It's not just complicated, it's a disaster

Disaster (Chapter Twenty Nine)

Chapter Twenty Nine

Alex’s P.O.V

I wasn’t just Jet nervous, but my father was too. We were in the airport, waiting for his mother’s flight to get in. Jet was scared his mother was going to kill him... but I wasn’t sure what my dad was scared off.

Jet’s phone suddenly went off, scaring the hell out of all of us. Jet pulled out his phone from his pocket and read the text.

“It’s my mum,” he muttered. “She’s here.”

“Okay,” I nodded. “Let’s find her.”

This isn’t scary at all. I mean... this is probably worse for Jet. He’s going to see his parents together... and he’s that child that they didn’t want, and wasn’t meant to happen... I was only the second child that wasn’t wanted.

We followed Jet to the airport until Jet stopped then walked up to this woman, who he hugged. His mum, of course... but she didn’t look anything like I thought she would. She looked young, was reasonably tall, had amazing long blonde hair... it wasn’t fair to my father who now couldn’t stop looking at her.

“Hello, David,” she said, stepping forward and shaking his hand.

“Emily,” he nodded slightly.

“Long time, no see,” she said.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“And this must be Alex,” she said, turning to me.

“Yep,” I nodded, but as I spoke my stupid cell phone went off. “Sorry... I’m just going to take this.”

I walked away from them, pulling my phone out and answering... knowing before answering it, who it was.

“Harriet, this is not the time.” Was my way of answering the phone.

“This is the time,” she disagreed. “I need to see you right now.”

“Right now, I’m at the airport... I’m an hour away,” I told her.

“Okay... well get your Dad to drop you here on the way home, I’ll drive you home, whatever, I don’t care,” she said.

“What is going on? Why are you so... angry?” I asked her.

“I’m not.... please, just... I’ll explain when I see you,” she said.

“Okay, fine. I’ll be there in like an hour,” I told her.

“Fine, thank you,” she said, calmer. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

So then I had to convince my dad to let go to Harriet’s... on Christmas eve when I’m meant to be helping with what I’m sure will be just as disastrous as thanksgiving. Eventually he caved and dropped me off at Harriet’s’. She immediately let me and she still looked angry.

“You took your time,” she muttered.

“I was at the airport,” I reminded her. “And is it just me, or do you smell vomit?”

“If you must know... Zeke, turned up here this morning, drunk,” she said.

“What?” I asked.

“Yeah, he was really upset, and he showed up here. Kane took him home,” she explained.

“How drunk was he?” I questioned.

“A little... not as bad as I’ve seen you, he’ll recover,” she shrugged.

“Did you call me here to tell me that?” I asked her.

“No,” Harriet said. “I called you here because I’m sick of the way you act about Zeke... I want the truth, or at least some of the truth.”

I sighed. “I’m sick of it too... I want to tell you the truth too.”

Harriet looked at me surprised and then pulled me in a lounge room and sat down.

“I’m confused,” she admitted.

“Yesterday... I realised I can’t keep pretending to be someone I’m not. I’m going to focus on my life, and have fun,” I told her.

She frowned. “Okay... so, I’m getting my best friend back?”

“Yes,” I smiled slightly. “I’m back.”

She smiled at me, but didn’t hug me... I think she was still pretty confused.

“Zeke,” she muttered.

“What about him?” I asked her.

“Do you still like him?” she asked

I breathed and felt a lump in my throat again. “I care about him... but not like I used to... not after what happened.”

“What happened exactly?” Harriet asked.

I shrugged. “I couldn’t keep doing it. He loved me so much, and... I couldn’t be that girl he wanted. I can’t feel the same way... and I couldn’t sit there and know that I could hurt him. Everything in my life was falling apart, I knew Zeke was next, I knew that I was going to end up hurting him... I just ended it on my terms.”

“That’s insane,” Harriet commented.

“I can’t be in a relationship... especially not now. Not with England,” I said. “Even if I don’t get in, I’m still going.”

“Not being with Zeke, in your mind, is the best thing?” Harriet summarised.

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Wow... it can’t be that simple,” Harriet said.

“It is,” I said.

“Then why did you not say anything? I don’t understand,” Harriet muttered.

“Zeke asked me a billion times when we were together if it was just too hard for me, and I always said no, it wasn’t fair,” I shrugged.

Harriet went to respond but my phone went off it. I looked at it and sighed.

“I’ve got to go, sorry... Christmas stuff, you know,” I told her.

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” she nodded.

“Um, I probably won’t see you until your party,” I told her.  “So... yeah.”

“Okay,” Harriet said slowly. “It’s nice to have you back. I’ll probably text you tomorrow or something.”

“Okay,” I smiled.

Harriet’s P.O.V

I know Alex says that she’s her old self again, but I think that maybe she’s worse. She claims that she broke up with Zeke because she didn’t want to hurt him... but the way she said was like she was a robot.

“What happened?”

I jumped and turned to see Kane. Yes, I lied. Zeke and Kane were in the house the whole time.

“She lied,” I muttered.

“Lied, about what?” Kane asked confused.

“Everything. She lied straight to my face. She’s worse,” I whispered.

“Harriet,” Kane muttered, taking me in his arms.

“I don’t know what to do anymore. Now she has an excuse for all of it, she’s going to pretend. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe trying to get Zeke and Alex back together was a bad thing.”

“Then maybe you should stop trying to help,” Kane suggested.

“But Zeke-,”I whispered.

“I’ll take care of Zeke,” Kane told me. “It won’t be easy, but eventually I’ll get him over her.”

I nodded slightly. “We should focus on making sure our friends are okay, not try and force them into a relationship where they might try kill themselves.”

I felt Kane nod and then kiss my head. I rested against him and sighed. This no longer was about Zeke and Alex; it was about making sure that my two best friends were okay. It’s what it should’ve been about all along.