My Second Chance

Chapter nine: Friends

Baden

"We thought you would know your Mom well enough by now to realise she would tell us if you were coming to town" Whitney muses.

"Keep reminding me to never tell her a secret" I say giggling.

"Where are the kids" I say taking off my coat and hanging it on the coat rack by the door.

"They're all at their Grandparents thank heavens" Liza says with a grateful sigh while handing me a glass of what looks like Scotch.

"Wow Momma" I say amused.  "The hard stuff, tough week huh?" I tease.

"Shut it and just drink" she growls, "when you have kids, you'll understand".

I'm glad she can't feel how much her comment about me having kids pains me some.  But I push those feelings aside and take a seat next to Whitney, Edmond and Josh at the Dining table.

Liza immerses herself in finishing off dinner for all of us.

"Do you want help?" I ask

"No thank you, this is the only therapy I get.  Cooking without a little two year old tugging at my leg" she laughs.

"So Doctor Taylor, how does it feel to be a big shot Cardiologist?" Asks Whitney.

I smile brightly thinking about what I've been able to achieve so far.  I also get a little shy but I say "It's great really, its everything I imagined it to be and so much more".

"What about you?" I say turning the conversation to Whitney.  "I'm so proud that you've taken up Nursing, how is your studies coming along, you must have just had exams recently yeah?".

"Oh my goooood" she drags out the God part. 
"Its so hard, but so rewarding at the same time.  But I just got 90% on my Chemistry exam" she says proudly, eyeing Edmond whose smile indicates he's also very proud of his mate.

"Damn girl, go you" I woop.  We all laugh and continue to enjoy the small talk and catchup before dinner is served.

Joelle entertains us about the recent trip she took to Fiji in the South Pacific and how amazingly tropical Dravuni Island is and that we all needed to organize a group trip to Denerau Island. 
It sounds so dreamy and we all promised to definitely organize that trip ASAP.

~••••~

After dinner us ladies tidy up and the men retire to Joshs' Den in the basement.

It takes us girls almost two hours to finish the damn dishes, because 1.) We're pretty tipsy by now and 2.) We're laughing so much to the point we're crying and our stomachs hurt.

God I needed this, just to laugh and be silly with nil worries.

We finally finish cleaning up and with a fresh glass of wine each, we sit around the lounge reminiscing about the old days and talking about old crushes and what they're doing now. 

We talk about Liza and Whitney's kids and the cute things they say and do.

It was just an overall lovely evening.

"I've met someone" Joelle blurts out.

We all just stare at her stunned and then once we fully absorb her words, we assault her with an onslaught of questions.

What's his name?
How old is he?
What does he do?
Where'd they meet?

We were fan-girling for our friend.

"His name is Mark and we met at work" she finally says.
"We've been friends for a really long time.  He hasn't met his mate yet and neither have I, but we just click" she says shyly and then her next words make us all start screaming with happiness.
"I think I'm in love"

After syphoning every last piece of information out of her, we sit contentedly sipping on our wine.

Then because they're all nosy bitches, all three of my friends look at me sizing me up.  I know they're all mind-linking each other too.

"Rude" I say looking at them.

"What?" I ask.

"We were just wondering" Whitney starts.  "You've been away for a while, have you met your mate or are you seeing anyone".

I consider her question for a bit, I could lie, I'm a pretty reasonable liar.  But not to this lot, they can smell my lies before I speak them.  "Fuck it" I think and decide to just tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  I also think the alcohol is making me extra confident.

"Long story short" I begin, "I already found my mate, but I rejected him" I say embarrassed.

And that is when all hell broke loose.  All I hear is shouting.

Liza's talking about the "Moon goddess pairs us with our mate for a reason" and Whitney is talking about, well actually she's just throwing around a lot of 'F bombs'. 

Joelle however is just sitting quietly observing and then asks me "why I did it?".

I give her the same spiel I gave Zoë yesterday.  But for some reason she wasn't buy it and so asks me again.

I wasn't sure what she wasn't getting from my answer until she stared straight into my eyes and said.  "You rejected him because you're scared of failure".

"What, no I'm not" I protest almost defensively.

"Baden don't be mad okay" Joelle says carefully "it's just that you've always been so focused on your Career and before that College.  Ever since we were younger, that's all you could talk about.  Even when guys asked you out, you would shut them down, you could never just enjoy the moment.  I think you worried so much about the fact that your Parents struggled while you were growing up, you were determined to be better or do better no matter the cost".

"And what's wrong with that?" I asked hurt.

"Well babes, it meant that you missed a lot of great opportunities.  Did you never stop and think that perhaps you could have achieved all that you have with your mate by your side.  Someone to share it with and to help you along the way?" She explains.

For the first time in along time I'm left speechless.  I don't bother answering her last question because I have thought about it and I don't like my own answer.

Damn you Eighteen year old self who thinks she had all of lifes answers.

I hate feeling vulnerable.  I'm not mad at my friends, because they love me and only care about me.

I hug them all despite wanting to be petty, but really I'm trying to hide my tears and I don't want to show them how lonely I am.

After a moment of composing myself, Liza asks what everyone wants to know.

"So who was the unlucky guy?"

I purse my lips and think 'bandaid' rip it off quickly.

"Ummm Zane Shepherd" I say wincing.

And then they all start screaming at me all at once.