The Lies I Believed

When You Assume

Our spa day was one of a kind. Two massages in one day? I honestly needed it. Probably won't get that type of treatment again. Not in a million years. I still have to go back home and sort out everything with the realtors. The kids will be on a break, so I'm going to spend time with them, too.

"Ugh, that movie freaking sucked."

"You're telling me. Almost made me fall asleep."

"It wasn't that boring."

"...Well, I'm gonna head home. Nathan and the girls want to have dinner at some Mexican restaurant that just opened."

"Hey, I'm offended!"

Lunch went just great. I noticed Jade and Isabella were being a little weird towards Sha'Kera. I decided to ignore it and made sure she felt welcomed. No matter how much I tell them to be nice, they pretend she's a problem. I know they feel wronged by how I treated them after I met Sha'Kera. But, they also started acting indifferent towards my new friends after Samantha left our friend group.

After lunch, we went out to watch a movie. I wasn't that impressed with it. I usually like horror movies, but that was extremely underwhelming. I'll never let anyone else persuade me to watch a cheesy horror movie again. I've experienced worse.

"Dinner time!" Jade pushed between Sha'Kera and I. "Good thing we didn't get any snacks, huh?"

I could tell she wasn't happy with me being friendly with Sha'Kera. I've told her time and time again that Sha'Kera will always be someone dear to me. If it's been years and she's still pissed, then so be it. I can't help that her sister decided to leave like that and I replaced her with someone better. If Sha'Kera hadn't showed up when she did, then I definitely wouldn't have such a bond with the rest of them.

"Don't mind her," I muttered. "She's still being salty."

"I mean, if she wants someone who acts like her sister, I can be that person," Sha'Kera grumbled.

"Nah, don't be. It's bad enough I have to be reminded of what she did at my gala when she gets brought up. It's pretty annoying. Jade never liked Samantha, but she'd rather she be here than you. Weird, right?"

"Nope. That's Jade for you. She wants everything to go her way or it's the wrong way."

"Well, I assure you that she'll stop acting like that before the end of the week."

Yeah, that's a lie. Jade's always going to be salty towards Sha'Kera. Kera is the nicest person I've ever befriended. Of course, she's done things that had me questioning our friendship, but at least she's truthful with me all the time. Jade's never told me where she worked. She always avoids that subject, saying it's confidential. How confidential can a desk job get?

I've always put it off as something she's embarrassed of, but I've had a desk job before. It's not something you're embarrassed of after a few weeks. It grows on you and eventually you start to love it. Most times, I didn't have to interact with anyone. When I did, it was just lunch break talk and important upcoming meetings. There's something Jade's hiding and I'll do almost anything to find out what it is.

We arrived at Natalia's restaurant and the staff immediately got us a table. Sha'Kera looked like she wanted to die as she waited for everyone to be seated. I sat her down across from Natalia and next to me. It's only right she gets to eat in comfort and not have to worry about being forgotten.

I knew what I wanted to talk about tonight. No one knew about my run-in with Samantha. I doubt Jade knows she's back in town. If she does, then she's doing a good job of hiding it. She and Samantha had been attached at the hip right up till Sam ditched us. They pretended to hate each other, but we could all tell there was more to what they were telling us.