Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Elle
It had been two days since I had spoken to Rhett, and he had left on his assignment. I didn't know if that was normal or if I should be worried.
All I did know was that I couldn't take it anymore, and despite it being a Thursday night, I had called Molly over to have a girls’ night with me. She was supposed to be here any minute and the wait was killing me.
So much so that I almost jumped out of my skin when the doorbell finally rang.
"Coming!" I walked at a fast clip across the hardwood floor and threw the door open. I didn't even give Molly a chance to say hello before I was yanking her inside.
"Eep!" Molly squealed as I dragged her over to the couch and pushed her down to sit. "What's going on?"
"Nothing." I joined her on the couch and answered a little out of breath. "Just excited to pick our next book."
"Nah-uh. I know you're lying." Molly crossed her arms over her chest. "Fess up."
"Finnnnnnne." I dragged out the word. "Rhett left two days ago on an assignment, and I haven't heard from him since. I'm starting to go a little stir-crazy."
"Oh reeeeeallyyyyyy."
I knew that tone.
"Don't say it."
"Don't say what?" Molly grinned from ear to ear.
"Whatever it is you're thinking."
"I'm not thinking anything." She looked like the damn Cheshire Cat. That was how big Molly was smiling right now, and who could blame her?
"Bullshit. That smirk on your face says it all."
"What exactly do you think it's saying?"
I walked straight into that one. With a big sigh, I started to explain, "Friends can be worried too. If it were you who went AWOL for a few days, I would be just as anxious as I am now."
Molly tried to hold back a laugh. I watched as she struggled with it, but in the end, she lost the battle and practically bent over in half. That was how hard she was currently cackling.
"What, you don't believe me?"
My friend sat up and wiped a tear from her eye. "Oh I'm not saying you wouldn't worry about me. I know for a fact you would. It's that you feel the need to overly justify your feelings that has me in stitches."
"Shut up." I playfully pushed Molly but joined her in laughing.
Having my friend come over was the best decision I could've made. Without much work at all, she reduced the anxiety I was feeling and brought laughter to my day.
"But in all seriousness, you do realize you're falling for this man, right?"
The laughter I was feeling washed up and sadness took over. With a heavy sigh, I answered. "I know I am, but I don't think he feels the same way." I held up my hand before Molly could say something else. "If I admit my feelings now, I'm going to push him away."
I didn't need to know Rhett well to know my statement was true. His demeanor practically screamed that was how he felt.
"I'm sorry for bringing it up."
"No, it's okay. I knew the moment I met him that he wasn't the relationship kind of person. I was the idiot who went and fell for an emotionally unavailable guy."
It sucked really because I couldn't remember the last time a guy made me feel this way.
"So what are you going to do?"
That was a no-brainer. "Continue to be his friend. He needs that, and I refuse to take that away from him just because I caught feelings."
I hated to see the look of pity on my friend’s face. "What's that look for?" I asked her.
"I'm just worried about you, is all. I hate to see you get hurt."
"I know you are, and that's why I love you, but I've got this.
I promise." Whether I actually had it or not was yet to be determined, but I would try my damn best. I shook away all the sadness and plastered a real smile on my face.
"Let's forget about Rhett for a little while and talk about which book is going to be our next read. "
I could tell that Molly wanted to argue, but she proved just how good of a friend she could be by allowing me to change the subject.
"All right." She rubbed her hands together. "Which trope is it going to be this time?"
I didn't have to think about it long. "Enemies to lovers. Preferably a mafia romance."
"Oooooooh." Molly wiggled. "I like where you're going with this. Let's look up some and pick our favorite."
This was how we picked our book each time. Once we picked a genre or trope or, like tonight, sometimes both, we would use social media to search for authors and books. Then we would read the blurbs and look at the covers to see which one jumped out at us the most.
Molly and I had very similar taste, so it was rare that we couldn't agree on a book. The rare times that we didn't, we would just add the book to our personal Tbr lists and move on.
Tonight was one of the simple times, and we found a book within thirty minutes. Once we had it, we started to read, and that was how we spent the rest of the evening.
Eating, drinking, and reading.
What better way to spend the night.