I'm Not The Only One (Scomiche)

22: Babes

"I'm here when you are sad, when all of your clouds turn black."

Safe With Me by Sam Smith

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"Mitch, Mitch!"

"Is he still breathing? I think he stopped breathing!

"Mitch, are you okay!?"

"Of course he's not okay!"

"But you're still supposed to ask!"

"Check his pulse or something!"

"Wait, I think he doesn't have a pulse!"

"Who the fuck knows how to do CPR!?"

"Bitch, that's not where you check for a pulse!"

"Oh."

I groaned, the commotion too loud for my ears.

"Oh, thank god he's okay!"

"We need to fucking get another round of fucking coffee for this."

"Can we focus on Mitch, please?"

"Mitch... Love?"

Somebody squeezed my hand gently. I slowly opened my eyes and was greeted by a pair of brows and two sets of blues hovering over me. "What... what happened?" I croaked.

"You passed out," answered Caty.

I turned my head from side to side and noticed that I was lying on the couch. "Huh? How long?" I sat up abruptly and instantly realized it was a terrible mistake.

"Whoa! Easy there, pale face," Lia said, gently pushing me back down. "Take it easy."

I was going to ask for a second time about what happened when it all came back to me. "Oh my god, oh... my go- god," I choked back on the sob that was caught in my throat. I brought both hands to my eyes in an attempt to stop the tears but it was too late. "Sc- Scott and... and A- Alex and fuuuck," I sobbed.

"Babe..." Brookes slowly pulled me up to a sitting position and sat beside me before putting an arm around my shoulder. Caty sat on my other side while Lia kneeled in front of me.

"Ho- how... could he! I was... right! Oh m- my god, I was right..." I practically choked on every word.

"Honey, maybe there's was a good explanation for it?" Lia asked.

"Like what?" Brookes challenged.

I stared at her, not quite believing what she just said. "Whose side a- are you... on?"

She placed a hand on my knee. "Yours, of course. It's just that when we saw them they were just... talking, you know? And you've told us repeatedly over the last couple of months how Scott has changed, how he has adjusted for you and -"

"But he saw him be- behind my back!" I took several deep breaths to calm myself down so I could speak more clearly. "He knows how difficult it's been for me with Alex back in the picture. The fact that he saw him and didn't tell me must mean something!"

Lia sighed. "Hey, you know I hate the guy and I'm Team Mitch all the way but let's be real here. We kind of jumped to conclusions earlier. The hangover and lack of caffeine in our system sure did not help."

I wanted to tell her that I wasn't jumping to conclusions because my instinct told me I was right. But as if on cue, my phone started ringing. We all turned our attention to my bag that was sitting on the coffee table.

Caty leaned forward and fished for my phone. "It's him," she announced before pushing the ignore button.

I widened my eyes at her.

"What? Did you want to talk to him?" she inquired with a raised brow.

I shook my head and leaned on Brookes' shoulder.

The phone rang again, and Caty was prompt to dismiss the call. After only maybe fifteen seconds the message alert tone sounded off. "Son of a bitch must really want to talk to you," Caty said.

"I wonder what kind of lies he will come up with," Brookes added.

"Girls," Lia warned, eyeing the blonde and the brunette on either side of me. "You're not helping." Then she turned her attention back to me. "Babe, you know I know how you're feeling right now and I know there must be a million things going through your mind. I understand if you don't want to talk to Scott right now. What he did was wrong and there's no question about that. But you need to -"

She was cut off by my phone going off, with three consecutive messages sent one after the other.

"Turn that off," Brookes instructed.

I wanted to protest because a part of me wanted to see if Scott will continue to contact me. But Caty did as Brookes asked so I just stayed silent.

"Now what do we do?"

"Mitch?" Brookes asked.

"I'm not sure. All I know now is that I don't want to see him. I can't... I mean I don't..." I let out a deep sigh. "I don't want to be right. I wanna believe there's a good explanation but what if there's none? What if he really got back together with... with..." I couldn't help but start to sob again.

Lia reached for my hands. "And you'll never really know unless you talk to him. But if you're not yet ready, there's no need to rush. You can stay here while you think things through."

"I'm down to stay here, too," volunteered Caty.

"Chadd is on a business trip so yes, I'm in."

I smiled weakly, thankful for the support my friends were giving me. "Thank you."

"Weekend slumber party," Lia declared then she giggled.

"Oooohhh, I like the sound of that!"

Suddenly I remembered that I didn't have anything with me. "Wait, I don't have clothes. And I do not want to go back home."

"We can shop," suggested Caty.

I frowned. "I'm not really in the mood to go out."

"I'll gather a few stuff of Chadd's," offered Brookes. "He's at least two sizes bigger than you but it's not like we're going out to party, right?"

I put my arm around Brookes' waist. "You're my hero."

Lia stood up. "So... Can we have breakfast now? I'm starving and I really, really need to drink the rest of my coffee."

"God, yes, coffee," chimed in Caty.

I looked at her and said, "Uh, you threw yours at Scott, remember?"

"Bitch, that was your coffee. You had me hold your cup, remember? I'm not throwing my coffee on him. Not worth it," she shot back.

"So I don't have coffee?" I pouted and looked at each of them.

"Ugh, fine. Fiiine. You can have mine," Caty caved. "I'll just grab another one later when I go home to get my stuff."

A smile spread across my lips. "I was kidding. I'm not really hungry. Or thirsty for that matter. You guys eat. I'll just lie down for a while."

They obviously thought about protesting but agreed and let me be. They all headed to the dining area and shortly after started eating while discussing plans for the rest of the weekend - which ice cream to buy, how many alcohol bottles were needed, etc.

Meanwhile, I stayed on the couch, covered my face with a pillow and willed myself to sleep. However as soon as my eyes were closed, I pictured Scott and Alex in the coffee shop. I tried hard to fight the tears but it was a battle I easily lost. So I let myself cry and just hoped to God that the tears would somehow take the pain away with them.