Barely There

Chapter 20 - Forgiveness

The blonde threw herself on the chair across from Leda. Frazzled, the girl's guilt-ridden eyes fell on the focused girl.

"I'm sorry."

Leda's olive face wrinkled with confusion. Yet, as she recalled the incident in the bathroom, remembrance slowly took over; the anger returned to the surface.

She spoke through strained teeth as the sound of clicking slowly died out. "For what?"  

Amelia breathed out nervously as her eyes looked around the room, unable to keep their gaze on the brown ones staring at her. 

"For...for not believing you during that whole thing."

"Amel-"

"I just-. He seemed like he was just friendly, you know? But last Saturday, no wait Friday, he literally cornered me and wouldn't move out of the way...and when I tried to reason with him that I was going to be late, he got all mad and told me I led him on. I mean what the hell! I have a fiancé, so why would he even think that for a second? Anyways, that was when I realized that you were right about him all along..." She paused for a breath before making eye contact with the brunette. "So...Since it's a new year, I was hoping you could forgive me for being such a, uhh, such a..."

"Bitch."

She smiled hopelessly at Leda. "Yeah. A bitch."

"I don't know Amelia." Leda's fingers danced aggressively on the keyboard as the computer froze. "I mean you should've believed me. Why do you only believe me after it happens to you? I was literally crying and screaming and having a panic attack and you still did not believe me." Breathlessly, she pressed down on the button, the blue screen light disappearing in front of her.

"I messed up Leda, I really did. I'm sorry. But you know how I am, I like to see the best in people."

"Then why do you always see the worst in me?" she muttered quietly.

"What was that?"

"I said it's okay."

"Oh, are you sure?"

"Yes."

Amelia looked briefly at her hand before moving her emerald eyes back to Leda's figure. 

"Anyways, I have a surprise..." she started excitedly. "The date is set!" Leda opened her mouth in a measly effort to speak before Amelia joyfully yelled again. "May seventh!"

"I'm so exc-"

Amelia's eyes widened as she let out a small gasp.

"SO WHO ARE YOU GOING TO BRING?"

Confused Leda let the word drip off her tongue, "huh?"

"As your date. Who are you going to bring?"

"Oh um.."

"Please tell me you're bringing a date...or else I have to set you up with one of Nathan's cousins. And you know they're not your type."

Questioningly, Leda softly raised an eyebrow as the blue light came back again."So what is my type?"

"I dunno, mysterious guys that brood and have some weird dark past?" Amelia responded warily.

"Wow."

"It's true."

She let a laugh fly out of the cage in her tight chest, "yeah in a way, it is".

Figures moved upwards out of the corner of her eyes as a rustling of shoes against the gray carpet took over. Amelia looked at the scene before standing up along with the rest. "So you'll bring someone? Please."

Sighing, Leda gave in to the plea, racking her brain for a solution.

"Yeah. I'll try."

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The cracked, dark wood slammed against the wall. She tripped into the apartment, her muscles straining to hold onto the heavy paper bags filled to the brim with groceries. The tips of her fingers glowed red with blood and her brown hair stood up in staticky needles as she walked. Setting the bags in the kitchen, she began to rummage through the colorful and fruity contents in an effort to organize. 

She opened the refrigerator and let the light escape into the dark apartment. A distant buzz hummed at her ear, yet she found herself focused on the task. A red apple rolled out of her grasp uncontrollably, running into the shadows of the kitchen. She turned her head in search of the fallen fruit when she noticed the ray of white light beside the gleaming, silver faucet. 

The square of whiteness dimmed to black as she picked up the phone before she turned it on again. With her hands clammy and weak, she slid her finger to the right, unlocking the rectangular screen. 

Her eyes searched frantically through the unfamiliar homepage as she attempted to pinpoint her first stop within her late brother's phone. Scanning the page, her overwhelmed eyes counted a total of 452 messages on the corner of the green app, tempting her to open it. The curious finger moved towards the large notification, before clicking down on the cold screen.

Seeing the first contact on top of the app, her eyes widened. The phone slid out of her hand.