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"Damn you! Now Anthony wins our bet!!!"
"WHAT BET?!?" I hammer back quickly.
"He said you wouldn’t go for Tyler, but I said you would. Now he won. I have to do his laundry for two weeks." She sends me a pouting GIF.
"So sorry." As much as I’m upset that she’d bet on my love life, I can’t help but smile.
"Whatever, I’m sorry for not considering your feelings."
"OMG Ella, it’s not your fault. I just don’t feel that way towards him."
"Did you tell him???" she types.
"Not yet, but I’ll do it soon. I mean… you don’t think I led him on too much right? I certainly didn’t mean to! I was just trying to actually like him…"
"You’re fine. Not your fault if he got his hopes up too much. But yeah, talk to him.” she replies.
I’m about to add something when I see the three dots appear on my screen, meaning she’s already typing something back.
“But you’re not still hung up on your mystery virginity thief, are you?", with a face-slap emoji.
Great.
I take a deep breath and exhale slowly. My hands shake as I text her some sarcastic reply and finish getting ready for work.
How will she take the news that the mystery man is her father? She might understand that the first time was a mistake, but the second time surely was not. And all the halfway times in between. I definitely knew what I was doing. I wanted it. Boy did I want it.
I just wish Jeremy weren't her dad. I mean, there’s an unwritten rule about dating your best friend’s exes, but no one thought there wouldneedto be a rule about dating their dads. Yet I’m the backstabber who did exactly that. To make matters worse, she was so happy for me when it went down the first time.
What also sucks is that I don’t even get to absorb all the happy feelings from knowing that Jeremy feels the same way about me. I somehow dug myself into a hole of crappy feelings and drama, instead of just falling in love with a dreamy man.
Because yes, apparently, harassing and belittling me for weeks still made him dreamy to me. Talk about being emotionally stable…
My phone dings one more time as I’m getting my shoes and grabbing my bag. I look down and feel my heart start to sink into my chest.
"Just an FYI, if something is bothering you, you can tell me. You don’t have to keep it to yourself, ok? Girl I sound like a broken record at this point! Just get it off your chest!"
I bite my lips to stop them from trembling with the sudden urge to cry. It dings again as she types, "You are so much more than a friend to me. You’re my sister, and you’ve always had my back, and I’m grateful for that."
I leave the message unread as I dab at my eyes and head to work. When I hear my phone again, I know she’s just worried about me. I’m going to have to say something reassuring, otherwise Ella will just keep pouring her heart out to me.
Instead, I look at the screen and don’t know what to make of his text:
"I’ll be gone today. No need for you to come to work. J."
"AmI unlucky or just not your type? Which one?" Tyler asks, and I give him a wounded, quizzical look. He reached out to hang out today, so I felt like there was no reason to drag things out. I invited him to coffee and told him how I felt towards him. I told him that I was in love with another person.
I know he feels terrible, but he is taking the news as a gentleman.
"Neither!" I answer. "Tyler, you’re a great guy. Any girl would be lucky to have you."
"But just not you, right? The classical “It’s not you it’s me thing?"
My shoulders sag dejectedly. I hate that I’m doing this, but I have to. I never wanted to keep him in a hopeful state, I always knew he was just a friend. I naively hoped it was the same for him.
"I’m sorry, Tyler." He only nods.
"So, who is this person that has your heart?" he finally asks after several awkward moments of silence. I give him a pointed look, and he laughs.
