Page 113 of From Me to You

“No, Katy. I am not depressed.” I smiled at her. It was the first genuine one I had given her in months. God, I was going to miss her, my best friend. She was going to hate me after all this came down.

She jumped in glee and hugged me from the side, almost sloshing my coffee. “I love you so much.”

I didn’t reply. I just hugged her tighter.

“Lily is coming to the party too. It’s going to be so good to have all three of us back together. I can’t wait to introduce her to Cece.”

I stiffened when I heard that name. I despised it. I despised her. There weren’t enough words in the English dictionary to articulate how much I hated her.

“We are going to get dinner tonight. You should come. I invited Cece too. It’s going to be so much fun.”

Lily would be here anytime—Jay had gone to the airport to pick her up. She would stay with us for the next few weeks.

I really wanted to go out with them, just like the good old days. One last time with my girlfriends before I left them forever. But White being there made me sick to my stomach.

I nodded. “Can it just be the three of us?”

Katy’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Just the three of us? You don’t want Cece there?”

“I just want it to be like old times. I miss you guys,” I said softly.

Katy grinned at me. “No worries, Evy. I will call Cece and plan for another day. It will just be the three of us then tonight. I can’t wait.”

“Hey, girls. What’s got you all smiling like that?” Jay grinned, walking into the room. Lily was trailing behind him with a small smile on her face.

She rushed in as soon as she saw me and hugged me tight.

“I missed you, Evy,” she murmured in my hair.

I felt really bad for ignoring her like that. She looked up to me like I was a sister, and I had let her down. And I was only going to let her down even more.

“Hey, Lily.” I smiled as I pulled back.

Katy immediately swooped in, engulfing Lily and me in a hug. I smiled while I hugged my best friends for what would probably be the last time.

“It’s good to see you smile.” Jay gathered me into his arms after we girls finally parted. I melted into him. God, I missed him so much already. What was I even doing?

“OMG, I love this fish,” Katy moaned.

We were having dinner in a small seaside restaurant later that night, and I was glad it wasn’t in one of those fancy restaurants. I always felt out of place in those. Katy had initially made reservations at ‘Lilith’, an exclusive restaurant in Los Angeles. But Jay made her cancel it for another day, opting for something more intimate where people wouldn’t recognize them.

Thankfully, White didn’t join us, I was afraid she would rile up something. But she didn’t say anything. She just sent me a vile text.

White- Enjoy it while you can.

The whole band ended up coming with us. It felt nice. I was mostly quiet as usual, but I smiled and laughed a lot more. A sense of nostalgia washed over me because I knew this was the last time that I would be here with them as their family member.

“Try this, babe.” Lan spoon-fed Katy some of his scallops. Which made her moan in more delight.

“K, if you wanted to moan all night, you could have asked me. I am way better at making girls moan.” Mikey grinned.

“Stop talking about my sister like that, asshole.” Matt smacked him on the shoulder while Lily glared at him.

Mikey looked a bit sheepish for once. I think he forgot that Lily was here. However, that kind of seemed impossible, because his eyes followed her everywhere. I think I had a pretty good feeling as to why he actually ended up here tonight rather than partying till sunrise.

Jay pulled my chair closer to his side, and I smiled at him.

“I love you,” he whispered in my ear.