AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ve missed y’all too. As long as we can do this without drama, I’m cool with it,” he chimed in.
“Yay!” I squealed, lifting my glass for a toast. “To… a new beginning. For all of us.”
“To a new beginning,” they added, clinking their glasses against mine.
“So, what’s been up with y’all?” I asked, happy to finally have all of my people back. I wasn’t naïve enough to believe this would happen consistently, but I’d appreciate it every time it did. There was still an underlying issue between Allegra and me and Jeremiah and Nova, and until those issues were resolved, we would still need space.
“Why wasn’t I invited to the party?” Tiffany asked, tossing her arm over Nova’s shoulder and running her hand up and down his chest with a syrupy smile.
“I’m hanging with my crew, Tiff. I’ll come and find you a little later,” Nova said, carefully removing her arm from around him.
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “If we’re getting married, I should have a relationship with your friends, babe.”
“No, you really shouldn’t,” I replied.
“Chap, please.” That was Allegra, and the fact that she shifted her attention to me instead of Tiffany was already starting to piss me off.
“Why don’t you go give your lady the validation she needs, brotha? So we won’t have no issues,” Jeremiah told Nova, whose eyes thinned into slits.
“I don’t need you to tell me what to do, Jeremiah.”
I knew shit was about to go left when Jeremiah laughed. “It was just a suggestion.”
“See, Chapel. This is exactly what I’m talking about,” Allegra said, sitting her glass on the table.
I scoffed and pointed at myself. “Me? How is this my fault? She came over here interrupting the flow, and it’s my fault?”
“It’s all your fault!” Allegra yelled, jumping up from her seat. “None of this would be happening if it wasn’t for you!”
“A’ight, that’s enough,” Jeremiah said as both he and Nova stood.
“You left us!” Tears began to fall from my best friend’s eyes, and I felt like they were drowning me. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. All I could do was sit there and let her yell at me. “You left me! I needed you. Weallfucking needed you! And all you cared about was your damn self!” Sniffling, Allegra wiped her face, but the tears continued to rapidly pour. “I had a whole ass baby without you, Chap.” She chuckled as her hands trembled. Nova took her hand into his while Jeremiah wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “You broke my heart, and I’msofucking angry with you. You didn’t even apologize for leaving me. A whole year.” Her voice cracked and I was no longer able to hold back my own tears. I tugged my bottom lip into my mouth as they fell. “You didn’t even apologize,” she whispered softly before snatching her purse off the back of her chair and storming off.
“Chap,” Nova called.
“Go. Make sure she’s okay,” I ordered. Looking up at Jerry, I told him, “You too.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“I’ll be fine. Just go and make sure she’s okay.”
I kept swallowing as I made a beeline for the bathroom. All eyes were on me. Some were round in fear, others sympathetic. I didn’t care about any of them. None of them. Except Allegra’s. My hand covered my mouth as I found it increasingly more difficult not to vomit. As soon as I made it into a stall, I dropped to my knees. Dry heaves led to rapidly pouring tears.
All this time, I blamed Nova for his selfish act of cheating, but me leaving was selfish too. It didn’t matter the reasoning, Allegra was right—I’d left her. I’d left them all. All I had to do was check-in, call her, or at least send a text. For almost a year straight, I said nothing to my best friend at all. I was so consumed by my pain that I caused hers as well.
Light knocks on the door caused my sobbing to turn into sniffles. I didn’t bother asking who it was or telling them to go away.
“Angel.” Closing my eyes, I only cried harder. Of course, it was Jeremiah. “Let me in.”
“She’s right, Jeremiah. I’ve been such a horrible friend. A horrible person. All I cared about was myself. I didn’t think about how my absence would affect y’all. Well, I did, but I cared more about doing what was best for me.”
“And that’s your right. You had every right to leave. Could you have called or texted? Yes. But what’s done is done. There’s no point in you being upset about a decision you made to protect yourself over a year ago. Allegra has finally expressed to you how she feels. It’s up to you to fix things now.”
I reflected on his words for a while before grabbing some tissue and patting my face. Standing, I unlocked the door and stepped out, avoiding his eyes.
“Is she… still here?”
“Yeah, but she’s leaving. Nova is going to drive her home and I’m going to trail them in his car so he can come back.”
