Tales Of Sleepless Romance And Lovers You Can’t Control

Day 16 of The Andie Chronicles

I didn’t get much sleep last night.

Hardly any if I’m honest with you. 

I kept thinking about what I would say to Douglas on Friday night. 

How could I get in first? How could I say something that would make me the winner of the breakup? 

What could I say to make sure I could tell everyone I was the one who ended it?

These were awful thoughts. 

In reality, it doesn’t really matter who ends it, except when you want sympathy from loved ones. If you’ve cheated and broken your partner’s heart, you get nothing. 

But if you’ve been walked all over and dumped unceremoniously, people often don’t have sympathy for you either. You should have seen it coming, right? 

Either way, this whole breakup thing is a minefield. And when you see it coming, you can only do your best to navigate in a way that helps you sleep at night.

Considering I wasn’t sleeping, I thought I could take out some of my anxiety on the spin bike. 

Better than sitting still and letting the thoughts take over. 

I caught the early spin class and then did my usual session with GG. By the time I finished the second class, my legs and bum were aching, and I couldn’t think about anything else.

GG wanted to talk about what happened on Saturday night, about how James stayed with her and her boyfriend Taylor. 

And talked about me. 

“I just want you to know we weren’t having this big bitching session behind your back,” she explained, whilst handing me a strong coffee from the gym’s cafeteria. “We didn’t plan it. We’re all so worried about you, babe.”

I took a sip, realising how badly I needed the caffeine. 

I didn’t want to tell her not to worry about me. That would be lying. 

I was having a hard time, I felt like absolute poo and I wasn’t exactly enjoying my romantic life. 

At all. 

I kept thinking how single life was far less complicated than this. 

“I appreciate your concern,” I began, with my measured tone. “But worrying about me isn’t going to fix this situation.” 

I took another sip. 

“You know who you should worry about? Douglas. He’s the one who’s acting strange. He’s the one facing some crisis in his life, I can only assume. Me? I’m dealing with something I can’t control. I can only accept the situation and try to move on.”

GG nodded. “I get it,” she replied. “Like when I found out my ex-husband was cheating on me. It sucks but without a magic wand, you can’t undo it. You have to deal with it.”

Once GG reminded me of her divorce, I suddenly felt tired, like I could sleep for days. A little perspective never hurt the cause.

I went home from the gym and found James already at the office. He also had coffee and cakes and the fixings to make baguettes for lunch. I looked at the spread in my kitchen. 

“Wow, you’re really going all out for me, huh?”

James nodded. I picked up a coffee and drank from it, marvelling at all his sympathy materialising in the form of food. 

“James, you and GG have been so good during this time. But I have to ask. Do you guys know something that I don’t?”

I felt his eyes on me as I asked. “That’s silly,” he said. 

The only thing that was silly was his answer.

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You’re reading The Andie Chronicles, the 2023 romance-fiction series from the 1 Lovelock Drive (1LD) universe.

By the way, this all started when Andie turned thirty-five, and her then-boyfriend didn’t call her.

Or the day after that.

Or the day after that, too. 

Everything started to unravel when her BFFs got into bed with her ex, too… ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

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