He raised one eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yes, really. Turns out you were right about Peter. I wanted to…”
“What happened? Did that fucker hurt you?” he interrupted me, appraising me for damage.
“Drew, stop.” I stepped away from his inspection. “It wasn’t like that, okay? He just wasn’t the guy I thought he was, but I took care of it. I won’t be seeing him again.”
He stared at me, trying to figure out if he should be more concerned. “Well, I hate to say I’m glad, but I am. You deserve a lot better than that clown.”
“What? No ‘I told you so’?”
He chuckled. “I’ll spare you this time, but you won’t be so lucky next time.” He pulled me into a hug, then went to refill our coffees.
“Drew?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you…” My voice broke for a second. I cleared my throat and continued. “Are you into her?”
“Who?” He turned toward me. “Gwen?”
I flinched at her name and nodded. He gripped the counter between us. “I told you. I never meant for it to happen.” He sighed. “I don’t want her. I…”
There was a knock on the door before he could finish. He flipped the lock and pulled open the door. A delivery man with a bouquet of lilies stood in the doorway. Drew signed and accepted the flowers, closing the door and handing them to me. I pulled the card from the little envelope.
I was an ass. Forgive me?
I tossed the card and the flowers into the trash. Drew raised his eyebrows. I shrugged. “I hate lilies.”
“Noted,” he said, sipping his coffee.
***
Monday came and I was busy for a good part of the morning working on a proposal for a new spa when Wiley burst into my office.
“Ding dong the witch is dead,” she exclaimed, tossing a handful of confetti she got from her two-hole punch into the air. She laughed as she hopped up on my desk. “Tell me everything. Did she cry? I heard she threatened you and slapped Madeline,” she said, way too excitedly.
“Slow down, girl. No one was slapped. Madeline just told Gwen that her services were no longer needed.”
“That’s it?”
“She may have told Madeline that she would ruin her.”
Wiley’s jaw dropped. “Can she do that?” She looked a little unsure.
“No,” I said, “no way.”
She seemed satisfied that our jobs were safe, at least for the foreseeable future, and we could move forward with our lives.
I almost felt bad for Gwen about the way things went on Friday. Then I remembered her naked back and the smile on her face when I saw her with Drew. I shuddered. He said he didn’t want her, but the thought of them together…just ugh!
“So,” Wiley snapped me back to focus. “How was your weekend?”
I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. “I can’t get into that now. With Gwen gone, I have a ton of work to do.”
“Okay, but drinks tonight?” she asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.
I let out a long breath. “Yeah, I will absolutely need a drink for this.”
***
The story took exactly four, “Oh my God’s,” one “Sweet baby, Jesus,” and two martinis before Wiley knew everything. By the end, we were both exhausted and a little buzzed. I waved to the bartender for my third martini before Wiley said, “He slept with Gwen?”
I nodded.
“And you saw them, like…in the moment?”
I shuddered at the memory. “Yeah.”
She just blinked at me for a second, letting the whole thing sink in. “Wow. I’m just…wow. So, are they, like, a thing now?”
“Drew says he doesn’t want her. He said that it was a drunken mistake, but he was texting her the other day, so maybe he is trying to spare my feelings. I don’t know.”
Wiley looked at me for a long time. “Do you want to know what I think?”
“I don’t know. Do I?” I was unsure if I was going to like where she was going.
“I get that I’m beginning to sound like a broken record…” She raised a pink stained finger when I rolled my eyes. “No, listen. You are clearly incapable of seeing past your insecurities to see that Drew feels something for you. It’s there. You choose not to see it because you refuse to let yourself hope that there is the possibility for a future between the two of you.”
I sighed as she continued. “Look, Alex, I don’t know Drew all that well, and maybe I’m wrong, but he already knows how you feel and he hasn’t run away. He stayed with you. The fear of losing him is not a real concern anymore. So, what’s holding you back from having a real conversation with him about how he feels?”
Wiley had a tendency to be kind of flaky, if not a bit socially awkward, but she had these profound moments of clarity that made me value her opinion. Well, when I could get my head out of my ass long enough to listen.
“I see what you are saying, but he is my best friend. I know that he hates carrots and can’t sleep in a shirt. I know that he says his favorite movie is Star Wars but it’s really Spaceballs. He collects ties, but rarely wears them. He plays the piano and is a freakishly good speller. I know how he thinks, what he likes, and who he is, and I know that if he wanted to be with me, he would be.”
She held her hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay, if you say so.”
Ping, ping. That bicycle was beginning to grow on me. It had a habit of saving me from awkward conversations.
Sean: @ The Den where r u?
“Looks like everyone is at The Den. Feel like a set change?”
She nodded. We paid our tab and headed out.
***
As we approached The Den, I saw Drew outside. He was on the phone having a pretty heated discussion. I told Wiley I would meet her in there. I couldn’t hear everything, but he sounded really irritated. I caught the tail end of the conversation.
“You need to back off. Stop calling me!” He gritted his teeth, his jaw tense. He ended the call and shoved the phone into his pocket, turning around so quickly he nearly knocked me over.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” I said, sounding a little awkward, “what was that about?”
“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” He put a hand on my back and tried to guide me toward the door.
I stopped and planted my feet. “That wasn’t nothing. What’s going on?”
I crossed my arms across my chest. I was determined to get an answer from him. Keeping things from each other was what got us into this mess we were in.
Drew put his hands on his hips and looked down at his shoes, exhaling as he met my eyes. “It was Gwen.”
I pressed my lips tightly together and waited for him to continue.
“After you left, I sobered up pretty quick. I knew I had to talk to you but I had to get her out first. She was not so happy about the interruption and even angrier that I was asking her to leave. She has been calling and texting me ever since. I don’t even know how she got my number.”
“But you texted her last week.” I was confused. Gwen said Drew texted her, which sparked the whole crying-in-the-bathroom, Bitchface-getting-fired thing.
His eyebrows pulled together. “What are you talking about?”
“Last Friday, before she got fired, you texted her and she…and I…” I stammered as everything began to sink in. Gwen planned this. This was her goal all along, to fuck with me. She saw us together at the gala and targeted him as something she could use to make me miserable. Son of a bitch! She’s been plotting this entire time to drive him away from me. I guess after she got fired, she went straight for the kill. That bitch!
“What?” Drew asked, dipping his head to meet my eyes. I must have said that last part out loud.
I was furious at her, but he still went through with it. Gwen is a bitch for sure, but she didn’t force Drew into bed with her. He took her home. I didn’t know what to say or do. I felt nothing but white hot anger coursing through my body with no way to let it out.
“Red,” he said, bringing me back to the present. “I told you before, I don’t want her. I wish the whole thing never happened.”