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Chapter 8: Respect Is A Two Way Street
Over the next four weeks, there were many mornings when I woke up snuggled into Miguel. Freya was cool with him staying over, but sometimes I stayed at his apartment to give her a break. It felt wrong to show off my happiness when she was still trying to handle her feelings for Will.
She had chosen to stay quiet and wait to see what happened with Will’s new relationship. The unfortunate consequence of her decision was that she had to suffer while he babbled on about Heather. Freya covered her pain well at work, and even put a brave face on at home most of the time. It wasn’t half as easy as she pretended, but she was way too tough to let herself fall apart.
One particularly difficult afternoon, Freya left work early, bailing on her plans to meet Will and me for dinner in the Warriors’ restaurant. It wasn’t the first time we’d been alone since Freya realised how she felt about him, but her storming out of the grounds without speaking to anyone was a first.
Will and I sat in our usual spot in the restaurant, by the window in the far corner, waiting for our meals to arrive. Will twitched in his seat, obviously preparing to ask questions, yet not wanting to put me in an awkward position.
“Okay,” I said, eventually, “you need to stop fidgeting. You look like you’ve got worms.”
He abruptly stopped moving, but smiled at my bluntness. “You’re such a charmer.”
“I try.”
After another slightly uncomfortable pause, Will said, “Something happened with Freya today. I’m damned if I know what it was though.”
“Well, why don’t you walk me through it?”
“We were having a cup of coffee and she asked me about Heather. I told her we went out to dinner with my parents and she flipped out.”
Dinner with the parents. Things were getting serious.
“What did she say?”
“She muttered something about how it was soon for me to introduce Heather to my family. When I pointed out that we’ve been together for over a month, and she met my parents when we dated before, she bit my head off. She said it must be nice to have such a long history with someone, then walked out. She didn’t even finish her drink. I know we haven’t been hanging out as much since I’ve been with Heather but that’s what happens when someone starts dating.”
The man was clueless.
“So, things with you and Heather are going well?” I asked, trying to steer the focus away from Freya.
He sighed. “I really like her. She’s pretty, she’s caring, we have a lot in common. But she’s recently divorced. Her husband cheated on her and she's real clingy. She calls several times a day, even while I’m at work. I understand why, but she’s not giving me any room to breathe.”
Interesting you never said that in front of Freya.
“Well,” I said, “I suppose it makes sense if her husband screwed around. Even so, dating you when you're on the road a lot isn’t the most sensible idea if she's insecure.”
I was caught between the proverbial rock and hard place. Freya and Will were the perfect couple who never were, but if I encouraged Will to stick it out with Heather, he would never be with Freya. If I advised him to break up with her, he’d get hurt.
So to sum up, I was better off shutting the hell up.
“You know something,” Will said, his eyes fixed on mine. “Something about the way Freya’s been acting.”
Shaking my head, I replied, “Don't involve me in this, Will. Please.”
Will stared at me thoughtfully for a moment or two, then said, “I’m sorry. You’re right. I should talk to Freya.”
Dinner ended up being pretty tense once Will realised I had the answer to Freya’s mood, and I couldn’t wait to escape.
When I got home, Freya was in our small but trendy kitchen, frying noodles. She only cooked when she needed to distract herself from something, and although the smell was heavenly, I knew most of the food would probably end up in the bin. I filled her in on the things Will said, and she gave me a grateful hug for not revealing the truth. I stayed with her for as long as I could, but I had to shower and change before Miguel came over. I offered to cancel for her, but she refused to let me.
Miguel and I had spent a lot of evenings holed up in my bedroom, watching movies, talking, laughing. It wasn’t just because I didn’t want to flaunt my relationship in front of Freya. We liked the privacy. We didn’t always stay in, but after the drama between my two best friends, I couldn’t find the energy to do much more than laze around on my bed and make plans with Miguel for our next day off.
In the middle of a debate about whether we should spend the day on the beach or doing something more energetic, Freya softly knocked on my bedroom door to tell me my brother was on the phone.
My heart jumped into my throat. If he wanted to talk, he usually sent me a text to arrange a time for us to have a proper chat. The fact that he’d called the apartment meant whatever he had to tell me couldn’t wait.