Chapter 2
"Are you okay?" Natalya asked, finally breaking the silence of their ride home.
Trish nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
"You haven't spoken a word to me the entire ride home."
"Oh… I'm sorry. I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind right now, that's all," Trish answered as she pulled up out front of Natalya's house.
"Okay. I'm just checking. You know I'm here for you if you wanna talk, right?"
Trish smiled. "I know Nattie. I'll call you later, okay?"
"Okay girl."
Natalya slid out of Trish's car and closed the door. Trish sat out front until Natalya opened her door. She waived bye and then pulled away to continue on her way home. She reached over and turned on the radio. She caught the ending of one song and the next song began to play. It was Taylor Swift's "I'd Lie." She let the song play for a few minutes, listening to the words.
I could tell you his favorite color's green
He loves to argue, born on the seventeenth
His sister's beautiful, he has his father's eyes
And if you asked me if I love him,
I'd lie
Trish rolled her eyes at the song and reached over and turned off the radio. She was at the last stop sign before her house anyway. She made the right turn onto her street made her way to her driveway. As she pulled into the driveway something on the deck caught her attention. Putting her car in park and turning off the ignition, she focused on the patio. John was sitting on the deck with her mother talking. Trish sighed loudly and put her head down on the steering wheel.
"I really don't feel like having this conversation right now…" she whined to herself, banging her head softly on the steering wheel. "Maybe they didn't see me… I'll just back out slowly and quietly…"
Just then she noticed John's eyes focused on her and she knew she was busted. Trish's mother turned around to see what John was looking at and smiled brightly at her daughter as she waved hello to her.
"Damn it!" she whined. She sighed loudly again as she grabbed her bag and a book out of the back seat. She begrudgingly got out of the car and started on her way towards the deck.
"Hi honey!" her mother called out to her.
"Hey mom." Trish swung open the gate to the yard and made her way up to the porch.
"Will you be staying for dinner John?"
"Not tonight mom. My mother is ordering pizza for us tonight. I just stopped by to see Trish," John answered.
"Okay dear. I'm going to head back in and start dinner." She gave Trish a kiss on the cheek before disappearing back into the house.
"You could at least pretend to be excited to see me," John joked.
"You really camped out on my deck with my mother waiting for me?"
"Uhh… Yeah… That's exactly what I did," John answered sarcastically. "You wouldn't answer your phone. What else was I supposed to do?"
"Oh shit!" Trish rummaged through her bag in search of her cell phone. After a few seconds of digging, she pulled it out. "It's still turned off," she told him as she turned her phone back on.
"Well I'll tell you now; you can expect to get a bunch of messages from me."
Trish placed her phone on the table while it booted up. A few seconds later her phone went haywire as all of her missed messages came through at once. She gave John a look as her phone continued to go off.
"Hey, I warned ya," John answered with a shrug.
"Well, I'm listening. What did you want?"
"You know what I want," John answered bluntly.
Trish sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I know. You want to apologize about earlier, you want to tell me you're sorry for what Nikki said, you're sorry for what Nikki did, you want to tell me that Nikki doesn't hate me yet again, and you want to tell me Nikki just has to get used to us being friends and she'll get over it."
"Wow. I think you might have nailed that conversation word for word," John answered.
Trish frowned. "I know I did and that's because we have this same stupid conversation all the time. Nikki says whatever then you feel bad and you apologize for her."
John was at a loss. He didn't know what to say. He knew she was right. He knew they've had this conversation for what seemed like a million times now.
"John... Maybe... Maybe wejustshouldn'tbefriends," Trish said quickly, running her words together, looking away from him and down at her feet.
John blinked slowly, trying to process what she just said. "What?"
"Maybe we shouldn't be... Friends... Right now," Trish repeated slowly.
"Are you fuckin kidding me right now?" John snapped.
Trish shook her head 'no' silently.
"You just want to throw away all these years of friendship? You're my fuckin best friend, Trish. And you just want to stop being friends?"
"Wait a minute! I never said I didn't want to be friends, John. I just said maybe we shouldn't. Maybe it would be better if we weren't right now."
"And tell me why we 'shouldn't' and how it would be 'better' if we weren't?" John snapped.
Trish could clearly see that John's temper was quickly rising. "John... You have enough problems with Nikki already. I feel like I'm just adding to the problem. I hate to see you go through that shit over and over again just because of me. I don't want to lose you in my life at all John, but I want to see you happy. I don't want to keep being the source of constant argument between you and Nikki like I've been."
"So that's your answer? To just throw away our friendship? That'll make everything better?"
"You won't have to argue with her almost everyday about me," Trish shot back.
"Real great fuckin answer," John answered bitterly as he stood up.
"You're not listening to me John. I said I don't want to lose you from my life but I want you to be happy, even if that means I have to do without you. It's just one big vicious circle. It's the same thing over and over again."
John stopped and turned back around to face Trish. "That's the thing. I'm not going to do without you. Like I said, you're my best friend. You're always going to be my best friend and you're always going to be a part of my life. Do you think I'd be happy without you in my life? Nikki is just going to have to deal with it. Just… Let me talk to her. I'll work it out, I promise."
Trish could see the sincerity in John's icy blue eyes and she could feel herself caving. She sighed softly because she knew she was no match for those blue eyes. "Okay… Fine."
A large smile spread across John's lips. He bent down slightly and grabbed Trish's hand, pulling her up to feet, and into his arms for a tight hug. "Thank you Midget," he whispered into her hair, kissing the top of her head.
"You got it Meathead," she answered, smiling into her chest.
"Okay… Let me get going before my brothers eat all the pizza," he told her as he released her from their hug. "Talk to you later?"
Trish nodded her head 'yes.' "Talk to you later."
Trish stood on the deck, watching John walk to his house. She stayed there until he disappeared into his front door. When he was out of her sight, she picked up her bag, book, and phone before heading into the kitchen where her mother was cooking dinner.
"What was that all about honey?" her mother asked as soon as she dropped her bag on the floor. "That seemed like a pretty intense conversation."
Trish scrunched up her face into a frown as she picked up a piece of cucumber her mother was chopping and popped it into her mouth. "I'll give you one guess."
Trish's mother shook her head with a knowing frown. "That little witch at it again?"
"When isn't she?" Trish asked rhetorically as she pulled plates down from the cabinet to set the table for dinner.
"What did that little witch do now?" her mother questioned with a disapproving frown.
"Oh she just slammed my locker door in my face and told me to 'stay away from' her 'boyfriend' in front of everyone in the hallway this morning…"
"She did what?" her mother asked, shocked.
Trish nodded her head 'yes.'
"That's ridiculous honey."
"I know mom… I don't get it either."
"You know what it is? She's jealous of you and she feels threatened by you. That's why she's giving you such a hard time," her mother surmised.
Trish frowned and shook her head. "I don't think so mom. She's the prettiest girl in high school. All the guys want her and all the girls wish they were her. She's got nothing to be jealous of. I'm just… Me."
"You're just you? You're a smart, funny, caring, sweet, beautiful young lady. You have lots of friends that you'd do anything for. And your best friend just happens to be one of the best looking guys in school if I do say so myself," her mother added with a wink.
Trish chuckled at her mother's answer. "Right… Friend… The whole 'friend' thing seems to be the part she can't comprehend."
"I think she comprehends it honey. I think she knows you have such a strong bond with John, you know so much about him, the way he thinks, his secrets… You just may know him better than she does and maybe that's why she sees you as a threat or competition. So she keeps at you and keeps at you in hopes of pushing you out of the picture so she doesn't have to compete with you anymore."
"But mom, she doesn't have to compete with me. He's hers… All hers. I'm not trying to take him from her."
"Well she kind of does. She already knows John's stance on this issue. He's already said he's not going to throw away his friendship with you because he's dating her," her mother pointed out as she carried a heaping bowl of mashed potatoes over to the table.
Trish sighed loudly. "Can we talk about something else now mom?"
"Sure honey. Dinner is ready anyway. Let's sit down and eat."
Trish laid on her bed, her belly overly full from the delicious meal her mother had cooked for dinner. She debated on taking a shower now or reading the chapter of the novel she had to read for English class. The sound of her phone going off distracted her from her internal debate. She reached over and grabbed her phone.
Hey girl – N
Hey Nattie, what's up? – T
Nothin. I just wanted to check on you and see how you were – N
I'm okay – T
Have you talked to him? – N
He was sitting on the deck when I got home – T
LOL was he? – N
Yeah he was – T
And? – N
We talked – T
Details woman, details! – N
I told him I didn't think we should be friends right now, that I wanted him to be happy and that I felt that he couldn't be happy as long as we were friends because him and Nikki fight everyday about it – T
YOU TOLD HIM YOU DIDN'T WANT TO BE FRIENDS?! – N
No, I told him we shouldn't – T
Same damn difference. What did he say? – N
He flipped – T
And?! – N
He gave me those eyes and I caved :-/ He said he'd talk to her, that he'd work it out, and he promised – T
Good! I was going to smack the shit outta both of you if you two let all those years of friendship go because of her being an immature little brat – N
Yeah yeah :-P Alright. I'm gonna go take a shower then read that stupid chapter for English class – T
Okay girly. I'll see you in the morning – N
You had better be ready when I get there tomorrow or I'm leavin your ass! – T
You know me, always fashionably late! – N
Wouldn't be you if you weren't late – T
It had been just another normal boring school day. Trish had made it through half of the school day without any Nikki incident, so that made it a good day. All that was left was gym, lunch, Government and Politics, study hall, and then she could finally go home. She pushed the locker room door open and made her way to the back corner lockers. Her friends Cameron and Naomi were already there pulling out their gym clothes.
"Hey girl," Naomi greeted Trish with a smile.
"Helloooo ladies."
Naomi and Cameron giggled at Trish's greeting. She pulled open a locker and threw her school bag into it, then opened up her gym bag and pulled out her gym clothes. The three girls quickly changed and Trish reached up to put her change of clothes into the locker when it suddenly slammed shut. Trish rolled her eyes, already knowing who it was, and who she was with by the sounds of the cackling. She turned around and was correct in her assumption. Nikki and her little 'gang.' Her twin sister Brie Bella, AJ Lee, and Layla were standing behind Nikki, cackling at her handy work.
"So you think crying to my man is gonna stop me?" Nikki seethed through clenched teeth. "You're dead wrong. You're nothing but a problem and I'm not gonna stop until you're completely out of the picture!"
AN: Thanks for the reviews guys! You guys are awesome! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading! Reviews are greatly appreciated!