Best Friend's Revenge

7. Guilt-tripping Intimidation

PLEASE VOTE / COMMENT / FOLLOW

XOXO,

LOSALINI

•••||||•••  

Zoe was the closest friend my mom had had in the neighborhood. 

Just as Taylor and I were friends, my mom and Zoe were too. In fact, when we used to go and hang out at the treehouse at their house, mom and her would be lost in their adult conversation and literally having a blast in their kitchen.

I wasn't the only one who had lost a friend when the Blackstones left. Mom did too.

It hit her harder than it did me because just a year later, she discovered dad cheating on her and she was left on her own. No matter how friendly she was to the Peters who lived next door or how nice she was towards Mrs Burns, Nate's mom, they couldn't quite replace who Mrs Blackstone was to her.

So as I stood there by the doorway, studying the stunning figure that was Mrs Blackstone with her strawberry blonde locks in a bun and her green eyes vibrantly warm as they stared back, I couldn't help but feel like everything was going to be okay. I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, but then again, I had just left my bag in the living room with the 900-paged textbook in it. 

But then, I noticed mom. The sight that met me overpowered the shock that I had from seeing Mrs Blackstone. Mom... my mom looked different. She looked good, great, better than she did the last time she'd dragged herself out of her room.

Her blonde hair was back to its golden hue. The murky brown that I'd grown accustomed to had been washed out. Her brown eyes were warm again and not as vacant as they'd been for the past several months and she actually looked like she'd finally had a refreshing reunion with a bar of soap, leaving her to be a far more glorious sight than what I was usually met with whenever I had the luck of seeing her escape the cave that her room had become.

"M-mom," I gasped out in amazement as she really smiled back at me, not the half vacant one she'd tossed me for the past few months.

"No hello for me?" I heard Mrs Blackstone call out, drawing my focus back to her.

She wore the smile that had made me award her 'Mrs Nicey' back then. She always smiled, wherever she was, whatever time of the day it was. The one time I'd seen her without that smile was when Taylor had fallen from the treehouse after holding out my favorite teddy bear out the window after I called him an idiot for punching Evan Phillips, the guy I'd believed was the love of my life. 

That crush ended after Evan called Taylor a cripple when he had on his cast for a month after the fall.

"Hi," I greeted, standing by the door awkwardly, not knowing what or how to greet Mrs Blackstone, who might or might not know of the stupid decision I made that resulted in my severed friendship with her son.

"Don't 'hi' me and expect to get away from a hug," she scolded with a smile before she got up and opened up her arms, waiting for a hug.

Awkwardly, I dawdled over to her. She pulled me into an achingly tight hug as soon as I was within reach. She still smelt like apple and sugar with a tinge of perfume. I relaxed at the familiarity of the scent that usually calmed me down.

She pulled away after a long time and smiled at me. "Nice to see you again, dear Liz."

Maybe she did not know about the incident with Taylor. If she did however, she didn't show it.