Italics - Malaika

Normal underlined - Harry

Bold italics underlined - Natalia

After sleeping on it and thinking intensely about the whole thing I finally made a decision. I was taking a risk and flying to Montana to see William. It was not the best idea but I realized that in my seventeen years of life I had never done anything daring. I had just been a push over for my aunt and it was finally time for me to be different. It would hurt if William turned me down but I'd get a chance to travel and experience the world.

I was already packed and ready to go but I just had one more thing to do before I left. I sat down in Simon's living room, laptop on my lap and logged into my Instagram account. I hadn't logged in ever since William and I broke up so it was no shock when I found a lot of messages from his account. I wasn't there to talk to him so I searched up Harry's name and as always he was online so I video called him. Those boys loved social media too much. It took a few seconds to connect when he received my call. When it finally went through he looked at me with wide eyes as if he'd just seen a ghost. I knew it was weird for me to call my exes best friend but Harry knew William more than anyone so even if I was taking a giant leap of faith I also needed to know the there'd someone there to catch me so I didn't fall and break more than I already had.

As I live as breath Malaika Lelo. It's been a while.

Cut it out Harry, I've watched that movie.

Okay sorry but seriously you're the last person I expected to be talking to.

I know but a lot has happened the past two months and I wanted to talk to a familiar face.

Have you talked to Will yet?

No I but will. I wanted to talk to you first.

Assess the situation first huh?

Something like that.

It was silent for a while between us as I thought about what I was going to ask next. I thought I was going to ask Harry if William cheated on me but I found myself asking a whole different question making his whole demeanor change.

How is he?

Broken.

One word. Not a good sign.

Why?

What do you mean why? The guys lost the love of his life because of a misunderstanding and he has no way of getting in contact with her. You guys ended on such bad terms he never got closure or a chance to explain himself.

What was there to explain? All the evidence was there incriminating him.

Like I said it was a misunderstanding.

Then explain it to me Harry because I was broken too that day. You can't just expect me to believe that everything I saw was a figment of my imagination.

I'm not saying you imagined it but you should have at least heard him out.

Really Harry? Heard him out? I tried for months but he shut me out the second you guys got into university. I was okay with being the fourth wheel to his Tiktok life and studies but I have enough self respect to walk away when I get cheated on.

William didn't cheat on you.

Says you.

I can prove it.

How?

Just give me a second.

My whole heart was pounding out of my chest during the whole conversation. A part of me had always tried to make excuses for William, that he didn't actually cheat that day. Harry was supporting that part and it was messing with my head and all the resolve I'd made. Yes I was going to see William but not to make up, just for closure so we could move on knowing I was done with that part of my life. The trip to overseas would be an amazing bonus.

Harry called out to someone, phone still held in hand and a few minutes later someone joined him in the room. They sat next to him on the bed and Harry shifted his phone so that I could see both their faces. The other person was no other than the girl who William had cheated on me with. I looked at Harry with a confused look on my face wondering what was going on.

Malaika I want you to meet, Natalia my girlfriend. Babe this is Malaika, aka Angel, Williams girlfriend.

Not anymore.

Hi Malaika, it's nice to officially meet you. I've heard so much about you from the guys. Though we've already met and not under the best of circumstances.

I don't understand. Can someone please explain to me what is going on?

Babe you want to go first?

No you start and I'll fill in the gaps.

Okay.
Where to start?

The beginning would be nice.

Ha ha funny but seriously. So when we all got to university we thought it was going to be the same as high school but boy we were wrong. The first hit came when we couldn't find a three bedroom apartment but we made do and moved next door to each other. Then our classes started and we all had such demanding courses it started getting harder and harder for us to hang out together. I had my Architecture degree and football, Louis had his Interior design class and he joined the drama club while William had his BBA degree. Louis and I saw each other because we were roommates but we rarely saw William so he turned to back to Tiktok just to get something else to do. We had no idea it was causing you guys to drift apart otherwise we would have said something. His following grew and he sort of became addicted to posting and all the attention his followers were giving him. On Louis' birthday we all met, made up and promised to be there for each other. We were all drinking but William wasn't because the last time he did you guys almost broke up but something else happened that night, the reason why you two broke up.

What happened?

I'll take it from here babe. So I met the guys during orientation week and we hit it off but I clicked the most with Harry and we started dating soon after. William used to talk about you all the time and I was actually excited to meet you but that didn't go according to plan.

Anyway so on the night of Louis' birthday William and I weren't both drinking so we offered to oversee the whole party. It was going well until one of Williams stalkers crashed the party.

He had stalkers?

Still does though not so much anymore since he stopped using Tiktok. It comes being with a famous Tiktoker especially in university.

You're drifting off babe maybe I should tell it.

No it's my turn.

But you're slow.

No I'm not.

They were a cute couple but I was seriously at the edge of my seat and not in the mood for all their lovey-dovey.

Guys seriously finish the story, I don't care who tells it.

They glared at each other and had that weird couple telepathy staredown. Natalia must have won because she turned to the screen with a grin.

Where was I?

Stalker.

Oh yeah so William tried to be kind and turn the girl down respectfully. We both thought she'd taken the hint but we both discovered later that William had been drugged. She must have spiked his water or something because next thing we know she's shoving her tongue down his throat on the dance floor and he's allowing her. I saw this and separated them. When I saw the dazed look in Williams eyes I knew something bad bad happened so I took him to his room to sleep it off. When I went to check on him later on I found the girl straddling him and they were both shirtless. I called Harry and he kicked her out.

She raped him?!

I was horrified at the thought of that happening to William. I felt even worse because he'd been through such a terrible experience and I broke up with him for it.

She didn't get that far because I stepped in. William slept in until the next afternoon, so when I went to check on him he puked on me. I cleaned us up and changed into one of his hoodies. Before I left I heard his phone ringing insistently. I thought it was an emergency so I picked up and it was you. You know how the rest goes.

It was silent for a while as I took everything in. I had jumped into conclusions and ended up breaking both our hearts.

So he didn't cheat on me?

No, he wouldn't dream of it. You mean everything to him, sure he had a hard time showing it during the weeks prior to your break up but he didn't mean it. It was hard for all of us.

Oh God, I feel so stupid now.

Don't be, even William himself agrees that he'd have jumped into the same conclusion of he were in your shoes.

How's he doing now?

Honestly still the same, he still mourns over loosing you. He misses you and keeps staring at your photos. We suggested the he fly out to see you and explain everything, even offered to pay for the ticket but he said that you wouldn't want to see him so he talked himself out to it.

I didn't say anything after that too dumbfounded about the information I'd received to make a rational thought.

Do you still love him?

With all my heart.

Then text him or call him and fix everything.

I was about to tell them that I was flying to see him but I stopped myself. I wanted it to be a surprise.

I will. Thank you so much guys.

You're welcome. Don't be a stranger now.

I won't. It was nice to meet you Natalia, I'm sorry for the whole misunderstanding.

Water under the bridge but you seem cool and I'd love it if we could become friends.

Sure I'd love that.

Bye guys, just one favor. Don't tell William that we talked.

It's a promise.

You have my word.

With that I cut the call and found myself crying again but this time they were tears of relief and joy. I was winning my man back because we both deserved to be happy.

🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂

Have you ever messed up in a relationship because of miscommunication?