47 - Jessica

Jessica

I grabbed my equipment from my office and waited for my two other colleagues in the lobby.

I walked in on Rachel pacifying a client (she called her Mrs. Simone) on the other line. It was something about moving the date of her daughter's engagement photoshoot and urgently wanting to talk to Harper.

The mention of her name made my ears perk up. I stood by her desk, openly listening to the one-sided conversation. She ended the call with still a copious amount of patience left in her body.

The kindness of this woman is beyond me.

"What is Simone's problem?" I asked jokingly with my hands on my hips.

She laughs softly, her soft brown eyes warming. She pushes an opened box of premium brownies to me. Like a maternal figure/best friend that she was. "She wants to reschedule her daughter's engagement photoshoot. I need to confirm with Harper first," she answered.

I took one brownie. "Harper's not here?"

"No. She asked for time off today. She's going to a charity event."

I stopped mid-chew. "Charity event?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Oh, I think it's your grandmother's."

My chest dropped to my stomach. "It is?"

She nodded again. She was about to say something else, but the telephone rang. I sat on one of the sofas and dug for my phone in my equipment bag.

I read something about a charity event the girls were talking about in our group chat, but I didn't want to read it. Maybe I should.

I chewed on my lip, contemplating whether it was a good idea or not. I sighed.

Screw it.

I opened the group chat, instantly regretting the idea when I felt my heart sinking. Matthew must have asked Harper to the event because they were all sending congratulatory emojis.

They offered a few dresses for her to wear. They suggested the makeup look, the hairdo, and everything else.

Even a set of lingerie.

The last one hit the nail on the head. I could feel my eye twitching, like my mother's when she was extremely bothered with something. And a set of lingerie really does bother me.

A freaking lingerie!

I never hated anyone in my life more than I do Harper. It hurts that she's the new love interest my best friends are shoving in Matthew's face. Maybe if they shove her enough, especially with that lingerie they were talking about, Matthew is going to give in.

I gritted my teeth.

Why do I feel like I'm being betrayed somehow? Matthew isn't mine. It's not like he's been branded by me.

Shit, maybe I've been in denial for too long. But come on, I think it was just a week-long denial. If anything, it's my friends that moved on too quickly.

I scroll through the group chat, rereading the messages over and over again. I took a harsh bite off my brownie and resumed the process of rereading and overthinking.

I could feel Rachel's eyes on me, so I kept my face neutral.

No murderous eyes.

No monstrous glare on my phone.

No goblin fingers scrolling through my screen.

When my assistants of the day finally came, I took a long, calming breath. However, it became a dreadful day from there on out.

First of all, it rained. Pretty hard. Then, we had a flat tire on the way to the private location of the wedding. Our backup ride had its tire stuck to a hollowed mud, so we had to walk the rest of the way.

I got mud deep inside my toenails. Despite that, I consider myself lucky. One of my assistants tripped and dove right into the mud. Right into a free facial. The other one had to go barefoot because her heels got stuck in the mud.

We all felt like crying by the time we made it to the venue.

Second of all, it rained harder during the wedding. The tarps were sagging with rainwater, slooshed sloppily right onto the guests as strong wind gusted. Said wind also became trouble for the priest's toupee. It kept flopping back and forth like a swaying daffodil. Sometimes, flopping all the back of his head when it blasts by in full force.

Then, the ring bearer slipped on the aisle and cried. A little girl got splashed by tarp water and cried. Another little boy got knocked over in his seat by the wind. And cried.

All in all, horrible wedding day.

Surprisingly, the bride wasn't bothered at all. She was soaked from her hairdo to her heels, but she just laughed at the unfortunate turn of events.

On some other days, I would've laughed with her. This wedding is so freakin' epic, for crying out loud!

Instead, I just moped. Even cursed the universe for the rain, gusty wind, and the mud.

I stress-eat. Then stress-drink. Then stress-eat some more. By the time the wedding was finally over, I was so full, exhausted, and exasperated.

I took a cab, feeling bitter because Matthew and I would've laughed about this once I told him about it. However, I might not be able to tell him anything at all because he's still probably at the charity event.

With Harper.

Whom he asked to go with him.

I sighed. I wasn't the type to strike up a conversation with cab drivers (it's Kathie's thing) but when our eyes met in the rear-view mirror, I couldn't stop talking. Until we were back in the city and my apartment was already in complete view.

I stepped out of the car and waved at the cab driver. I gave him a huge tip for listening to my rants the whole ride. I poured my heart out into his cab.

He gave me a comforting smile, like my dad would when he knew I was having a hard day.

I let out a heavy sigh and walked toward my apartment building, with my heart seemingly dragging behind me.

I'm worn out emotionally and I did it to myself for thinking about Matthew and Harper the entire day. On top of that, I'm hurt.

Hurt that he could find a proxy that easy. Hurt that my friends were seemingly ganging up on me.

My doorman greeted me, and I could only manage a faint smile. It's been a really longgg day. Marcus, the concierge on duty, looked up from his desk and gave me a smile.

This time, I couldn't return the favor.

As if the universe is still trying to mock me after the day I just had, I caught sight of Matthew in the lobby. He looked like he was waiting for someone. Of course, he looked so divine in his tuxedo while he was at it.

The panty-dropping bastard.

I was about to walk past him, but I heard him call my name. I gripped the strap of my shoulder bag.

I shouldn't be around him right now. I just can't. Not when I'm struggling to tame a rabid and unreasonable anger. Okay, full disclosure: I say things I don't mean when I'm so emotional.

"Everything okay? I've been texting. And calling."

I continued toward the elevator and just let him keep up. "The wedding was in a private cabin. No reception."

I did get his messages on the way home. I was just too upset to read them.

"How's your day?"

I struggled not to groan. "Fine."

"That bad?" He was already standing in front of the elevator with me.

"Yep." I repeatedly stabbed the elevator button until it pinged open. "And the charity thing?"

Please, say it was terrible. Because I wasn't there. You had a terrible day, too.

"It was okay. Your grandmother asked me to tell you that you owe her dinner." He gestured for me to step in first.

I did.

He followed suit. He pressed the button to our floor, probably because he saw the previous button suffering the brunt of my wrath on the world.

I nodded. "It was okay?"

"Yeah," he answered.

An uncomfortable silence builds up between us as soon as the elevator closes.

Then I couldn't hold my tongue anymore. I could feel the bitter taste of hurt surfacing up from my throat. "You should've just asked Harper to go with you."

The elevator opened and I stepped out immediately.

"What do you mean?" Matthew followed close behind.

I shrugged. "If it's what you wanted all along. You should've just—"

His hand clutched my elbow, stopping me from opening the door to my apartment and... babbling on.

"Jessica." There was a slight crinkle between his brows.

"It's not my place to tell you who to date, but Harper's great," I blurted, realizing a second too late what I just said.

His hand loosened on my elbow. "You're setting me up with her too?"

Matthew's jaw clenched. Something flew past his eyes. It took me a second to realize it was hurt.

I was speechless.

He let go of my elbow.

He nodded slowly.

Then he murmurs, "Okay."

My stomach twisted into multiple knots. I wanted to take it all back, but my mouth chose this time to be at a loss for words.

Oh, now you shut up.

The hallway went eerily quiet. Then I realized Matthew had already gone to his apartment and I was all alone in the hallway.

With my heart in pieces. And I was the idiot who stomped on it.

Great, I pushed away the only man I've ever fallen in love with.

Nice job, you stupid moron! I could hear my mother telling me that sometimes I don't think with my head.

I opened the door to my apartment. I closed it behind me and leaned against it. I angrily swiped a hand over my face.

Fuckkk!

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