Chapter 11
11
He ghosted her. Mostly.
Lila couldn’t believe she fell for his bullshit. He texted her when he landed, but after that, barely anything; just a thumbs up here and there or ‘ok’. When she texted “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year,” all she got was a “Same” and another thumbs up. No pictures, no nothing. She shouldn’t have been surprised, but he seemed different.
He played her.
After the fourth message he left on read, she started losing hope. After the texts on Christmas and another on New Year’s Day, she realized he wasn’t into her that way. She amused him like one of the guys, but once he finally got her into bed, they were done. He was just waiting to end it. Getting out of town seemed to be the end.
She felt like such a fool.
It was near the end of the month when she finally got a call from him while driving home from work. Not willing to talk to him yet, she let it go to voicemail as she gathered her thoughts. She knew they didn’t actually have ‘that talk’ and she shouldn’t have expected anything from him, but over the last few months of going out, hanging out and spending time together, she hoped he’d started liking her as much as she liked him.
Who was she kidding? She fell for him. Hard.
He was funny, sweet, and thought he was a nice guy, but after he went home and the texts and calls dwindled, she thought maybe the feelings was all on her part.
Then again, this was his family time. Maybe his mom wanted him to focus on them instead of some girl he messed around with away from home. Maybe she was expecting too much from a guy she’d only been dating for a few months.
Pulling up to her place, she walked inside before putting her phone on speaker to listen to his voicemail.
“Hey angel, it’s me. I wanted to apologize… I know I’ve been kinda scarce, butuh… I just wanted to say hi and see if you wanted to get together when I got back into town… Anyway, give me a call or shoot me a text when you can. See you soon.”
Part of her heart went giddy as his voice came over the speaker, calling her ‘Angel.’ Then her mind took over with anger. How dare he act like he hadn’t been blowing her off for almost two months! She should give him a piece of her mind.
Her cousin would probably try to talk her down. Tell her to let him stew for a bit before calling him back. After all, ghosting could go both ways. Maybe she should have some dinner first, then call him back. Jo always teased her about how vicious she got when she was hangry.
A beer and a cheese sandwich first, then she’d call him back. It would give her time to figure out what she wanted to say to him. Or if she even wanted to say anything to him.
It was about an hour before she made the call.
The club was loud, too loud to hear a phone ring. Luckily Nando’s phone was on vibrate and he could see it chitter across the bar. One of the ladies around them picked up his phone.
“Nando’s phone, this is Sophie.” The woman waited for a response. “He’s kind of occupied right now...” she warbled. She handed the phone to Nando. “They hung up. Some chick called Vampire.”
Nando took the phone, and his heart sank. He hit redial and headed to a quieter part of the club. He fidgeted nervously with the keys in his pocket, waiting for her to pick up. Which didn’t happen. Instead, it went to voicemail:
“Lila, It’s Nando. Hey, I’m sorry, my brother took my phone and handed it to one of the girls with us. I’m not… I mean, nothing… I mean, fuck. Just call me, angel. Please.”
She never called back.