The Best Friend Scandal - Lucia Jordan Page 0,59

on anything else. But that was something that should have been said during a passionate and intimate moment, not while we were sitting on the floor talking about work stuff. It was also something that shouldn’t have been said yet, not so soon.

I wasn’t sure when the “normal” time into a relationship was for people to make proclamations of love to each other, but I was pretty sure we hadn’t reached it yet, even though we had known each other technically for years. I sat there, feeling my face start to blush in a dozen different levels of pinkish heat. Even though I knew it was unexpected and shouldn’t have popped out of my mouth quite like that, I was still naïvely hoping that Arlo would tell me he loved me in return. But instead, the worst thing happened; he said nothing and completely changed the focus.

“I’m glad you don’t have plans to leave,” he said as he finished the sip of wine he had been trying to take before my random verbal outburst. “What would I do without you?”

He smiled and went back to talking about the project we were working on as if nothing had just happened. How could he not address that or at least say something, anything in return? His silence was worse than any answer he could have given, and I felt off about things for the rest of the evening. I had been planning to spend the night at his apartment but made up some excuse about needing to get home because I had a headache and left my migraine meds in my apartment.

I just felt like I couldn’t stay after that. I couldn’t make love to him and sleep in his arms without knowing how he truly felt about me, and it killed me to think about it at all. Even though I hadn’t meant to blurt it out, I did think that Arlo had feelings for me, feelings that were more than just “boyfriend-girlfriend” casual-type dating feelings. I guess I didn’t realize it, but I had already let myself start to hope and believe that he was in love with me. Now, without even meaning to, I might have uncovered the fact that he didn’t feel that same way about me. Maybe I had read this whole situation wrong, and maybe this was just something fun and temporary while we were both still working together. I felt like such a fool, and as soon as I got back to my apartment, I started to cry when I thought about how I might end up losing Arlo, even as a friend. I curled up with my blanket and closed my eyes to think about things. I hadn’t had a headache before, but I was starting to get one now.

After a little while, my phone beeped. I lifted it to my face in the dark, and the blueish light stung my eyes. It was from Arlo. For a fleeting second, I thought maybe he had texted to say that he loved me, too. But again, I was let down. I just needed to stop hoping for things altogether.

“How is your headache?” he asked through text.

I didn’t answer him. I didn’t want to lie to him anymore, but I also didn’t want to tell him the truth. So instead, I just set my phone back down and pretended to be asleep. In the morning, I could figure out what sort of answer I wanted to give.

Except that morning came with its own surprise. When I got to Arlo’s office, he wasn’t there. His secretary told me that he had an errand or two to take care of. I asked if I could just wait in his office for him, but she told me that she didn’t expect him back until the end of the day. What kind of errand took all day long? Since I didn’t want to lose a full day of work waiting around on him, even though I felt like I needed to talk to him before I could focus on anything else, I went to F.I.T. to continue some work. On my commute there, I texted him.

“Hey,” I said. “Sorry, I fell asleep last night. Just stopped by your office, and you weren’t there.”

I was hoping that he wouldn’t take too long to respond because then I would worry that I really had botched things up last night.

“Hey!” his text dinged a minute or two afterward. “Sorry, yeah, I’m not in