The Truth about Heather (gxg)

49 💕

However, before I could even type out one word, my phone began to buzz with a call from Drew. It shocked me so much that I almost dropped my churro. Thank goodness I didn't, of course, because that would have been an absolute crime against humanity. I swiftly answered the call and wandered off so I wouldn't disturb Abbie and Wesley's conversation. 

"Hey Drew," I said, as I picked up the phone. 

I was glad that Drew had the confidence to phone me after everything because I wasn't sure if I would have ever mustered up the courage to do so. 

"Hey Zoe. Look, we have a lot to talk about. I'm headed to your house," he said. 

"I'm not at my house," I said. 

I could picture his eyebrows creasing together in curiosity, as soon as I said that. 

"Then where are you?" he asked me. 

"I'm at the park," I explained. 

Now, he was probably sighing on the other side of the line, though too quietly for me to notice. 

"I'll be there soon," he said and then hung up the call. 

Excellent. 

"What just happened?" Wesley asked, "Was that Drew? Maybe the two of you will finally get the chance to talk to each other about everything! Don't worry, Zoe. You've got this." 

I was glad that someone had faith in me because I knew for a fact that I needed to tell Drew the truth. 

I mean, after he had been an ass to Heather and I, I had wondered whether it was appropriate to let him know about anything that had happened. However, Drew had made the effort to call me. That inadvertently told me that maybe there was a chance of him wanting to become friends again. I knew it wasn't going to be easy but I had to do this. I probably wasn't going to bring Heather into the equation, though. I knew that she had come out to her dad now but this was a different ball park all together. There were only a few of us that knew about Heather and I was looking at two of them. 

Abbie's eyes glanced over my face and she gave me a meaningful look. She stood up and walked over to place her hand on my shoulder. 

"Hey, it's going to be okay," she said. 

"Is that an objective fact?" I asked. 

"Yes. It is. I'm here for you, aren't I? As long as I'm here and Wesley is here and you have your friends, everything is going to be okay. You should be proud of who you are, Zoe," Abbie told me. 

Her words instilled me with a little more confidence, so I felt much better when I turned around to see Drew approaching us, even if I was a little scared, too. My fears were lessened slightly when I found that Drew was smiling at me. 

"Hey," he said. He shifted on his feet slightly. I had a feeling that it had taken some time for him to get here. "Can we talk somewhere more private?" he asked. 

I gave a nod of my head and the two of us made our way over to a tree to sit beneath it. 

It was a little cold but it was bearable.

"You know I hate apologising," Drew said. 

"I do. I know this," I said. 

"However, I can't let this keep going on, Zoe. I made a mistake. I kept pressing you and Heather for answers and in all honesty, I don't even know that I was expecting to find out. I just really, really liked Heather. I imagined this future with her and...I don't know. I've never been rejected before and it did hit my confidence just a little," he said. "Then I got to thinking..." he began to say. 

"Thinking?" I asked. 

"Yes. About you and Heather and I don't know, somewhere along the line it all became a little clearer. I had thought that you liked me all this time but maybe I realised that you liked Heather," he said. 

I felt my heart race, then. 

"I mean... I'm probably making this all up but-" 

"-no. You're really not," I said. 

Drew raised an eyebrow at me and I began to work out what on Earth I wanted to say next. This was a slight game-changer but I simply remembered Abbie's words. It was time for me to be confident in myself. 

I had an instinctive feeling that while this might not be as immediate as I would have liked the truth to come out, it was time to tell him. "I like Heather, Drew. I really, really like Heather," I said, as I began to remember all of the good times that the two of us had in the past and began to imagine all of the good times I was sure we would have in the future. 

"I wasn't expecting that," Drew said, "But I suppose it all makes sense, now." 

"I'm bisexual," I added. 

"I'm such a bad friend. How is it that I didn't know this?" Drew asked me. 

"You're not a bad friend, Drew. I only realised this recently myself. I did like you at one point. I really liked you but...over time I realised that my feelings had changed. I guess I realised that I couldn't continue to go after someone that didn't feel the same for me. Then, I began to like Heather," I said. 

"Well, I'm glad that you told me, Zoe. I'm also glad that I came here today, I...I really did miss you. I just...I've always seen you as a friend," Drew said, "And just a friend. Perhaps there was a part of my mind that wondered if we could be more but- well, that doesn't matter now because we're great as friends and we always have been and I promise I'm going to try to do a better job at being your friend now, too. I cared so much about the popularity and everything else but you know what? None of that really even matters. None of that could ever even matter as much as you do to me, as much as Heather does and as much as my band does and... it's really not the same without you there. It's not the same without Heather there, either." 

"I trust you, Drew," I said. 

"Really?" he replied. "I mean...I know that you don't really have any reason to believe anything that I'm saying right now but if you really do think that we can be friends again, thank you." 

"Of course! I missed having you around to show off my art room and play on the piano with when the music room was free," I said, "And if you need anyone to help you out with any of that band stuff, you know where I am." 

Drew seemed to consider my words for a moment, before he gave a nod of his head. 

"Actually, I think that there is something you can help me with, Zoe. Could you help me get my band member and one of my greatest friends back?" he asked. 

I felt myself smile, then. 

"Of course, I can. Let's do this," I said.