“A few.”
A few. His words echoed in my mind. He had done this before. The feelings I felt for him, they were all in my head. To Alex, this had just been about sex, nothing more. The realization hurt me, made my heart twist in my chest. I genuinely thought that there was something special between us.
I stood up, grabbed my purse and jacket, and started toward the front door.
“Tia, wait!” he called after me.
I didn’t listen.
I exited the apartment complex in a hurry, damn near knocking an elderly pedestrian off of her feet in the process. My mind was spinning. My eyes were stinging with the threat of tears. I didn’t want to be here anymore. I didn’t want to see Alex. The mere sight of him alone would surely trigger an uncontrollable flood of sobs. I pulled my cellphone out and stared at the screen blankly.
I couldn’t call Molly because she was probably pissed that I slept with her brother. I couldn’t exactly call home because I didn’t have the money or the time to fly all the way back. I couldn’t call Alex because he –well, you know. So my shaky fingers navigated the touch screen until I found Jenna’s number. I dialed it, holding my breath as I listened to the dial tones over the receiver.
“Hello?” she greeted.
I sniffed. “Hi, Jenna. It’s me, Tia.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked immediately.
“I, er,” I stammered. The first tear spilled over, streaking my flushed cheek. “Listen, I’m so sorry to trouble you, but I really need a place to crash. I… I won’t stay too long. Just a couple of nights until I can get my own place.” I started to sob hard, hiccupping desperately for air. “I-I promise to be tidy. I promise to clean up after myself. Y-you won’t even know that I’m there. P-please, I just–”
“Okay,” she said hurriedly. “But just for a few nights.”
“Thank you,” I sighed in relief. “Thank you so much. I’ll make my way over.”
“Okay. See you in a few.”
She hung up quickly after that, leaving me alone once again with my thoughts. But the peace wouldn’t last for very long. My phone started to blow up, vibrating and dinging with new text messages, with recently left voicemails, with urgent calls from Alex. A part of me was curious, wanted to know what he had to say for himself. But the other part of me was angry, too stubborn and too hurt to even acknowledge the messages. I just really needed sometime to myself.
I put my phone on silent.
11
Alex
I wasn’t used to being ghosted. It’d never happened to me before. Ultimately, Tia left me no choice but to confront her at the office. I hated the thought of doing it, hated the risk of embarrassing her in front of her colleagues and my father –her boss. But she wouldn’t reply to any of my texts of apology, wouldn’t answer the phone so that I could hear her beautiful voice. I desperately wanted to know if she was okay, if she was, at the very least, at some place safe. So when I saw her the next day at work to find her eyes red and swollen from an entire night’s worth of crying, I went to her without hesitation.
“Tia,” I called to her. She had been standing by the water cooler, doing her best to ignore my presence. It was weird being back at the office, especially considering how absent I’d been as of late. I thought it was peculiar how it was a woman –my woman—who finally managed to get me back to work.
“Not here, Alex,” she said. She sounded different. Her voice was raspy, words clipped and concise. She sounded professional, distant and a little cold.
“Tia, please, just listen to me–”
She turned on her heel, started to walk away. Instinctively, I reached out of her, taking her hand in mine. She froze upon contact, shooting me one of the most heartbreakingly exasperated expressions I’d ever seen in my life. Her eyes were full of worry, full of frustration. I had to fight every fiber of my being to not kiss her then and there. I fought against the urge to hold her, to hug and comfort her like she so clearly deserved.
“Alex, I said not here.” She sounded embarrassed. With a quick glance around, I could immediately tell why.
Curious eyes were starting to fall on us –on the apparent scene that I was making. Our coworkers were whispering to one another, assumptions tossed around without discretion.
What’s with them?
How does Tia know the boss’ son?
You think they’ve got history?
Looks like a lover’s quarrel.
Do you think that’s how she got the job?
Lucky bitch. I would’ve slept with Alex, too, if it meant I got a promotion.
Tia ripped her hand away, and along with it, my heart. She looked at me furiously, a fire in her eyes I had never seen before. It hurt me to know that I was making things worse, that I was the reason she felt isolated and alone. But I never meant for this to have happened. I didn’t want her to feel like this ever again. Who cared if there was talk at the office? Who cared if Molly was upset with us? She’s get over it, eventually.