Because of Him

31

Chapter Thirty-One

A small smile grazed my lips as I strolled through the local park on Saturday morning. I neared the entrance of the wooded area of the park, and I walked through all the trees, following the trail that led me up to the hill over the park. I walked across until I was near the peak and sat down cross-legged on a green patch of grass. I smiled to myself, as the sun shined down on me, because Emmie was coming back from Florida, finally.

Yesterday, after she told me the news, we talked more about it in further detail. She informed me she would be flying in Sunday morning, and expected to meet all of my new friends, expecially Logan. She said she needed to approve of him, but deep down I knew she already did.

I mentioned how things between Faith and I weren't the best, and that I wasn't talking to Logan at the moment either. She wasn't too happy with me after I told her the whole story, but I assured her I was going to fix it.

As if on cue, my phone blared its ringtone from the inside of my bag and I jumped, the loud ring bringing me out of my daydreaming. I quickly opened it and rummaged through it until I felt my phone on the tips of my fingers. I pulled it out and steadied my eyes on the screen. Faith.

I bit my lip, simply staring at her name. I had been waiting anxiously to fix things with her, and I wanted to do it so many times in the past day; I was just too scared to. I mean, I knew what I wanted and had to say, I just didn't know how to.

Taking a deep breath, I tapped on answer and brought the phone to my ear.

"Oh my God, Lauren!" She said before I could even get a hello? out. "Please just let me explain everything, and if you still hate me then that's okay, as long as you know the truth."

"Wait, Faith—"

"I never, ever intended to hurt you, Lauren. I can promise you that what you saw was nothing but a friendly gesture; it didn't mean anything, I just got excited, and I hugged him. I swear there's nothing going on between us; I wouldn't take Logan away from you, even if I didn't like Tyler. And, I know we were acting suspicious and that it seemed like something was going on, and I should have explained everything to you from the start. I feel like such an awful person and friend, and I'm so sorry."

Her explanation made me feel one hundred times worse than before. It was my fault she was mortified over a simple, friendly hug.

Faith took my silence as a bad thing, and I heard her sigh in defeat. "Please," she practically begged, "you have to believe me."

"I do," I quickly replied, "and I'm the one who should be sorry because I was such a horrible friend to you and to Logan. I should've let you exlain everything, but I jumped to conclusions and made such a big deal out of nothing."

"You're not mad at me anymore?" She asked, sounding hopeful. I swear I could hear the smile on her lips.

"No," I shook my head, feeling my own lips begin to tug upwards. "I'm not mad anymore." I didn't even bother asking her about what it was they were hiding because the truth was that I didn't need to know. If it was something they wanted me to know, they would tell me. Otherwise, it was none of my business.

"Oh, thank God," she said breathing a sigh of relief. "These past two days without you have been hell."

I laughed, bringing my knees up to my chest. "I'm really sorry." I cringed at myself.

"I can't imagine what it was for Logan, though. You know, since he likes you and everything." I was glad she felt comfortable enough to tease me about Logan, because it gave me the hope that I didn't completely mess up our friendship.