Moving In With The Enemy

Chapter 25 ~ "The Funniest"

"Annie, there's another vase on the step!" I hear and I groan, pushing back from the desk in my bedroom. 

Chase has been sending flowers all week, I don't know if it's to try and apologize or what but I can't deal with him right now, the grind doesn't stop and I have school things to get done on top of work.

"What are they this time?" I ask, walking back to the living room and seeing Mark holding a vase full of red roses. "Oh ew, why can't he at least send good flowers." I sigh, feeling irritated.

"Not a red roses girl?" He teases and I take the vase out of his hands, setting it on the counter in the kitchen. 

"I hate them, they're so cheesy." I tell him. "They've all been red roses, if they were something else I'd probably put them out in my room."

"Like what?"

"Like.....lilies." I state with a firm nod. "They're summery and beautiful, classic, timeless."

"Want me to dump them?" Walker asks, joining our conversation and walking into the kitchen. "Because attacking someone isn't beautiful or timeless." He tells me with a hint of sarcasm and I snort a bit.

"I don't know if attack is quite the word I'd use." I remind him, pulling the card out of the top.

'Annie, please call me. I'm so sorry and I hope you can forgive me.
~ Chase'

The sad reality is I wouldn't have any fucking clue what to say if I did try to reach out. I've never been in this position before and all of this doesn't feel like the appropriate response to what he did. This isn't the sort of olive branch a normal friend would extend.

"What does it say?" Mark asks and I sigh.

"To call him and he hopes I'll forgive him." I mutter, opening the trash can in the kitchen and tossing it inside. 

"I'm sorry Annie, I.....I didn't know he was anything like this." Mark mutters and I shake my head.

"No, it's not your fault." I assure him. "I'm more than capable of forgiving him and all but......I can't be his friend anymore."

"Well good, you shouldn't be." Walker insists, picking up the vase and walking to the door, presumably to dump them into the organics bin.

"Wait, bring those back. I'll give them to my mom tonight when I go to see her." I tell him and he gives me a grin, setting them back down. "You know, the saddest part is I lost that really good study group." I shrug and they both laugh.

"Seems like an acceptable loss." Walker tells me and Mark shoves him.

"Do you guys think I'm being too harsh about this?" I ask, running a hand through my hair. "What do you guys do when you fuck up like this? Give me the male perspective."

"Annie, I'm not an idiot." Mark laughs and I laugh a bit too. "I don't try to kiss girls who say 'what are you doing' or 'get off of me'."

"Fair."

"And if I misread something and fuck it up, I'll just send a text or something. That's on me and I just move on." He shrugs, looking at the vase.

"So you think this is weird?" I clarify.

"Annie, you've got a stage-five clinger!" Dustin chimes in from the living room and we all laugh slightly. 

"Yeah don't feel like you need to fix this, it's on him." Mark reminds me and I nod, telling myself the same thing. "We're friends with Abby, we just happened to become friends with Chase because they live together. We're not out anything with this and you don't need to make up on our account."