The Novelty of Existence

15

𝙼𝙱 ⋆ 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 ⋆ 𝚆𝚎𝚜

When I finally woke up the next morning... well, it wasn't morning anymore. I groaned loudly and stretched out, my hands and feet pushing against the walls of Francesca. By the time I changed in the closest public washroom, fumbling around and throwing ice-cold water on my face, the others were already waiting at the van.

I knew it was my turn to drive, and I could have broken down and cried right there. My head was pounding. Isla was strumming her guitar on the sidewalk. Maybe she was good, but the sound of her fingers plucking the strings made me feel sick at that moment. The world needed to shut up.

Aiden and Danny stopped me before I got to Francesca. Aiden looked less chill than usual. I raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

"You broke the pact last night," Danny said with a rigid jaw. His dark eyes were flaming.

"The Mo pact?"

"Yes!" They responded together, loudly enough for Isla to stop playing and look down the street at us. Right. That was our only pact.

"What did I do?" I searched my fuzzy memory. All I could remember was partying at a little club. Maybe I had a few too many, but there's no way I would have...

"You told Mo about our pact." Aiden was really good at reading my mind.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, a sigh of relief escaping me. "That's what you mean by breaking the pact."

"She's pissed." Danny cut in, gesturing his head towards my van. That's why we were all waiting outside.

"I'll fix it," I said, feeling pretty confident. Mo wasn't so scary. If anything, she would be mad that the pact got in the way of her and her precious Danny getting together all this time. As if he wouldn't drop everything in a heartbeat to get her. And vice versa.

I nodded curtly at Isla as I walked past her, and she smirked back at me. She was amused. I liked this girl.

Mo was sitting in the front passenger seat and jumped when I opened the driver's side door. She looked away from me quickly. I cleared my throat and twisted a little in my chair.

"Hey, I'm sorry about my behaviour yesterday," I said, as genuinely as I could.

"What behaviour?" She prodded, still looking out the window.

"I mean, telling you about the pact," I ran a hand through my hair, "That wasn't cool."

Mo's head snapped towards me. She looked strange like she was now the one with a secret. She searched my eyes for a moment, which made me feel weird, so I looked away first.

"Is that it?" She asked. Not in a rude way, in a curious way.

I laughed. "Yeah, Sasquatch, that's it. You want me to get on my knees for a pact we made in middle school?" I asked incredulously.

Her eyes got wide for a moment, and then she looked down. She was sad. I assumed it had something to do with Danny, like always.

"Okay, we're cool." She said quietly. My heart jumped a bit as she left the van, the waves of her hair tied into a braid like she used to do it. I gulped and looked away again. Don't look into it too much, I convinced myself.