Remember Me? (Sequel to Soda Pop and Ritalin), chapter 4

She sat down on a bench and tapped her feet nervously. Maybe they decided to bail out. Maybe they hated her for walking out on Billie when he most needed her. Maybe they too had got hit by a car on the way. Maybe. All these thoughts were going through her head when she heard a familiar voice.
"Jackie?"
She stood up immediately. Tre and Jackie stared into each others eyes for a few seconds, then hugged passionately.
"Tre, I've missed you so much!" she whispered in his ear.
"I've missed you too."
"Ahem," Hayli coughed. Jackie and Tre parted quickly and exchanged embarrassed smiles.
"Hey Mike!" she smiled, then walked over to Mike and gave him a warm hug.
"Hey."
They let go of each other and kissed each other on the cheek.
"So how are you guys lately?" she asked, breaking the awkward silence being made by Hayli staring at her coldly.
"Yeh. We're good, thanks. Not much has happened lately, though." Hayli frowned and pouted at Tre. "Apart from I've got a new girlfriend. And so has Mike."
"Hi, I'm Hayli," Hayli said, giving Jackie a fake smile and a hand for her to shake. Jackie shook her hand and returned her smile. "I'm Jackie," she said, then shook Vanessa's hand afterwards.
"Hi, I'm Vanessa." Vanessa's smile wasn't fake, unlike Hayli's who obviously didn't like Jackie.
"Umm. Tre, can I speak to you for a bit?" Jackie said hesitantly.
"Yeh, sure."
Jackie took Tre aside and led him behind a few trees. Hayli tried following them, but Mike took hold of her arm. "Don't."
"Why not? He is my boyfriend."
"Well, this is private. You don't need to listen in on anything. Trust me."
"I trust you. I just don't trust Tre with that Jackie person."
"They're good friends. Nothing more."
"Well, they seemed pretty close a minute ago."
"As I said. They're good friends, and they haven't seen each other for 2 years."
"Fine." Hayli gave Mike a stubborn smile, then sat down on the bench.

**

"Tre."
"Yeh?"
"I met Billie, as I told you."
He looked down at his feet as they started to walk down a path.
"What happened?" he said seriously.
"He remembered me."
Tre straightened his posture. "He remembered you?"
"Well. Kind of. He seemed to recognise me somehow. But he asked who I was, so he probably doesn't know everything."
"Did you tell him who you were?"
He could see a tear sliding off of her cheek. "No." she said crying.
Tre quickly took her in his arms and hugged her close.
"Sshhh," he hushed her. "Its okay. You were in shock."
"I know, but I have to tell him now. And then he'll hate me forever for what I did. He can't hate someone he doesn't know, but now my cover has totally blown. How could I be such an idiot? What the fuck was I thinking when I left? I had no reason... " Tre interrupted her by putting his finger over her soft lips. He then kissed her lightly and hugged her again.
"Look, if you want, I will come with you to tell him."
"No, Tre. This is between Billie and me." She looked into Tre's helpless eyes. "But thanks for the offer. I appreciate it." She smiled. Tre wiped away the tears on her cheeks with his thumb, then took her hand and led her back to Mike, Hayli, and Vanessa.

**

"Guys, I'm going to go home now. I need to think about... " She looked around to see Hayli and Vanessa staring at her. Her eyes shifted over to Mike's and Tre's. "...the situation. I'll ring you guys later, so we could maybe go for a coffee or something."
"Okay," Mike said, hugged her tight, then let her go for Tre to do the same.
"Take care guys," she said, giving them a wave whilst starting to walk away. "It was nice meeting you," she added to Hayli and Vanessa.
Hayli gave her another fake smile before waving timidly at her. "Buh-bye."
Jackie smiled at Tre, then started to walk home.
"Hey, Tre?"
"Yeh, babe," he said, not taking his lost eyes off of Jackie.
"You wanna go back to the hotel?" she said whilst playing with his tie and biting her lip.
"Uh. Yeh, okay."

**

At The Hotel

"I'm not in the mood, Hayli," Tre said whilst pulling away from Hayli who was caressing his cheek and placing passionate kisses on his neck.
"What? Why not?" She frowned at Tre as he pushed her away and stood up. He walked towards the window and stared out into the city that never sleeps.
"I have to get out," he replied bluntly.
"Where?!"
Tre grabbed his coat and walked out of the hotel room, slamming the door behind him. Hayli simply frowned at the door, waiting for him to come back in. After one minute of frowning at it, she huffed loudly, then turned the TV on and leant back on the bedpost.

**

Tre put his hands in his pockets to warm them up from the cold outside. He felt something cold and dry and took it out. it was a piece of paper. He studied it, then unfolded it and read:

Call me: 07352617272
I need to talk to you about Billie.

He frowned, then got out his mobile phone and dialled the number. It didn't ring for long until Jackie answered it.
"Tre?"
"Hey, Jack."
"Oh, good. Look, are you busy...like now?"
Tre scratched his forehead.
"Please, it's really important. I need to talk to you about Billie without your girlfriend hanging around."
"Yeh, yeh, no, that's fine."
Jackie smiled though the telephone.
"Great. So do you wanna meet at the same place we met before?"
"Yeh, that's cool!"
"Okay, great. I'll see you in a few minutes, then!"
"Yeh, okay."
"Bye." Jackie hung up the phone.
"Bye," Tre said to the dead line, then sighed, put the phone in his pocket, and started to make his way back to Central Park.