Journey (3)

Chapter 15

Author Note: rewrote this because i absolutely hated it :) enjoy the revised version of it! 

"See you tomorrow," Natalie says, as we both walk out to the parking lot at the end of our shifts. "Drive safely."

"You too," I say, nodding. I smile at her, but Natalie doesn't start walking away immediately. Instead, she stays, as if she has one last thing to say to me. "What is it?" I ask her. 

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asks me, a look of concern on her face. "I didn't want to bring this up again, but everyone heard." 

"I'm fine," I interrupt her quickly. I don't want to talk about this right now. "It was just a disagreement. It doesn't matter, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

"It seemed like more than a disagreement," Natalie says, sighing in sympathy. I don't need her pity. "The things he said to you...I wouldn't blame you if you were upset, or mad, or anything like that. I know that I would be."

I nod. I don't think that I'm upset, or mad, or anything else, really. I'm more hurt than everything else. Hurt that the prospect of a friendship started new just crumbled in front of me. Hurt that someone I considered to be a friend would say what he said. That's what I mostly feel. Hurt. 

"It's okay," I say, smiling, although even I can tell that Natalie isn't fooled by it. "I guess I just thought that we had moved past everything now, but I guess we haven't." I shrug, as if that's all there is to it. In my mind, there is a whole lot more that can't even possibly be explained. 

"Okay," Natalie says, kindly. "If you're sure that it's fine. If I were you, I'd be mad, but that's just me. Anyway, see you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow," I say, smiling as we walk our separate ways towards our car. I am relieved that Natalie knows when to stop pressing questions on me. The entire messed-up situation is the last thing that I want to be talking about, with anyone. 

I climb into my car, and shut the door, getting ready to drive home. As I start the engine, it makes a sudden, loud sputtering noise. I quickly get out of my car. That didn't sound good at all. I've never heard that sort of abrupt sound come from the engine before.

It doesn't even take me a minute of inspecting the car and the engine to conclude that somehow, my car seems to have broken down, and now it appears that I am stranded here, which is honestly the last place that I want to be, especially after the events of today. 

I pull out my phone and call Natalie's number. She could drive me home. We live in a similar direction. I know that she would be more than happy to give me a ride back to my apartment.

However, when I call her, she doesn't pick up. I call again, for the second time, but there is still no answer. I send her a quick text, hoping that she'll answer soon. 

I consider calling Maggie, but she is still in the hospital, working for another few hours. She's completely busy, and won't be able to do anything to help out. There's no use calling her right now. 

I lean against my car, defeated. Calling a repair company would be really expensive, and I don't have that kind of money right now. I still don't even know where I am going to get a lift back to my apartment from. 

As I'm leaning against my car, I see Connor, walking in the opposite direction from me, going to his car. He hasn't seen me yet. But, he will, if he drives out. 

I sigh, watching him get into his car and start the engine. Maybe he won't even see me. Maybe he will just drive by and not think anything of it. That's what I hope, anyway. 

I watch Connor driving, his car getting closer to where I am. I hope that he'll just drive past and not notice, but his car slows to a stop a few metres away from me. He's getting out. Just the opposite of what I hoped.