I got home and smelled food. My stomach rumbled as soon as the smell of food hit my nostrils and only then did I realise how hungry I was.
It was 7 pm and after spending the whole day with Gerald I decided to leave and give him and his dad some privacy and not be so clingy.
I walked into the kitchen and the smell of bolognese sauce hit my nose. I smiled in satisfaction.
"What you cooking?" I asked Gloria who was stirring a pot with a wooden spoon.
She smiled warmly at me. "I'm making your favourite cuisine; Italian."
I grinned. "That just adds to my good day, Glo!"
"Has Mr. Gerald woken up?" She questioned and turned her gaze from the pot to me.
"How'd you guess?"
She grinned. "Because you are radiating with joy. It's all over your face miss."
I chuckled. "Anyway you still haven't fully answered my question." I pointed out.
"Ahh yes, I have cooked spaghetti bolognese, beef ravioli and chicken lasagna." My eyes widened at her words. That was a lot of food!
"Why so much of food for tonight?"
"Didn't your brother tell you?" When I shook my head she continued. "We have a big dinner tonight, it will be Ms. Natasha and her fiancé, you and your brother and Ms. Jessica."
My nose wrinkled in disgust. Jessica and Natasha? Bleh, this was gonna suck. At least the food was good.
"So your brother requested I make a big dinner tonight and I knew how much you've been through lately so I decided to treat you to a little Italian food, Miss Victoria." I genuinely smiled at her words; that was a very kind gesture of her.
"Thanks Glo, you're the best." I flashed her a toothy grin.
She laughed lightly. "Just doing my job."
After that I walked into the living room and seen Michael and Jessica eating each other's faces off, normally I would be annoyed as hell but I was in a really good mood so I just shrugged them off and processed to the single seater, which was my seat, and plopped down.
I grabbed the TV remote and surfed the channels. The changing of channels seemed to have gotten the attention of the two 'love birds' causing them to snap their heads in my direction.
Ha! If only Jessica's neck snapped. I thought which caused a small smirk to form on my face.
"What a pleasant surprise. I haven't seen you in ages. How are you Victoria?" She said shrilly with her fake smile.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes at her and plastered a fake smile. "Oh I've been good but I'm feeling even greater now that I've seen you."
"Aww you're so sweet, Vic." She waved her hand in the air and laughed.
I scowled. I absolutely hated nicknames. "Please just call me Victoria." I told her sweetly.
"What's got you in a chirpy mood?" A masculine voice asked. I looked at Michael in shock. This has been the first time he's spoken to me in three months.
I quickly covered my shock and put on a straight face.
"What's it a crime to be in a chirpy mood?" I raised a brow.
"In your world it probably is since you're permanently moody."
I rolled my eyes at him. "Well I got my best friend back today so of course I'm happy."
"Ger-"
"Which best friend?" Jessica's annoying voice interjected, cuffing Michael off.
"Long story, I'll explain it to you later." Michael answered and I sighed in relief. Saves me from speaking to the bitch.
"Right, I'm pretty sure dinner is ready so let's go to eat." I said.
"Yeah Jess you go ahead Victoria and I will join you soon." He smiled and she looked sceptical to leave but she left anyway.
"Why can't Victoria go now?" I asked him casually.
"Because I wanna speak to you." He said seriously.
"Okay... What do you wanna speak about?" I frowned.
"Come here." He gestured to the seat next to him.
Okay he's acting strange... I shrugged and sat next to him.
"What wrong?"
He sighed and placed his hands on the bridge of his nose.
"Victoria you are my little sister and I care about you, I know you think that I hate you but I don't, I love and care for you. I care a lot for you; so when I seen you with Nate flashbacks from New York came flashing in my mind, causing me to get pissed off. I never thought I'd see him again and I was glad about that until that day."
I shook my head, feeling a little uneasy about what he was saying.
"Michael-" I started but he cut me off.
"I'm not done. The first image that popped in my mind was your smile; a genuine smile on your face which I haven't seen in ages because of that one fucking night, the same night which ruined my baby sister...because of Nate." He ran a hand through his hair.
Michael always blamed Nate for what happened even though it completely wasn't his fault.
"Michael, Nate was not at fault. I was not him, I've told you many times before that Nate had nothing to do with any of it." I told him.
He shook his head and chuckled bitterly. His eye hardened in anger.
"You're defending him again? Fuck Victoria why do I even try with you?!" He said bitterly.
I opened my mouth to respond but he cut me off.
"No don't say anything! I'm sick of your fucking lies!" He said harshly and walked away.
There goes my good mood, all ruined by Michael. Why can't he ever just listen to me? Why does he always have to fight and make things worse?
I ran a hand through my hair and let out a frustrated sigh.
Guess I'll be missing my Italian dinner tonight.
****
After sitting alone to myself in the TV lounge and watching nothing in particular, I went up to my room.
I plopped down onto my bed, facing the ceiling and grabbed my phone.
I had a few texts which I just ignored expect for Ashley's.
Ashley: Hey Victoria, I heard assface has woken up so I was hoping that maybe tomorrow you'd be free and we could meet up? I haven't spoken to you properly in a while so it'll be nice. :)
I felt bad when I read her text, it was like I had abandoned her, but I would never do that. Ashley was my best friend who's pretty much my sister, so I would never abandon her.
I typed a reply to her,
Me: Hey Ash! Of course we can meet up tomorrow. How does 12 pm at Starbucks sound?
Almost instantly my phone buzzed with a reply.
Ashley: Sounds great! :)
****
I examined my appearance in the mirror. I was wearing black high waisted shorts with tights, a white blouse which was tucked into my shorts, a black long sleeved cardigan and high heeled ankle boots. I looked fine for my coffee date with Ashley.
I grabbed my car keys and headed out, looking forward to the strong taste of caffeine goodness known as coffee.
I walked in the warm shop and took my cardigan off. Honestly I don't know why people put heaters on in California when it was always warm.
I felt someone poke my sides and I immediately grabbed my attacker's hand and spun them around to face me. I smirked smugly at the person in front of me.
"Ash I'm not stupid, of course I knew it was you."
She pouted. "Not fair, you're always scaring me but I never get to get scare you."
I chuckled and ruffled her hair. "Don't worry your pretty head because I'm always going to know it's you and you're always going to be scared."
She scowled. "I'm not a child and I'm definitely not a scary cat."
"But I didn't call you a scary cat." I told her innocently and batted my eyelashes. My mood had gotten better this morning when I woke up and realised that Gerald waking up wasn't just a dream. My argument with Michael was unfortunately real too but I just pushed it away.
"You implied it."
I shrugged. "If the shoes fits, wear it."
She stuck her tongue out at me in a teasing manner and I laughed at her craziness.
"Come one let's go order, crazy Ashley."
She laughed and we went to order.
After we got our drinks we sat down.
"So assface is awake?" Ashley asked and sipped from her coffee.
I grinned. "Yep, he's awake and the doctor said he's recovering well so he'll be back home soon."
"And how are things between you guys?" She asked awkwardly.
"Well I think things are returning to normal with us. I mean he's back to being chirpy with me."
She smiled and didn't look that awkward anymore.
"So he's back to being an egotistical idiot?"
I laughed. "Pretty much."
"Oh and Michael started talking to me again." I said casually and took a sip of my drink.
"But not in a good way." I added.
She frowned. "When did you two stop speaking?"
My eyes widened when I realised that I didn't tell her about that incident.
"Crap I forgot to tell you!" She rolled eyes at me.
"Okay what happened was..." I started explaining to her.
I explained everything, from what happened when Michael saw Nate to what happened last night.
"Your brother is a major jerk!" She said angrily.
"Ugh! Tell me about it." I groaned.
"So enough about me I'm so sick of talking about myself. Let's talk about Ashley the crazy blonde." I smirked.
"There's absolutely nothing to talk about me." She said and laughed nervously.
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Spill blondie."
She sighed in defeat. "Fine! Remember I told you that I did it with Jessie?"
I nodded.
"Wellhekindaaskedmeout." She mumbled.
"I'm sorry I don't speak gibberish." I told her sarcastically.
She sighed. "He asked me out."
My eyes widened and I nearly spat my coffee out.
"What?! When? How? What did you say?"
"Whoa calm down, you sound like me." She chuckled.
"I'm waiting for your answers." I said sternly.
"Okay so he took me to a amusement park on a date. Then he took me to the top of the Ferris wheel where he asked me to be his girlfriend."
"That's cute. Did you say yes?"
"Wait I'm not done. So then he pulled out two rectangular boxes; one with a sticky note that said no and the other said yes. He told me to pick which one was my answer." She said and blushed a little.
"So which box did you pick?" I asked her anxiously; curious to know whether she and Jessie were a thing.
"I'll give you a hint; the 'no' box had a bracelet inside and the 'yes' box had a necklace in it." She grinned.
I looked at her wrists which were both bare. I looked at her neck which had a silver necklace with a small key shaped pendent.
I grinned. "You said yes!"
She nodded. "Yep! He's really sweet, kind and extremely hot." She said and dreamily stared off.
I laughed at her. "So why a key?" I asked and pointed to the necklace.
"Oh it's a couple necklace, his necklace has a heart and mine is a key. And mine has his name engraved on the back and he's has my name." She said and smiled happily.
"Aw that's cute." I smiled at her.
I was really happy for them, Jessie was kind and sweet and so was Ashley. They're perfect for each other. And I doubt he'd hurt her, he wasn't like that; besides he was Nate's best friend and Nate always said what a nice guy he was.
"I hope you don't find it weird though..." She muttered.
I frowned. "Why would I find it weird?"
"Because of your history with Nate and stuff."
I rolled my eyes. "I am happy for you and Jessie and I really don't care about whatever past, present or future I have with his best friend, it has nothing to do with your happiness."
She grinned. "You're the best, Victoria!"
I smirked smugly. "Of course I am."
****
After my coffee date with Ashley I went to the hospital to see Gerald. I was a little nervous; nervous that he'd just flip and realise I was a horrible person who he didn't need in his life and act the same way he did before his accident.
I opened the door to his room and found a blonde girl sitting in the armchair, talking to him.
I felt myself get irritated when I seen Caroline. Gerald too seemed to be irritated by the look on his face.
I cleared my throat which earned both of them to look at me. Gerald's strained look brightened when he seen me and I felt relieved that he was still okay with me.
"Hey Victoria." He greeted with a grin.
I smiled. "Hey. Feeling any better?"
Before he could reply Caroline interjected.
"Victoria?! What the hell are you doing here?" She yelled.
Annoying little bitch.
"The real question is, what are you going here? I clearly remember Mr. Iver telling you not to come." I smirked.
"You little bitch." She snarled.
"Caroline I think it's best if you leave now." Gerald said coolly.
I grinned triumphantly. Could this get any better?
Her jaw dropped. "What? But-"
"Caroline you aren't my girlfriend and you never were I was just using you. So please do us both a favour and leave." He said tiredly.
Her face fell and she looked like she was about to cry. I burst out laughing at her. Call me mean but I don't care; the bitch deserved it.
She excited the room but stopped in front of me before leaving and pointed her index finger at me.
"I hate you! I hope you get run over by a car and die." She glared and walked out.
Her statement caused me to laugh even harder. Like her words would affect me in any way.
After my laughter died down and I walked over to Gerald and placed a kiss on his cheek. I sat down next to him on the edge of the bed and smiled at him.
"Sorry I came a bit late today, I was out with Ashley. It felt like I abandoned her in these three months so we met up for coffee."
"Victoria you do realise that you don't have to spend every minute with me, right?" He said.
I raised my brows. "Are you saying that you don't want me to come here?"
"Hell no, I love it when you come. I just know how miserable this room can be and no sane person would wanna be in here all day. And I don't want to stop you from living your life."
"Yeah this room is miserable but I enjoy spending time with you so I just ignore the fact that I'm in a miserable hospital." I told him truthfully.
He held my hand; at first he looked hesitant but he held it anyway. I intertwined our fingers and enjoyed the warmth from his hand.
"Victoria I'm sorry, I'm really sorry about what I did. I didn't mean anything, I was just angry and hurt I...I fucked up, Victoria. I was a complete dick; I shouldn't have said anything like that. I..." He trailed off. His gaze was down at the sheets and not at me.
There it was, the awkward talk that everyone hates. I just want this talk to get over with and everything go back to normal.
I shook my head. "No I deserved that, in fact I deserve worse. It's my fault all my fault. I was stupid and ended up screwing up our friendship. I was the fool not you." I said softly.
He looked up at me, his eyes full of fondness and a tinge of pain. I cause the pain in his eyes, and that's why I deserved everything and more; much more.
"Can we just look past this and go back to being friends?" He said seriously, his gaze not leaving mine.
"Why did you even have to ask that? The answer is like the most obvious thing ever." I chuckled and tried to lighten up the mood.
"Good because I miss my girl." He said and ruffled my hair.
I playfully scowled at him and hit his shoulder.
"Violent much?"
"I'm always violent."
He untangled our fingers and pulled me closer to him. I shifted in and laid my head on his chest whilst he wrapped his arms around my waist.
"Can I ask you a question?" I said.
"Shoot."
"What made you change your mind and forgive me?"
He sighed. "I knew you were going to ask that. Honestly it was when I woke up and the first person I seen was you. Not my dad, not any of my friends but you. That's when I realised that you genuinely care about me, that our 7 years of friendship was real. That's when I realised what I dick I was for doing those things to you." He explained.
"I'm glad that happened." I smiled.
"Me too." He grinned and placed a kiss on my forehead.
____
This Chapter was a major filler and a bit slow, but next one will be better and more dramatic! ;)
Lots of love,
Me! :)