LOVELORN

33|Turned tables & progress

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AFTER THE words had left her mouth, more tears cascaded down her cheeks. She grabbed a paper towel and dabbed at her eyes, then wiped at her cheeks. We were thankfully tucked away in a corner of the restaurant and nobody was close enough to hear our conversation, but still, nobody wanted to cry in public.

"This is so stupid and embarrassing," Mara complained, her voice low and hoarse. "I'm going to go and clean myself up in the bathroom quickly, sorry."

She stood up, her chair creaking and making her wince in shame. Her gaze was set on the floor as she slipped into the restrooms that were located close to our table. A pang of sympathy hit me. I could imagine myself in her shoes, loving someone so much that you were terrified to lose them if they couldn't accept this part of you. Probably amplified by the fact that she didn't feel like she could blame him for it if he didn't want to stay with her.

It took a whole ten minutes for her to return. You couldn't tell that she'd been crying as she sat in front of me again. I'd eaten most of my pizza by that point, not knowing what else to do with myself when she was gone.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize I'd get so emotional about it."

"Don't apologize. I get that it's difficult to talk about. Have you made any plans of telling him?"

"No. But I know I should. I should have a while ago, really. Except for the fact that I'm scared shitless of his reaction, I also don't know how to go about it. How do I even start the conversation?"

"Well, there'll never be a perfect moment to do it. But when it's just you two and you have the time to have a serious conversation is a good starting point."

She nodded. "I'm going to do it soon. Hopefully, I can get the words out without breaking down."

"I'm here for emotional support anytime if you need it," I told her, trying to convey how genuine I was.

"Thank you, Naya."

Mission make the effort to get closer to the people in my friend group: Accomplished.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It had been over a week since Gael had tried anything with Zora. He hadn't sent a text, tried to talk to her at school, bumped into her, or anything. I wasn't sure how to interpret it. But one thing I knew for sure was that I wasn't going to let my guard down.

I'd seen him for the first time in a while the other day. He was talking to Cas of all people in the hallways. They looked relatively friendly too. I'd never suspected they would be friends, but when I considered it, it wasn't all that surprising. Shitheads attract shitheads, after all. I didn't approach them, but I did glare at them for a moment.

The short drive to Zora's place every school day was mostly quiet, but she'd mentioned once or twice that she was considering reporting him more and more every day. The problem was, that she felt like it had been too long. She was scared they wouldn't take her seriously because she'd waited months.

"Hey, Naya?" Zora said when we'd reached her house.

Usually she left the car with only a 'thank you for driving me', so I hadn't expected her to say anything beyond that. Naturally, I was curious what she was going to say.