Page 54 of Sincerely, Up Yours


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“People are stupid,” I said with a shrug. “And from my experience, they are the dumbest when something good is staring them right in the face.”

Darcy had been about to take a bite of her pizza, but she gave me a funny look, hesitating with it in her hand.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing.” She wolfed down the rest of the pizza and sat back, dusting the crumbs from her hands over my comforter.

As predicted, the movie ended with an over-the-top race to stop the wedding from Harrison and somehow managed to make Darcy tear up, even though she claimed to have seen it half a dozen times already.

I took our trash to the kitchen and left Darcy on the bed with a balled up tissue and a longing look in her eyes. What was it about women wanting tragedy to preceed their happiness? Would it be so bad to simply find the right person and skip all the drama?

I shoved the remains of our pizza in the fridge.

People didn’t work like that, though, did they? People were messy and stupid and short-sighted. Maybe tragedy always came before the best love stories because if the feelings were strong enough, it was impossible to be smart. People in love did stupid things, I guessed.

I caught a glimpse of Darcy on my bed from the kitchen. The white light of the screen was flickering across her features and the wall behind her. She saw me and gave a tearful smile and double thumbs up. I smiled back and something inside me felt like it moved–something in a place where I hadn’t felt anything move in a very long time. I wanted to go over there and put my arms around her–to tell her I’d never make her cry like that movie did. I wanted to protect her from everything that might ever hurt her feelings.

I desperately wanted to cling to whatever was growing between us, but I wanted to promise myself I wouldn’t sacrifice everything I’d worked for, also.

Tomorrow, I had to go back to work. Tomorrow, we both went back to the real world. We went back toThe Squawker.But this time, my father was going to be there.

If I knew the man at all, he was going to fuck everything up.

28

DARCY

Iwas still riding the high of my weekend with Dominic when I got back to work. There was a pleasant buzz at the back of my mind and smiles were coming easier than they should’ve. Elizabeth picked up on it almost immediately when we ran into each other coming in the lobby of the building. The building was still used as apartments on the first floor, even though I’d heard rumors that Dominic, Marcus, and Tristan were making plans to buy the whole place out and expand the space. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. It would be like my little family turning into some kind of circus act.

“How many?” Elizabeth asked casually as we waited for the elevator.

“How many what?” I asked.

“Orgasms. How many orgasms did he give you this weekend?”

I glared at her.

“Don’t be mad that I can see right through you, dude. You’re fucking glowing. How many was it, like fifty?”

Something like that, I thought. But I shook my head at her, feeling guilty. I’d told her if there was anything to tell about me and Dominic, I’d tell her. Instead, I found myself reflexively lying. “If any orgasms came, they were at my own hands. Okay?”

“Well, good for you, then. Self care is the best kind of care. That’s what my grandma always said, at least, and now I’m wondering if my sweet little Grandma Bobo was diddling her dingleberry every night at the retirement home.” Elizabeth looked distant for a moment, then shivered. “I hope she washed her hands regularly.”

We stepped into the elevator. “So did you hear Dominic’s dad is supposed to be here today?” I asked.

“What? No. Where did you hear that?”

Stupid.If I was going to be a shitty friend and a liar, I needed to do a better job of not letting privileged information slip. “Oh, I’m not sure,” I said. “Maybe in the break room last week?”

Elizabeth looked skeptical and a little hurt at the same time. She probably could sense I was hiding things from her, and I hated that I couldn’t just make myself tell her the truth. But what would happen if word got out? Especially now that Dominic’s father was going to be around the office. I couldn’t afford to be careless, even if it meant lying to my best friend.

As soon as the doors opened, I could sense a change in the air. When Jasmine was replaced, everybody had been terrified to speak for over a week. The office was like a graveyard ruled by three hot overlords. Little by little, things had returned to some version of normal. It was never as crazy as it had been with Jasmine around, but people learned it was okay to talk again, even if most conversations were more work-focused than before.

Today, it was like stepping back in time to that first week. About half of the staff had arrived already and were at their stations. Nobody was talking and nobody was moving their eyes from their screens.

I saw four shadoweded figures behind Dominic’s half-closed blinds. From the size and builds, I pegged three as the bosses right away. The fourth was a big man, but hunched over at the neck and a little rounder at the edges. I guessed it was Mr. Gregor Lockwood himself, Dominic’s dad.

Elizabeth and I shared a silent look, then split to head to our work stations.

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