Best Friends Forever

16

Bean Brothers was the unofficial cafe of the entire school body. Skipped class? Go to Bean Brothers. Want an actually edible lunch? Go to Bean Brothers. Need a huge caffeine boost before your exam? Go to Bean Brothers.

And so that is how we spent our afternoon after school; we went to Bean Brothers. It seemed we weren't the only people thinking along those lines, because by the time we showed up, the small cafe was jam-packed with students getting their fill of coffee and pastries.

We were lucky enough to find a booth when we arrived. After sliding onto the smooth baby-blue leather of the seating, with Jason and I on one side and Lucas and Addy on the other, we were finally able to settle down after a long day of classes.

We hadn't been there long before I saw Melissa and Tammy walk in through the wide glass front doors. I prayed they wouldn't see us, but as luck would have it, they looked right in our direction moments after walking in. They didn't waste any time in walking towards us and saying overly-enthusiastic hellos.

I didn't miss how Melissa stood by Lucas, putting a hand full of acrylic nails on his shoulder in a way that was almost possessive. Lucas looked mildly uncomfortable, but that didn't mean he forgot his manners.

"Would you girls like a seat?" Lucas asked them despite Jason, Addy, and I's looks of disapproval.

Melissa's dark brown eyes lit up at the offer, but thankfully, Tammy responded before her friend could. "That's okay, we're just picking up a drink before cheer practice," Tammy said, looking directly at Jason. "But thank you for the offer, Lucas."

"Of course," Lucas said. "Have fun at cheer."

When they were finally out of earshot, Jason let out a breath. "I like that you're getting it with Mel, but I do not like how she's always with Tammy. I thought I'd finally escaped her wrath."

"Well to be fair," Addy said. "She really liked you and you kind of broke her heart. I think her wrath is valid."

"We both agreed to a no strings attached friends with benefits. I don't have to reciprocate her feelings," Jason said.

"That's true, but I feel for her. It's not great feeling like you're nothing more than sex for a guy," Addy said.

"I know, I get that. It's not even about her. I just don't see myself ever liking anyone in that way."

"Why not?" Lucas asked.

"Because I'm a selfish son of a bitch who doesn't liking compromising what he wants for other people."

"But you do it for us," I pointed out.

Jason threw his arm around my shoulder. "Of course I do it for you guys," he grinned. "Lucas and Addy are like family to me."

"And what am I?" I asked. "Chopped liver?"

"For you I do it out of pity.  You know, because you're such a freaky weirdo that no one would give you the time of day if I didn't..."

I gave him the finger. "It's actually remarkable how not funny you are."

He ruffled my hair with his hands. "But you still love me."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Unfortunately."

"Speaking of family," Lucas said. "Did you get a chance to talk to Talia? Was everything alright?"

I felt Jason's arm stiffen around me at Lucas's question, but I ignored it. "Yeah, we talked but it was very, very vague. Literally all she told me was that suicide was sad. That's it."

"Maybe you should ask again," Addy suggested. "Be persistent and get what you want."

"Maybe not," Jason piped up. "Maybe you should just respect her privacy, Leils."

"She's my mom, she shouldn't be hiding things from me. She never tells me anything."

"Yeah, but maybe she has a reason to."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like... I don't know. Maybe shit happened that you don't need to know about?"

I rolled my eyes. "Nothing has ever happened to my mom. Her life has been butterflies and daisies since day one. The biggest obstacle she's probably ever faced is my dad not texting her back within 5 seconds of her text."

"You don't know that, Leils."

"But I do," I said, and Jason shook his head. "Fine, if you think I'm wrong then you tell me what you think."

"I don't know anything. I'm just saying maybe."

I pondered over what he'd said. Of course there was always a maybe, nothing was ever absolute given uncertainty. And sure, maybe my mom didn't tell me much about her life growing up. But she grew up as privileged as one could get, with beauty and wealth and everything in between, just like me.

I always imagined her childhood had been a mirror image of mine. If I imagined her life as an adolescent, it was what I was living right now. If that was true, I knew she hadn't faced any hardship. My life had been thankfully lacking in any sort of difficulty, so I couldn't imagine what she would've went through that would be different.

I knew I could've been completely wrong. After all, it was only an assumption that my mom had lived a life that had mirrored my own. Maybe our lives were completely different after all, and she had been through some big event that I didn't know about.

I wish I'd known that my speculation would turn out to be just as right as it was wrong. Because in the end, our lives turned out to be completely different, but also exactly the same.

- - -

Hello again! I'm sorry for the late updates, I have yet to regain inspiration despite all your amazing, supportive comments (I love you all ❤️). So I've forced this out of myself for now. Hopefully very soon I will get back into it and get you eventful chapters much quicker. Thank you all for your patience ❤️❤️