And no conversation before he left.
Was he angry with me?
I threw my hair up into a messy bun and pulled my clothes on as fast as I could in order to catch up with him.
But the sound of Natalia and Brittany laughing stopped me in my tracks.
Natalia crowed, “Did you see how he ignored her this morning?”
“She looked like a lost puppy,” Brittany snickered.
“I gotta give her credit.She still slices through the water like a shark.”
“Which is surprising; she’s not exactly aerodynamic.”
I closed my eyes.
Mean girls didn’t grow up.And they said whatever made them feel better about themselves, no matter if it tore someone else to shreds.
I knew better than to let them get to me.
The thing is, they only reinforced what I already believed.
Backtracking to my office, I closed the door quietly and sat down behind my desk.Getting involved with Daire would invite all kinds of comments from people like them.Logically, those people didn’t matter, but their words were weapons from which I had little defense.
Over the next couple of days, I didn’t reach out to Daire.
He didn’t contact me either.
On my way to Max’s on Saturday evening, my mind spun.Half of me wanted to jump in with him.I missed him on Thursday, missed him, missed his sweet attention.
The other half stood on the sidelines, nodding sagely, applauding my sensible decision to back away.
But why shouldn’t I have somebody to love?Somebody to love me?
Love?
I was getting ahead of myself.
As soon as I walked into Max’s place, Max demanded answers.“Is something going on between you and Daire?”
His tone was casual, but I knew Max, and Max was anything but.There was little point in lying to him.
At least not outright.
“Why?Has he said something?”
Max grinned slyly.“That’s a yes?”
“No,” I protested.“Did you ask him?”
“I did.”He tilted his head back and looked down at me.“He declined to comment.”
“What does that mean?”
He laughed.“You’re asking me?”
I laughed awkwardly.“I guess that’s your answer.”
