They went quiet. Neither knew what else to say. Their fingers remained intertwined and it helped to ease her nerves slightly. Suddenly there was a bright light flashing through the window. Instinctively, she yanked her hand away from his.
"Sorry, I need to get that!" she exclaimed hastily, standing up. She rushed towards the front door, trying not to look at him. She heard footsteps behind her, but refused to look back at him.
"Wait! You forgot something."
She froze.
"What?"
A sudden wave of panic washed over her. Had he somehow figured out about her lie? Oh my god, maybe he already thought that she was crazy and hated her! She felt tears forming in her eyes.
"Oh," he said, sounding confused. Then, there was silence as she waited for his response.
"Can we… hangout sometime? Like on a regular basis?"
This caught Pexy completely off guard. It was unexpected, but she supposed that it was better than him thinking she was insane or something equally horrible.
"Sure," she responded hesitantly. At that moment, she could have sworn she heard a faint sigh of relief. Maybe that was wishful thinking.
"I'll pick you up in five days. See ya then!"
Without waiting for her reply, Pexy watched as he got into his car and drove away.
The room was dim. The ceiling lights flickered as the power fluctuated, but the air conditioning worked perfectly and provided plenty of cool air to the room. In the background, the sounds of people talking drifted in. She couldn't hear anything important, but that was fine. She wasn't interested in their conversation. Most people talked constantly anyway, but she always preferred to listen. She rested her chin in her hand and gazed out of the corner of her eye at her computer monitor. It showed her a video message from a number that she didn't recognize. Normally she would have ignored it, but the video contained audio and it was probably important. After scrolling through the message, she listened carefully to it again, just in case there might be an important detail that she had missed.
"Hey, hey! I finally caught you!" The words rang clear through her earphones.
Her heart skipped a beat. That voice definitely belonged to someone she knew. But, where did she know him from? She racked her brains for several moments before she remembered. She had met him at a party. A party that she and her friends went to a lot. She'd forgotten his name at first, but after a while she remembered him. He'd invited her, saying that he wanted her to be his girlfriend. She laughed bitterly; what a joke. Her life would have been so much better if they hadn't met in the first place. Now there was absolutely no chance of anything developing between them.
"Where are you, bitch? I can't wait to fuck you! Don't you dare go anywhere, 'cause you can bet your ass I'm gonna find you!" he continued his ranting.
After listening for a few minutes longer, she pressed mute, but kept staring at the screen. He obviously meant that last part. If he really did intend to find her, he wouldn't stop until he did.
Her phone buzzed, causing her to jump. It was a notification from the new message.
From: Unknown Number [9XXXXXXX]
Are you still up for dinner tomorrow?
Pexy stared at his text, unable to process the sudden invitation. Dinner? Who is he? She frowned slightly as she replied.
To: Unknown Number [9XXXXXXX]
Yeah, sure. Why not?
A couple seconds later he answered.
From: Unknown Number [9XXXXXXX]
Great :) I'm picking you up in 20 minutes at your usual spot :)
With a slight frown, Pexy read the message a third time. Did he know where her favourite restaurant was? Perhaps he planned this date for some reason. She sighed. She really didn't want to spend any more time with him. All she wanted was to be left alone, so he would have to find a different way to try to convince her to be with him.
To: Unknown Number [9XXXXXXX]
Okay. See you soon.
She hit send and leaned her head back against the wall. She looked around the room. Everything was in its place. She wondered what happened. Had he broken in? Was he looking for something? She didn't know and honestly it didn't matter right now. As tired as she was, she doubted that she would be able to fall asleep. Sighing, she pulled out her laptop and clicked on YouTube. She was about to search through her list for something mindless when her phone started ringing. Quickly answering it, she put it against her ear.
"Hello?" she spoke sleepily. Her mind was too foggy for her to fully remember who this was.
"Hi Pexy."
She gasped and sat upright. Her eyes widened. Of course it was him.
"Alex?!"
He chuckled lightly. "So that means you remember me."
"How could I forget? You've been bugging my dreams ever since we met." She glanced at the clock and groaned inwardly. 3:45 in the morning. She really should be sleeping.
"That's nice. How's everything going with your boyfriend lately?"
She bit the inside of her cheek nervously, hoping Alex wouldn't notice the sudden change in expression on her face.
"It's good. We're getting along fine. Actually..." She paused briefly before continuing. "We're moving in together soon."
Alex whistled quietly. "Damn. When's the wedding?"
Pexy blushed lightly. "Don't remind me." They both chuckled.
"When are you leaving for Seattle?"
Pexy's eyebrows furrowed. What does he mean by leave?
"Actually, I haven't told you yet." She suddenly realised how awkward the situation would be once she actually told him that she would move away with him. "Um... I'm leaving tonight."
There was silence on the other end of the line. Then, Alex laughed.
"No shit."
"Yes, shit."
Silence hung between them. Alex was clearly surprised and a little upset. Pexy let out a soft sigh. She was starting to feel guilty. This was not fair. Alex deserved more. He had done nothing wrong. Yet, he was still being treated as though he had done something wrong.
Suddenly, Alex said, "You know, maybe we should talk."
Chapter 2
Alex was right about one thing. When Pexy woke up that afternoon, she couldn't help but feel nervous. It was unusual for her to feel nervous, but it was happening. She took deep breaths to calm herself down. She had a feeling that she needed to stay relaxed, even though he hadn't said that he had something serious to tell her. It would only make things worse, she decided. Taking another deep breath and wiping some sweat off of her forehead, she picked up her phone and unlocked it. It read 3:42 p.m. Perfect.
She opened up Twitter and started scrolling through it idly. Nothing interesting was there. She scrolled through all the pictures, stopping on one particular one that she had taken at a party years ago. There were many others, but she stopped when she saw his photo. She felt herself blush, remembering the night vividly. They'd met during a mixer. It was the second time they met. And the first time she found out he had lied to her. She was shocked when she found out that he had known about her family for months already. It made her question her judgment. Sure, she had been kind of suspicious of him because he was acting rather strange. But this time, it was different. She had never seen anyone act the way he had been acting for the last six months. Even when she tried to get answers out of him, he just changed the subject. So when she realized he was doing it on purpose, she began to suspect that he was trying to set her up with someone else. But after a long time, she decided that she was overreacting and just needed to trust him.
The next day, she arrived at her meeting with Alex at the bar at 7:45 and found herself seated next to a man that resembled him very closely.
He greeted her with a smile, which she returned. They both ordered drinks before sitting in companionable silence for a little while.
Then, the waitress came over and asked, "Are you ready to order?"
Pexy nodded and handed her menu over. Alex ordered a glass of wine while she had a Coke, although her stomach twisted uncomfortably every time she thought about drinking it. She hated alcohol. Ever since she became pregnant, it had become impossible for her to keep anything down. The worst part was, it seemed like it had gotten worse, especially since she'd been having so much difficulty keeping it down. Still, she wasn't about to admit that she had been eating bad food. She was determined to look like she was enjoying it, even if she wasn't. After a few moments, she noticed that he had fallen silent. She glanced over at him as she took