Journey (3)

Chapter 40

author note: i'm going on holiday for two weeks in a couple of days, so there probably won't be any more updates after this one for a while! i'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible after i come back. don't forget about me!

everyone at this party- camila cabello 

It's the next day after Connor's birthday, and I'm eager to know how it all went. I made the conscious decision to skip it, but that doesn't mean that I'm not interested to know how it was.

The first person that I notice is Natalie, and I remember her text from last night. I know that she'll probably want to tell me as much as she can possibly fit in, before our shifts begin. I quickly make my way over to her, smiling. "Natalie," I say, to get her attention.

She looks up. "Tessa, I have so much to tell you, about last night. We had a great time." Natalie pauses for a moment. "Well, we would have had a much better time if you were there, of course."

"It's okay," I say, smiling at her efforts. "I'm glad that you all had fun. The selfie that you sent me last night was great. So, how was it all? Did anything interesting happen?"

"Well, I don't know if you'd count this as interesting, but Lanik got completely drunk," she laughs, looking around. "I wonder if he's even coming in today. You should have seen it, he was hilarious."

"Wow," I say, laughing along with her. "Lanik, drunk? I never would have thought I'd see that." I smile. "What did he do? Anything wild? I'm really struggling to even picture what he would be like."

"I know, it was so funny," Natalie tells me, still slightly laughing at the memory. "He completely humiliated himself, and it was priceless. I wish you had been there to see him. I don't even know if he'll be able to face the embarrassment of coming in today."

Even imagining what must have happened brings a smile to my face. I didn't think that I would regret my decision to not attend, but I feel a slight pang of wondering what might have happened if I had actually chosen to go. It could have gone completely differently. It's not often that I second guess my decision, and I'm not doubting myself, but I am very slightly questioning whether I did actually make the right decision. 

"I can't believe that," I say. "That must have been hilarious. If I see him around here, I'm definitely going to mention it." I look around, but I can't see him lurking anywhere. That makes a change.

"You should," Natalie agrees, nodding. After a pause, she starts to talk again, addressing the elephant in the room, if you would even call it that. "The other text that I sent you last night...that was true. I mentioned to Connor how much I wished that you could be there with us all, and he agreed. He did."

"That's great," I say, nodding. I'm unsure of how to even respond. I don't know what Natalie wants me to say, whether she wants me to be grateful to her, for telling me this. "But I think you're getting the wrong idea about that. I'm almost certain that it was just from a friendly standpoint. He wished I was there, as his friend."

"Yes," Natalie says, pointedly. "Friends, if that's what you want to call it." She looks at the time, and then back to me. "You know, our shift is just about to start. We should probably get ready."

"Good idea," I say, nodding. I also look at the time, checking it. Natalie is right, our shift starts really soon. In fact, it starts in five minutes. Unfortunately, that means I won't have enough time to do one thing that I fully intended to do. I wanted to check in with Connor, ask him firsthand how last night went. I would never admit it to Natalie, but the text that she sent me last night, about him, definitely made me think about a few things.

Natalie and I head into the locker room, to get ready for our shifts to start. Neither of us mention the text, or anything about the conversation that we just had. Instead, Natalie starts describing another hilarious event of last night, where Lanik stood up on one of the tables. I have to say, that does make me wish I had been there.