Different Worlds (wlw) Editing

F O R T Y - S E V E N

"Come on we should go out, all of us. It's been awhile Brie and you know it."

"I can't I'm sorry, I really can't." I apologized to Mia. She'd been doing her best in getting me to agree in hanging out with them outside of my sister's apartment and I wasn't digging it.

I wanted to stay secluded now more than anything else. There were some issues ongoing within the streets Christopher had made me understand and I didn't want to leave because of it.
The police were busting members of the Irish mob-like crazy and although that was happening I still didn't feel safe.

"So that's a no to an entire night of binge drinking until we're all shit-faced?"

"I'm sorry,"

"That's not an issue, how about we bring the fun to you instead of having to go out is what you fear? It's going to just be you, me, Chris and Ava."

"Speaking of, is she okay?" I asked biting my lips as a part of my nervous habit. Ava and I weren't speaking much since her rant about me knowing Raye was bad news yet still I ran right into her. She was basically avoiding me and I wasn't upset that she was, just a little hurt.

"If you're asking if she's stopped being a bitch about the whole thing, yes. Look, Brie, she was just worried about you, quite like all of us but she just didn't know how to express herself in a not so brutal way."

"That's fine. At least someone was. So you guys don't mind coming here to hang out?" I switched the conversation so we wouldn't have to talk about our friend anymore.

"God, no. As long as your sister allows us to get fucked up on her couch, sure."

"Cassie wouldn't mine, she'll probably join us too." I chuckled, holding the phone tightly to my ear. I had made my way from the living room and over to the refrigerator where I took out a bottle of water. Placing it on the countertop I listened patiently for Mia to finish talking.

"Is around seven going to work for you?"

"Yeah, you guys can come whenever," I replied twisting the cap off my water and taking a sip.

Moments after Mia had vowed later in the evening that we'd enjoy ourselves just like old times and I honestly believed her. Whenever all of my friends and I were in one room together it was always like old times but deep down I knew it wouldn't be.
Apart of me was still aching since Raye and I separated and that was the one only thing that wouldn't quite be the same, I'd always know she's what's missing.

Some hours after Cassie came home from work and I told her about what my friends wanted and as predicted she was fine with it.
She even encouraged me to open up and relax around them and I get why she was asking me to do that.
She'd seen me go from being broken and crying to doing slightly well, to back to a stage similar to the starting.

The mood swings that I often had to endure recently were horrendous and it would often end with me locking myself away and crying my eyes out with Raye in my thoughts until I slept for hours.
Since I've been going through therapy, Cassie has witnessed that rise and fall over a dozen times and at the end of each, she was there to help me continue from where I left off.

* *

My friends started pouring in shortly after seven, filling the apartment with noise. Christopher was the first to show up and then Mia and Ava.
When Ava had seen me her face morphed into a sad pout and she rushed over to me where she collected me into a very long and passionate hug.

"I'm so sorry I was mean," she whispered into my hair, and I could hear the slurring of her words which meant she was crying.

"Don't apologize for speaking the truth, it's fine. Someone had to say those words and I'm glad that it was you." I replied gripping her tighter to me.