𝐍𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐁𝐎𝐑

32

"there you are".

nessa looks up from her current task of cleaning the dishes she and mads used to prep the pie crusts and whatever else they decided was a necessary desert to have at the friendsgiving lunch. her expression changes from a bored look to a gleeful one when her eyes meet avani's dark brown orbs.

they waste no time in hugging for the first time in what feels like forever. avani squeezing the smaller girl a little too much but nessa didn't mind, she knew that she was just excited to see her again.

"ness are you done hiding in the kitchen?" mads asks with a playful tone as she enters the room with an empty tray.

holy shit those boys can eat.

nessa pulls away from avani, a pretend look of hurt on her face and she tries to muster up an excuse as to why she has in fact been trying to avoid greeting guests when they arrive all afternoon.

"why are you hiding in the kitchen?" avani scoffs, taking a seat on the island.

mads and nessa share playful glares, making faces at each other as if they were six years old again and arguing over something about barbie dolls.

"i'm not hiding, i'm just busy" she shrugs, drying her hands.

"oh bullshit" mads calls, turning to avani. "she's hiding in here because she and josh spent the majority of last night talking at the spot behind the boys's house and today she found out about sarah and that josh is bringing her today".

avanis mouth opens wider the more mads tells.

"he didn't tell you about sarah?".

"she didn't tell him that she and mikey broke up either". 

before any of the three could say anything else, the doorbell rings and it daunts on nessa that the only guests left to arrive is josh and sarah. an unsettling feeling swallows her whole and she freezes to the spot. she isn't ready to meet josh's girlfriend and she isn't ready to explain to him that mikey and her are no longer a thing. the explanation as to why that is won't be an easy thing to admit  either considering that josh himself is the reason.

quickly, she runs over to the hallway, fixing her appearance in the mirror- starting with her hair that she curled earlier and finishing with smoothing down her red off-the shoulder dress. avani and mads give her a smug look before leaving the kitchen and joining everyone else in the living room.

she decides to bite the metaphorical bullet and face the music. she takes strides out of the kitchen and into the busy room, laughter and chatter being the only sounds you can hear with the background music playing almost silently.

"ness there you are" anthony smiles, moving away from his conversation with bryce and abby to give her a hug. she hugs him back immediately- enjoying the comforting feeling. she's missed her sway boys.

she already greeted kio, bryce, griffin, and the girls when they arrived earlier and their reunions were just as sweet.

from the corner of her eye, nessa can see her clinging onto josh's arm as if she were some sort of sloth who'd die from falling if she let go of him.

maybe that's a little harsh considering she doesn't even know the girl yet.

"okay guys foods ready".

nessa makes her way to the table along with the rest of the group. she notices her name tag has been moved and she's now sitting with mads on her left. avani on her right. and josh facing opposite of her. how fun is this going to be?

josh stands behind a seat, pulling out the  chair for sarah and tucking her in before sitting himself down next to her. nessa refuses to look at her out of fear that if she does she'll have crushing insecurities about herself. mads takes a hold of nessa's hand under the table and squeezes it when she notices her best friends leg shaking from the nerves.

"you most be nessa! i'm sarah, josh's girlfriend".

nessa now has no choice but to look into sarah's baby blue eyes and paint on a smile.

"oh yeah, i've heard lots about you" she chirps, glancing over at a nervous looking josh. he silently thanks her although nessa has no idea why her not telling sarah that she has in fact not heard anything about her would be such an issue.

the conversation breaks into separate topics among the group of friends. nessa and jaden catch up about her new found influencer life that she thanks the boys for giving her. they tell her that she would have gotten there without them but the doubt in the back of her head refuses to believe it.

sarah can't keep her tongue from waging as she dishes out the details on every part of she and josh's relationship. she also doesn't hold back the very interesting details of her luxurious life and how her dad own several designer outlets throughout lots angeles. she claims that david beckham is her uncle too.

"did everyone enjoy the meal?" mads asks, directing the question across the full table.

everyone murmurs their agreements and approval of mad's first thanksgiving meal. nessa gives her best friend a side hug, letting mads know that she's proud of her and that today has been as successful as she could have hoped for it to be.

then the doorbell rings.

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hiii i'm so sorry for not updating in a while :/
i thought i lost my phone but we found it today and yeah so I WILL BE POSTING A LOT IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS SO YUH

who's at the door 🤨