Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself.
-Maya Angelou
2|| Forgiving and forgetting
The moment his presence registered in my mind, I turned around and walked back towards the entry of the club. I was stopped by an arm wrapping around my waist and Mark's voice in my ear telling me to not let him get to me. I froze there, not being able to make up my mind and then slowly nodding to Mark, I turned around. Sebastian sat there with an apologetic look on his face to which I gave a small tight smile planting my butt in the space next to him.
"Lottie." A feminine voice spoke out, one I could recognize anywhere in the world. Arabella.
"Hello Ms. White. Pleasure meeting you here." I said with the most fake and polite smile on my face.
"Lottie please, I'm sorry. I know I made a mistake believing in those pictures and the weird conversation between you and Finn. I did not want to believe, but the proof was there and I-"She swallowed, "I'm sorry. I should have trusted you more than that." She said her eyes filling up with tears.
"Apology accepted Arabella, but explanation not accepted. Don't bother trying to explain again, I am not interested. Just know you are forgiven and leave it at that." I reply.
The look on her face was too much for me to handle, so I got up and went to bar, ordering drink after drink after drink to not think about the two people sitting in the booth. Sebastian joined me a while later and just simply sat next to me.
A couple more drinks and he told the bartender to stop, helping me off the stool and onto my feet. He supported my weight as we began walking towards the exit, not having to worry about paying tabs as Sebastian owned this place.
The next day I woke up in a shitty mood and a headache. I look to my nightstand to turn off my alarm and see 2 tablets and a glass of water. Gulping them I head to the bathroom to start with my morning routine. Deciding to not go to the gym, I get dressed for the office and go to the kitchen downstairs to see Sebastian on the stove with a spatula in hand.
"Good morning Miss let-me-drink-my-pain-away." He wished the moment I stepped into the kitchen.
"Morning Mr. Hero-for-drunk-girls." I mocked back.
He let out a chuckle at that and told me to take a seat as he finished preparing the food. Once done, he served two plates and sat down next to me, the two us digging in once settled.
"Mark didn't tell me they would be there yesterday. I would've warned you had I known." He said slowly when we finished eating.
"It's fine Bash. You guys can't stay away from them because of me. Especially you and James, the two of you have been friends since before me and James became a thing. And Mark became your friend without my interference." I said to him slowly. Them throwing away their friendship because of picking sides was not what I wanted. I would've been content walking away alone, not that I don't appreciate Bash and Mark's support.
"He didn't trust you, Ari. What he did is not something I can forgive him for. And I've only had you tell me not to judge him over your thing a gabazillion times since it has happened." We both chuckled at that. "Listen, I know where you're coming from, and I promise to you that I will continue to be his friend, that idiot needs me and I know that." He finally relented.
"Thank you Bash, you're an amazing friend. To both of us."
"You do realize you'll be seeing him more often now that he is here, in L.A.?" He asked as we drove off towards our offices.
I sighed, "Yeah. Especially since his parents and mine are such good friends and with Amelia marrying Mark and me being her maid of honor and him one of the groomsmen, it's gonna be difficult avoiding him."
Amelia was my younger, by one year, sister. She met Mark in her freshmen year at college and two had been on again off again for about a year before the two just decided to break it off and stay away for a while and see where it goes. The two emotionally depended on each other when James and I broke up, soon getting back together for good. 5 months ago, Mark worked up the courage to ask her the big question, and now here we are 3 weeks away from the marriage date.
Bash was Mark's best man considering those two were closer than Mark and James, and no one was sure James would even be attending the ceremony. It worked out well for us anyway since my relationship with Bash was never jeopardized and working together to pull off this wedding was much easier this way.
Hopefully, no disasters, especially by the name of James, happen before the wedding.
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Forgiving is good for the heart and health. I hope anyone who needed to hear this hears it, forgive them and yourself. It's a new day now, what happened has passed.
To all those who're reading this story now, I'd love to know your thoughts on it...
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