Chapter 11
When there were only the dregs of drinks left, Kendra said, “Do you want to come with us? You can crash on the couch for the night.”
I shook my head. “I just want to go home. Thanks though.” I pulled out my phone and hit my ride sharing app.
“You wouldn't be imposing,” Kendra said.
Alexis nodded fervently before asking, “He didn’t have a key to your place, did he?”
“I know I wouldn't be and no, he didn't.” They exchanged a look, but I didn’t want to have my decision questioned again. “I’ll be fine. If I change my mind and need to talk, I’ll text you guys.”
That appeased them a bit, but they still looked like they wanted to protest. I ignored the way they were trying to communicate with each other without saying a word and looked at my phone.
I was looking at the details of the car being sent for me when I heard Dom.
He was whispering and seemed to be under the impression that I couldn’t hear.
“I’ll go with her. I’ll head home from there. ”
“Are you sure?” Alexis whispered back. She had finally managed to get her volume under control.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” he replied. “I think she needs somebody around for a bit, even if she won’t admit it.”
I glanced up. Dom, Alexis, and Kendra were huddled together and whispering. None of them seemed to realize that I was watching now. Kendra narrowed her dark eyes and said, “You’re not going to do anything ridiculous–”
Dom snorted and gestured to his face. “Are you fucking kidding me? We just said that we don’t have that kind of relationship.
And I just got punched in the face. And she just dumped her boyfriend.
Not to mention that even if we did have that mindset, it could fuck up our skating relationship.
God knows we saw it enough among other pairs when we were teenagers.
” His firm tone didn't invite further questioning. His comment about our partnership was something I’d long known.
If we had ever gotten together and then broken up, things would have been weird in our partnership.
But the way he was so eager to stress that he would never consider something more was a blow to my already battered self-esteem.
I cleared my throat, causing all three to turn in my direction.
Varying degrees of guilt crossed their faces when they realized that not only had I heard them.
“I’m going to go outside. The car’s only a couple of minutes away.
” I flashed them the screen of my phone so they would know I wasn’t just trying to get away from them.
“Even if you guys don’t believe me, I think I’ll feel better at home.
And since you all think I need to have somebody with me, someone can come and make sure I get home safely.
” I made sure my tone made it clear that I thought this was unnecessary, but I would concede if it made them feel better.
“Who do you want to come with you?” Dom asked. He slid on his jacket as he spoke. “I won’t be offended if you say you’d rather have one of your friends with you.”
I looked at the mark on his cheek. “You’re my friend, too.
They can head home and you can come with me.
I can’t really say no after you took a punch because of me.
” I had always felt safe around Dom. He had never made a move on me in all the years we’d worked together.
I didn’t care if anyone else was worried, I wasn’t.
We exited the pub together as a group of seven.
Dom’s friends went off toward the restaurant to get back to Zain’s truck so he could drive the others home.
Kendra and Alexis each gave me hugs and made me promise to text if I needed them before going off in the other direction to the nearest bus stop.
When they were all gone, Dom and I stood side by side and waited for the car in silence.
The ride back to my place went quickly. The driver realized almost immediately that I had no interest in talking, so he turned the radio up.
I appreciated the quiet. It gave me a chance to think, hardly paying attention to the buildings and people we zoomed by.
Occasionally I looked over at Dom, whose face was lit up by his phone screen.
He was texting someone, but I didn’t ask who.
The front of my building was well lit between the streetlights and the outside lights, even though it was late.
Dom followed me as I walked over to the entrance and entered the vestibule at the front.
I unlocked the front door to the building and Dom quickly pulled it open further, placing his hand above my head to hold it. “I’ve got it,” he said.
We rode up to my floor. The hallway was empty, but I could hear the muffled voices of some of my neighbours in their apartments.
Dom kept his distance, staying a few feet behind me as I unlocked my front door.
I flicked on the lights and kicked off my shoes before finally speaking.
“Thanks for coming with me. But as you can see, I’m safe here.
They lock the front door at night and I’ll lock my door with the deadbolt. I just want to go to bed.”
Dom didn’t move. He looked me over as if I were a specimen in a lab that he had been tasked with figuring out. “Are you sure? Has he been texting you?”
I pulled out my phone. It had buzzed several times on the ride over, but I hadn’t bothered to see who it was or what they wanted. I hit the app and looked at the messages. There was one from Alexis at the top, emoji laden and apparently also from Kendra. Below it, there was one from Brandon.
“Well?” Dom said.
I nodded. Swallowing hard, I hit the message to read what he had to say, ignoring Dom's warning of, “That’s a bad idea.”
He was right. I could have gone without reading it.
The texts contained more of his angry ranting, although this one was mostly insults that were aimed at me.
I skimmed most of what he had to say, trying not to let it get to me.
It was only at the end that I felt the familiar pit settle in my stomach.
Brandon
You probably are going to spend the night with him, aren’t you? I should have listened when my friends when they said I needed to not let you get too close to him.
“Hazel?” Dom asked. His familiar voice saying my name so tenderly broke my fixation on Brandon’s words.
“You were right,” I said. I reread the last line, then texted him that I didn’t want to hear from him again. “I’m blocking him.” When my phone was back in my pocket, I added, “He said he should have listened to his friends and that he thinks we are going to spend the night together.”
Dom stared at the ceiling. He looked like he wished he could pull answers out of the air. It mirrored how I felt. “You know he’s just saying that because he’s an angry, jealous man.”
“I know,” I said. I had hoped that I would sound like I believed him, but I sounded almost angry.
As always, Dom took it well. He'd been my rock for so long, reassuring and steady.
If the situation were reversed, I wouldn't be so calm.
He probably assumed that my anger was directed at Brandon.
It was hard to admit, even to myself, that him putting so much effort into telling my friends that he would never be interested was a blow to my ego.
Not only was I now single, my relationship had ended because of jealousy about one of my closest friends, who was adamant he would not be open to anything else.
For the first time in a long time, things felt awkward between us.
The punch was playing through my mind on a loop.
Dom was standing further away from me, well out of reach.
Even when we weren’t on the ice, we would usually end up within reach of each other.
It wasn't a conscious decision, but it always happened.
For him to be so far away from me with his hands in his pockets, like he was closing himself off, felt like a punch in the gut.
This physical and emotional distance between us was my fault.
I'd been the one who had put my trust in the wrong person. It made me feel like I was going to break. It was all too much. I looked down at the entrance mat so he wouldn’t see the tears that were blurring my vision.
“I’m going to make some tea or something.
Do you want anything before you go?” I didn’t want tea, but I needed an excuse to leave and do something with my hands.
Dom only drank coffee, so I hoped he’d say no to my offer.
Anything that would prolong this awkward goodbye sounded like a nightmare.
Of course, that wasn’t the luck I was having. “I’ll have a cup,” Dom said.
My eyes widened. I had not been expecting that. The only thing I could think to say was, “Okay.”
I made myself busy in the kitchen, purposefully keeping my back to where he was standing in the hopes that he wouldn't see how overwhelmed I was.
There were a million competing thoughts in my brain, none of them good.
He could feel his gaze on me as I worked, sitting on one of my kitchen chairs without a word.
While I waited for the kettle to boil, I opened my freezer and pulled out an ice pack.
I carefully wrapped it in a clean tea towel, one of the soft blue and white gingham ones my grandmother had given me as a gift when I’d moved into my apartment.
I walked over to Dom. “For your face,” I said, holding it up.
I’d expected him to take it, but he simply turned his head to show me the side that had been punched. “How does it look?” he asked.