It must be love

Chapter 14

Nigel

"Shelby" I whispered hoarsely, my mouth drier than the Saharan Desert.

"Okay, please don't be mad." Ava stepped out from my arms "I know I may have overstepped by getting into your business like this but I-“

"It's okay baby." I mumbled distractedly my focus fully on Shelby, I don't care that Ava may or may not have crossed a line, I was just happy at the result, because Shelby was here in front of me right now.

Ava squeezed my hand encouragingly then turned and left my office with Nick, leaving Shelby and I alone. The two of us stood there in awkward silence and I cleared my throat, gesturing for her to take a seat and I then followed, doing the same. I didn't know what to say or how to start but luckily she brought me out of my misery by speaking first.

"I uhh... Conveniently bumped into your girlfriend earlier, she's quite the persistent one. We had a chat and she convinced me to come and see you." She said and I nodded mute.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened.” She paused then sighed, "I didn't get in touch with you after that... situation because my father had already planned for me to leave and had taken my phone, telling me not to contact you and I couldn't face you after everything Nigel, as screwed up as it is, you make what happened more real… Seeing you is like a reminder, I hadn't thought of that night in years but yesterday when I saw you it all came back.”

“You have no idea how sorry I am Shelby, I never meant for that to happen you. You were my best friend and I should have been there, If only I had stuck by your side instead of running off, none of that would have happened and I have lived with that guilt for seven years.”

"Hey, it wasn't your fault.” She said softly. "It might seem like I blamed you yesterday after the way I walked away but it was only because I felt overwhelmed and basically just kept flashing back to that time.” She explained “I immediately got onto the phone with my therapist and she broke it down for me and told me that I needed to heal and that means letting it go and stop associating you with the event, I'm still working on that, it took a lot for me to come here today despite Ava's pleading.”

I wanted to say more but I didn't know what, apologise again? I don't think that it would be helpful since she basically just bared her thoughts out to me and said that I wasn't to blame even though I feel different, I should have been there dammit!

"Nigel…” she squeezed my hand bringing me out of my vicious thoughts, “Stop okay, stop whatever horrible thoughts you're thinking about right now, I came out of all of this just fine. I have a teaching degree, I start working at Doe High School next fall, I am happily engaged and I have a kid. I see you have one too…” She gestured to the framed photo of Kayla on my desk, "Who would have thought playboy Hamilton would have settled down like this.”

"Ha ha ha, I am a grown man now okay.” I smirked and she laughed and carried on telling me about her plans and that she and her husband are thinking of moving at the end of the year, the way we were talking felt like it used to years ago, I felt like I was transported back to the time when we were still best friends and talked for hours on end. Usually she'd be the one talking my ear off and I'd be playing Xbox but I'd still hear every word she said.

"I'm happy that you're happy Shelby, you deserve it and so much more.” I said sincerely and she gave me a dazzling grin, “You look happy too and you deserve it.” She stood up and I followed suit.

"I have to go now but I’m so happy that we had this talk, I actually had no idea how much I needed it.” She engulfed me in a hug, “You have a good one in Ava unlike that deranged Tracy.”

"How do you know about Tracy?” I asked after pulling back from the hug.

"Oh please, every gossip blog was talking about it back then since you were a rising businessman and all, but anyway, I wish you and Ava the best, she's really amazing.”

She turned to leave but faced to me when I called out her name, “Yeah?” she answered

"You still owe me $50 from freshman year, I haven't forgotten about it.” I narrowed my eyes remembering the bet we had made all those years ago. She threw her head back and laughed and it truly felt like old times again, I felt a huge grin form on my face and a huge weight lifting from my chest.

“Goodbye Nigel.” She said between laughs and walked out the door and an unfamiliar peace came upon me.