Jennifer let out a soft groan as she opened her eyes, the light in the room was too bright and she had to shut them again. With a second attempt, her eyesight was a bit blurry but gradually became clearer.
She caught sight of Anna sitting beside her and she had to blink to make sure she wasn’t imagining it. “Ann?” she muttered.
“Welcome back.” Annabel said in a cold voice.
Jennifer immediately looked around and realized that she was in a hospital room. “What happened? Am I dead?” she asked with a little chuckle.
“Unfortunately not… you passed out for a few hours. Don’t worry, the car didn’t hit you, you only passed out in shock. According to the Doctor, you have no broken bones, no brain damage, no bruises or fractures, you are perfectly fine.” Anna spat
Jennifer smiled a little, still feeling a bit dizzy. “Why does it sound like you wish I had any of that?” she asked.
“It is actually more like all of that, unfortunately wishes don’t come true. You know what they say, bad people live the longest.” Anna blurted as she looked away from her friend.
“No one says that, Ann.” Jennifer said softly. “And I am not a bad person, I am just human, and humans make mistakes.”
Anna scoffed. “Yeah, of course. Mistakenly sleep with people's boyfriends and lie about it to their face for months, tell me about it.” She said in sarcasm.
Jennifer sighed. “You brought me to the hospital, so maybe you don’t really wish me death.” She muttered.
Annabel scoffed again and shook her head. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking that I care about you because I chose to bring you here, I only did that because there was no one else to do it. The car had taken off in fear, he probably thought he hit you but you were faking it as usual. Our friendship is over Jen, there is no coming back from that.”
“Anna stop!” Jennifer clapped back and groaned, holding her head in pain.
“You should rest,” Anna muttered and tried to stand up but Jenny grabbed her arm immediately.
“No, just give me five minutes to explain it, and then if you still want to hate me, I would accept that punishment.” She pleaded.
“And how do I know that you wont just lie to my face again?” Anna retorted.
“Because I know better than to lie to you again at this point, so please hear me out.” She begged.
Anna let out a breath she had unconsciously held in for a while and then she sighed. “Okay, let’s pretend like I am listening.” She muttered and sat back down by the hospital bed.
Jennifer took a deep breath before she began…
“It all began a year ago. It is not a secret that Jimmy and I were close, but just as friends. I mean, I met him through you and you know how close I can get to people, but it was all just cruise and fun. So Jimmy one day sent me a text, he said he wanted us to do things together, we both know how good he is with words, I thought he was joking when he asked to sleep with me, we both laughed it over and I jokingly threatened to have you chop his balls for that…”
“But then to my surprise, it was not a prank or a joke, he was serious about it. At first I told him that I would never do that to you, but I didn’t want to escalate the matter so I didn’t say a word about it to you. I could have told you but I knew how much you loved him and finding out that he was attracted to your best friend would not only ruin your relationship with him but with me as well. now I have all the messages to back up these claims if you wish to see them…”
“For months, Jimmy kept pushing on. Told me of all the beautiful things he could do to me in bed, filled my head with these fantasies that I soon began to see it as just fun, maybe it shouldn’t be something that serious. I was so pulled in by his seductions that I thought to myself, it isn’t cheating if there are no feelings involved, it is just fun between two friends. I know that is silly, even for me. I am not religious or something but I know that was wrong.”
“I won’t lie that I was not beginning to pick interest in his demands, but the day it happened, I swear that I was not conscious of it. Jimmy had invited me over to watch a movie, you already know it is not the first time, we have been to his place several times for movies and a few times which I informed you ahead of time, I have gone alone to spend nights at his place.”
“Maybe I was foolish to permit that.” Anna scoffed as she reminisced on the past.
“No Ann, you were not foolish, you just trusted your best friend. Unfortunately, that particular night, I got drunk, I was horny and so when he made his move, I couldn’t resist him for long. I gave in to him and we had sex. I know that doesn’t justify what I did but the next morning, I regretted every bit of it. “
Jennifer paused to read her friend’s expression before she continued. “He had shown me a video clip he had made during the sex which I wasn’t even aware of. So when he went into the shower, I transferred it into my phone and had it deleted from his device, and then I had his number blocked; that was where my hatred for him began. I didn’t know that he would find a way to retrieve the video; I knew he wouldn’t have any evidence to prove that I was the girl in the video when I sent it to you and so I did it. I didn’t want you to continue to date that bastard, so I sent you the cropped version of the video, just enough of the clip to get you to break up with him without implicating myself.” She confessed.
Anna huffed and looked away, disbelief in her eyes as she tried to fight the pain of betrayal, burning through her.
“Ann… I thought that would be the end of it but somehow Jimmy found his way back into your life. I have hated myself and Jimmy for what we did that night. I have lived with guilt for eight long months now. I know apologies will change nothing but I am really sorry for what I did, Ann. Now that you know the truth, I really hope that you can forgive and accept me back and I would do everything in my power to make it up to you, but if it is too difficult to forgive, then I understand as well. That is all that I have to say for myself.”
After a little silence, Anna took a deep breath and turned back to Jennifer. “What do you want me to do now? Pretend like it never happened?” she queried, the confusion evident in her eyes.
“No, you don’t have to do that, but you can give me another chance to earn your trust once again, let me prove to you that it was a mistake that would never repeat itself.”
Anna was about to speak when a nurse suddenly walked in. They all turned to face her. “I see the patient is up, I have been instructed to run a few more check-ups on her before we can conclude if she is allowed to leave today. Meanwhile, it is your appointment time with the Doc, she has asked to see you.” the nurse said to Anna.
Anna nodded and turned back to Jennifer. “I will be back,” she muttered as she stood up. Jennifer looked like she was going to ask why Anna had an appointment with the Doctor but she decided not to.
!