sofia
He steps out, and the door shuts right when I say, “When pigs fly.” I stare at the door for a couple of seconds before the anger surges through me. I walk over and open the door right as he opens his car door. “You can’t just keep doing this, Matthew.”
He looks up at me, the smirk on his face going straight to a smile, making me want to kick him right in the shins with pointy-ass shoes on. “What can’t I be doing, Sofia?”
“Well, for one, you can’t just keep showing up here where I work,” I start there, “and two, you have to stop this whole thing.”
“I’m just coming to visit a friend and see if she wants to come and watch a hockey game.” He folds his arms over his chest and I wish he hadn’t because his arms just seem bigger.
“I’m not your friend, Matthew,” I inform him. “You asked me to talk and we did, but it’s time for us to both move on.” I stare at him, hoping to see something in his eyes to tell me he’s heard what I’ve said, but his eyes just twinkle. “I’m not doing this with you. I’m not playing this game.” Instead of giving him any chance to answer, I grab the door handle, stepping in.
“Nothing with us is a game,” he calls out right before the door shuts, giving him the last word. I think about going back out there and telling him to fuck off.
“Motherfucker!” I shout, and now I hear the sound of heels clicking on their way to me. They come out of the hallway one at a time. All of them looking around.
“What’s going on?” Shelby asks like she has no idea, when in reality she probably knows the whole story.
“Nothing.” I shake my head and walk back into my office. I know I said nothing, but I also know they are not just going to let me go like that. I walk into my office, seeing the vase of tulips that was delivered along with the white box in the chair. I didn’t even get a chance to open the box, all I did was open the card that was in the flowers. I honestly thought they were from my dad, so I opened the envelope all happy until I read the fucking note.
Sofia,
Hope you can make it.
Your friend,
Matthew
To say I was shocked was an understatement, when he left my house last night, I felt like we broke up yet again. I picked up the bag of food before I walked into the kitchen. I put it directly in the fridge before turning off all the lights and walking upstairs. I was numb, to say the very least, as the conversation we had played over and over in my head. It was a conversation that was two years in the making. It was a conversation I had played in my head over and over for two years. I told him how much of an asshole he was and how he broke my heart. What I wasn’t ready for was his side of the story. For the past two years, I thought it didn’t bother him. I thought he wasn’t as affected as I was, but the way he said, “There are a few things I’ve done in my life I regret, and that night is number one on that list. I lost the best thing that had ever happened to me. I lost the woman who I loved more than life itself. I lost half of my soul that night.” I thought my legs would have given out right then and there.
Everyone said there was no closure. Well, we have closure now. The door is slammed shut and locked. The book is now closed, and we can both move on. Except something says this is far from over.
“You got flowers?” Clarabella asks when she walks in and goes to sit down calmly.
“Yes,” I say, pointing at them. “And something in there,” I tell her as she picks up the white box and shakes it side to side.
“It could be a bomb,” Presley teases, chuckling. “You know what it isn’t?” She waits for us to say something. “His dick.”
“Definitely not his dick,” Shelby declares and I just gawk at her. “I’ve seen him, he has to be packing to walk with all that swagger.” I just roll my eyes because Matthew Petrov owns his swagger and he is, in fact, packing below the belt.
“Well, are we going to open it or are we going to play guessing games all day?” Clarabella asks as she hands me the box.
“It’s probably something to irritate the fuck out of me.” I grab the box and undo the satin bow on top before flipping the top of the box open and moving the white tissue paper to the side. “Oh my God,” I say, looking down at the white shirt.
“Is that a hockey jersey?” Clarabella asks, trying to roll her lips so she doesn’t burst out laughing.
“Unfortunately,” I confirm, putting the box down and taking out the shirt. I don’t have to turn it over to see that it has his name on the back.
“What is going on?” Presley looks at me, then back at the shirt and then to the flowers.
“Nothing,” I deflect, shoving the jersey back into the box. “Less than nothing. He sent me flowers and tickets to the game, and apparently that.”
“Code purple!” Shelby shouts.
“We are all here,” Clarabella states, then turns to me. “Are you going to wear this?”
“Not a chance in fucking hell!” I shout. “I’m not even going to the game.”
“Oh, here we go,” Clarabella starts, “you are going to go to the game tonight.”
I stare at her, my eyebrows pinching together. “Oh, no, I’m not.” I shake my head at the same time.
“Just don’t drink any booze because you might end up having sex with him,” Shelby advises. “I drank on my fake honeymoon, and well, we had sex. A lot.”
“I drank when I ran away from my wedding,” Clarabella adds. “Definitely had sex that night.”
I look over at Presley, who just laughs. “I had sex all the time, there was no need to drink.”
“You were drunk the first time you asked him to take your virginity,” Clarabella reminds her.
“Oh, yeah,” Presley remembers, “definitely don’t drink.”
“I am not going, so that is a nonissue,” I tell all of them.
“If you don’t go, he’ll know he got to you,” Shelby says, folding her arms over her chest.
“If I go, he wins,” I counter.
“Unless you go and make him eat his heart out,” Clarabella announces.
“I don’t want to go.” The words come out of my mouth before my head says, I want to go.
“We spoke last night.” I fill them in on the small details I’m sure they are going to freak out about, and the minute I say the words, they all gasp. I hold my hand up to stop them from talking. “It’s over. He said his piece. I said mine, and we are moving on.” I look at the three of them and they all burst out laughing. “What?”
“He’s been here four times since he broke up with his girlfriend.” Shelby tilts her head to the side.
“Actually, his fiancée.” I point at her. “He was engaged less than a week ago, and now he wants to come up all in my space and uproot my life?” I shout, shaking my head. “No fucking way. Fuck that.”
“You’re going,” Clarabella states, “if only to tell him you don’t need him.”
“I just told him I don’t need him.” I point behind me to the window. “So I don’t have to go.”
“That was a mating dance if I ever saw one,” Clarabella declares. “He looked like he was going to fuck you against the door, with or without us looking out the window.”
“Mating dance?” I say, not sure I heard her right. “I was literally telling him how much I hated him.”
“That just gets it going even more.” Presley laughs. “I used to tell Bennett at least once a day how we weren’t a couple.”
“But everyone knew that you were,” Shelby remarks. “The only one you were fooling was yourself.”
“Ladies,” I say softly, “I am not going.”
“You have to,” Shelby says, and she is usually the voice of reason between the three of them.
“I don’t have anyone to go with,” I finally say, “and I’m not going to a hockey game by myself.”
Clarabella holds her finger in the air before walking over to the door. She sticks her head out of the door. “Addison,” she calls the new receptionist who started working here this week. With the expanding business, we needed to hire someone to do most of the paperwork and return phone calls.
Addison comes into the room and looks at all of us, the smile on her face falling. “Am I in trouble?” she asks as she tucks her blond hair behind her ear.
“No!” we all shout at the same time, and the frown turns back into a smile.
“That guy who was just in here?” Clarabella asks her.
“The hot one?” she asks, and all I can do is roll my eyes. He’s not that hot, and I don’t know why I’m bothered she thinks that.
“Yes, him,” Clarabella confirms, turning to me to smile as if she made her case.
“He’s not that hot.” I throw my hands up in the air.
“Now you’re fucking lying.” Shelby points at me. “Addison, what are you doing tonight?”
She looks at her and then me. “Probably some coloring and then maybe some Play-Doh, and if it’s really a crazy night—painting.” She smiles. Her daughter is four years old and she is a single mom, and from what she said, the father is not involved at all.
“Not tonight, you aren’t. You’re going to the hockey game,” Shelby tells her, and her eyes go big.
“Um,” she says, “thank you so much, but I don’t have any babysitters.” She twists her fingers in front of her. “And I don’t have the extra cash to hire someone.”
“I will take her,” Shelby says with a smile. “The girls have a great time when they are together.” Addison’s eyes go even bigger.
“I haven’t been out without her since she was born.” I put my head back, feeling like an asshole if I’m the one who ruins her one night out.
“This is insane,” I finally say out loud. “Are we just going to forget that he was engaged less than a week ago?”
“Let me ask you something,” Shelby says, and from her tone, I have a feeling she’s going to come at me with guns blazing.
“How was he during the wedding meetings?” She puts her hands on her hips.
“Oh, good one.” Clarabella claps, pointing at Shelby.
“He was like every other groom,” I lie through my teeth. Folding my arms over my chest, one look at them and they can see through me. “Okay, he was off a bit, but that is only because it was awkward that his ex was planning his wedding.” I look at her. “How do you think Ace would feel if you were planning his wedding?”
Clarabella just laughs. “She’d be burning that fucking church down.” She looks at Shelby. “Don’t even try to lie.”
“Not even going to try,” Shelby says. “Have you discussed with him what happened with the fiancée?”
“No,” I gasp. “Not one part of me wants to know about his relationship with his fiancée.” I look at them.
“Well, another reason to talk to him again,” Clarabella says.
“It’s over,” I tell them and I look at Presley, who is the most sensible at this moment, “with everything.”
“So we aren’t going to the game tonight?” Addison asks, and I just look over at her.
I take a deep breath, looking at the flowers and the tickets. “Just for the game.” I look over at everyone squealing, pointing over at the white box. “But I’m not wearing that fucking thing.”