Chapter 32
"I'm sorry," were the first words Gardenia spoke to me when we situated ourselves in my room.
"Why?" I asked. We were both laying on the bed, separated by pillows that my mum had set up in hopes of making me more comfortable, if that were even possible. Bruised ribs were fucking painful.
"Everything. I know we haven't been talking a lot lately, and I know it's my fault. And it isn't that I'm too busy for you, or I'm replacing you, or anything. I've just, I've never missed somebody more than I've missed you these past two weeks. And whenever I talked to you, I just missed you more, and I was upset afterwards. I found it easier to maintain distance, and so that's what I did. But even that didn't help, and I just, I missed you so much Harry. And I got that call from your mom, and I've never felt so sick to my stomach. It was just like Aster, and again, it was my fault, because I was trying to avoid my own pain. And I didn't realize by doing that, I was causing you pain, but I never meant to, and I'm so sorry."
At this point, the pillows my mum brought were thrown carelessly across the room, as I moved closer to her. I didn't like the distance to begin with, but we were arguing at the time so I didn't protest. But now, hearing her distraught voice changes things.
"I'm sorry, too. I don't mean to be clingy, I just missed you so much, and looked forward to talking to you. And every time it seemed as though you were too busy to speak to me."
"You weren't clingy, you were perfect, and I was dumb. I'm sorry, please forgive me."
She was careful not to bump my ribs as she slotted her body right next to mine. She bumped into me accidentally, but I didn't even care about the pain, because I loved feeling the warmth of her body against me.
"Of course," I responded easily. I knew I had to tell her about last night, I knew that she needed to know that I hung out with Mel and her friends. I didn't know where that would leave us, but I couldn't hide it from her. "I have to tell you something about last night, that you may not like very much."
She didn't move from my grasp, but I could feel her body going tense. I hoped she wouldn't think this was a big deal, but I somehow knew that she would.
"After I called you yesterday, I decided to quit sulking around and go out. So I went to the movies, and saw Ted 2. I was by myself, throughout the entire movie, but then as I was leaving somebody called my name. And I knew that was strange because nobody knows who I am around here. It was Mel, the girl that we saw at the mall," I felt her begin to pull away, but I didn't let her. "Please don't," I begged, and she laid back down reluctantly. "Nothing happened, I promise, it wasn't a big deal. She offered to introduce me to her friends, and I don't have any friends. I've been going mad the past couple of weeks, because I had nothing to do with you gone. So I thought, what could it hurt? I'll make new friends, and I needed them. I didn't like Mel, I still don't, but I thought maybe her friends wouldn't be too bad. Anyways, she introduced us, and they were nice, so when they offered me to go to a place called Leo's with them, I obliged. And that's when I got drunk. Then we parted ways, and that was that."
"That's it?" She asked, and I nodded. "Okay."
"You're not mad?" I asked, confused by her reaction. I thought she'd be pissed that I hung out with the enemy.
"I can't be. You didn't do anything, Harry. I'm not happy about you getting drunk and almost getting yourself killed, but I can't expect you not to try and make friends."
"But it was with people that you don't like," I explained.
"Listen, Mel isn't a good person. I'm assuming you hung out with Shelby, since they're best friends, and she's alright. Who else was there?"
