Unexpected Encounters

Chapter 39

Whitney stared at me expectantly as she waited for my answer.

"Well, no," I mumbled, "not exactly."

"Not exactly?" She questioned, "what is that supposed to mean?"

I took a deep breath and rubbed my hands against my legs. This was the other part that I really didn't want to talk about.

"Uh," I said hesitantly, "it wasn't McKenzie, but it was her sister."

"Her sister?" Whitney said as she raised her eyebrows at me.

"Yes," I sighed as I leaned down and put my head in my hands.

"And you slept with McKenzie after you and her sister broke up I'm assuming?" She asked.

I nodded, feeling like that was the only response I could manage right now.

"So you could get back at her for what she did to you..." she continued slowly, seeming like she was putting the pieces together.

I really didn't want to admit it, but that was exactly what I'd done, and I hated that Whitney was finding all of this out.

"Would you believe me if I said that wasn't why I did it?" I looked up and asked her.

Whitney slowly shook her head as she kept her gaze on mine.

"Yeah that's fair," I sighed.

"Is that why McKenzie is always after you now?" She asked.

"That's part of it," I said, "she eventually found out that I only slept with her to piss her sister off...she wasn't exactly happy."

"Yeah I wouldn't imagine that she would be," Whitney mumbled.

"I'm not trying to make excuses for any of this," I said, "because I realize how messed up it all is, but I - I was still in a really bad place."

"I understand that," Whitney said, "but it's - it's still a lot."

"I do appreciate you telling me though," she continued, "I know it's not easy, and I'm sorry that you had to deal with all of that."

I nodded at her as I looked back down at my lap. I was starting to have a bad feeling about where this was going.

"Is there anything else that you've kept from me?" She asked with an overwhelmed sigh.

"No, and I didn't - it wasn't like I was just trying to be secretive about things," I said, "I knew a while ago that I needed to tell you, it just took all of this other shit for me to finally do it."

"Bailey, I don't -" Whitney paused, "I know this is going to make me sound like a bitch, but I - this is still a little much for me, I don't know."

"It doesn't make you sound like a bitch," I sighed, "I knew that there was a possibility that you'd want nothing to do with me after I told you all of this."

"I never said that," Whitney quickly responded, "I just don't think this is good for either of us right now."

"You know you're kind of just making me remember why I don't do shit like this in the first place," I said.

"Please don't say that," Whitney said quietly, "you know that's not what I'm trying to do."

"I know you're not trying to," I said, "I'm just saying that this is why, I'm always worried I'm going to end up feeling this way again."

"Well now you're just making me feel like shit," she mumbled.

"No, sorry," I shook my head, "I'll shut up now, I didn't mean it that way."

"I don't want to hurt you," she said, "I hope you know that."

I nodded as my gaze went down to the floor. I didn't want her to see how much she was actually hurting me right now.

I suddenly felt Whitney's arms wrap around me in a tight hug. I hesitated for a moment before I reached out and returned the embrace.

I let my face rest against her shoulder, and it was taking everything in me to not break down and cry. It was starting to feel like this was more of a goodbye than anything else.

We sat there for a minute in a comfortable silence, and I didn't want the moment to end.

I felt Whitney's grip loosen, and she slowly sat back and looked at me.

"I better go now," I said quietly as I let my arms fall.

I stood up and walked towards the door, and I started to wish that I'd never done any of this in the first place.

"Hey," Whitney said before I left.

I stopped and turned around to look at her.

"Please come to our last few meetings so you can get your credit and everything," she said as she gave me a pitying look, "I'll just give you stuff to work on, you won't have to stick around."

"Yeah, I can do that," I told her, "see you later."

I slowly walked out to my car, feeling my hands start to tremble as I clenched them into fists. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I just needed to get home.

When I got back, Gabbie and Kaia were still gone, but I realized they'd texted me.

"Oh shit," Kaia said.

"We won't be gone much longer!!" Gabbie added.

They had sent the messages a while ago, so I figured they'd be back soon.

I laid down on the couch with a sigh and didn't even bother turning the TV on. Nothing was going to distract me right now.

I was staring up at the ceiling when Gabbie and Kaia burst through the door and made me jump.

"Jesus," I mumbled as I sat up.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Gabbie said in a panicked voice.

"Yes," I said, "relax."

"Actually I'm not really okay," I admitted, "but I'll survive."

They came and sat down next to me on the couch and Gabbie wrapped her arm around my shoulders. I felt the tears start to well up in my eyes, and I knew I couldn't hold them back any longer.

"Shit Bailey," Kaia said, "I never see you cry, what the hell happened?"

"Real nice," Gabbie said as she looked over at her.

"She's right though," I shrugged, "I - I told Whitney everything, but it didn't really change much."

"Really?" Gabbie asked.

"Really," I nodded, "I mean she said everything made more sense now, and she apologized for what she's said to me...but she still said it was a lot, and that this wasn't a good idea for us right now."

"Fuck," Kaia said, "but she did say right now, maybe she just needs some time after everything that's happened."

"I don't know," I said as I shook my head, "it didn't really sound that way."

"Kaia's right though," Gabbie said, "you never know, and it sounded like she was pretty understanding."

"I don't know if I'd say understanding," I said, "I'm just not going to hope for anything, I can't do that to myself right now."

"So what are you going to do?" Kaia asked.

"Well," I sighed, "I'm going to get through the last few meetings that we have, and then try to forget about her I guess."

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