PASSION |ON HOLD|

Chapter 29

A month later

Alexis
On my way back from school, I stop at the restaurant I used to work at to see Ava. It's been awhile since I last dropped in on her and she has been complaining and nagging like an old lady.

I had to leave the US and come back to Canada about a week before our resumption date. As much as I miss my work and my friends over there, I still remember the reason I came to the West in the first place. I came here to seek a better life and that includes getting a meaningful degree that will me to my dream of becoming a doctor and I can't let anything, not even my deepest bonds hinder that important goal.

As I walked along the pedestrians' route, I couldn't help but remember how Max and Sam looked like they were going to burst into tears when I told them I would be leaving soon. Even James was trying to hide his emotions but I saw right through them. I missed my friends dearly but it's not like we're all going to be together forever so we all just have to deal with it.

When I first came here, I had my whole life planned out. Sure, I wanted to make some friends and learn to be happy and I achieved those two goals but I never expected to fall in love with someone so soon. I don't regret that though. Of course, he could be annoying sometimes but I've realized that the important people in my life and damn annoying so I've been managing him like that.

Of all these annoying people, Ava is one of the worst. There are times that I wonder how we went from being colleagues at work to being such close friends. I realize that I wouldn't have gotten this far without her and that job as a waitress. If not for anything, I learned how to give the most frightening smiles to please the lovely customers.

Pushing the door to the restaurant, the bell rings as usual. This place is as busy as ever. Sometimes, I miss coming here and I miss seeing the crowd that gathers here every day but never will I miss those annoying children who order food like their lives depend on it, they'd even order disgusting combinations. Being a waitress was damn horrible for me.

I make my way straight to the counter. As much as I miss this place, being here reminds me of all those times that I didn't know how to smile and this is not a reasonable time to sulk over those days. I have more pressing problems.

"Hey there, Ava," I greet my friend. She has the annoyed look on her face which suggests she might kill me soon.

"Young lady, why haven't you been coming to see me?" she asked sternly.

I rolled my eyes. "Ava, you sound like you're my mom or something."

She actually flips her hair, making me laugh. "I can be qualified to be you momma, girl. You just need to believe and have faith."

"Have faith indeed. Bitch, don't make me gag. Are you on break now?"

"Yeah. Go to that free table over there and wait for me," she says, pointing to a table at the corner of the restaurant.

I go there and sit just like I was told. Knowing Ava, she's going to take awhile so I drift into my thoughts. For some odd reason, I've been feeling restless in the past week. I feel like something is wrong somewhere but that something doesn't affect me directly but someone precious to me. I just don't know who. My thoughts are interrupted by the ringing of my phone.

"Hello?" I say after taking it.

"So I've been forgotten so soon, and by the one love of my life," the person at the other end says while sniffing. Without doubt, that's Max. I didn't even check the caller ID. His voice always brings a smile to my face.

"I can never forget you even if I tried," I reply.

"That's good to hear, although I hope you're not trying to forget me."

"Not really. How are you?" I ask. "I hear you'll be going on a tour soon." There's silence for awhile. That's what I was expecting.

"Who told you about the tour?"

"Wasn't I supposed to know?" I retort. It's not that I don't trust him but dude can't pressure me into telling him the minutest details of my life when he won't even mention a fucking tour. And the irritating part is that we speak all the time so he doesn't have an alibi.

"I meant to tell you but I just couldn't," he says.

How lovely.

"Okay."

"That's all you're going to say?" he says sounding surprised.

"What did you expect me to say? Look, Max, I believe you should have a reason for not telling me so when you feel like, we can talk about that. My head aches, I have homework and I have an evening lecture by 5pm and it's already past 1pm so I don't have strength to bother myself about this right now."

"Are you angry with me?" he asks quietly.

"Frankly, I am but I don't even know if I have a right to be angry. I just came from an embryology class and I am fucking confused. Even my environment is confusing me."

He lets out a slight chuckle. "At least I'm not really the cause of tire problems now. Well, let me leave you to rest. We can talk later."

"Sure bro. Ciao."

I hang up and drop my phone to met with the realization that Ava was here the whole time. "Who was that?" she asks.

"Do I have to answer that?" I ask, pouting.

Momma lean toward me the way all these scary detectives do in the movies. "Sweetheart, I don't care if you're pregnant and are about to give birth right here. You must tell me everything."

Now, I'm screwed.

A/N
Hello there. Forgive me for not updating sooner but writer's block has been giving me lots of trouble. How are you all doing? I don't know why this book just doesn't want to come to an end already. Sometimes I feel like I'm writing absolute rubbish and other times I feel like you guys are bored of me.

Anyway, I'm thinking of exploring writing of other genres. There's this idea for a new book that I got yesterday. I haven't properly put together a plot yet but you all so her from me once I do. I created a separate account for the other genres since as you know, I specialize mostly in teen fiction. My other account is diane_klein. Pls be sure to follow up.
Au revoir, mes amis!
Diane.