Chapter 19

Part 1

How the fuck I got myself into the situation I’m in right now, that is still a question to me. Rewind 24 hours ago, I was still in the washroom of that house that held the party I really shouldn’t have gone to, trying to vomit everything out of my system with Xela right next to me trying to help me. After a few words slipped from her mouth, she spent the rest of the night ensuring that I didn’t go blabbering my mouth everywhere about the breakup. When she finally left, my drunk ass decided to call Rebekah the first chance I got, and kinda maybe spilt all the news to her.

I couldn’t remember everything too well, but I think it started with Rebekah questioning if I was drunk then followed by her jumping up and down and screaming in joy, then apologizing to me like a million times for everything she said a couple of weeks ago while still sounding like she was jumping up and down and yelling.

So how did all this end up having Xela and I sitting across from each other awkwardly with Rebekah between us trying to get us to start a conversation on a table in Filip’s Cafe? Well, Rebekah texted me this morning saying she wanted to speak with me ‘privately’ and to show up at Filip’s at 4 P.M. What she didn’t tell me was that she told Xela the exact same thing, and here we are now, the three of us having a little coffee party in the afternoon.

“Sooo…. do you guys want to say anything to each other,” Rebekah said, trying to get any response from either me or Xela.

“Hi,” Xela said to me, giving a small wave and smiling shyly before looking back down.

“Hello,” I responded, also waving and smiling.

“Is that it?” Rebekah asked, disappointed.

“What else do you want us to say?” Xela asked.

“I don’t know. What do you guys usually talk about?”

“I don't know. We stopped talking like a month ago,” I said.

“I mean before that.”

“Why are you doing this?” Xela asked Rebekah.

“Doing what?”

“All of this! Setting us up and trying to get everything to go back to how it was before. You don’t need to do this.”

“Haven’t I told you already? I’m not going to let that dickhead ruin the relationship you two have built up for so long.”

“We were just friends,” Xela said with an annoyed expression. “Friends come and go. Everyone drifts apart eventually.”

“For what reason though? Just because some guy you haven’t seen in like 6 years comes from out of nowhere, and suddenly you two never speak to each other again?”

“Can we please not talk about him today?”

“Fine, but you get my point.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered either way. I’ll be moving to Toronto in a couple of months anyway and Johnny and I would never talk again after that.”

“WHAT THE FUCK! YOU’RE MOVING TO TORONTO?!”

“Oh my fucking god Xela, you’re telling me you haven’t told her yet?” I interrupted.

“You knew about this?” Rebekah asked me.

“Yeah. You didn’t?”

“What the fuck, no!”

“Why the fuck did you keep something this big a secret from me?” Rebekah asked Xela.

“I didn’t want to worry anyone about it so I kept quiet about it and wanted to tell everyone at the end of the school year..”

“How does he know then?” she asked, the question obviously being directed to me.

“Can we just discuss this later? Not now,” Xela said quietly, noticing how many heads were turning our way as Rebekah’s voice got louder.

“Fine,” she said, only now realizing how much attention she gathered. “This doesn’t mean you two are off the hook though. Say something to each other.”

“What do you want us to say?” Xela asked.

“You can start by catching up since you’ve haven’t talked to each other in a while.”

“Hi, Johnny,” she turned her attention toward me. “How have you been these past weeks?”

“Great,” I responded, going along with the joke. “How about you?”

“Wonderful! Thank you for asking!!” she exclaimed in sarcastic enthusiasm. “Okay we’re done now, can we leave?”

“Sit your ass back down,” Rebekah said just as Xela was getting back up. “None of us are leaving until you two make up, go back to normal, and be happy.”

“We don’t need you observing and instructing us every single second like a hockey referee. We’re old enough to handle this on our own.”

“No, you’re not. If I leave you on your own you’re both just going to go back to living your lives like before. Both of you think you’re ‘too cool’ for apologies and real talk and NO issues will be solved.”

“Why do you care so much anyway?”

“I can’t stand seeing the relationship of two of my good friends completely ruined for absolutely no reason at all.”

“Ruined relationship? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Right, Johnny?”

“Yep,” I respond.

“Your acting sucks,” Rebekah said,

“You suck!” Xela retorted.

“You’re disgusting!”

“No I’m not!”

“Yes, you are!”

“You’re disgusting for interpreting it like that.”

“How’d you know I was implying that you suck dick?!”

“How old are you guys again?” I asked, interrupting their childish argument.

“Shut up, Johnny!” they both yelled at the same time, causing them to glimpse at each other for a few brief seconds before bursting into laughter. This looked like one of those cute forgiving and bonding moments girls have in TV shows and movies after being mad at each other.

“I really missed you, Xela,” Rebekah said, leaning over for a short hug with Xela.

That’s right! Rebekah and Xela haven’t really talked much either since Rebekah tried convincing Xela to break up with Chad. After all the tension from before, they’re able to so easily talk to each other like before. It looks like Xela hasn’t changed at all these past couple of weeks.

“Yeah, same here,” Xela said.

“Anything you ever want to talk about, I’ll be right here, okay?”

“Same with you.”

“Can I leave now?” I asked, interrupting their little moment.

“You’re not getting out of that seat until I tell you to,” Rebekah said.

“Okay,” I said before going back to my silence.

“I’m not giving up just yet!

“I’m telling you… We don’t need your help to get back on good terms,” Xela said.

“Let’s play a game!” Rebekah said, completely ignoring Xela’s comment. “You each take turns complimenting each other and saying one thing you like about the other person. Whoever runs out of things to say first loses”

“How is this going to help us in any way?”

“Shut up, it just well.”

“Okay then… I guess I’ll go first,” Xela said. “I like your shirt.”

“Thanks, I like your bracelet,” I replied.

“I like your shoes.”

“I like your socks.”

“I like your joggers.”

“I like your nail polish.”

“Wow, you noticed? How kind of you. I like your hoodie.”

“Your shampoo smells nice.”

We continued going like this for another minute or two until Rebekah decided she’s heard enough.

“Okay, just stop!” she said.

“What? We were just playing the game!”

“You can’t be just saying you like one piece of clothing the other person’s wearing every time! How about ‘Wow Xela, you look really pretty today!’ or ‘You’re a really kind person, Johnny!”

“I’m trying to win a game here, not flirt with her,” I said.

“What’s the point of saying that?” Xela asked.

“Ugh, you guys are hopeless,” Rebekah said, getting up from her seat an getting ready to leave. “I’ll leave you two on your own for now. This is not the end though, mark my words!”

Part 2

“Well, I guess I better get going now,” I said, getting up from my seat not long after Rebekah left.

Xela made a frowning face, but I decided to just ignore it. I started making my way out when I felt her grab the cuff of my hoodie. “Can you stay for a little longer?”

Thinking about it for a second, I decided to accept her request and I sat back down.

The next 20 minutes were… quiet. After sitting back down, neither of us had said a word to each other and were just sitting quietly, looking down on the floor. I was desperately hoping tat Xela would start the conversation like she usually would in these situations, but I knew that it wasn’t happening this time.

“Sooo…. How’s your day?” I asked, finally breaking the silence.

I waited for a reply from her, but she continued to sit quietly in her chair, not saying a word.

“Weather’s been pretty nice recently. It’s gotten a lot warmer, eh?” I tried to get her to respond again. Still, nothing.

“You have any plans for summer?” I asked, trying one more time.

“If you’re gonna ask me to stay for a little longer you could at least respond to my questions,” I said, slightly annoyed.

“Oh, sorry. I’m not trying to ignore you or anything, It’s just… I don’t really know how to act around you anymore. You know, with everything that’s happened and all,” she finally answered.

“Ah, don’t worry. I get it.”

Before I knew it, we went back to being completely quiet shortly after. We stayed put in our seats, hearing only the voices around us. Surprisingly, it was quite calming.

Around 5 minutes later, it was Xela this time to speak up. “Okay, this is bugging me now.”

“What do you want me to do then?”

“You can just talk while I listen.”

“What do you want me to talk about?”

“Anything, really. I’m usually the one opening up to you and talking about life. I haven’t really gotten to know much about what’s going on in your life.”

“You sure you won’t get annoyed by my rambling?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t be asking you to talk if I didn’t want you to.”

“Okay then, where do I start? Our hockey team lost in the quarterfinals yesterday. We were all really sad at first but went partying after which is why you saw me there yesterday. Um, I’ve started doing the after school cleaning regularly now partially for the money and partially because the janitors are lazy and are forcing me to. Hailee’s been doing really well. She seems happy with her new boyfriend, and I’ve already told her to use condoms so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

I continued talking about whatever I wanted for a while. I went from talking about Chase’s crazy drunk night out and the mystery girl, to Rebekah yelling at me at the school, to my perspective of the coffee incident. For the first time, it was nice being the one saying whatever was on my mind and having someone who cares listen.

We have a long way to go to how we were before, but it’s nice to know she’s the same old Xela as before.