Chapter 15
Elle
The week had been shit and it wasn’t even done yet.
There was no other way to describe it. I hadn’t been able to concentrate on any of my classes.
I barely passed a pop quiz on Wednesday and I was behind on getting a paper done.
I wasn’t sleeping; I was irritable, and had even snapped at Sarah that morning when she brought me coffee.
I knew the reason and try as I might to get myself out of it, I couldn’t.
Once I left Gabe’s room, I knew I had to get out of there.
I had called my parents and stayed with them for the weekend.
I told them I was coming up to get more clothes and other things now that I had a place to stay.
But it wasn’t just that. I couldn’t be around Gabe.
I thought I needed space and time away from him.
I needed to forget him, how it had felt to be in his arms, for him to be inside me, looking at me like I was the sexiest woman in the world. But I hadn’t worked.
I missed him. I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to be with him again.
But apparently, I was the only one because I hadn’t seen him in the last week.
He had agreed with me that what we did had been a mistake.
I hadn’t thought it was such a mistake that he couldn’t stand to be around me.
I had wanted to stay at his place; he had agreed.
I thought that meant that we could try to be friends.
Just because we had slept together and we could never do it again, didn’t mean that we had to avoid each other.
Or at least I had thought so. I guess he didn’t. And that fact hurt.
Sleeping with him had been amazing but so had just spending time with him.
I liked it when I cooked for him. I had enjoyed sitting next to him watching the documentary.
I longed to have that as much as I did his arms around me.
I knew I couldn’t have the latter, but I wanted the former.
It had been so long since I had been with a man that I enjoyed talking to, one who could make me laugh, who challenged me.
I had thought that Gabe felt the same way, but by his silence, by how he had avoided me all week, I knew that wasn’t the case.
I didn’t want to think that he had moved on from me, but if he wasn’t home most nights, where else would he be but with another woman?
I hated thinking that I had been dismissed so easily but I didn’t know what else to think.
As the end of the week approached, I didn’t want to think about spending it in Gabe’s place, not seeing him, missing him.
I had mentioned to my parents that I might come up and stay with them again.
It seemed the best alternative than wondering where Gabe was and why he was avoiding me.
Maybe this weekend would go better. I was glad I only had one more day of school because I was ready for the break from it and Gabe.
Hopefully, if I went home, I would be able to get my paper done and my studies back on track.
But it was only a short-term fix, I needed to learn to be in Gabe’s place and not think about him.
My career, all that I had worked on was too important to let it slip away because I was hung up on some guy.
I needed a distraction; I needed to stop thinking about Gabe.
I needed to reset my mind so I could get back to what mattered, getting my MBA, and starting my career.
I was contemplating if I really wanted to go to my parents’ house when I saw a classmate, Nick, come walking towards me.
He was getting his MBA so he could run his family’s business.
He was as driven as I was and we had some excellent discussions about our classes.
He was sweet, a little nerdy but in a cute way.
I could tell he had a little crush on me.
I had never given him any hope that we could be anything more than friends.
But as I watched him walk towards me, and saw how happy he was to see me, I wondered why.
“Hey Nick. Fancy meeting you here,” I said,
“Elle. It’s so good to see you. I didn’t know you lived around here,” Nick said.
“Well, for the time being,” I said.
“Oh no. Roommate problems?”
I could feel myself blushing and said, “Something like that. What did you think of Dr. Walker’s lecture today?”
Nick rolled his eyes and laughed. “Why does it take the man thirty minutes to make one point? I’m going to learn more about the art of brevity from him than anything.”
I laughed, “Right?”
“How did you do on the quiz?”
“Not so good,” I replied.
“Does that mean you didn’t get 100%?” he teased.
“Something like that,” I said.
We moved out of the way of a few pedestrians and then walked down the street towards Gabe’s place. I wasn’t sure where Nick needed to go but it was nice to talk to him outside of class.
“You know, I would be more than happy to help you study if you ever want to,” Nick said.
“Thank you. I might take you up on that.”
Nick beamed at me. “I mean we could always go to the library, but if you wanted, we could, um, maybe meet at a coffee shop, or some restaurant.”
It was obvious Nick was using the excuse for us studying to go on a date. It would have been sly if he wasn’t being so blatant about it. In the past, his interest had been a bit overwhelming. Now, after being with Gabe and how complicated it had been, Nick didn’t seem so bad.
“Yeah, maybe. A coffee shop might be nice. It would be easier and we wouldn’t have to worry about keeping our voices down,” I said.
“Really? You would?” Nick seemed surprised that I had agreed.
“Sure,” I said as I stood in front of Gabe’s complex.
“Cool. Great. Um. Can I call you?” Nick asked.
“Yeah.” I looked at him and then looked over at the front door of my place. I was where I needed to be. While the conversation had been nice, I was ready to go inside and figure out my weekend. He didn’t say anything or make any movement to leave.
“Well, I should get going,” I said.
“Yeah, sure. Um, can I get your number?” He asked.
I blushed. I had thought he would just hit me up on social media. “Yes. Sorry. Of course,” I said.
Nick pulled out his phone and opened his contacts and handed me his phone. It was sweet and a little old-fashioned. I put my number in and then handed the phone back to him.
He looked at the number and then called it. My phone rang and I answered the call and then ended it. Nick smiled at me as if he was happy that the number worked.
“Now, you have my number, too. In case you want to talk to me or text me, or whatever,” he stammered.
“Thanks. It’s good to have a study buddy,” I said.
“Yeah. And I’ll call you about dinner. I mean the studying,” Nick said.
“Great.” I looked over at the door again, hoping that Nick would get the hint that I was done talking to him.
“Cool. Okay. Well, have a good weekend. I’ll call you,” he said.
Nick leaned forward and for a second, I thought he was going to kiss me, but at the last second, he opened his arms and I realized he wanted a hug.
It felt easier to let him than to push him away.
We wrapped our arms around each other and Nick pressed himself up against me.
He tilted his head towards mine and ran his hands up and down my back.
It was a bit more than a hug between two friends and it made me feel a bit awkward.
I put my hands on his shoulders and was pushing him away when I heard a voice behind me.
“Elle.”
Before I moved out of Nick’s embrace, I knew who was standing behind me.
Nick stepped away from me as if I was on fire and looked down.
My eyes shot to Gabe’s face. He was glaring at me and Nick as if he had found us robbing a store, not hugging.
I immediately felt guilty but I wasn’t sure why.
I turned and stood next to Nick and said, “Hello,” to Gabe.
“Good evening,” Gabe intoned. I could hear his annoyance and disappointment in that one word.
“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean any disrespect-” Nick began.
“Then see that it doesn’t happen again,” Gabe interrupted and with a shake of his head walked past us and into his complex.
I watched him go as I felt Nick move away from me. I couldn’t believe Gabe had been so rude to Nick or me. We weren’t doing anything wrong, at least I didn’t think so. I took a deep breath and turned to look at Nick.
“Sorry about that,” I said.
“No. Don’t worry. My parents are protective of me too,” Nick said.
“Yeah, something like that,” I said.
I wasn’t going to explain to Nick who Gabe was to me.
It wasn’t his business, and frankly, it didn’t matter.
Gabe was my roommate, nothing more. He didn’t get to be upset if I hugged a man outside his place.
It shouldn’t matter to him. He had made it abundantly clear that it didn’t by how he had avoided me last week.
But as I walked into the complex and thought about Gabe’s reaction, I wondered if there was more to Gabe’s reaction than I had originally thought.