Jia
What did I focus on more?
The offer?
Or, the thought of him leaving me alone if I don’t accept?
I’ve been a mess all day. I couldn’t concentrate at all on anything and had to head home early.
The worst possible thing for me to do was plan anything that involved a six-figure budget and mess it up. If I did, I guarantee that Dad wouldn’t be showing up at my door with flowers and donuts.
He’d hand me my ass and probably fire me because if something goes wrong, it’s on my head.
Better to go home and start afresh tomorrow.
Tomorrow…
The day I have to give Paul my answer.
In my desperation, I called my friends.
They’re sitting before me now in the living room looking as shocked as I still feel.
Rachel and Giselle listened, allowing me to talk, and I told them what happened. I know them. They’ll encourage me to say yes. They won’t think an offer like that borders on blackmail, like Paul’s trying to buy my body with the offer of the building over my head.
They’ll know, same as me, that it’s not just about sex.
What they won’t know is the thing I’ve never told anyone.
As I finish off filling them in, Rachel bites the inside of her lip, trying her best to bite back a smile.
Giselle brings her hands together. They’re so obvious, the two of them are like two peas in a pod with the same brain. I look at Giselle, though, and focus on her. She was the last one to jump on our craze. The Goody-two-shoes of the group. It wasn’t until we dragged her to The Dark Odyssey for her last birthday that she came out of her shell. That night she met her husband.
I’m intrigued to hear what she thinks.
“You’re looking at me like you want me to go first…” she says, inclining her head to the side.
“I do,” I confess, and Rachel laughs.
“Why does she get to go first?” Rachel ask, pretending to pout.
“Because I know you’ve already said yes in your mind,” I answer, and she backs down. I’m right. She’s going to tell me to accept the offer.
The thing is, I didn’t ask them to come over to help me figure out if I should accept or not. I just needed to talk it out.
Talking has always been hard for me. I let people in when I choose to, and sometimes that can be later than I need. This whole thing is pushing me to be more open.
“Fine… let’s hear it, Giselle.”
“I think you should say yes because you still have feelings for him. I know you, and I know we wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t already come to the answer in your mind,” Giselle surmises, and Rachel nods.
“Yes,” Rachel agrees. “Not meaning to put a damper on this, but that’s exactly you, Jia. We’re your friends, and I swear you help us more with our problems than we help you. You don’t talk to us as much as you could. The fact that you and Paul were a couple for six years and we didn’t know is testament of that.”
I dip my head, agreeing. “I know.”
“So, are you going to accept?”
“Would you accept?” I ask.