X

.𖥔 ݁ ˖𓂃.☘︎ ݁˖(episode 5 pt. 2 - thanksgiving2 days before Thanksgiving //November 2023).𖥔 ݁ ˖𓂃.☘︎ ݁˖

The breath of November settled Silver Falls with early sunsets, crisp afternoons, and cozy energy that is present in the air as the townspeople lingered a bit longer on their favorite spots in town. Moreover, the sessonal charm enveloped in every corner of the town. In two days, Thanksgiving will start.

The trio situated themselves at Lark Café after class, indulging themselves in the comfort of foods that they've been wanting to try. They fell into silence once they were in their own world with their own foods.

"You kept glancing at your phone. Everything okay?"

Bea let out a "huh" and looked up, only to find out it was Phoebe, who was already looking at her with her 2nd cup of hot oolong tea in her hand.

"Everything's good! Just... tracking my order."

Although it's true, it wasn't entirely the reason why she was taking turns between glancing at the phone and sipping at her dark chocolate milk tea.

"So, do you have plans for Thanksgiving?" Phoebe asked, sipping her tea. "I think we should hang out, or something?"

"Oh actually, I already have plans. I'm helping Bash and Uncle Bennett cook for Thanksgiving," Bea shot her an apologetic look. Phoebe nodded and turned to Nathan, who was just staring at his uneaten big chunk of chocolate chip cookie.

"Huh?" Nathan regained his composure. "Oh, um, I do have too." He then started eating his cookie. Phoebe sighed and silently sipped her tea. Bea stared at her friend, her brows knitted. Something in Phoebe's face had changed — the usual glow of the golden girl was slowly dimming. Concerned, she asked if she was okay, in which Phoebe smiled and sipped her tea again.

"Nate, that cookie looks good."

"You can have it!" Nathan pushed down his plate in front of the girl, in which Bea pushed the plate back at him. "No way. I'm ordering one," she stood up and went to the counter.

Surprisingly, the oldest Walter was there, preparing foods in the tray before handing it to the waitress. "Oh, hey Bea!"

"Hello, Mr. Walter."

Will just chuckled at her. "Please, drop the formalities. Just call me Will." He went to the screen and started tapping. "What would you like this time?"

"The Big Chocolate Chip Cookie. Your brother ordered that earlier, and it looks delicious."

Will just chuckled and continued tapping on the screen. After Bea gave him the bill, he went to the pastry section and grab the cookie. Bea hummed a "thank you" after she received it.

"Say, Bea..."

"Yes?"

"What do you say about performing a gig here at Thanksgiving?"

Bea blinked. She bit inside her cheeks, his offer is tempting, despite having plans at the said event. Performing again means more money. And more money means helping her dad.

"We all certainly love your performance back at the opening. Don't worry, the other performers at that event will be back," Will assured her.

"Um—"

"Excuse me! We don't have all day."

Bea looked back and saw a line already, the customers' faces getting impatient.

"I'll think about it."

"Okay. I'll give you 'til tomorrow."

Both exchanged smiles and Bea went back to the table where her friends were, with the plate of the cookie in her hand. To her surprise, the table was noisy, both friends debating about some tea and coffee and which one is 'better'. Letting them be, Bea pulled out her phone and went to the group chat with her best friends back at home.

There was nothing wrong for your long-distance friends to not update you constantly, but seeing the group chat was as dry as a desert, Bea couldn't help but to wonder.

The day before Bea departed to Colorado, the three of them promised each other that no matter how busy they might be, they'll have to keep the group chat alive. The first few weeks Bea staying in Silver Falls went great, the three of them always sending memes and doing video calls. Until around the last week of September, where the texts were getting drier and Bea's messages had only been read by the two. Heck, even when Bea updated them about her performance at the Lark last month, both of them just read her message, no reply.

They might be very busy, advancing in preparation for their college applications. Jamie and Mia were known to be academic achievers anyways. Bea understood that. She'll always understands.

guys! don't forget, let's do our tradition this thanskgiving :) let's just video call, i had already found a very similar beverage that i can drink heremiss u two :(((Delivered. 4:00 PM

Shrugging off her thoughts, she hit send and started patiently waiting for the reply.

"Bea! Tea is better, right?"

"Huh?"

"Tea or coffee?" Phoebe rephrased her question.

"Tea is much healthier than coffee."

"As someone who has a sweet tooth, I expect better than you. Thought you would choose coffee." Nathan playfully rolled his eyes.

"See? Even Bea thinks tea is better than your stupid coffee!"

And they both continued their banter. Bea just chuckled, rolling her eyes and ate her cookie.

But still, both Will's offer and her two best friends never left her mind.

_____________

The school bell finally rang around the hallway, followed by some students' cheer and shouts, knowing this was the last time hearing the school bell before the Thanksgiving break.

"I'm so excited for tomorrow!" Seb exclaimed, patiently waiting for his cousin who was currently arranging her things at her locker.

"Yeah, especially when Auntie promised me I'll be the one who'll carve the turkey."Bea smirked and both cousins walked after she was finished.

"Oh by the way, you saw my text earlier right? I'm going with Danny and Cole at the arcade later. It's kind of our tradition before the actual thanksgiving."

Just by the word "tradition" made Bea immediately grab her phone and went to their group chat. Still no new messages, and still on delivered.

"Yeah. I'll just take a cab."

"Oh and also I get to teach you how to cook adobo!" Seb smiled. "Since mom is coming home tomorrow at 6 pm from her work, I was thinking we should surprise her with more than just adobo, you know?"

"And what is that?" Bea stared at him, head tilting out of curiosity.

"Um, let's see." Seb looked around in deep thought. "Lumpia, kare-kare, pancit, maybe? Dad can make leche flan or bibingka."

"That's a lot for the 4 of us, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but — "

"Need a ride home, New York?"

In front was definitely a surprise for both of them. Cole was leaning towards Jackie, but Jackie quickly diverted away. Meanwhile, Skylar was just observing them, smirking in front of them.

"Going to the Lark Café for the food drive." Jackie's tone sounds like she's in a rush, putting papers and books in her bag pack.

"Suit yourself — Hey, Bash!"

Cole's smirk broke into a smile as he noticed his childhood friend. He immediately put his arm around Seb's shoulder. "Oh, hey capital girl."

"Hey, Cole."

"You know I'm still craving adobo since last year," he said. He turned to Bea. "Ever since Bash knows how to cook Filipino food, he always gave us some of them every Thanksgiving."

That's why he wanted to cook dishes that were too much for the 4 of us, I see.

"Let's go! Danny's already waiting for us."

"Bye, cous!"

The two junior boys left them. Jackie has just finished putting all the things she needed before the break on the bag pack.

"It's still pretty interesting that the hottest boy in school still talks to you after you hurled all over at him," Skylar chuckled, in which Jackie gave him a sarcastic remark. "It's not just thanksgiving I'm trying to forget."

Bea, who was still standing beside the two friends, knew exactly what she meant, but decided not to butt in in their conversation. Jackie turned around and smiled as she saw her standing. "Bea, you're still here! You're coming with us?"

Glancing at her phone for what it feels like for the 100th time this day, she shook her head. "I'm good, Jackie. But thanks for the invite."

Jackie nodded, and waved at Bea a goodbye before heading off. Bea noticed Skylar was still standing beside Jackie's locker, staring at her phone in her hand.

"What's up?"

Skylar sighed. "I know we aren't really close, Bea, but I just want to say that you're lucky our professor didn't noticed you with your phone at her class."

Skylar did noticed, obviously. They were literally partners in their activity earlier during their art class. Despite knowing the consequences of getting caught, Bea kept glancing at her phone, but if it weren't for Skylar nudging her and telling her it's her turn to paint the canvas, Bea would've been in the guidance office right now.

"Yeah!" Bea pressed her lips together. "I got to go, and you should too."

Before Skylar could say anything, Bea sprinted off. Despite her three-layered jacket and a scarf, the coldness of November still shivered her. Bea doesn't know where to go, but her feet dragged off to wherever her body could calm the emotions inside. She eventually found an empty bench beside the school and went there.

Ting!

Bea frantically pulled her phone from the pocket of her pants and a notification of messages popped up.

2 messages from Jamie!

What took them so long? Chuckling, Bea unlocked the phone and went straight to their group chat.

Her world stopped.

It was a photo of Jamie, Mia, and a girl that she's not familiar with, wearing clothes with the same color palette and having the same drink that Bea was very familiar with. A string inside of her snapped.

jamie[photo]the three of us look so cute!

Her vision had already blurred, her hands shaking, but she frantically typed a message and hit send.

There's no way she had been... replaced?

jamie? who's that?

Jamie started typing, but Mia sent a message.

M.I.Aoops, wrong sent.

jamie unsent 2 messages

who is that?guys, reply.

jamiedoes it really matter?

Of course it does, Jamie! You two are my best friends!Seriously, matching clothes with THE chocolate drink from Zeny's? Our favrotie café? That's our tradition!

M.I.Awe love you bea but sometimes there are certain things that don't really last long

The screen was already wet due to the droplets of her tears, but still....

oh so that's why you two don't really message here?that's why you only seen MY messages?what the fuck?

jamiewe're sorry

sorry my assand here i thought, you two were so busy and i would've completely understand thatbut never telling me about your feelings towards our friendship is something that i wouldn't understandhave a good lifeSeen by jamie and M.I.A at 4:30 PM

bea(badoobe) left the group chat

The more she stared at the screen, the more tears fell. She doesn't care about her phone getting wet. She doesn't care if people from her school saw her in the state like this.

Bea buried her face in her palms, and let out a scream that she could only hear. She then clutched above her chest in her jacket, feeling her heart — as if two hands tore the flesh and blood ooze from the heart itself.

It was sudden, so sudden — just like when the news broke about her father getting divorced due to his ex-wife's infidelity. But this..... this was different.

She thought of all the years — the shared secrets, the midnight confessions, the dumb laughter over things no one else would find funny.

How did it really end? Why, because Bea was already on the other side of the state? Because they couldn't take a long-distance friendship that they decide to replace her and do a tradition that was basically introduced by her?

Clearly, there was no single point where things went wrong. No explosion, no screaming match on the calls, no dramatic fight. But... just a slow drifting — days turning into weeks, then almost two months of either half-replied messages and not replying to Bea's messages at all.

Bea wiped her screen. Whatever the reason was, she doesn't want to know. The less she knows, the better anyways.

Just a few miles from the bench, laughter was heard in the parking lot. Thinking that it was meant for her, she quickly wiped her tears and composed herself. Bea took a deep breath and left the bench.

Not wanting to drown with her emotions, she pulled out her earphones and put it in her ears, the loudness of a random music playlist filled in her eardrums. She doesn't really care whether the music that is currently playing was a happy song, a sex song, or anything in between.

She doesn't want to go home, not just yet. She doesn't know where to go anywhere.

But her feet knew exactly where she wanted to be headed.

She had already made up her decision when she was still at the bench.

________________

"Hi! I'm really sorry, but we're closed."

The woman, whom Bea mistaken her as a staff member but actually was Will's partner after witnessing them pecking their lips to each other, apologized while cleaning the counter.

Bea took a quick glance and flashed a smile to Jackie, which Jackie did in return before going back to counting at the bags with their president of the student council by her side.

"Oh um, I'm looking for Mr. Walter?" just as the woman was about to answer her question, Will emerged from the corner, hands wiping in his apron.

"Who's looking for me — Bea! I told you to drop formalities."

Bea chuckled. "I can't help it. Sir, about the offer, are you still looking for performers?"

Will only gave her a small smile, and Bea already knew what it meant.

_____________

Bea had left the café 5 minutes ago, but the walk to the house was actually a stretch.

"Bee!"

But she doesn't care. She just needed to be alone. Her uncle and cousin would understand her, right? It's not like she would perform there for the whole day. Even Will understood that.

"Bee!"

Her phone had died. How is she going to distract her thoughts? Everything around her wasn't helping at all. The town's too noisy, and an annoying person in the distant was talking about bee loudly.

"Princess!"

Isaac.

Of course, it was from none other than the Garcia boy. As she turned around, Isaac jogged towards her and as he was already near her, he was already out of breath. He bent down as he was catching up his breath.

"What?"

"Heh. And here I thought you're sick of that nickname." Isaac straightened his posture.

"Shut up. What do you want?" Bea said coldly, clearly she wasn't in the mood for whatever bullshit Isaac was going to do.

"I was just dropping off some chicks here in this area using Cole's car. Him, Danny, and Bash were in the arcade with Bash's car by the way. And I'm in charge, for now." Isaac showed off Cole's keys in front of her.

"Okay so?" She rolled her eyes. Is he here just to tease her? To boast about how many girls he was dropping off with Cole's car?

Isaac looked straight at her eyes. "What are you doing here? I could drop you off of to your house — "

"Jordan's residence," she corrected him.

"Right. Whatever your answer is, I still want to drop you off. It's freezing."

"Coming from someone who only wears a leather jacket today?" Bea scanned him from head to toe, but looked specifically at his leather jacket.

"Exactly," he chuckled. "Come, the car's parked that way."

10 minutes since they drove off, the whole drive was silent, except for Taylor Swift's "It's Time To Go" from the autumn playlist playing in the radio.

Bea knew the lyrics all too well, reminding her of what actually happened earlier.

"Hey, is it okay if I turn it off?"

"Sure." Isaac replied, his eyes still on the road.

Soon after, they both arrived at Jordan's residence.

Much like every other home in the neighborhood, her in-laws' residence was a modest two-storey house. But the only thing that the house stands out from the rest was a fence surrounding around the house.

"Thanks for the ride, Garcia." She gave him a small smile and unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Anytime, Bee."

______________

The image of Bea's slightly puffy eyes and red nose still linger in Isaac's mind — during the ride where he stole glances from her, the moment he set foot in the Walters household, during dinner, doing the dishes and accidentally broke Benny's mug (which it will be deducted from his allowance), and now that he's in his bed and fresh from the shower, he couldn't sleep. Even the silence of the house (and a couple of snores from Lee inside of the room) couldn't helped him either.

Why was Bea walking on the street alone? Why wasn't she taken a cab to go to her home, knowing that Bash was with Danny and Cole with Bash's car? If he wasn't dropping off some girls at that area, what would happened to Bea? Would Bea get hurt?

Slapping himself, he grab his phone and went to their messages, with the recent message being about another paired activity from Mr. Wellbein's class.

Isaac may be a troublemaker, but he followed rules. But it doesn't hurt if he bend this one rule, right?

pretty princess bee (+1) (***) (***-****)Today. 11:00 PM.

hey bee, i know we'll only message for school works only, but may i ask if you're okay?Delivered. 11:00 PM.

"Bee's going to kill me.", he muttered. With regret filled inside his body, he was about to unsend it when she sned a message.

hey garcia, i'm fine.

He immediately composed a message and hit "send."

just so you know, phoebs and nathan are here for youand ofc bash too

"...and me too.", but he couldn't bear himself to send this to her. Isaac immediately erased it.

i know. thanks. goodnight.

goodnight, bee.Seen. 11:03 PM.

Rereading their message, Isaac truly hoped Bea was fine. Smiling to himself, he put his phone on his night stand and started to doze off. A sound of notification was heard from his device 2 minutes later.

pretty princess bee reacted heart at your message

____________first of all, i just wanted to say thank you for 400+ reads!

second of all, "so high school" is now changed to "fifteen"! i believe it was more fitting than the previous title haha

and also, i already made a playlist for this story! not sure when I will upload it

thank you all! see you next week for the thanksgiving chapter