And no boyfriend. Thank God.
Still, as she folded up a few pairs of shorts, Maisie could feel her lower lip wobblingjusta little bit. She’d been looking forward to this holiday with Brent – she’d thought it would be a chance to get over their recent rough patch and reconnect. Remember why they’d liked each other in the first place.
There definitelywasa reason I liked him, I’m sure of it…
A reason, surely, that wasn’t just that he was the first man who’d approached her inyears, on the one night she’d been talked into going out to a bar for a friend’s hen’s night. She hadn’t beenthatpathetic, right? Just to stick with a guy because she hadn’t been asked out in a while and she was beginning to worry she never would be again?
Oh, who am I kidding. That’s absolutely the reason,Maisie thought, as she tossed a t-shirt down into her suitcase, shaking her head in disgust at herself.But look, in my defense, hot guys are hardly throwing themselves through my bedroom window, are they?
As, sighing, Maisie wandered out to the hall to look for the shoes she wanted to take with her, she thought back over the past few months, and wondered if she’d been quite sane.
From the way she was carrying on now, anyone would think Brent had been the one to dumpher, and not the other way around. It had been Maisie’s decision to finally tell him to get lost – made impulsively, but withverygood reasons.
hey babe,he’d texted her yesterday.don’t think i can make this trip after all. got some work thing that came up. sry! make it up 2 u latr babe.
Maisie had stared at the text for at least ten minutes, not sure whether her disbelief or her fury was stronger. Surely it had to be some kind ofjoke, right? They’d been planning this beach holiday in Queensland together forweeks,and Brent had asked her to put everything on her credit cards on the promise he’d pay her back.
Of course, Maisie really doubtedthatwould ever happen, if Brent had ever been planning on paying her back in the first place. But hedefinitelywouldn’t be now, after the blistering message she’d sent him calling him every name she could think of, telling him he could shove whatever it was he planned to do to ‘make it up to her’ straight up his arse, before blocking his number.
It really hadn’t mattered if it had just been a joke – it wasn’t funny, and somehow, Maisie thought Brent had actually been serious about his sudden cancelation.
At least, if the rest of their relationship was anything to go by, that wasn’t hard to believe.
Maisie had been stood up for dates more times than she cared to remember; her messages had been left on read for days; she’d made plans only for Brent to suddenly announce they were no good after seeming to be enthused about them at first.
And then, of course, was the fact she’d never met any of his friends, even though they’d been together for about three months. She didn’t even know what his jobwas, despite the fact he was always using it as an excuse for his sudden cancelations and mysterious disappearances.
I’m not even that clingy, am I?Maisie thought as, crouching, she reached around in the back of her hall cupboard for her only pair of heels.It’s not like I didn’t try to give him space if that’s what he wanted. And it’s not likemyjob is a walk in the park either!
That was true – being a nurse was long hours, night shifts, and exhaustion. But she’d still tried to set time aside for Brent. Not that he seemed to be that interested in it.
Well, who the hell cares. He’s gone. Gone! Out of my life. And good riddance to that,Maisie thought as, probably a little more viciously than she needed to, she finally found and dragged her high heels out of the back of the cupboard.
He probably had some other girlfriend he liked better. That was why he was always disappearing. I was just his bit on the side.
Maisie glumly made her way back toward her bedroom, not bothering not to stomp her feet, even though she was fully aware she was being childish. Her housemate, Kara, a co-worker at the hospital, was out at the moment, and they lived on the ground floor, so she wouldn’t be disturbing anyone with her little tantrum. And to be honest, she felt she deserved one.
At least I still have this holiday, even if it was a stupid waste of money to get two plane tickets and a double room at the hotel,Maisie told herself as she flung the heels into her suitcase.And even if it’s the off season, and I’ll be staying in the cheapest hotel room I was able to find. I’ll be somewhere that isn’t this cold, dank apartment with its moldy walls, and I can put my feet up and let someone else do all the running around for once. I just need to not behere. Just let me be somewhere else where I can be distracted from my life. Please.
Hopefully, she could just get blind drunk on piña coladas by the beach and forget all about the existence of Brent Coleman.
And his kind of wicked smile.
And the twinkle he got in his eye when he looked at her.
And his battered leather jacket that had justscreamed‘bad boy’, in a way that had made her heart speed up.
And his –
Argh! Stop thinking about him! What did I just say!!
Yeah, Brent had been hot. But his personality had beenshitty, and she knew that. And he’d been kind of a pig, too.
Who the hell leaves their socks on the kitchen bench? Completely disgusting!
Kara had texted her a photo to complain about that more than once – but Maisie would be able to tell her about the breakup when she clocked on for her evening shift, so Kara at least – who’d never liked Brent to begin with – would be happy.
Hopefully she can keep the ‘I told you so’s to a minimum…
