All Along

chapter 8

"Wow. You look beautiful Kayla." Amy exclaimed placing hands on her cheeks.
"Thank you Amy." I said with a blush.
"Your brother is going to be struck with this beauty." Jen said to Amy pointing towards me.
"Totally." We all laughed.
Amy had bought herself a pretty dress. She helped Jen and Irelene with their dresses as well. And mine dress, she didn't help me; she ordered me to get the red backless, floor length dress. I must admit it was stunning. We decided to eat something before shopping again for shoes. Amy had ordered us all to get new shoes as well.
"I will have french fries and diet coke." I said smiling at the waiter. He smiled back. He was good looking, tall, muscled and had bronze colored hair. He had blue eyes. He could easily pass for a male model.
"I will have the same." Amy and Jen said together.
We looked at Irelene. "Me too."
After five minutes he arrived with our order. We thanked him and he left.
"He was totally checking you out." Jen said giving me a little nudge on the arm. I chuckled. He was cute and
handsome. We joked a little and finished our food. This whole time
Irelene was texting Chaz. I tried not to look at her. It still hurts afterall it had only been few hours since my heart
was broken into million pieces.
I looked in opposite direction and saw the cute waiter looking at me. He smiled a little and I did the same.
"I need to go to the washroom." I said while we all stood up to leave.
"Me too." Irelene said.
"Fine. We will be waiting outside." Jen said while checking her phone.
I followed Irelene to the washroom.
"Kayla?"
"Yup?"
I looked at Irelene. She wasn't looking at me. She was looking at the floor.
"What is it Irelene?" I said placing my hand on her shoulder.
"You are not angry with me right?" She asked still looking down.
"What! Why would you say that?"
"Because of whole Chaz thing?" I was silent for a while. I was hurt, no doubt on that. But I wasn't angry. It was not her fault. It was no one's fault. They liked each other and they are together. I had no right to be angry.
"Of course not. I am not angry with you. Why would I be?"
"I knew you liked him."
"I guess everyone knew that." I said with a slight chuckle.
"But that doesn't mean I am angry with you. You both are my friends. Always will be. Besides it is not like we were dating or anything. It was one sided. And it was just a crush."
"A huge one." She said with a smile.
"Yeah unfortunately." I smiled back.
"So we are good right?"
"Yes. I can't say I wasn't hurt. I was hurt but not angry. You don't have to worry about me. I am totally okay with you two being together. You both like each other and are nice people and on top of that my very good friends so you two deserve each other. I give you my blessings." I said the last part with a wink. She chuckled.
"You know Chaz cares about you." I just nodded. I didn't want to hear these things, not now.
"He wanted to tell you all sooner but he knew doing so would hurt you." I just smiled.
"I liked him from quite a while now. After Aaron left we came close. Soon I started to like him. I wasn't aware that he liked me as well. I always thought he liked you. And I knew you liked him so I didn't tell him. But from sometime he behaved differently, a good different. After a while he proposed. I couldn't hold back any longer. So I said yes. I am sorry Kayla but I loved him so very much." She said with tears in her eyes, but they were tears of joy.
All this time I was silent and just listened to her. My heart broke into further million pieces. Tears were stinging my eyes.
"You don't have to be sorry. Instead be happy that you have your love and he is a nice guy. He really is. " She hugged me and thanked me for understanding. I hugged her back.
I lingered back few more minutes after she left. Once she was out I started to cry. I was still crying when I
heard Jen's voice outside the door. She was talking to someone on the phone. I quickly washed my face and
removed the smugged mascara underneath my eyes.
"You okay?" Jen asked me as soon as she came inside, her voice filled with worry.
"Yeah I am good." I said trying to fake a smile.
"Drop that fake act Kayla. I know you have been crying."
"I wasnt."
"Deny as much as you want but I have known you for a long time and I know you were crying." When I didn't
respond she continued.
"It is okay to cry you know. I know you are hurt and it is natural to cry. And you don't have to hide your tears in front of me or Sam. We are your friends and we love you so much. Sam was really worried about you. He loves you a lot." With that she hugged me and I held her tightly and cried again.
"We should go now Amy is waiting. And she doesn't like it when some one keeps her waiting. I smiled and we left the restaurant.
Amy and Irelene were waiting for us. They both were playing with their phones.
"Let's go." Jen said and we followed her. Amy was walking beside me.
"What took you so long?" Amy asked me.
"I had to freshen up a bit." My answer wasn't convincing but she dropped the topic anyway.
"You know I still don't like her." She said nodding towards Irelene. I chuckled.
"Why?"
She shrugged her shoulders.
"She is nice. You will like her."
"I dont think so. I wonder what my brother saw in her." She was looking at Irelene while talking to me.
"That can only be answered by your brother."
"True. They are blind to not see what is in front of them." She said looking at me.
"Irelene is beautiful."
"Beauty is not enough."
"What about Jen? You like her or is she in your i-can-never-like-her list?"
"Oh Jen is a sweetheart." She said with a smile.
"Too bad she is already taken otherwise you could have set her up with Aaron." She chuckled and shook her head.
"I already have someone in my mind for him." She eyed me mischievously. I laughed. We brought the shoes and went to salon for makeover.