“This time will be different.”
“Let us hope it is.”
He waited until I got into the car before he turned around and made his way back into the house. I could still see him watching from behind the curtains as I drove off.
He has been doing that ever since I started going out, I don’t know if he thought someone would steal me from my car. I secretly found it just as cute as I find it annoying, but I know he was just trying to watch out for me so I have never let on that I knew what he is doing.
I was about twenty minutes into my drive when I got a call from Olivia. I made sure my phone was connected to the Bluetooth before I answered it.
“Where are you?” she asked as soon as I answered it, “I just got to your office and you aren’t even there.”
“First of all, hello to you too Olivia,” I said sarcastically, “Second, why are you in my office, its two in the afternoon. You should be at work.”
“I just took my lunch break; now where are you?”
“I went home to have lunch with my parents.”
I was barely done with my sentence when she started screaming and swearing.
“You are such a snake,” she exclaimed, “How dare you not go with me? I haven’t seen them in ages.”
“It was a split second decision, relax,” I fought to keep the smile out of my voice, “Besides, I thought I was in trouble, my dad pulled the full name card.”
She gasped, “You definitely did something.”
“Not this time,” I sing songed, “He just wanted to see me and pry into things; especially what happened between Joseph and I.”
“Did you tell him? I’m sure he was so mad. I actually noticed that he unfollowed Joseph on social media.”
“I didn’t tell him.”
She went silent for a full second after that. I would have thought she hung up the call if not for her steady breathing on the other side and the fact that the call time was still showing on my car screen.
”Why didn’t you tell him?” she asked finally and I shrugged before realizing she couldn’t see me.
“He didn’t need to know,” I responded vaguely, “He already said he didn’t like Joseph in the first place, there was no need to make matters worse.”
“Are you kidding me? He broke off your engagement without any explanation. He most likely che-,”
“I know what he did,” I cut her off. “Like I said, it’s not important.” She clearly didn’t agree because she huffed and stayed silent.
I was going to end the call when I remembered what she said about Joseph’s social media.
“Did you see the picture?” I asked. Her initial gasp and followed silence told me everything I needed to know, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to rub it in your face.” She admitted, “How did you see it?”
“Dad showed it to me; he wanted to prove a point about how he didn’t like Joseph.”
“I didn’t like him either.”
“Liar,” I teased, “You absolutely loved him.”
“Maybe I did love him a little,” she said finally and I hummed so she knew I didn’t believe her for one minute, “But I am allowed to hate him now because he is a jerk.”
I shook my head to myself. Olivia is quite literally the definition of a ride or die friend. My friends are her friends and my enemies are her enemies. She doesn’t need an explanation or a reason to dislike someone other than I don’t like them or they have hurt me. As cute and bubbly as she is, she would go spitfire on their ass if she thought I needed it.
I should have known that she would try to protect me from it. If she had her way, she would have never let me see it. The thought brought a suspicious burn to my eyes.
