Three is a crowd

Chapter 20

I never meant for things to end up this way

I'm sorry

I love you

Three messages. Three freaking messages. That was all Nigel had said to Jade since she had left. He didn't call, visit or text anything else. Jade wanted to hate him for sending just three messages. She deserved more than just three meaningless texts. Jade couldn't bring herself to hate Nigel for whom he was though, a part of her understood that.

After a whole night of crying, Jade was officially tired of crying. She managed to sleep for seven hours before she woke up and cried herself to sleep again. None of her friends were with her the whole time, holding onto her, listening to her cry and telling her silly jokes that made her cry once or twice. This time it was different, she felt alone.

When Lara had picked her up, she hadn't said anything. She was just quiet which tore further into the hole that was already in Jade's heart.

"Are you never going to talk me?" Jade finally asked when Lara parked.

Lara tensed and remained still.

"I am sorry okay? I acted like a spoiled brat, I'm sorry," Jade went on but Lara remained stoic. "Lara, I said I'm sorry!"

"Jade's yells seemed to ignite a fire within Lara and she turned to face Jade, eyes blazing.

"A desperate apology isn't going to fix this," Lara spat.

Jade nodded and blinked back the remainder of her tears and stepped out.

On the second day when Jade woke up, she noticed the bowl of soup from Nevaeh. It was homemade, according to the note which made Jade smile. The soup tasted horrible but Jade was hungry so she slurped it all down. She texted Nevaeh a quick thank you, reread Nigel's messages and cried herself to sleep.

Jade finally got out of bed four days later after her incident with Nigel. Her muscles literally hurt from being in one position for a long time but Jade didn't mind the pain. She relished in it because it distracted her from her other pain; the pain of losing Nigel.

It wasn't that Jade wanted to get up. If it was up to her she would have stayed in bed for eternity but she had missed way too many classes. Above everything, Jade put her education first which was why she finally dragged herself out of bed. After a good long shower that scrubbed away the gunk and sweat from her body Jade felt lighter.

Jade wore a 'chic' outfit hoping that somehow the beauty of her outfit would make it everything seem okay. Everything about that day was a statement to Jade, a statement to move on. Jade didn't dwell on pain; she cried for a few days then she got up and buried herself into whatever work she could find. She wouldn't be over the hurt, but she would have no time to dwell on it.

That was exactly what she was doing now, busying herself with her school assignments and her friends. If she wasn't studying, she was with one of her friends except Lara. Of course, there was a slight edge between them but Jade didn't linger on it, she pretended everything was fine. The arrangement worked short term but it was better than crying over Nigel.

As usual classes dragged on and on making Jade feel like it had been 40 days when instead it was just a few hours. It was almost five now and none of Jade's friends were available which left Jade with two options; to go to her room and feel sorry for herself or go to the library and catch up on her assignments. Jade chose the latter and buried the thoughts of Nigel deep within the confines of her mind.

Jade chose a secluded corner in the library where she settled on a worn couch that was surprisingly really comfortable. She laid out all her work, put in her headphones and began studying. Seconds turned into minutes which turned into hours and the next thing Jade heard was that the library was about to close. It was now dark out and for a moment Jade regretted staying in the library for too long. She dreaded the long walk home, alone. It reminded her of how lonely she was.