Chapter 25 Double Date Night
L iving by yourself had its perks, but also some major downfalls.
I spent most of my Sunday morning lying beneath my shower’s faucet, getting dripped on over and over again.
The drops of metallic smelling water matted my bangs to my damp forehead, and I was sure I looked a hot mess.
I’d never fixed a leaky faucet before in my life, and as I’d already found out, the maintenance team in charge of these apartment buildings didn’t work weekends.
I was pretty much on my own as far as fixing this place up. Peter had been over twice to help with things here and there, but even for how cute he was, he was about as hopeless with a toolbox as I was.
I was face up, staring down the pitch black hole of my leaky shower faucet when a buzzing started up. Groaning, I heaved myself up off the floor of my tiny walk-in shower, and sat up to grab my phone off of the sink.
“Hello?”
Monica’s voice came through rushed and antsy. “What’re you doing tonight?”
“Uh, hanging out with Peter I think. Why?”
An audible sigh of relief came through the phone. “Thank God. Okay, you guys are coming over tonight.”
“What? No. Why?”
“ Because both Ethan and I have off and we don’t have any plans which means we’re probably going to stay in and if we stay in this house together— alone —for an entire night, one or both of us will end up dead.”
Moving myself off of the bathroom floor, I stood up in front of the wide bathroom mirror. “Why do you say that?”
“Do you remember how he was the day we helped you move in?”
Uh no. “Yeah?”
“He’s even worse now. Some days we barely talk and others, we’re at each other’s throats. I seriously think I might kill him.”
I watched my face fall in the mirror.
“It’s that bad?”
“Alice, I don’t know what the hell happened between the time I left for my trip and now, but he’s a fucking nightmare .
No, you know what he’s like? He’s like a goddamn teenager going through puberty, mood swings and everything.
I don’t—” She paused and a weighted sigh blew out from her end.
“I don’t know what happened or how to fix it. ”
In the mirror, my eyes lowered to close shut.
I couldn’t even look myself in the eye without feeling the need to cry or scream until my vocal cords burst. How could I have let it get this bad?
I thought moving out would have fixed everything, but I never imagined Ethan would take me removing myself from the situation so badly.
I really didn’t think it would matter that much.
Truthfully, I thought he’d be happy to get me out of his everyday life once he realized how toxic I was for it.
“Have you tried asking him what’s wrong?”
“He just keeps saying he’s stressed. Then I ask him what he’s stressed about and he says work, but I know that’s a lie because we work in the same fucking building.” On her end, I could hear clicks of a keyboard and wondered if she was working from home on her day off. I wouldn’t be surprised.
“All I know is that he’s stressed and because he’s stressed, he’s turned into this demon that can’t even be bothered to have a normal conversation with me or even touch me.”
The air in my lungs caught mid-inhale. “Touch you?”
A mangled breath followed through the phone line. “Yeah, we haven’t had sex since I got back, and I’m about this close from just tying him down to the bed.”
The most confusing collision of relief and guilt butted heads inside my stomach, and my arms reached for and landed on the edge of the counter, steadying myself from falling. Shit . My body literally did not know how to feel about hearing that.
My heart was thrilled but my mind was tortured trying to fight off the conclusion that I was the root of the cause.
“Sorry, I know that was probably too much information, but whatever.”
Just like that, Monica took away the chance to respond to their intimacy issues, and the tension holding my muscles tight eased. “So, you and Peter are coming over tonight, yes? Say yes.”
Defeat slumped my shoulders, and already, every limb of my body felt weak from the fight tonight would put it through.
Raising my gaze up to the mirror, I saw that I didn’t only feel weak, but I looked the part too.
Just the thought of seeing Ethan again in a setting where I was the buffer between him and my sister had me ready to draw my white flag.
In my face, I could see how desperately I wanted to say no to Monica. I wanted to tell her we could take a rain check or that I wasn’t feeling well or that Peter and I had a special night planned just the two of us.
But I knew myself better than to believe I could ditch my sister when she specifically asked for my help. No matter how much I might be dreading tonight, there was no other way to answer her than, “We’ll be there.”
* * *
Just past seven in the evening, Peter and I stood together outside the house I’d left just a week ago.
“You ready for this?”
“Eh, I’ve handled Ethan all week at work. I can handle him here.” Peter smiled down at me, and greedily, I tried to soak up every ounce of repose he was giving off. I’d need as much of his calming energy as I could get tonight.
“He’s been like this at work too?”
“Not as bad. Just short mostly. A lot of one word answers and grunts of acknowledgement. Between you and me, he’s fallen behind on a lot of his work this week.”
“Really?” Cue another dose of heavy guilt. “That sounds bad.”
Perhaps I looked as worried as I felt as I soon found myself being dragged into Peter’s chest, and his mouth coming down on the top of my head.
“Tonight’ll be fine.”
Peter laid out four knocks on the front door, each one knocking against my toppling nerves.
The door opened seconds later and I ripped myself out of Peter’s chest like I’d been caught doing something criminal.
My heart jumped up into my throat, choking me until my eyes fell to Monica’s and her somewhat manic expression.
“Hey! Come on in, you two!”
Monica brought Peter in for a hug and then me. “
Thank God you’re here,” she muttered beside my ear. A tight-lipped smile was all she handed me before sauntering off to be the hostess for the evening.
Please let there be alcohol tonight.
“So, what movie do you all want to watch? I figured we could try something scary or romantic.”
“What about something that’s both?” Peter tried to joke, and I offered him a half smile for his attempt.
Walking into the house, I dropped my purse and sweater over the side of the chair at the countertop just like I would when I got home from work or dance every day that I lived here. I had only been gone for a week, but already, the house felt strangely foreign.
“There’s wine in the fridge and if you want anything else, I’m sure our resident bartender could whip something up for you.”
“Oh really?” Peter lent me a playful glance. “Does this mean I have to tip you at the end of the night?”
Soft laughter pulling through my lips, I walked into the kitchen and towards the alcohol. “Mhm, I hope you brought your big wallet with you tonight.”
“Oh crap. Left that one at home. Do you accept other forms of currency?”
Spying the suggestive raise of his eyebrows from where I was, I replied. “We’ll see what we can work out.”
“Gross,” Monica piped up, walking right up next to me with a bottle of white wine. “I mean, you guys are cute and all, but still—gross.”
We three shared in a chuckle that drifted off into a casual silence, one the noticeably missing elephant in the room filled. Eventually, Peter addressed it.
“So, where’s Ethan hiding out at?”
Unscrewing the cork from the bottle of white, Monica said, “Oh, he’s around here somewhere. Sulking, I’m sure. Last I saw, he was showering off after his run.”
“Is he still being pissy?” Peter asked. He didn’t even lower his voice in case Ethan could overhear.
“Lately, that’s just his perpetual mood. He’s either pissy or quiet. It’s like he spins a wheel in the morning to decide which mood he’s going to be in for the rest of the day. No rhyme or reason to it.”
“He’s one of my best friends but when that guy wants to be a dick, he’s exceptional at it.”
“You’re telling me.”
“Well, maybe tonight we just try to make him happy, yeah?”
The words were out of my mouth before I even knew what I was saying. All I did know was that the longer they trashed Ethan, the hotter a defensive fire burned in my belly.
He wasn’t even here to stand up for himself against his friend and his fiancé.
Peter caught onto my mood and looked sorry. Monica did not.
“Good luck with that,” she scoffed, pouring herself a glass of wine that went high above the normal level. “He about bit my head off when I told him I invited you guys over tonight.”
Peter leaned in. “Why?”
“Probably because I didn’t ask him first, but I honestly don’t see the big deal.”
“Maybe you should go check on him?” I suggested.
She didn’t appear thrilled by the idea as she shrugged it off. “I’m sure he’s fine wherever he is.”
More than a little annoyed with my sister and her careless attitude towards her own fiancé, I decided I’d go look for him myself to at least let him know we were picking out a movie.
I wouldn’t do anymore than that. No asking how he’s doing, no questions that could lead to more than I bargained for.
Just a polite hello and encourage him to come out with the rest of us.
I snagged a cool beer out of the fridge as a peace offering and went off in search of the very man I literally changed my life around to avoid. Rounding the corner towards Monica and Ethan’s bedroom, it turned out that I wouldn’t have to search very hard.
Leaning against the frame of his own bedroom door was Ethan, and the look he was wearing ripped the breath straight from my lungs.
Too much sadness to breathe past drowned out the light in his eyes.
They resembled the deepest parts of the ocean rather than the surface break of a wave like I’d known them to be.