She glanced around the study hall as though she expected the guilty party to come forward.
“God knows.”Kris peered down at the card again.“But I’m not leaving it up to upset someone else.In fact, I might message the bastard and give them a piece of my mind.”
“Good idea!”Cindy snorted.“The fewer of these so-called relationship gurus we have around, the better.”
***
It was hours later when Kris found the leaflet again.Staggering into her student house after two too many glasses of wine, her fingers grazed over its hard edges when she pushed her hand into her pocket.
Slamming the door closed with her foot, she tugged the flier free and once again found herself staring at its goading words.
“What kind of a prick wrote this?”she hissed, flicking her shoes against the small mountain of footwear growing in the hall.“I bet he has his head shoved up his ass.”
Hanging her jacket up on the rack, she grabbed the leaflet and her purse and headed for the stairs.Bed beckoned.It was gone eleven, and she had a nine o’clock lecture the next morning, but before her head hit her pillow, the alcohol coursing around her system taunted her to act, to tell the architect of the leaflet how she felt about their distasteful circular.
“No,” she muttered, climbing the stairs on her hands and knees.“He could be a freaking psycho.”
Or just someone else who ignores you.
She halted at the snide remark, her thoughts returning to Shaun.It had been two days since she’d asked to see him again, and the moron hadn’t even got back to her.
“Bastard,” she mumbled, turning the corner at the top of the staircase.“They’re all bastards.”
Lurching down the landing, she attempted to be quiet so as not to disturb her housemates, but she found every creaking floorboard en route.Stopping into the bathroom to empty her bladder, the idea of messaging Shaun surfaced again, and sitting on the toilet, she scooped her phone from her purse and played with a few ideas.
Hey, jackoff.How’s things?
She stared at her phone, fuming at his arrogance, and deleted the words she’d typed, replacing them with the next line that leapt into her head.
How dare you ignore me!Her fingers shook with anger as she typed.
I’m a woman.I deserve to be treated with respect.
Placing her phone on the edge of the basin, she flushed the toilet and washed her hands, her attention fixed on the small screen the entire time.
She preferred the feel of the second draft, but the impending pounding in her head warned her of repercussions if she sent it.
“I shouldn’t be the first to give in.”She gazed at herself in the mirror, tired blue eyes reflecting at her.
What had happened to her?
She never used to be the sort of woman who hung on a guy’s reply, but the older she got, and the more she saw her friends pair off into blissful coupledom, the more frantic she was about being single.
“Delete it,” she instructed herself.“I don’t want to give that bastard anymore ammunition to hold against me.”
She should have deleted his whole contact, but that seemed a step too far, so, brushing her teeth, she made do with erasing her message instead.
“Get a grip, Kris.”Running her fingers through her dark blonde hair, she switched on the faucet and splashed cold water on her face.“I’m in my twenties, not my forties.There’s no rush to find Mr.Right.”
If he even fucking exists.
She rolled her eyes, regretting the gesture when the room around her started to sway.Based on the dicks she’d dated so far, she doubted the idea of a dream man was real, but she was still young enough to hold onto hope.
“Bedtime.”The words were like a sigh.“I’ll be exhausted tomorrow.”
She scooped to collect her possessions, spotting the leaflet she’d pulled from the noticeboard.Eyeing the wording all over again, she perched on the edge of the tub as she contemplated disregarding her own advice.
She should have been getting well-needed rest, and after all the alcohol she’d consumed, she definitely shouldn’t have been messaging strangers, but denying herself the satisfaction of chasing Shaun meant the thought lingered.Maybe the owner of the flier might be the next best dopamine hit.
