happen to cross paths, neither of us look at each other.
It’s such a mess.
I’m seriously starting to consider selling the apartment and moving somewhere else. But what am I going to do about my company? We already have a contract. I’ve already moved my office to this building.
With a lot on my mind, I walk into the elevator after lunch and don’t notice Erica standing inside. It’s only when I press the button for my floor that I look up and see her standing there.
“Oh!” I exclaim.
“Hello, Ms. Crawford; how are you? We don’t get to talk much these days.”
She’s smiling, but there’s suddenly something so self-assured about her. She was a different person that day at the cafe when we met in secret. Besides, now I know that she and Trevor are probably dating.
It makes me sick, and I turn my face up.
“Is everything okay, Ms. Crawford?” she urges me.
“I heard you’ve been hanging out with the Davenports lately. I didn’t expect to hear that,” I say.
Maybe Kim has been right all along. Maybe I shouldn’t have taken Erica at face value.
“Oh, yeah, I met Anya. We went to the museum the other day. It was so much fun. She’s a great kid!”
I don’t reply to that. I just want this elevator ride to come to an end.
“You seem upset about it, Ms. Crawford,” she says. Her voice is so sickly sweet that I feel like I’m going to gag.
“I’m not upset. Why should I be? I’m just surprised. The last time we spoke, it sounded like you had some pretty strong opinions about Trevor Davenport’s private life.”
“He is my boss.”
“Yeah, he is your boss, whom you didn’t have a problem betraying.”
“I was just trying to be helpful towards you, Ms. Crawford. I hope I haven’t caused any problems.”
The elevator stops at my floor and the doors slide open. I step out but keep the door open with my foot against it. I turn to face Erica who looks challengingly back at me.
“I’m sure you did me a favor, Erica, and I hope you do yourself one and take your own advice and stay away from him,” I say and the doors shut behind me.
It’s way past midnight, and my friends are still here. Lately, I’ve been inviting everyone who wants to come over to my apartment. I like to keep myself surrounded with friends as much as possible so that I’m not thinking about Trevor all the time or what he’s doing with Erica.
The only difference between now and before we started sleeping together is that I actually keep control of the noise in my apartment. The last thing I want is for him to complain to management again. I don’t want to disturb Anya’s sleep either. Now that I have actually gotten to know her, I care about her peace a little more.
Basically, I don’t want to give Trevor any reason to knock on my door. My friends Maria, Lacy, Chris, and Jacob are here. I’ve been seeing more of these guys lately because they are also the ones in my circle who like to party hard. We’ve been hitting the clubs around town for the past few weeks. It’s easy to just ply myself with alcohol and lose all inhibitions on the dance floor.
However, no matter how drunk I get, I still can’t stand the sight of a man approaching me or trying their one-liners on me. It just makes me roll my eyes and walk away.
We are all sitting around in my living room, discussing Kim and how lucky she has gotten with Kirk.
“Oh, my God! Can you imagine how cute that kid is going to be?” Lacy remarks, which makes Maria purr like a kitten. Chris pulls her in for a kiss, and I have to look away.
I’m happy for them, of course. These are all my closest friends, but seeing a happy couple just makes me anxious.
I can’t help but think about how happy Trevor and I could have been if that relationship had a trace of authenticity to it.
But who am I kidding?
This sort of thing never works for me, right? It didn’t work for Stephen and me either.
There’s a loud knock on my door all of a sudden, and I jump up in surprise. I’m not expecting anyone. It’s too late for that. Nobody called from reception downstairs either. So it could only mean one thing.
Someone from inside the building is knocking on my door, and it can only be one