AN: Were close to the end people. Very close. Enjoy.
(Also if anyone of you read my New Year's eve fic I decided to delete that cause it sucked…)
Like I said. Enjoy.
I knew Maggie told me to be happy because Cat was happy. But the thing was that the weeks following the party, Cat didn't seem happy at all. This bothered me, but since Cat still wasn't talking to me I couldn't ask her about it.
I really wished I could talk to her about it, because truth be told she looked miserable and no one else but me seemed to notice. It wasn't okay. Not okay at all. I tried sending her looks, but they were never returned. One time I even got to the point where I picked up my phone to text her, but I never did. It's one thing seeing the person you love happy with someone else. It hurts, it feels like a million tiny daggers are stabbing at your heart all at once. But it's even worse seeing the person you love being miserable with someone else, and knowing there is nothing you can do.
I considered telling Tori, but I changed my mind. She wouldn't understand. Nobody would understand. I swiftly remembered the tea-party at the park. "I figured maybe you would understand me since we're the two people that no one seems to get."
Those were the exact words that Cat spoke that night. And I knew that they were true. We understood each other. I doubted anyone else got her like I did. I doubted that anyone else ever tried to imagine what it was like in Cat-world. I doubted anyone else even knew there was a Cat-world. But I knew. And I knew that right now, there wasn't peace in Cat-world. And someone needed to send help.
March had turned into April. Almost one and a half months since Cat last talked to me. Was this even happening? I was still catching her stealing glances at me once in a while. But just like everything else these days they were a lot sadder than before.
Okay so yeah. Cat was still giggly and laughy. But I could tell she wasn't happy. It was like she was acting. To be fair, acting was what we were supposed to do at this school. But that was in classes. Not outside of them.
She kept smiling, even though she was hurting on the inside. From what? I didn't know. But I wanted to find out. I had to find out. She couldn't walk around being miserable like this.
I considered talking to Maggie too. The tea-shop Maggie, that is. But I was afraid to face her giving everything that had happened with all the lying and Maggie the second and stuff. I knew old Tea-shop Maggie wouldn't be very happy with me.
So I kept quiet and hoped for Cat to get happier soon. Maybe it was just something small and insignificant and maybe it would go away after a while. I hoped so.
But it didn't and I got more and more worried about her. At last I decided to go and talk to Maggie anyway. She could say what she wanted. I needed to ask her what to do.
I walked into the shop and looked around. It was empty.
"Maggie?" I called out cautiously, walking a little further in.
She emerged from the back and smiled brightly when she saw me.
"I was just wondering if I'd ever get to see you again."
I chuckled a little bit and sat down by the counter.
"So what brings you?" She asked. Taking a seat opposite of me and looking at me.
"I need advice." I said, sighing.
"Figures." she laughed a little but then asked me to tell her and I did. I didn't mention the part about Maggie II, but I did tell her about how Cat had looked so sad the past weeks. And I told her that I would basically do anything to make her happy again. Absolutely anything. When I was finished she nodded slowly, and then she started talking.
"Robbie. When you say that you would do anything to make her happy, does that include letting her stay with Sky and not bothering them about it, no matter how hard it is for you?
"Yes. I mean... I didn't before. All I wanted was to have her by myself, but now all I really want is for her to be happy." I said.
"So you love her?" Maggie asked. A small smile starting to form on her lips.
"How did you..?" I asked and Maggie cut me off.
"You just proved it dear." She smiled again.
I nodded. "But what should I do about her being sad. She's still not talking to me."
Maggie frowned. She looked like she was thinking really hard about something.
"I really don't know Robbie." she said. "You've already ruled out talking to your other friends and I don't think there is much else you can do. Either you try to talk to her again. For real this time. Or you wait it out."
It was that simple.
'I really need to talk to you.'
I pressed send and took a deep breath. Maybe it would work out. Maybe I could convince Tori there was actually something not right with Cat right now, even if Tori couldn't see it.
'Sounds serious. What's up?'
The school day was almost over. I had stayed in the school library to study. I didn't want to ask Tor more via text message. So I texted back.
'Can I come over later? Wanna ask you in person.'
The library could seriously not get more boring at the moment. I could not focus on studying anyway. I was way too nervous about what was going to happen when I told Tori. I was packing up my stuff when I heard it.
"No. Don't go. I didn't mean it like that. Sky!" It was Cat's voice. She was screaming and her yell was followed by several hushes from other people in the library. Had she been here with Sky without me knowing? And had he just left her there? What was going on?
I couldn't take it. I had to go find her and find out what was wrong. If I was lucky maybe I'd be able to fix this without Tori's help. Or else she'd yell at me too, but maybe I would at least know what happened.
I collected my things and went for where I had heard her voice. I rounded a bookshelf and there she was. Back against the wall between to shelves of books. Her knees at her chin and her forehead on her knees. Her red hair hanging down around her and her body shaking from silent sobbing.
I think she could feel someone was there because she suddenly looked up and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
"What are you doing here?" She asked. She looked a little surprised, but then her facial expression changed and she suddenly looked mad.
"I heard you and I..." Suddenly I remembered she was angry with me, and I lost track of what I was saying.
"I want to be alone." She said, not looking at me, but at one of the books in the shelf beside her.
"Please Cat... Just… What's wrong?"
"No. Go away."
I was just about to do as she told me. But then I changed my mind. She could be mad at me forever if that was the case. But I could just not tolerate her being sad. So instead of turning around and walking away, I sat down on the floor next to her.
She looked over at me and then she started to cry again. Even heavier this time and I found myself in one of those situations where you have absolutely no idea what to do. I'm so bad at comforting and since I was pretty sure Cat basically wanted to kill me at the moment, I had no clue of what was the best way to do it.
"I...I..." Cat was trying to say something. But instead she broke down on my arm, sobbing like a little child. And since she had been the one initiating it, I let her.
"I think I just broke up with Sky." She said after a while, when the sobbing had reduced a little.
I knew I should've been cheering and being really, really happy, but the truth was that I wasn't happy at all. Because when I looked at Cat, and her smudged out mascara and puffy red eyes all I wanted was for her to not feel this way. And if breaking up with Sky did make her feel like this, then I didn't want her to do that.
"Why?" I asked and Cat sat up a little straighter.
"He told me..." she was stumbling upon her words. "He told me he loved me."
Suddenly I was feeling really confused.
"Isn't that a good thing?"
She took a deep, shaky breath and shook her head. I got even more confused.
"But..?"
"Robbie do you remember the party at Tori's a couple of weeks ago?" She asked, her voice a little steadier now.
"Of course" I replied.
"I heard you and Maggie talk behind those bushes."
Suddenly my breath caught in my throat.
"You heard... everything?"
She nodded.
"And I realized something. And it's been bugging me ever since and when Sky told me he loved me I just couldn't keep it in anymore?"
I wasn't sure of what she was talking about. But Cat's stories rarely made sense. This was actually making a lot of sense in comparison to what she usually said.
"So what I'm trying to say is that... I think maybe I love you too a little bit." She said it really fast, but I still managed to catch every word. And everything else seemed to stop. My heart as well as the time just froze. What did she just say? Did she tell me she loved me too? But I thought...
"I thought you hated me for not inviting you to movie night and all."
She shook her head.
"As much as I wanted to I could never hate you Robbie. I was really mad. I'm still mad actually. Instead of hiding you could've actually talked to me before it was too late, and then get crazy with jealousy."
I honestly was in a lack of words. I didn't think I had ever heard Cat say something this meaningful. Maybe with an exception for the time when she asked me if I thought she was weird.
"I'm sorry Cat." Was all I managed to say.
She nodded
"I ruined your shirt." She said with a half-smile. I looked down at my sleeve to see it all messed up and black with mascara stains.
"That's okay." I smiled and then we just sat in silence for a while.
Suddenly realized this was actually not that bad. Cat was talking to me again. And suddenly there was hope. We could fix this.
"Robbie?" Cat asked and I looked over at her where she sat with her back against the wall. Black around the eyes and all puffy from all the crying. But still the most beautiful thing in the world. "Do you think we can ever go back to the way we were?"
This was the question I was also currently asking myself. I honestly didn't know. A lot had happened these last few weeks and I wondered if we could ever be the same again. Sure we could forgive, but could we forget? Just because she loved me and I loved her didn't mean we would automatically become a happy couple. Not after this.
"You know what?" I said after thinking a little while. "Why don't we talk about it over a cup of tea?"
And then she smiled and I knew that even if we didn't get together. That was okay. Because she was my best friend and she loved me, and I loved her. And whatever happened we could work it out.
AN: Sooo, thoughts? Please?