Finding Yourself

chapter 74

"Mel nice to see you babe!" Monique grinned as I pushed the salon door open. "Nails again?"

"Hey, no actually, I came to give you this." I smiled and handed her my wedding invitation.

She took it from me and opened it, scanning the piece of paper. She let out a loud shriek.

"Mel you're getting married?!"

She carried on reading a shrieked again.

"NEXT WEEK?!"

"I know!" I grinned. "I'm sorry it's short notice, I haven't been in town until now. I hope you can make it."

"Course I can girl, you'll want me to do your nails for the wedding won't you?" She smiled.

"I wouldn't ask anyone else!"

Despite other customers coming in and booking appointments, she didn't stop speaking to me about my dress and asking how Harry proposed... in which of course I didn't tell her the whole story of how I made myself look like a twat by thinking he was cheating on me. God I still cringe at myself for causing a scene that day.

Finally, after an hour and a half, I left Moniques salon and headed for home. I walked past my old coffee shop and saw it had now been turned into a sweet shop. I smiled at it, looking at all the excited children inside and brushed my hand against the window before I walked away again.

It was weird seeing it as anything but a coffee shop now. It was kind of sad that almost 4 years of my life I spent in there and now, you'd never know.

"Mel?" I heard from behind me.

I turned around and saw Chelsea. I didn't know what to even think. I hadn't seen her since I lost my shit at her on the night of Hannahs funeral and I told her to never speak to me again. Is she crazy?

I stared at her as she continued walking towards me.

"Can I talk to you please?" She said, her voice small. "I'm not here to cause trouble."

I nodded after a while and she took a deep breath. She tilted her head towards a bench and we sat down.

"I'm sorry, ya know, for everything." She sighed.

"Oh you're sorry? You almost tore me and Harry apart so many time Chelsea. You spoke about Hannah like she was a piece of shit on the day of her funeral. You was a complete bitch, you have been for as long as I can remember... but you're sorry? Does that make everything okay?"

"No, I'm not saying it does and I don't expect you to forgive me either but I just needed you to know I'm sorry..." She paused for a few seconds and fiddled with her hands. "...and not all of it was my fault."

"What do you mean not all of it was your fault? You slept with him when we first started seeing eachother. You kept coming to his house and harassing us. You came round on the day of Hannahs funeral. It's your own fault Chelsea, you can't blame anyone else." I hissed.

"I know I did Mel but Jack paid me to do that shit." She breathed.

I froze on the spot, my mouth slightly open. "What? What do you mean?"

"I was jealous, of course I was. I really did love Harry, it might be hard to believe but he meant a lot to me. On the night I came round to Harrys and saw you two together for the first time, I went out to a bar and I met Jack. We got talking, he seemed nice and then we got onto the subject of ex's and stuff and that's when we came onto you and Harry. It was unbelievable that we found eachother, it was so weird. He said he knew you two were together but I could tell by his face that he didn't. We were both angry and jealous and he basically paid me to ruin you both. That's why I kept coming back. Well, he expected me to ruin you both but you kept going back to one another."