𝘽𝙪𝙗𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙪𝙢 || １８+

012 . .

TW;

None.
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I invited Vesper over to talk.

My heart just couldn't allow it to let her be just like that after we catched up in the hallways last week. She was Shayla's best friend. Our house was like her second home before she died. It felt wrong to drop her because of Shayla's death. Sometimes we formed a trio. Me, Vesper and Shayla. The two of them wanted me to feel included, since I was the last born of our family. My brother had his own friends, and I was always home alone. Our parents were always at work, just like they are nowadays. The parents being gone was always a solid thing in our family's routine. It never changed, not even the slightest bit. Our parents still worked the same hours every week, it didn't matter if there was a birthday or a holiday.

Not even the death of their own daughter.

They always worked 55 hours a week, each of them. Maybe work kept them distracted from their grief, or it was just to be gone from home. For me and Jonathan, avoiding our home was not an option. If we weren't home, the house wouldn't be in this state. Everything was clean, dishes were cleansed and in the entire house there weren't any traces of dust.

Being the last born was never fun, it was more like a torture. It always used to feel as a sin I needed to return, to be the youngest in this family. Jonathan never used tot hink about me before I grew up. He was a teenager, hanging out with his friends as they all skipped school was his first priority. Me and Shayla came after. Shayla always took me under her roof, which I'm so thankful for. Without my sister raising me, I don't know where I would've ended up. Probably being the most miserable teenager without a job, smoking weed every single day and hanging out with the criminals in our neighborhood.

The job part was true, but the others weren't.

While I was vacuuming the wooden floor downstairs, someone rang the bell. Jonathan, who was sitting on the couch with his laptop as he was writing his essay, jumped up. "That's probably my new set up." He hurried over to the front door like a maniac, making me groan in annoyance. I continued to vacuum when I suddenly heard two muffled voices coming from the hallway. Jonathan's voice, and a female voice that was laughing. A familiar laugh.

Vesper.

I immediately shut off the vacuum cleaner and tossed it on the floor with a thud before hurrying over to the hallway. When I opened the door I spotted Jonathan, standing next to Vesper. A blush crept up to his ears as he spoke to her, clearly stunned by her arrival. I have to admit I would be stunned to see her too, had I not invited her.

"I'm so glad you could make it." I could feel a smile creeping up on my lips. Vesper also smiled at me, now walking up to me as she gave me a slight hug. "Ofcourse, I couldn't miss out on seeing you guys again." She shot a specific glance at Jonathan, who couldn't keep his eyes off her.

The man was head over heels but still in denial.

I guided Vesper to the living room after she left her coat and shoes at the front door. We were both sitting on the couch next to eachother, followed by a man who couldn't keep distance from a certain someone. "Jonathan, out." I spoke in a demand, making him a bit flustered. He raised his hands in defense, now walking back as he retreated. Before he closed the door, he made sure Vesper wasn't looking and gave me a middle finger before quickly closing the door.

I sighed in relief. The thought of Jonathan blocking our girl talk was highly unacceptable. We girls needed privacy catching up. Besides, I wasn't planning on leaving Jonathan's name out of our conversation. That made it even more unacceptable if he would be eavedropping our conversation.

As we both sat down on the couch, I managed to speak up after a long silence. "I'm sorry for not reaching out to you earlier. I just.." Before I could finish my sentence, Vesper interrupted me. "I know. You should not feel the need to apologize about this." Her tone was stern, more stern than I'd ever heard her speak. Vesper hated it when someone felt guilt because of her. "The only thing I cared about was that you and your family were okay, Avery. I could handle my own grief fine by my own." Her tone got less stern and went to a more softer tone. Her voice was soothing like honey. It immediately made me feel better about myself. I felt less of selfish than I did before for not reaching out to her. Ofcourse I wasn't the only that was griefing. Shayla had more friends than I did. Her death must've taken a toll on her too.

"I'm fine." She seemed to sense my thoughts as if my mind was transparent. As if she could look into it without any effort. She placed her hand on mine, squeezing it gently before gifting me one of her warm smiles. I opened my mouth, willing to speak up to her, but she interrupted me again. "I promise." Even after Vesper always used to tell the truth, I didn't trust her this time. She seemed odd. Maybe a little confused too. I didn't want to see her like this; still struggling with Shayla's death, hiding things she thought that weren't important. I started to get better at my job. Noticing details wasn't that hard anymore. Vesper's way of acting made it even more obvious that she was hiding something. Even someone with no detective/crime solver experience could see the look on her face meant something. Hurt. Betrayal. Fear. "Is there something you wanna talk about?" I whispered, afraid of her pushing me away. She froze. "No." She answered abruptly, suddenly not facing me again. She cleared her throat and stood up, almost knocking over the decoration standing on the table. "I need to go." She said in a hurried tone. I was suddenly startled about her abrupt way of speaking. Had I asked too much? "Oh." I managed to say. "I understand." I tried not to sound too disappointed. Vesper didn't seem like the type to suddenly leave a place. Which caused questions to pop up in my mind. Did I take it too far? Had I hurt her? Regret spilled up in my torso. Vesper gave me a quick smile before petting my head once while walking past. "I'm sorry. I just realized something I have to do." I looked up at her, confused. "Assignment." She said quickly, causing my face to relax. Maybe I was just overreacting. I returned her smile. "Goodluck. Call me when you wanna talk, okay?" I offered before she disappeared in the hallway. "Will do!" She shouted through the hall. The front door closed with a thud. I remained seated while questions filled my mind.

Vesper was scared for this confrontation, but why?

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Author's Note: 

After a longg time, we're back with a new part from 'Bubblegum'. Gosh I missed you guys. I just wanted to say I'm so thankful for the fact that we've reached the 200 views on this book. Also, thank you so much for everyone that votes on this book. 20 votes is truly a thrill. I'm glad my book babies have got the positive recognition from you guys. 

I love you all, 

Lots of love, 

Jaloe x