by Ashley Blake
“He said he needed a couple of weeks.”
That set her off. “A couple of weeks?! What a prick!”
“I know, but I did tell him that I would not wait forever.”
“Good, and you shouldn’t. There are tons of guys out there who would give their right arm to have a woman like you, who would treat you like a princess. I can’t believe Lucas turned out to be such a douche bag. I can’t wait to tell Dex what an asshole his friend is.”
“Please don’t do that. As crazy as it sounds I kind of understand what he is going through. He and Ellie dated for a long time and I’m sure when they were in Italy, spending all of that time together old feelings resurfaced. It’s not like they broke up because one didn’t like the other anymore. They broke up because she moved to New York.”
“You know, you’re a better person than me. If it was Dex doing something like this to me, I would ice him out completely and forget I ever knew his name.”
“Even if you loved him like crazy?”
She had to think about that for a minute.
“Okay, I see your point.”
She pulled me in for another hug.
“I’m so sorry you’re going through this, Sophie. I’m here if you need me, okay? Anytime, day or night.”
“Thanks. I love you, Gigi.”
“I love you too, girlie. I’m sure you haven’t eaten anything because of that jerk. Do you want to go out to breakfast?”
“I’m not really up for it, and I’m not hungry. My appetite is totally gone.”
“Let me make you eggs and toast at least. You have to eat something, Sophie.”
“Okay, I’ll do eggs and toast. Scrambled please, thanks.”
She winked at me. “No problem. Scrambled eggs coming up!”
I took a quick shower and felt a little bit better when I sat down at the kitchen table.
Gigi looked at me across the table with nothing but worry all over her face.
“Sophie, is there anything I can do for you?”
I smiled at her, I know she hated seeing me so sad.
“No, I think I’ll feel a little bit better each day.”
“Well, we can’t just have you sit around and wait for him to make up his mind. You have to stay busy.”
“I know. Thankfully I have a lot of meetings in the next couple of weeks.”
“Good, I also think we should do a girls night out. I’ll invite some of the other girls to come with us. It will be good for you to be out around people who care about you.”
I wasn’t even thinking about something like that. It was a huge feat for me to even get out of bed that morning.
“I don’t know about going out just yet, Gigi.”
“It will be good for you, trust me. We’ll go out and have a good time Saturday night.”
I knew she wouldn’t let up, so I just a greed with her.
“Okay, fine. But if Trisha shows up I can’t be responsible for what I’ll do.”
“Understood. I’ll let Carrie and Jenn know that this is ‘real friends’ time only.”
“Thanks. Don’t you need to study lines for your play? Opening night is in a couple of weeks, right?”
“Yes, I have rehearsals this afternoon so I’ll study for a bit before I go in.”
“I have a meeting with a couple of girls from my entrepreneur group this afternoon. We’re thinking about collaborating and writing a book on how to be a successful entrepreneur at any age.”
“That sounds cool, I didn’t know you were thinking about doing that.”
“We’ve been thinking about it for a couple of months and now I think we’re going to actually make it happen.”
“I’d love to read it whenever you guys finish.”
“Of course, you’re my biggest supporter aside from my family. Okay, enough chit chat. I know you have stuff to do.”
She started to walk to her room and then stopped and turned to me.
“Do you want to have dinner tonight?”
I smiled at her. I knew what she was doing, she didn’t want me to be alone.
“Sure.”
“Good.” Gigi had a big grin on her face as she whistled her way back to her room.
When I got back from my meeting later that afternoon, I rushed to my computer to see if I had gotten any emails from Lucas. My heart sank when I saw that there was nothing because I really did think…I don’t know what I thought. I guess I thought that he would tell me that he made a mistake and of course he chose me. But that didn’t happen. Instead of dwelling on it I decided to go home for a couple of days. I told Gigi that I wouldn’t be able to do dinner and I just needed to be with my family for a couple of days.
“I’ll be back Saturday afternoon in time for our big night out. I think it will be good for me spend some time with my family.”
“I think that’s a great idea. Tell them I say ‘hi’ when you see them. What time is your flight?”
“I was able to get a 5:20 flight. My mom and dad are so excited that I’m coming home.”
“I’m sure they are. My parents are probably going to be begging me to come home soon now, too.”
It was the first time I had giggled in days.
~*~*~*~
My mom hugged me forever when I walked in and it felt really good to be home.
“Honey, it’s so good to see you!”
“It’s good to see you too, mom.”
“There she is!” My dad came over and gave me a huge hug also.
They were going a bit overboard and it made me feel good but it also made me giggle.
“You guys just saw me a couple of months ago!”
“Yeah, but it seems like forever!”
I turned to see my brother Jeremy, an enormous smile spread across my face, and I ran to him and gave him a huge hug.
“Jeremy! Oh my gosh! I thought you were in Madison!”
“I was but when mom told me you were coming home last minute, I decided to come see you.”
“It’s so good to see you. How is Amanda?”
Amanda was my brother’s girlfriend of 10 months and I had never seen him more in love.
“She’s good, we’re good.”
I smiled at him. “I’m glad to hear it, she’s a sweet girl.”
“Okay, nosy. What about you? How is Lucas? He’s back from Italy now, right?”
I knew the sadness was written all over my face and I didn’t even try to hide it from my family. They knew me too well.
“Can we sit down before I get into that?”
My brother looked concerned and my parents looked upset.
“Honey, are you hungry? Do you need to eat something first?”
“No, I grabbed some food at the airport and ate on the drive here.”
My mom pursed her lips.
“We would have picked you up at the airport so that you didn’t have to rent a car once you landed.”
“I was fine, mom. It was actually kind of relaxing to drive for a bit, I haven’t driven a car since I was back here.”
“Okay honey, let’s all go sit in the family room.”
I felt like I was on display because all eyes were on me, and they were waiting for me to tell them about Lucas.
“So, Lucas came back from Italy, told me that his ex-girlfriend wants to get back together and he’s confused and wants to take a break. Oh yeah, and the ex-girlfriend moved back to Chicago and is working at his gallery.”
My mom looked completely shocked.
“What?! I thought everything was wonderful between you two. I had never heard you sound happier honey. Why did he do this?”
“Well, she went with him to Italy and when they came back, that’s what he said to me.”
My brother jumped in.
“Wait, he went to Italy with his ex-girlfriend?”
“Yes, and I didn’t say anything to you guys because I guess I didn’t want to make a big deal about it and make myself feel worse.”
“This guy is a piece o
f work. I better not ever meet him.” My brother was pissed and while I appreciated it, I didn’t want him to hate Lucas. Even with everything I was going through, I was thinking about Lucas’s feelings.
“Jeremy, don’t say that, please. He’s not a bad guy.” I could hardly believe that the words came out of my mouth.
“Well, I don’t like the way he handled this at all. He was in a relationship with you and he should have remained loyal to that.” When my mom was pissed it was so cute because it hardly ever happened.
“I don’t think he cheated on me, mom. At least that’s what he told me.”
“How long did he date the ex-girlfriend?” I could the wheels turning in her head.
“They met in college, dated off and on for four or five years, and then they broke up when she moved to New York.”
“Did they break up before she moved to New York?” My brother was pissed.
“No, they broke up because she moved to New York.”
“Honey, I’m going to say something and I just want you to hear me out.” My dad hadn’t said anything yet, so I was all ears.
“I know that you and Lucas have something special and it must have been really hard for him to tell you that he needs to step away from the relationship for a while. I love you honey, but I can kind of see his side of things. He had a relationship with this girl for a long time and I’m sure he didn’t expect her to move back to Chicago. It would be different if they had broken up before she moved away, but that's not the case. So I imagine what he's trying to figure out is how to process all of the feelings that he’s experiencing. He has something wonderful with you but then this old relationship turns up and he doesn’t know what to do. Personally, I think he’s going to choose you because even though he thinks he’s confused, he is going to realize how much he loves you and that he is dwelling on the past with her. One thing is for sure, based on the type of guy you have told me he is, it is killing him to hurt you.”
My dad always knew the perfect thing to say to me and the tears slowly fell as his words sank in. I didn’t want to cry in front of my family but I couldn’t help it.
“Sophie, sweetie, don’t cry. Everything will be okay. Just one word of advice.”
“Yes, dad?”
“Don’t let him string you along. He needs to make a decision soon.”
I looked at him, my tear-filled eyes smiling at him, and I wiped away my tears.
“Okay.”
He looked around at everyone and smiled.
“Let’s change the subject. What do you say?”
“Great idea!” Everyone said it at the same time and we all burst out laughing.
“So how is the website coming? Anything new there?” My mom was all smiles. She loved my website and told everyone about it.
“Things are going really well. The blog has changed a bit from when I first started it, but it's doing even better than it was before, so I’m happy.”
“Oh? How is it different?”
“I’m focusing more on commenting on different fashion trends and not so much taking pictures of different outfits. Gigi is usually my model and she’s been so busy with acting that we haven’t had the time to do the pictures. But, some other stuff has been going on for me so I’ve been super busy.”
My mom was now sitting on the edge of the chair.
“Don’t keep us in suspense, what’s been going on?”
"I didn't want to say anything about this until it was final but it's really close so I think it's okay if I tell you guys now. There’s this jewelry company called Glitz and they asked me to design a line of bracelets for them and they approved my prototype so my bracelets will be available in stores next month.”
“Sophie, that is fantastic!” My mom was super excited.
“That’s just terrific, honey.”
I looked over my dad and smiled at him. “Thanks, daddy.”
“My baby sister is going to be a jewelry designer! That is so awesome! Hey, let me know where I can buy them. I want to get one for Amanda.”
“That’s so sweet, Jeremy. Don’t worry about buying one, just let me know which one you want and I’ll get it for you to give to her.”
“Thanks, that is so cool. You really have made so much happen for yourself. I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks. One more thing. I finally have an agent and she wants to put me on television.”
“Television?!” I heard it in stereo.
“Yep, kind of like a lifestyle morning show segment.”
“Wow, my sister is going to be a huge star!”
“I don’t know about that. We’ll see, I told her let’s take things one day at a time.”
“Sophie, we’re so proud of you. You’re such a smart young woman.”
I smiled at my mom and I felt much better about everything.
“Thanks, mom. I’m so glad I came home for a couple of days.”
I got up and asked everyone to come in for a big hug.
“I’ve missed you guys!”
Chapter 15
I had such a good time with my family but I was happy to be back in Chicago. I was really looking forward to going out with the girls that night; it was going to be exactly what I needed.
When we all walked into The Store it felt really good to have guys checking us out. I had almost forgotten that I could get a new guy because I had been so wrapped up in Lucas, but after five minutes of looking around at some of the guys in the bar, I was quickly reminded of how many options I had. I was also reminded of the douchebags.
Gigi, Carrie, Jenn and I were standing by the bar trying to decide what we wanted to drink when a group of guys came up to us and offered to buy our drinks.
“Well, well, well, you ladies are a sight for sore eyes! How lucky are we to meet you girls tonight?”
Okay, the mouth, the main guy, was nice enough and I was sure that it had to be intimidating to come up to group of women, but he was off the charts with the cheese factor and I was not amused.
I glanced at my friends who were less than interested and then I looked at him and gave him a genuinely kind smile.
“You know what? Thanks for the drink offer but we’re having a girls night so we’re not really interested in hanging out with you guys. Any other time we’d be happy to chat but we’re just hanging out with each other tonight. You guys have a nice night.”
I could tell that he was surprised by what I said and sometimes the problem with being nice is people just didn’t listen.
They all moved in a little closer to us with goofy grins on their faces and Gigi was not having it. She turned to them and put her hand up.
“Look, my friend just told you guys that we are not interested so you should just move along. Now.”
Her tone was firm and it was obvious that Gigi was serious. The guys obviously got the message because they took off and they weren’t rude about it.
“Have a nice night, ladies.”
Carrie turned to us. “Too bad they weren’t better looking and less cheesy, I feel like flirting tonight.”
Jenn giggled. “I am pretty positive that you will have many opportunities to flirt tonight, Carrie.”
“I hope so, I’m having withdrawals, and I need some male attention.”
Gigi looked at her. “What happened to David?”
Carrie rolled her eyes. “You mean my sorry excuse for a boyfriend? He’s not fulfilling his duties, if you know what I mean, so it’s time for me to find someone new.”
I looked at her completely surprised. “You mean you guys aren’t having sex?”
“No, and it’s going on four weeks. I have needs, you know?”
Gigi chimed in. “I hear you on that! But sex isn’t everything in a relationship, I thought you had fun with David.”
“We used to have fun, but lately it’s been a real snore fest. I actually think he might be seeing someone else and the sad thing is, I don’t care.”
“Carrie, we had no idea. Are you okay?” Jenn
looked really concerned.
“I’m good. I was serious when I said I wanted to meet someone new.”
I put my hand on hers. “Okay, let’s get our drinks and do a lap around the bar.”
We sipped our drinks as we made our way around and Carrie bumped into a guy she’d had a major crush on for months. We left her chatting with him and she was happy as could be. As we walked over to the back corner of the bar we ran right smack into Trisha. Ugh. She looked like a straight up lady of the night. Her cleavage was all out for everyone to see, her nipples barely covered by her halter top, and her shorts could not have been any tighter and shorter. I gave her a cool stare and then the once over and smirked to myself when I saw her shoes. The heels must have been five inches high. Really?
“Hi guys! Sorry I couldn’t make it out with you girls tonight, I’m hanging with my sorority sisters. A bunch of girls are in town so we’re having a mini reunion.”
Uh, no, you couldn’t make it out with us because no one invited you, you fruit loop dingus.
Gigi was always the bigger, better person when it came to dealing with Trisha. I just could not stand the girl. She plastered a smile on her face and humored Trisha for a minute.
“How fun that you guys are all out together tonight. Do you have big plans for the rest of the weekend?”
“Yeah, we’re shopping on Michigan Ave. tomorrow and going to an early dinner at RPM tomorrow night. Everyone is leaving around 8:00 tomorrow night.”
Jenn chimed in to be nice. “That’s sounds like fun. It looks like you’re having a great time, so don’t let us hold you from your sisters.”
She waved off the comment. “Oh, don’t worry about them. I’ll find them in a minute. Oh, hey, Sophie?”
What.
I took a deep breath and raised my eyes to hers.
“Yes?”
“I saw your boyfriend today at Carmine’s having lunch with some girl. Are you guys okay?”
I instantly felt a huge pit in my stomach and I narrowed my eyes at her. Gigi nearly pounced on her.
“They are fine. Go play with your sorority sisters, Trisha.”
She looped her arms through Jenn’s and mine, and pulled us away. She leaned in and whispered to me.