Hothead (Irresistible 4)
“Mmm-hm,” Aly said. I chucked a piece of shrimp at her. “Whoa, hey! Don’t waste the garnish! What did I say?”
“You said ‘mmm-hm’ with an undertone of skepticism, which I think you made deliberately audible just for me.”
“Did I?” Aly smirked. “Well, I do have to ask – would you ever want to be with Drew Maddox?”
I squinted at her.
“I mean he’s not as intolerable as he seems.”
“Nice. You really sold me there.”
Aly laughed.
“I mean I’ll always have a soft spot for him because he’s the reason Emmett and I got together. But also, he’s one of Emmett’s closest friends, Evie. And double dates should be enough incentive as it is,” Aly cracked as I shook my head adamantly.
“No. Absolutely not. I know he’s your boyfriend’s bestie, but he’s also a famous athlete who’s allergic to commitment of any kind, and I know you don’t like to hear it, but I’m still…” My face contorted with guilt as I trailed off. “I’m still waiting to hear from Mike,” I finally mumbled. “Even if it’s just for closure purposes.”
Aly chewed her lip as she nodded, which meant she was giving herself time to rephrase something in her head so that it didn’t just blurt out and hurt my feelings. I braced for it.
“Speaking of Mike, did he ever text or call after the voicemail you left him?” she finally asked.
“Oh, no… I think maybe he didn’t listen to it because it came from an unknown number,” I said as she shot a dubious look.
Once upon a time, Aly tiptoed around Mike and my troubles because she didn’t want to further stress me out about our already rocky relationship. But now that Mike was gone, those days were over.
“Yeah, no, I think he heard the voicemail but he’s ignoring you because it’s easiest for him. He’s enjoying the single life right now, and he’s not feeling remotely guilty about it – which means you should be doing the exact same thing.”
“Well, damn, girl, I’m trying,” I argued before realizing I totally wasn’t. I caught a second of the please look on Aly’s face before holding my hands up in surrender. “Okay, fine, I was totally not trying the past month or so. I was definitely wallowing and not doing anything with my days. But as of today, that stops.”
“Good.” Aly nodded. “Besides, if you really want to get back together with Mike, ” she paused to eye me with a look that said please don’t, “nothing’s going to get him crawling back faster than knowing you’ve moved on.”
“True,” I conceded – because she was a hundred percent right.
I knew Mike well enough to know that the only reason he was comfortable ignoring me right now was because he knew well that I was still waiting around for him – pretty much on call to talk to him. It had always been like that when we argued. If I gave him the cold shoulder for long enough after a fight, he’d panic and agree that we needed to talk.
So, if I stopped being so available, and if I stopped calling and asking our mutual friends how he was doing these days?
I had a fee
ling he’d be much quicker to answer all my questions.
Taking in a deep breath, I let it out like it was a brand new day.
“Okay,” I exhaled with a big smile as Aly gave my foot a playful kick.
“There’s my Evie,” she grinned. “So, what’s the first order of business on your first official day of moving on?”
I thought about it. A sheepish look twitched on my lips.
“Well… I did always say that when I finally got a day off from here, I’d go read a book in the window of Poppy’s Tea Room.”
Aly snorted.
“Hey. Do you, girl,” she shrugged with a giggle.
I couldn’t blame her for the mild judgment. Poppy’s Tea Room was an overpriced, heavily floral-decorated tea parlor that served flavorless finger sandwiches on three-tiered platters. It was all hype, but it spoke to the girliest part of my soul and I decided today was the day I was going to go.
So, grabbing my purse, I kissed Aly goodbye and headed straight home to change and pick a book to read. Then I drove fast to Poppy’s to beat the lunch rush because that coveted window seat was mine. I was going to relax my ass off today. I’d already made that decision.