AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And my heart immediately wants to cry.
“Hey, Natalie, I was wondering if we could talk?” Vanessa asks. She’s standing in front of me with her hands in her red peacoat pockets, looking like she just left a magazine photo shoot. But, of course, she was always put together, even when just running errands. This past year I had desperately missed her fashion advice almost as much as I missed the girl in the impeccable outfits. “I don’t want to take up too much of your time.”
“Umm.” I’m completely taken by surprise since she was the last person I expected to be standing on the other side of the door. I mean, I hoped that eventually Vanessa and I would be able to talk about things, but at this moment, I don’t feel mentally prepared. Telling Nathan and Jason was one thing, but telling Brian’ssisterwould be a completely different conversation. “Sure, yeah. Hi. Come in.” I open the door and wait for her to walk inside while I stand by awkwardly.
“We can go in the family room,” I say, leading us in that direction. I take a seat on one of the chairs by the fireplace, and she follows suit, sitting in the chair right across from mine.
“So,” I tuck a piece of hair behind my ear, “what did you want to talk about?”
“Is there anyone here?” Her big brown eyes dance around the space.
“No. Jason and … Nathan left about an hour ago to play basketball,” I say, pausing before Nathan’s name.
“Oh,” Vanessa responds.
“Yeah, so—”
“Natalie, I know,” she cuts in.
“You know what?” I ask. My heart feels ready to jump out of my chest.
“I know something happened between you and my brother, and I’m so sorry.” She looks down at the floor, her dark hair covering her eyes.
“H-how do you know?” I only told Nathan and Jason hours ago, and they wouldn’t tell anyone. I’m sure about this.
“I heard about what happened last night at Nate’s birthday party. Word travels pretty fast around this boring town.” Vanessa laughs nervously. “Well, it wasn’t too difficult for me to put the pieces together after that.”
“Vanessa, I’m so sorry for—”
“Natalie, you don’t owe me an apology.” She shakes her head adamantly, looking unwaveringly at me. “I don’t want to know the details because he is, unfortunately, still my brother, a brother that I have never been very fond of … But what I’m trying to say is, and I don’t even know if what I’m about to suggest is even possible, but I’m hoping somehow we can go back to being friends?” She looks up at me with glossy eyes. “I can’t begin to say how sorry I am about whatever happened between you and Brian, but Natalie, I’ve missed you so much. I had no idea why I stopped hearing from you. You were my best friend. My sister. And it felt like half of me died when you cut me out of your life.”
One by one, tears make their way down her cheeks, causing the knife in my heart to twist agonizingly from the guilt consuming me.
“I’ve missed you too,” I say through a quiet sob. “I didn’t want to hurt you. I thought I was doing the right thing by putting distance between us. I had no idea how to tell you, and I’m so sorry that I let what happened between Brian and me be the reason for pushing you away.”
At the same time, we reach across, hug each other tightly and cry into each other’s hair.
I’m so overwhelmed with emotions, but saying I’m happy to be here with my best friend right now is a complete understatement.
After a few minutes, Vanessa pulls away and asks, “Do you think somehow we can put this past year behind us and give it a try at being best friends again?”
I’m not sure how we will make things work or if we’ll even be able to return to the way things were, but I want to try more than anything. “Yes. Definitely.”
Vanessa wipes away the tears from her tanned skin, seeming pleased with my answer. “So, you and Nate, huh?” The size of her grin shows how happy she is about the two of us being together.
“Yeah, who would have thought.”
“Me,” she says. “I always hoped you two would find your way to each other. Is it serious?”
“Yeah, I think. No, actually I know it is. I love him.” I blush as the words leave my mouth.
“Natalie, that makes me so happy.” She grabs my hand and squeezes it, producing a smile on both of our tear-stained faces. And it’s at this moment I know we will have no problem returning to being the best friends we used to be.
Somehow, we will make this work.
Suddenly, we hear a car pull into the driveway, followed by doors opening and closing.
“Well, I better get going. I have to get my stuff together before heading back to school tonight. But call me sometime, ok?” Vanessa stands up and flattens her coat for wrinkles.
