Denying One's Feelings Convinces The Crush Is More Than A Crush
Day 163 of The Andie Chronicles
Pushing my dinner plate away, I opened my emails.
Up until yesterday, I vowed not to look at what was happening in Melbourne, let alone entertain what the people who had betrayed me had to say.
I flicked through a lengthy apology from GG and a series of apologies from Sophia, before opening the email from James. His communications weren’t sympathetic, empathetic, or any-thetic. He simply demanded I come home because I should be here and not wherever I was.
I didn’t respond to any of them, I didn’t really have anything to say. It wasn’t like I was bitter, it wasn’t like I was sad, I was numb.
But after my day spent with Cooper at the gym, and chatting to the owner of GCWW, Chris, I was spinning with motivation. The way the people of the wrestling world spoke about business, the way they approached their craft, wasn’t like the suits filling the office towers in Melbourne’s most expensive real estate.
Sure, these guys weren’t driving McLarens and taking chauffeured cars around town. Yet, they could if they wanted to.
And Chris didn’t need to walk around in a three-piece suit, as expensive as the rent on the gym’s building, to remind the people who work him that he was the boss.
Any fool who had worked a day outside of corporate life, in a building that didn't occupy the Paris end of Collins Street, knew this. I could have sworn my friends knew this some months ago, too.
It was amazing the effect a couple of well-dressed men will have on ambitious people.
You couldn’t take the kid out of private school life to save yourself.
I wanted to show my friends this life, show them you don’t need riches to boast success. There would be no point though. I doubt they would even entertain me; they would probably write emails about me, saying how I had completely lost my mind.
The most recent email in my inbox was from Angela, wishing their fearless leader a very happy birthday.
I couldn’t believe I didn’t remember it was Douglas’ birthday. It didn’t even cross my mind, once. I’m sure everyone would be making a fuss over him, James buying some expensive gift for my ex he couldn’t afford.
I wondered if Annabella posted a gushing birthday picture on her Instagram. I wondered, for a brief moment, but then the moment left me when Cooper’s name appeared on my phone.
“Hey gorgeous, what’s going on?”
“Just answering some emails, what about you?”
“I just finished some training, about to eat.” I felt the pause in Cooper’s voice. Not a hesitation, more like a calming breath. “I’m surprised I didn’t hear from you today.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to contact Cooper. Since waking up in the morning, I wanted to hear his voice, talk to him, be by his side. But I had only known him for a couple of days.
It was too much, and after everything I had been through, I wasn’t going to get carried away. Even at thirty-five, I still needed coaching on how to deal with men.
I contemplated how to reply, the perfect lie, claiming I was busy and important and that I oh-so-casually wasn’t thinking about him. But he knew my life story, he knew my predicament, why have another person in my life I needed to lie to?
“I didn’t want to screw it up with you by moving too soon. Wrong move?”
He chuckled. “Big time. But I know how you can make it up to me?”
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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