the early morning sun shines brightly into the kitchen while nessa sits at the breakfast bar- a cup of steaming hot coffee in her left hand and her phone in her right. the current time is 6:38 am and much like the rest of the los angeles residents, josh is still very much asleep. it's only been days since nessa applied to the conservatory yet she hasn't heard from them nor had she told anyone besides lea that it was a thing in the first place. her head had been clouded with many rattling thoughts since she pressed send and off her application went.
"ness? why are you awake" josh yawns, his sleepy voice causing the coffee drinking girl to smile.
ever since the night at the bowling alley, the two have been inseparable. they aren't officially anything but they don't need to label themselves to be happy or to know that what they have is rare and special. they've been enjoying each other's company and spending time alone- finally.
"couldn't sleep, go back to bed" she hums, jumping down from the bar stool and making her way over to the door where he leans lazily against.
josh opens his long arms for nessa to wrap herself in. she kisses his chest before resting her worrying head on it. josh sighs heavily, closing his eyes. the two just stand there for a moment while everything else is still and to them it seems like they're the only people on earth. the quiet surrounding making it all the much more better.
"come with me then" josh mutters, a cheeky smirk on his lips.
raising her eyebrows, nessa leans on her tiptoes so that she is standing a little taller yet somehow she still doesn't reach past his strong shoulders. gently, the small girl leans forward and kisses him teasingly- josh wasting no time in playing back. they stand there in the doorway wrapped in each other.
____________
"how about toaster quesadillas?" mads asks, her head peering out from the pantry.
the three girls who reside on the couch mumble in agreement. it's girls night and josh has been thrown out of the apartment to go spend some quality bonding time with his own friends. it was discussed between the two groups of friends that they had to separate josh and nessa if there was any chance of them hanging out with their respective groups ever again.
the movie wild child was playing on nessas tv while hannah and liv had a popcorn war with each other and mads made some snacks in the kitchen. nessa wasn't very focused on the movie or her friends for that matter. she had been texting with lea earlier who had informed her that a girl in her bio class got accepted to the conservatory and she had been emailed only a few hours ago. nessa's phone has been clutched in her hand ever since she spoke with her hometown best friend- nervously awaiting that dreaded email. she did however have to part with it when mad's took it into the kitchen, scrolling through pinterest for snack ideas.
"hey!" hannah yells, throwing a handful of popcorn at nessa's blank face.
startled, the brunette blinks quickly, turning her head towards the two girls beside her. she gives them a death stare.
"what the hell was that for?" she asks with an annoyed tone.
"you were totally spacing. what's up?" olivia quizzes, crossing her legs into a basket.
nessa can't hold in this secret much longer and she knows that these girls are her best friends and they'll understand that she couldn't tell them anything until she knew for sure what the plan was. but on the other hand they could easily just be really pissed that she never trusted them with the news in the first place but then she could just explain how she never wanted to upset them or worry them about something that might not even happen.
"okay look, i have something i need to tell you guys" the nervous girl speaks, looking at her friends with worried eyes.
mads walks into the living room with the plate of snacks, her brows furrowed. she sits down beside hannah, waiting for nessa to speak.
"oh my god i knew it!" olivia exclaims, "you're pregnant".
the other two girls gasp with wide eyes, waiting for the confirmation from their friend but nessa simply shakes her head instead.
"no that's definitely not it" she dismisses, finding it hard to understand how stupid her friends can be at times.
"then what's wrong? you can tell us" mad's sympathizes, resting her hand on nessa's left leg. this gives the brunette some comfort while she tries to search for the appropriate words.
taking a deep breath, nessa fidgets with her bracelet as she speaks.
"i applied to the new jersey conservatory a few days ago and today i should receive an email about whether i got in or not".
the stunned looks on her best friends' faces says it all really. nessa mentally slaps herself for being so dumb. she knew she should have waited on the email. she should have known for sure before she even dared mention it out loud.
hannah and olivia share a sad glance and the silence is almost deafening until olivia stands up, a look of disappointment on her face.
"i need to go" is all she mutters before making her way out of the apartment. hannah smiles sadly at nessa before she also stands up and follows olivia out the door without saying a single word.
mads doesn't speak nor look directly at nessa. she's too busy going over the sentence in her head. she's disappointed that nessa felt she couldn't come and talk to her about something so drastically important and she's angry at herself for making nessa feel like that. her heart breaks as she thinks about the possibility of nessa leaving los angeles but above any of those other feelings, she's happy for her best friend. she's over the moon excited for her. clearly this is something that's important to nessa which means it's important to mad's.
unable to hold back the tears, nessa breaks down, holding her head in her hands. she knew the girls wouldn't take the news well but she didn't think they'd walk out on her. weren't they supposed to be best friends? aren't they supposed to be there for each other no matter what?
"hey hey, no don't do that. come here" mads sighs, pulling nessa into her arms. the brunette wraps her arms around mad's tightly, thankful that she's still here.
"i'm sorry for not telling you, please don't hate me" nessa sobs, calming down a little.
mads makes a mental note to scold olivia and hannah later on but for now she remains in the same position, her heart being crushed by nessa's plead.
"don't be silly, i'm always going to be here for you. i could never hate you".
nessa squeezes the blonde in response. she really needed this right now. she needed to be comforted by someone who truly cares about her. she couldn't be more grateful for mads.
the sound of a notification going off causes both girls to snap their heads in the direction of the kitchen where nessa's phone sits on the island- the screen lit up. this is it, this is the moment she's tortured herself over for days.
both girls jump off of the couch and make a beeline for the kitchen. nessa grabs her phone- almost dropping it in the process. mads waits with anticipation, her knee bopping nervously.
as nessa reads the email, her expressions change- giving mad's different signals after each paragraph. but eventually, the girls face lights up and her eyebrows raise so high they almost touch her hairline. she can feel her whole entire body shake as she re-reads the words.
"i got in?" she whispers.
"what?".
nessa smiles widely at her best friend before jumping up and down with her phone raised in the air.
"I GOT IN" she shrieks. mads mimics nessa's current movements. they yell and scream together happily, holding onto each other for dear life. "IM GOING TO THE CONSERVATORY".
as they dance around the living room, emotions scattering all over and happy tears creating puddles at their feet, nessa believes that she's never been more proud of herself than she is right here in this moment. she's happy and excited and right now nothing else matters. she's allowing herself to bask in this achievement. she's allowing herself to be happy.
the only thing left to do now is tell her friends that she leaving los angeles. to tell josh that she's leaving him.
________________
i'm evil i know👿
we got like 2-3 more chapters left
of this book boys 😕
and also
i'm flattered that someone has
felt that my storylines / plot ideas
are good enough to use for their own book and
i'd be totally okay with that normally but the least you could do is give me credit for my book ideas.
please just don't disrespect me like that.
all love tho❤️