Day 95: Tales Of Shopping And Relationship Duping Potentials
Day 95: Tales Of Shopping And Relationship Duping Potentials
Day 95 Of How To Move On From A Man — 1LD
If you’re new here to 1 Lovelock Drive, welcome! Let me fill you in on what you’ve missed.
I’m Andie and my ex, Douglas, dumped me. This is my break-up, so to speak. Douglas is a power player in Melbourne, worth more than I could ever comprehend.
I have no idea why we broke up.
I work and live at 1 Lovelock Drive. There, my best friend James and I are building Highway, our unisex clothing line. Our two other best friends, GG and Sophia, are investors.
GG is dating Douglas’ brother. Awkward.
My friends have been acting strange since the breakup. Since things have changed, I’ve found papers in James’ briefcase outlining plans for an expensive office space for our business.
I went to bed last night in a panic.
The tiniest part of the business I still had some control over was no longer in my possession. Sure, I could still access it, but thanks to tampering from someone I couldn’t name quite yet, it wasn’t really mine.
Without control over the domain, the shop itself, what did I have?
To make matters worse, GG messaged me just before ten, inviting me to Taylor’s birthday soiree on Saturday night. I don’t know why the invite had come so late, not to mention the fact it wasn’t sent in our usual WhatsApp group chat.
Add that to the list of things completely out of whack at the moment.
Having the time to figure this all out would be a luxury. Taylor’s birthday was only two days away, and James wanted to go shopping for a present.
And new outfits.
He was just saying he couldn’t afford his pending legal bills, but now he could afford new clothes? Nothing was making sense. He insisted I come with him and we buy something together.
Sometimes I think James reverts back to the old ways when we used to function as a friendship. A force of habit kind of thing. He didn’t want me around when he saw the lawyers but was content to act like a happy, united front when it came to gift-giving.
It didn’t make sense.
“Where should we go?” I asked James, putting on my coat and picking up the keys.
“Chapel Street? I figure a man from South Yarra would love something from his own doorstep.”
And if I didn’t have the luxury of time to figure out what had happened with the domain, at least I could see James’ reaction when we ‘stumbled’ across the billboard.
“No,” he begged, shoving his phone, keys and wallet into varying pockets across his body. “The parking is a nightmare. Chaddy will be so much easier.”
Ugh, Chadstone.
I mean, I loved Chadstone, but it was impossible not to agree with him. I couldn’t exactly tell him I didn’t want to endure another James’ present fest at LV, either.
“It will be fine. We can park at the Jam Factory.”
James tisked at me.
“I’m not paying for parking. I would rather put that money towards something for Taylor.” He patted himself down and found his car key. “Come on, don’t argue with me. Or we won’t beat the lunchtime rush.”
Damn James’ forceful nature.
If I could be more like him; I wish I had a take-what-you-want-in-life-without-letting-anyone-stop-you attitude. But I guess it’s easier to insist people around you do what you want when you have so much on the line.
Your friendships.
Your trust.
Respect.
If I were hiding a gigantic billboard in the middle of one of Melbourne’s busiest streets, I would do anything to hide it too.
Though, I wouldn’t do that to my friends. I guess you could say that’s the bigger problem, huh?!
You’re reading The Andie Chronicles, the 2023 romance-fiction series from the 1 Lovelock Drive (1LD) universe.
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