Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over.
-Octavia Butler.
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Songs of this chapter- Count On Me- Bruno Mars
Imagine- John Lennon
P.S.-Look picture of Alexia on the side. Stunning she is, right.
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"Aah!", I woke up with a throbbing sensation in my head, the pain was unbearable. I looked around to find the familiar peach walls of my room surrounding me. The homely warmth was comforting, however the mind numbing hammering feeling in my head was not.
"Finally you're up." I heard Lexi's voice and an instant relief washed over me. I rose up in my bed a little to find her standing in the doorway with a tray in her hands. "How are you feeling now? Oh God Cia I was so worried!", her voice was laced with concern.
"Like death, I feel like death. I didn't know hangovers could be so bad", I said rubbing my head . Pushing my covers aside I somehow managed to rise up and sit without collapsing right back.
"I am so sorry Cia, only if I had known that this would happen I would've never insisted you to go to that party. This is all my fault." She walked in, shaking her head and placed the tray on the bedside table. The sweet scent of caramel filled my nostrils, soothing my pain a little. "Oh my yum!" I exclaimed. "You made Caramel -Chocolate Cream puffs." I said excitedly. I love cream puffs and the thickened caramel and hot fudge sauce that Lexi is always sure to add makes it my favorite dessert.
"Yes, I did." She said smiling at me. "But before you start gorging on that, have this." She handed me an anvil and a glass filled with water. "It'll help with the head ache."
"Thank You so much. You're the best friend I could've ever asked for." I took the medicine from her and and quickly swallowed it with the help of water.
"No, no, no. I am a terrible, terrible friend." She said as she sat on the love seat placed in the corner of the room. "What are you talking about? You're the best." I took a bite of the heavenly cream puffs. "These are delicious by the way."
"Lucia, do you remember anything that happened last night?" Her tone was serious and ridden with a little guilt. But why would she be guilty?
"No, not really. We went to a party..." I tried recollecting the events of last night. "Oh yes, the bartender, something up between you guys. I think he was sweet."
"No not that. You remember what happened after that?" She asked. "Urmm, let me think." I focused hard, but the pictures of last night in my head were pretty much a blur. "I'm sorry I can't. Alexia what happened? I don't remember a thing." I said in desperation. If there was something important that she was trying to make me recollect, then I definitely needed to know, and by the look on her face I could tell that it was something very important or probably very disturbing. "Come on Lexi, tell me , tell me right now!" I raised my volume by a few decibels.
She was silent for a moment, and for me the silence was becoming unbearable by the second.
Alexia was in deep thought, contemplating whether to tell me whatever apparently went down last night or not. I knew better than to interrupt her when she was in that state. I have known her for the past seven years and this has been her way of dealing with things which trouble her or make her immensely happy, usually the former. As for me, the mere thought of trouble and these minutes of oblivion were terrifying.
Suddenly, she burst into tears. "I'm so sorry....I,I sorry", she stuttered and buried her face in the palm of her hands. "Lexi, Lexi what happened?", putting down my cream puff I hurried towards her, concern was evident in my voice. "Please forgive me for being such a crappy friend", she murmured loud enough for me to hear. "I don't understand....why?", I questioned helplessly, for all I knew Lexi was the most amazing friend anyone could ever possibly have. "Okay Lexi, I'm freaking out, okay I'm freaking out!." I took a deep breath to calm myself down. "Just, just calm down okay?", I said composing myself. "Calm down." She nodded and wiped her tears using the back of her hand. She inhaled deeply, huffed loudly and closed her eyes. After a while she opened them back and gave me a weak smile. I smiled back at her. "Better?" I questioned. "Yes", she responded.
"Okay so lets start over", I announced. The conversation before was obviously a huge disaster and I didn't want that to happen again, and as far as I could tell from the deep shade of embarrassment covering Lexi's face, neither did she. Although, I don't think my best friend had anything to be embarrassed about. "All right, so we went to the party", I started to recall the events of last night out loud, "and you met this cute bartender guy."Lexi nodded in agreement. "After that", I continued to say, "I had some drinks yes."
"Yes."
"And then everything is a blur, I don't remember what happened after that, I don't even remember how I got home and how I got into this bed. I mean look at me I'm still wearing this short uncomfortable dress from last night", I looked down at myself. Ah damn, the dress was even stained, looks like I poured a drink on it.
Wait.
I don't think I poured any drink on it, I'm extra cautious while wearing someone else's clothes and this dress belongs to Lexi. I distinctly remember her forcing me into this piece of black shimmering cloth and then warning me not to spoil it as it was from her exclusive Vivienne Westwood collection.
But then who did? I focused harder than I've ever tried. All of a sudden flashes of the previous night rushed through my mind.
'"Need something to drink senorita?"
"Liam went out with the hot blonde."
"Let me open it for you."
"The other washroom is dirty."
"I can't make any promises."
"Get off her-"
"You're okay."
"Cia, Cia relax. Cia." Lexi was vigorously shaking my shoulders, trying to bring me back to reality. Was I going into a panic attack?
I looked at her intently, and the sudden realization of what went down last night hit me. "Oh Lexi", I blurted and then broke down in my best friend's arms. "Its all right Cia. I'm sorry okay?Thank God he saved you."
Wiping my tears I questioned, "Who did? Where were you, what happened after I passed out?"
"Just sit down, I'll tell you everything." Her voice was soothing and calming, but I was restless. I wanted and more than that, I needed answers.
She guided me back to the bed to sit down and herself sat beside me. I looked at her expecting her to speak. She gave me a knowing gaze and started with the story, or should I say reality, my scary, horrendous reality.
"Okay so after you went to dance, this guy came up to me and Liam, the bartender, and he started asking about you. You remember the guy who we saw busy-", I cut her short raising one hand. "I do remember", I said a bit breathlessly.
"Well yes you do,umm", she lowered her eyelashes and continued , "so he came and was asking questions about you, you know the general questions anyone would ask without raising any sort of suspicion. Like you know, he wanted to know if you were new and if you had been to any parties before and stuff. Anyway, I told him not to get his hopes up as you were not his type. That didn't seem to bother him much though, he said he was only asking as he was new himself and wanted to get to know people here. Well, he said his name was Marco and he moved here last week from Spain. His parents and Mason's parents are pretty close so that's how he got into the party."
"Who is Mason?" I questioned.
"Didn't I tell you Mason is the host of the party."
"Oh!" I said, feeling a bit stupid for not knowing the name of the person whose party I went to.
"So anyway, he seemed pretty sweet and was talking really nicely. He offered to take Liam's place at the bar for a while, so he could also go meet his friends. Liam was hesitant a bit but he told us he had done bar-tending before and honestly he was good at it. We were pretty convinced. I told him if you came looking for me then to tell you to wait for a while as you had forgotten your cell phone, so you couldn't possibly call me. He said okay and then I went with Liam to see his friends."
"But he didn't tell me to wait....he, he told me you left...with Liam." I blurted.
"I know, I am sorry. I shouldn't have been convinced. Its really my fault." She started to ramble.
"No, its not!", this wasn't her fault in any way and I didn't want her blaming herself for something she didn't do. She is my best friend, she deserves to be happy, more than me, more than anyone else. "Alexia, listen, you had no idea okay? You had no idea about his intentions. You merely did what you felt was right, it doesn't mean that it necessarily has to be right. You can be wrong in your judgement, criminals don't have a veil on their face. We went to that party because you wanted me to have fun, having fun is not a crime Lexi. You aren't the one to blame. I drank because I felt like it, you went with Liam because he was making you happy, I could see that. There is nothing wrong in spending time with someone who makes you happy. You thought this dress looks good on me, I wore it. Do you think its wrong to dress in something that looks good on you?" She shook her head as a teardrop rolled down her cheek. "Its not Lexi, you're right, its not. We're not to be blamed here, not you, not me, not Liam, not the drinks. Its Marco, he did wrong and only he did wrong. We're not the victims, he is - A victim of his own whims, he let the darker side of him win over any good that was left in him, he let the good in him die, now he is as good as dead. We're not the ones to be blamed. We're young, having fun, he was no one to interrupt, but he did and look where it got him. Nowhere. He got nowhere." I gave her the best smile I could muster, and she did the same.
"You're so courageous", her voice was a little her, but her words were genuine and hearing them made me happy. I loved my best friend.
"You're just as courageous. I had forgotten Lexi, you could've just gone without telling me. But you told me, you told me because I deserved to know and because you were brave enough. Telling the truth takes courage, and you did it. You're courageous Lexi, somewhere, somehow we all are." I hugged her and she hugged me back, both of us trying our best not to break down again. I think we've done enough crying for the day.
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"But you still didn't tell me about how I got home. Who saved me?" I asked as I finished my last cream puff, savoring it bit by bit.
I had showered, changed into my Adidas t-shirt and penguin shorts and was settled comfortably in my bed, plopped up on my soft, fluffy pillows. The cream puffs tasted just as delicious as they were when fresh. My head ache was almost gone, and I was feeling much better already. Alexia too had composed herself and was sitting on her favorite spot of the room- the love-seat. She glanced up from her phone screen to look at me. Her expression was that of subtle revulsion.
"What?" I questioned.
"Can you at least be a little more civilized about your eating habits.?"
"You know me", I responded, licking the caramel off my finger.
"Remember we saw two guys when we entered the party? One was Marco and the other was....uh, cell phone guy",Lexi addressed to me.
"Ya, sort of", I replied.
"Well, it was him. The cell-phone guy. He was the one who beat Marco to a pulp and rescued you. Jason, I think he said his name was. He looked edgy, I think he is new too, but not quite sure. Liam and I were scouring the place like lunatics when we found him carrying you outside. We rushed to him, I was dead worried. He told us about everything that happened and helped put you in the car. Liam drove us home and I think he took a bus back."
"That was very considerate of Liam", I commented.
"Yes, it was", Lexi retorted, smiling down at her phone.
I gave her a knowing smile, she was smitten by him.
All right, tomorrow is Monday, first day of college. I hope Jason or whatever his name is goes to the same university. I need to find him and thank him.
Thank him for saving my life.
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Hello lovies,
Sorry it took so long to update. Somethings kept me busy!
But I'm back and hope to get a new chapter up soon.
Don't forget to vote and comment. Send me love guys.
OMG OMG, they'll meet in the next chapter. Yayieeee!!
Sorry, couldn't resist.
-Much Love,
Shay ( string of hearts)
P.S.- I so want the cream puffs.