“I want to make cookies with Holly, but I’m not much of a baker.”
“Say no more. There is ready-made dough at the grocers. I’ll write the name down for you. It’s straightforward and easy to use.”
“Thanks, Eileen. Too bad you’re with Dominic.” Eileen knows I’m joking or maybe I’m not. I’ve known her since high school and can easily say, she’s one of the good ones. Always has been. The rumor mill in town is saying Dom is going to ask her to marry him. If he doesn’t, the line to start dating her will be long.
Three
Delaney
I startle awake. In a dazed confusion, I look around my living room for any sign of Trey. My television is on with the morning news. I’m confused.
“Trey?” I call out but don’t receive a response. Gingerly, I stand and attempt to stretch the knots I have forming in my back from falling asleep while sitting up. My phone sits on the couch. I bend and tap the screen, but nothing happens. It must’ve died while I was waiting for Trey to arrive. Why didn’t he wake me up? What time is it?
My muscles ache as I climb the stairs to the second floor. I make a mental note to add a couple of yoga sessions to my list of things to do while in Cancun. My bedroom door is closed, a sure sign Trey is in there, but why are we still sleeping? Surely, it’s almost time for our car service to be here.
My heart pounds loudly, almost as if I’m on set and about to enter a room where I know I’m going to have to scream. I can’t explain it, but this feeling doesn’t sit well with me, neither does the fact that Trey didn’t wake me when he got here last night.
Twisting the doorknob, I push the door open. The blackout curtains cloak the room in darkness. I flip on the light switch and stare at my still made bed. In fact, the only thing that seems amiss is Trey’s bag seems to be gone.
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Stupidly, I call out his name, but deep down I know he’s not in my condo. Still, I look in my walk-in closet and walk into the bathroom, only to find both rooms empty. Frantically, I look around my room. The few things he kept on my dresser are gone, and the space he used in my closet is now empty. The tears come quickly, but they're irrational. There has to be some reasoning as to why his stuff is missing.
I rush back downstairs to grab my phone and plug it into the charger. I start to pace, waiting for the Apple symbol to appear and for my home screen to come alive. My phone vibrates with notifications. Mostly text messages from friends, but there are a few media alerts and emails. Opening the texting app, I scroll until I come to his name. And there it is.
Hey D. I didn’t want to wake u, but I don’t think things are going to work out between us. I hope you don’t mind I took the tickets. I really need to get away & heal.
Heal?
He breaks up with me over text, steals my ticket to Cancun, and he needs to heal?
Right now, I’m squeezing the life out of my phone because I don’t know what else to do. I don’t want to cry, but I am because I don’t understand what I did to deserve this. Why wouldn’t he just talk to me and tell me he wasn’t into the relationship? Why would he suggest we go away together?
My phone dings and I make the mistake of looking at it. It’s an image of Trey at the airport with another woman. The headline is gut wrenching: Hollywood starlet dumped for local waitress… My next mistake is reading the beginning of the article.
It seems the relationship between Trey Baker and Delaney Du Luca is over. According to sources, Baker has been dating Kara Biondi for some time, and the two are expecting their first child this summer. Calls to Du Luca’s rep went unanswered.
On cue, my phone rings and the text messages start to go crazy. I ignore them, needing some space to figure out what just happened to my life. How could I not see the signs? I’m so stupid. Relationships in Hollywood never last, and if I’m not the perfect example of that, I don’t know who is.
I go back to Trey’s text and reread it, hovering over his name. One press and my phone will call him. Will he answer? And if he does, what do I even say to him? I’m not sure I want to know what went wrong or why he’s lied to me. It might be better for my self-esteem if I tell myself I didn’t do anything wrong and Trey is nothing more than a jerk.
Instead of pulling on my big girl panties, I head to my room and collapse onto my bed to wallow in self-pity. I don’t know if I’m heartbroken or humiliated. He could’ve easily just broken up with me. Why cheat? Why embarrass me?
The funny thing is, I can ask myself all of these questions, but I’ll never get the answers. It’s not like I’ll ever call Trey or even speak to him when we’re in the same social setting. I can even go as far to make sure he’s never on the same set as me. As of now, I’m the bigger star and if I need to be a diva, I will.
I stay in bed, crying and screaming into my pillow until my head starts to hurt. When I get downstairs, the lack of decorations, especially for Christmas, bothers me. There’s still three weeks until the big day, but I don’t want to be alone.
Somewhere in the recesses of my couch, is my phone. I pull off the cushions, tossing them onto the floor until I find it. As if on cue, my mom’s name lights up on my screen.
“Mom?” My voice sounds desperate, and maybe I am.
“Delaney, what am I reading?”
Sitting down on the hardwood of the sofa frame, I put my hand to my head. “I don’t know. I had no idea something was wrong until I saw a text from him this morning, then the article. I’m completely blindsided.”
“Are you okay?”
I shake my head knowing she can’t see me. “Yeah, I guess. I don’t know. I think I’m going to go buy a tree and decorate.”