DAY 24: Tales Of Dining Out And Silent Friends
Day 24 of The Andie Chronicles
James and I hop on the train and as quickly as we’ve settled into our seats, we’re at Flinders Street, the central hub in Melbourne’s CBD. From there, we walk or catch a tram to wherever we have a booking.
This time we made our way to Flinders Lane, hoping for a lunchtime bowl of pasta at Cecconi’s. The waitress found us a spot on the terrace where we ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio and creamy, melt-in-your-tastebuds lasagna.
It was a wonderful day. That was until I opened my big mouth.
“Do you know why Douglas broke up with me?”
I asked it as James was pouring out the last of the wine. I hoped the liquid courage would assist us both in this mystery.
“I thought about it last night and I can’t figure out why he broke up with me. I can’t give a reason, he didn’t give me one, and now I feel sort of lost.”
Lost was an understatement.
I wanted to get over my ex but how could I without knowing what exactly I was recovering from? It didn’t make any sense. The first stage of grieving always involves knowing what to grieve, right?
“Hun,” James began, visibly frustrated by my question, “Why do you want to know so bad? Is it going to change anything?”
I sort of shook my head. My first instinct was to agree with him.
“So if it doesn’t change anything, move on.”
I picked up my glass and swirled the liquid like I was deep in thought. I needed a moment, to comprehend James’ unfair dismissal of me.
“Move on? Accept my ex dumped me for no reason and move on? That simple, huh?”
I searched James’ face for a reaction. He wasn’t giving me much of a reaction to go off.
“You know guys break it off with me all the time. You don’t see me sitting here analysing it. Sophia and Malcolm have been on and off for a while now. We don’t talk about it with her. We never talk about GG’s divorce. We don’t talk about it because dissecting the situation doesn’t do anyone any good.”
James was out of breath when he finished his rant.
“Do you really believe that? Because it’s pretty fucking sad we can’t talk about our heartache, you know?”
He didn’t say anything.
We didn’t speak for most of the journey home.
That seemed to be the theme in our little friendship group. I knew, right at that moment, something had to change.
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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