door, Skye turned to Nikki before leaving, a smile creeping up on her face knowing things were falling into place completely. "Hey, Nikki?"
"Yeah?"
Skye wrapped her arms around Nikki by surprise just like Nikki did to her when she got there, squeezing her tightly as it felt great to have her best friend again. "I'm so glad to have you back."
"Me too," Nikki whispered. The two girls then let go of the embrace, and Skye opened the door so she could finally make her exit.
"I'll let you know what happens!" Skye yelled from afar as she walked down the stairs, excitedly waving goodbye.
"Good, now go get him!" Nikki yelled back, waving back as well.
"I will!" She didn't know how this would go, but all Skye knew right now is she never felt more alive. And as Skye hopped on her bike and rode out onto the street, she made her way to Sadie's diner, ready to declare her love. At least Skye felt ready at the moment.
•••
MARIA TALKS!
imma keep this short of simple as i hit y'all with another cliffhanger; vote :)
we're so close to the end besties