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I nodded, about to say something, but Landon continued. "I guess I was just worried about losing more time together, and I spoke and acted out of anger. I was wrong, and I really am sorry. But I want our friendship back to the way it was before."
My nod became more fervent. "I want us back to normal, too. I don't like this space that's been between us for the past few weeks."
"Do you forgive me?" He asked hopefully.
"Of course I do, Landon." It was an easy decision.
He leaned against the back of the couch, throwing his head back as if I'd just lifted a massive weight from his shoulders. I giggled, but tried to think about what I needed to apologize for. I wasn't going to let myself believe that I was innocent in all of this. There were always two sides to the story.
But I struggled with self-awareness, and was coming up mostly blank.
"I'm sorry for...well for how I act around Tiffany. I guess I just haven't gotten over how she acted towards me in college and I haven't given her a chance to prove that she's different." I knew I was lying, because Tiffany had proved that she was the same as always. But maybe I was biased. Maybe I wasn't giving her enough of a chance. I'd certainly changed a lot since college, so why shouldn't I allow her to do the same? Perhaps I'd been looking at her through a broken lens this entire time.
"Belle, it's fine. Don't even worry about it anymore." Landon placed a hand on my knee, rubbing a small circle with his thumb before removing his hand.
I took a deep breath, nodding. "I'm also sorry for reacting so intensely when we talked last. I could have definitely controlled my emotions more and not just gone to yelling at you. Maybe we could have avoided all of this." And my apology was real. I definitely reacted before I gave myself time to process the argument, and I could have said so many other things that wouldn't have been so severe.
"Again, don't worry about it. No apology needed. I acted like a jerk and honestly, I would have responded the same way that you did." Landon pulled me in for a hug, taking the plate out of my lap. "I just want my best friend back. Can we go back to normal now?"
"That depends. Are we going to watch space operas until we pass out?" I asked, hopeful that we would finally watch the movie we were meant to watch all of those weeks ago. I had refused to watch it without him, even with how mad I'd been with him.
"Of course, Belle. I wouldn't want to do anything else."
24
Landon
WhenIwasakid, my parents barely had anything. I grew up in a trailer in a poor neighborhood in Florida, wearing clothes until they had holes in them. But I never thought twice about the way I lived, until it got better.
My parents were extremely hardworking but dealt a bad hand when they were just starting off. But as I grew up, they worked really hard on a consulting business while they worked full-time jobs. Eventually, their business grew into something they never could have imagined, and our lives changed. Suddenly, we moved out of the trailer park and into a four-bedroom house in a nicer area, only a few minutes from the beach. It was like a luxury to me.
I went to a great school and had more opportunities than most because of my parents' hard work, and I never forgot.
But their new house…it was something else entirely.
Five years ago, they moved to a different city about forty-five minutes away and on the mainland of Florida. It was in a quiet neighborhood—and by neighborhood, I meant that there were some houses in the vicinity of their new house, but you couldn't see any of them. Because their new place, more aptly called a manor, was sitting on a sprawling lawn that was bordered by trees all around.
"I don't know that I've ever been to a house this big before," Tiffany commented as I pulled up the driveway that was lined with perfectly manicured shrubs.
I laughed uncomfortably. "Yeah, I hadn't either until they moved here."
"You didn't grow up here?" She asked, staring out the window at the beautiful landscaping. I was proud of the hard work that my parents had put in to get to this point, truly. But it made me uncomfortable the way that Tiffany ogled it.
"Nope. Grew up in a double-wide," I told her, driving the car through the circular path in front of the house and parking it behind some of the other cars here.
We were early to the party, but there would always be people earlier than me.
Including Belle.
I spotted Zach's car just a few cars forward and tried hard not to roll my eyes. Ever since I'd apologized and made a promise to try harder with Zach, I had tried harder. At schooling my tone and expressions around him. I still didn't like the guy, because something was off with him. In the few times that I'd been around him and Belle, I'd noticed him cut her sharp glances and speak harshly to her, even if it was under his breath. I kept my comments to myself, but I wanted to curse the guy out for being ugly to my best friend.
But I would behave tonight. Of course. I promised Belle that I wouldn't do anything otherwise.
Plus, there would be so many people here that I knew and could talk to, I probably wouldn't have to interact with Belle and Zach too much. Not that I didn't want to spend time with Belle tonight, but I just knew that we'd both be busy. And I was aware that there was some sort of bad blood between Tiffany and Belle, though I still didn't know what. Honestly, I'd kind of forgotten before this moment that the tension between them even existed.
I got out of the car and walked around to open Tiffany's door, helping her out of the car. She was wearing a slim-fitting dress and some serious heels that I told her she'd regret by the end of the night. Regardless, she looked nice. Then I popped the trunk and grabbed the large wrapped box for my parents, carrying it behind Tiffany as she walked up the stairs of the house. There were at least twenty stairs to the door, and I didn't want Tiffany to have to walk them without holding onto me. So I sat the gift down and grabbed her hand, helping her up all of the steps. Then I raced back down to grab the gift as a few more cars started pulling in.
"Thank you," Tiffany said, grinning at me. I nodded, leading her into the house. Immediately, I dropped off the present on a table that already had other presents, then grabbed Tiffany's hand and led her through the house.
