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"My mom made this speech, and she said, 'Men, they come and go. They always will. Hopefully, they stay. But it's the girl that's sitting next to you that's going to get you through everything."
Kate Hudson
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Jules

"Honey, you've used it up," I say as Metisha spreads her palm for me to put another tissue.

After telling me about the stranger who claimed to be her mother whom she hadn't set eyes on for thirty-one years; Metisha burst into tears and has since then, been asking me for tissue which I've been diligently providing her with until now, simply because, like I said earlier, she has used it up.

As I stroke her hair, I make a mental note to add tissue paper to my Shopping list.

Suddenly, she raises her head from my lap. "Can you believe it? After thirty-one good years, she dared show her face. And do you even know the most annoying part? I bear an uncanny resemblance to her!" She yells the last part, a very pissed off look evident on her face.

"It's okay, Love," I coo, pulling her into my arms. "But you only told me you met her. What exactly happened after that? I mean, did you guys talk?"

"Of course we didn't talk. I told her I have no use for her in my life. She tried to plead with me but I left the house and came here."

"So, by leaving and not listening to whatever she has to say, you did the right thing, init?" I ask. She replies by nodding.

"Then why are you crying?" She seems to ponder on the question. "Or.. do you wish you had stayed and listened to whatever she had the say? Or is it really the fact that you had to see her again after all these years she's been absent from your life?"

"Yes. I mean, No." She covers her face with her palms. "Gosh! I'm such a mess right now."

"Calm down baby and talk to me."

"Okay." She takes a deep breath. "Inside of me, I feel like I want to know why she's here now after thirty-one years. However, something else is telling me that I would hate her more if she is unable to come up with a reasonable excuse. You get what I'm trying to say?" she asks, looking confused herself.

I give her a sad smile and nod. There are times when I also experience the same thing with my mom. Sometimes, I want to ask why she treats me like a stranger but I don't because I'm afraid her response might break my heart.

"Come here," I pull her into a tight hug. "You may or may not find what I'm about to say stupid but I think you should see her again." I place my hands on her shoulder and look straight into her eyes. "Whether the reason she's back makes you feel happy or hurt, you still need to know cause if you don't, there will come a time you would wish you had listened to whatever she had to say, be it what you wanted to hear or not. I know you're scared her words might break you but one thing I want you to know is that, you, my darling are unbreakable. Nothing, I repeat, nothing can break you anymore as long as you don't allow it. Now, do you... Oh!"

Metisha viciously pulls me into a tight hug.

"Thank you sis. Thank you so much." Thankfully, she releases me. I was beginning to gasp for air. "Your words.. they made me feel so liberated, like as if a burden I had been carrying ever since I met her has been taken off my shoulders." I notice the way she refused to call her mom 'Mother' or at least, call her by name but I decide to keep quiet.

Like they say, Baby steps.

"You don't need to thank me. After all, what are sisters for. You would have done same for me."

"You bet I would have."

Blinking, she tilts back her head.

"What are you doing?"

She looks at me like as if she can't believe how stupid I am.

"Obviously, I am trying to get my eyes to swallow the rest of my tears. I feel so much better now, so I should save them up for when next I need them."

"Oh, I see," I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

Voila! Crazy Metisha is back!

"Wanna go to the bar?" she suddenly asks out of nowhere.

Now it's my turn to give her the 'Are you stupid?' look. "After what happened to Margie? No."

"Come on, I need to chill off and forget my sorrows." she whines.

"You can forget your sorrows here too. In fact, I have all the sorrow-forgetting drinks you could find in a bar. I have martini, I have scotch, I have whiskey, I have..."

"Yeah yeah, you have it all, I know. But," she squints, "there's just something different about drinking outside."

"Well, we can go sit on the lawn outside and take a couple of..."

"Jules!" she shrieks. "You know that's not what I'm talking about."

"Tisha, have you forgotten what happened to Margie?"

"Of course not. But you can't compare a bar to a club. A bar is safer."

"Says who?" I ask, giving her a quizzical look.

"Says Ed Sheeran," she says with a shrug.

"Oh, I see." Then I blink. "Wait! When did Ed Sheeran say that?"

She sighs. "Haven't you heard his song Shape of You?" When I give her a blank stare, she adds in a sing-song voice, "The club isn't the best place to find a lover so the bar is where I go... See?" She beams.

Placing my fist under my chin, I look at my best friend for some seconds. "And why am I just realizing that my best friend is one of the most stupid people in the whole wide world?"

She seems to ponder on this for some time. "Uh.. Probably because you were too busy swimming in the pool of your own stupidity to realize you have an equally stupid best friend?"

I take a look at her smiling face and say, "You are a bitch."

"I'm your bitch," she replies with a toothy grin.

"Ew!" I wince dramatically.
Metisha only rolls her eyes at me.

"Come on. Get your assless ass up and moving. We won't spend more than thirty minutes there, I promise." She makes a puppy dog face.

"You know no one pulls off the puppy dog face like Margie does. Puppy dog on your face looks like a pig drown in hot water," I say, keeping my face devoid of emotions.

Her mouth hangs open for like, ten seconds. Then she recovers. "Insult me all you want. All I know is that we are going to the bar whether you like it or not."

"Aye, aye," I say, tired of the bantering.

"Good. Now get your," she slaps my behind, "buttless butt moving. Go wear something sexy for Mammy."

"Buttless butt? Just what do you gain from reminding me of my backside's predicament?" I ask, a mock frown on my face.

"I promise to stop if you go see Gabriel."

"Who's Gabriel?" I question curiously.

"Seriously, do you have a sieve for a memory? You've forgotten Gabriel? The plastic surgeon I told you..."

"NOOOO!" I scream as I sprint to my room.

I would die before allowing a knife near my ass.

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Thanks for reading. I hope this chapter wasn't boring

Promise the next chapter's gonna be super interesting

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