“I get what you meant. You wanted to use me to scratch the itch you alluded to this morning. You haven’t seen any action in awhile, so you thought you’d settle for me. A warm body, even mine, is better than being alone, right?”
“Are you crazy?” We’d never fought like this before and it scared the hell out of me. Did it mean the end of our friendship? “I never said anything like that. I just—”
“You just told me I was only good for sex. But I’m good for saving your career too, aren’t I? Unless, of course, you can find some other poor sucker who will take the bait and agree that sleeping with you for awhile is fair payment for living a lie.”
My jaw dropped before I snapped it shut again. I pushed past him as the tears burned my eyes. I didn’t know how the hell we’d gotten here, but my gut told me there was no going back to the way things had been before.
“Damn it, Gia! Get back here!”
“Go to hell! I don’t ever want to see your face again!” I was sobbing by the time I got in the car, but instead of taking time to collect myself, I gunned the engine, spitting gravel all the way down his winding driveway.
* * *
Joel
I woke up the morning after my blowout with Gia with the mother of all hangovers. I hated myself for the vile shit I said to her, and I hated her for giving my ring back and bailing on me.
I groaned, holding my head, when my cell phone buzzed, alerting me to a text message. I didn’t want to deal with people today. I wanted to work outside, get my hands dirty, fix shit, and fall into bed tonight too exhausted to think about Gia and the mess I’d made of things. Presuming I could haul my ass out of my bed without throwing up.
I glanced at my phone, hoping it was a message from Gia. No such luck. I closed my eyes, sighing heavily when I read the reminder that I had a date tonight. A date. If we’d gone through with our plan, Gia would have pitched a fit about me being seen in public with another woman. Not that she cared about me, or was jealous, but because she wouldn’t want her cover blown. And that stung… and pissed me off.
Angela was a girl I’d been seeing casually for a few months, and her step-sister was getting married tonight. She’d asked me to go with her over a month ago, but I’d forgotten about it, until now. I could pretend to be sick, which technically I was, but that seemed like a shitty thing to do. Angela was a nice girl. Just not the one for me.
I knew how women felt about being stood up, or going to a family wedding stag, so I decided to man up and honour the commitment I’d made. Even though it was the last thing I wanted to do today.
I fired off a text to let her know I’d pick her up at five, so we’d have plenty of time to make it across town for the ceremony. She responded immediately with a bunch of stupid emojis that made me feel like all the women my age had turned into a bunch of pre-pubescent kids. With the exception of one woman… and I wasn’t going to think about her today.
I covered my head with my down pillow, wishing I’d had the foresight to close the curtains before my drunk ass fell into bed the night before.
I cursed when my phone rang, wishing everyone would forget I was alive. But this time it was Rhett. We’d become good friends since I returned to town, so I decided to man up and try to act human as I swiped the screen and croaked, “Hello.”
Rhett laughed. “Dude, you sound like you’ve been hit by a freight train.”
“That’s what I feel like.”And her name is Gia.“Tied one on last night. By myself. How pathetic is that?”
“Trouble with a woman?”
Because that was pretty much the only thing that would make a grown-ass man get drunk all alone, like a loser. “You could say that.” No matter how bad things got between me and Gia I’d never start slinging mud at her. Especially to her best friend’s husband. “What’s up, man?”
“We’re having a barbeque tonight. Just wanted to invite you.”
I had no doubt Gia would be there. The fact that we were fighting was going to make things awkward, since we had mutual friends. “Uh, I wish I could…” If for no other reason than to try and clear the air with Gia. I loved that girl. I didn’t want her to hate me. “But I have to take a friend to her step-sister’s wedding.”
“A friend, huh?”
I knew all of our crew was hoping me and Gia would finally admit we had feelings for each other. They sure as hell hadn’t been subtle about it. “Yeah, just some girl I’ve been seeing for awhile. Nothing serious.”
“Dude, when are you going to man up and tell Gia how you feel about her?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose as I rolled on my back. I needed a gallon of water and Aspirin, in that order. “Probably won’t be anytime soon, since she said she never wants to see me again.” Her last words echoed in my ear, feeling a gut-punch. My life without Gia was tough to imagine.
“What the hell happened?”
I didn’t have the energy or brain power to get into it, but I knew he wouldn’t let it go. “We both said some stupid shit last night.” After kissing for the first time. How the hell had I let things spiral out of control so fast? “And she stormed out.”
“And instead of going after her, you decided to get drunk? What are you? Eighteen?”
He wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t need to be reminded I was an idiot. I had the nagging inner voice telling me I was a bonehead. “I didn’t say it was the smartest decision I’ve ever made. But maybe I’m getting tired of chasing after that girl.” Bullshit.
