It Haunts Us Once Again

XII

I hope you all are doing well (: it's been a while so let's jump right into it.

Two things:

1. This is a long chapter. Definitely longer than I thought it would be. So I hope you guys enjoy.
2. There's no specific POV for this chapter. I'm hoping it's not too confusing😅 but if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask and I'll clear it up. Also if you catch any errors, let me know. I probably read through this like 10 times now lol.

But anyways, that's all. Have fun :)

-Q

...

Five Years Ago, September

The next day after the confession was a blur. 

Tristen skipped all of his classes, called off work, and pretty much slept all day. Once he had calmed down enough to form proper sentences after he told her, he couldn't help but apologize. Apologize for his actions, to his dad, to Nevaeh. Sure, he never liked his dad for what he did to him, but he didn't have to die for it, especially not in the way he did. Then, he had just spilled all of those emotions onto his girlfriend and was selfish enough to ask her to stay with him before he told her what he had done. He was insane to think that he had the right to ask her such a thing.

He had sat there, staring at the floor since he didn't have the will to look at her while she sat in front of him. She was quiet and it hurt so much to sit in silence, not being able to tell what she was thinking. But then he felt her arms around him and froze.

It's going to be okay. She had said it so quietly that Tristen was sure he imagined it. There was no way in the world she had just said that to him. Not after everything he did. At that moment, his vision was blurred with tears and he cried again in her arms.

The only thought that went through his head was that he truly didn't deserve her.

Even two days later, laying on their bed and staring up at the fan in their room, that's all he could think of. Nevaeh was in the living room doing her daily call to her mother and he listened as he heard the joy in her voice. She hasn't said that much since that day which he didn't blame her for, so hearing her in such high spirits was nice. However, he's willing to wait until she's ready to say something else to him about it all.

But in the meantime, she had asked him to come along to a study group with a girl she met at the coffee shop named Willow. He was against it at first, but he definitely needed the distraction and maybe the extra help. So now they were waiting for the text message saying that she and her friends were in the study room.

...

Nevaeh was pacing back and forth in the living room with her phone to her ear, trying to keep up with the casual conversation her mom was holding. She would be lying if she said her mind wasn't all over the place.

"Everything with that one class sorted out yet?" Her mom suddenly asked. The response was almost automatic. "Yeah, I talked to her yesterday. She showed me what she wanted to be done and said I could do some extra assignments that could be added to my grade. So now I just have to do everything," she smiled as if she was talking to her mom face-to-face. But she felt a sharp pain in her chest at the same time. "That's great mija. I knew you could figure it out," she said in her "I'm proud of you voice", but that just hurt even more. "Just don't overwork yourself Nevaeh. I mean it."

"Of course," she paused when she felt her phone vibrate in her hand. It was probably Willow texting her but if it wasn't, it was still a great excuse for her to cut the call short. She could feel her face start to heat up with tears. "Okay Ma, the girl just texted me so Tristen and I are going to head out. I'll call you later okay?" She said, finding it hard to breathe and keep her voice steady. "Sure, have fun alright. Te amo." 
"Te amo." And she hung up, putting her phone in her back pocket.