One More Time | ✓

Chapter Eight

To my great surprise, I find myself sitting in a coffee shop the next day. I'm not on the plane home, like I'd initially made Greta promise me a few days ago, but sticking around. The best part, though, is that once I explained everything to my older sister, she offered to stay, too.

She said that if I was willing to stay around a bit longer, to spend time extra time with Chrissy, Dad and Debra, then she should, too. My heart warmed at that.

It's threatening to ice over, though, as I sit alone in the café, leg bouncing incessantly as I rather impatiently wait for Mavis to make an appearance.

Late last night, long after I'd talked everything through with Greta and cleared it with Dad that we could stay for a bit longer, I got a message from Theo. It was fairly concise, which was always his style of texting, saying that Mavis was up for meeting me today.

So, now, I'm sitting here at the time and place Theo told me, wondering if it was a joke.

Which is really stupid, I know, because it's not like he'd actually do that to me. And to be fair, I highly doubt that Mavis would either, no matter how badly I had thought of her up until very recently. How badly I treated her.

Fuck. Nothing like a short trip home for Christmas to discover what a terrible person I am.

I glance down at my phone. It's four minutes after eleven, and she's not here. That's fine, right? I don't really remember how her time-keeping was in high school, but maybe she's just got held up with something. I mean, she does have a literal child. It's not like everything goes to plan with children, right?

Literally this morning, I had watched Debra try to go out for a run, only to have Chrissy throw up all over her, thus making her late. Maybe Mavis got vomit on her.

Or maybe I'm just being ridiculous and overthinking this whole thing. Who knows.

To my relief, the door opens and Mavis bursts through, looking a little harried, but vomit-less nonetheless. She's got her son on her hip and Felix right behind her.

Ah, fuck. Hadn't really counted Felix into the equation. But I guess that makes sense that he turns up too, given that he and I were friends before I cut everyone off. And that I've been angry about something that he actually did, rather than his identical twin.

It's funny, though. As they walk towards me, I can't help but notice all the ways that Felix is so different to Theo. I mean, for starters, he doesn't make my heart hiccup in my chest. He's also slightly shorter than him, but stockier. More defined arms. Not that there's anything wrong with Theo's arms. They sure as fuck felt good last night.

Mavis thankfully interrupts my spiralling, with what sounds like spiralling of her own. "I'm so sorry we're late, this little rascal decided to vomit right before we left the house."

I can't help the laugh that escapes my lips at that. Maybe I'm actually psychic.

"It's okay," I manage to say, shaking my head, as I get up from my seat, unsure of how to act in front of either of them. "It's fine. I'm, uh, like, three and a half years late, anyway."

An awkward silence falls over us. I'm not surprised that they don't know what to say to that. I'm not sure, either. Why did I just blurt that out loud?

They settle down on the seats in front of me, Mavis directly opposite me, Felix beside her, and then their son next to Mavis at the head of the table, in between the two of us.

Quickly, I grab a menu, needing something to do with my shaking hands. I've been to Roast a million times over my life, and know that I'm going to order a latte, but I still feel the need to occupy myself with something.