Forget Your Mistakes // Jamie Follese

Chapter 36: It'll Never be Alright Without You

-Alex-

When I woke up the next morning, I reached beside my pillow to get my phone, only to discover that it wasn't there. I sat up and looked around my bunk, even climbing out to look. I walked out and saw Ryan and Rebekah looking at me.

"What the fuck did you do with my phone?" I asked angrily.

"We're not letting you leave, Alex," Ryan replied simply, "You and Jamie are both overreacting, and you're going to talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about, Ryan. I fucked up, he broke up with me. It's done."

Ryan stood up and walked over to me, grabbing the sides of my face and looking me directly in the eyes, "You did not fuck up, Leah Alexandria."

"I could have pushed him off of me, but I didn't," I choked, "This is my fault."

"This is not your fault, and you know it. He's twice your size! You didn't stand a chance – just like you didn't freshman year."

"Yes, I did, Ry. I fucked up big time," I could feel the tears start falling, but I didn't make any motion to wipe them away, "Please just let me go home. I can't be around here anymore. This place is a constant reminder that Jamie will never forgive me and I... I just don't think I can handle that. Just let me go home..." I whispered.

Ryan moved his thumbs to wipe off my face as Rebekah stood up and handed me my phone and sighed, "Call the taxi."

"Bek, what are you doing?" Ryan asked, letting go of me.

"We can't make her stay, Ry. If she wants to go, we have to let her go. Everyone's meant for different things. Maybe this wasn't for her," Rebekah replied quietly.

Ryan looked at me again and pulled me into a hug, "We're gonna miss you, Al. A lot."

I smiled, but it was more forced than anything, "Thank you, Ry. And tell Nash, Ian, Cady, and Maggie that I'll miss them too. Maybe tell Nash after his hangover calms down though..."

Ryan chuckled, "Will do."

"And tell Jamie I love him – no matter what happens."

Ryan breathed in deeply, "I will."

I grabbed my bag from in front of my bunk and walked off the bus, waving goodbye to Ryan and Rebekah one last time.

~

-Nash-

"God damn it," I mumbled, rolling out of my bunk. My head was killing me and the sunlight was certainly not helping. I walked to the bathroom and took some asiprin before trying to find everyone. I saw Ryan and Rebekah sitting on the couch. "Hey, guys," I said rubbing my head.

Rebekah sniffled, "Hey, Nash. How are you feeling?" I looked at her and noticed her eyes were red.

"I'm feeling fine..." I trailed off, "What's more important is how you're feeling. Why are you crying?"

She looked at me and whispered, "Could you go get everyone else, please?"

"Yeah, sure. No problem," I said, walking to the bunks. Ian, Maggie, and Cady walked out immediately to Ryan and Rebekah, but it took me a little longer to get Jamie to get up. "Jamie, come on. Rebekah and Ryan are crying. We've gotta see what's wrong," I begged. He mumbled some not-so-nice words before getting out and dragging himself to the front of the bus.

Jamie sat down and Rebekah looked straight at him, but addressed everyone, "Alex left the tour."

"Left the tour? What do you mean she left the tour?" Ian asked, obviously shocked.