I opened the window and let the freezing air hit me. It sort of helped me, but I closed the window because it started to rain. I paced around my office, trying to calm down.
A knock on the door came suddenly, much to my surprise. “Come in,” I said as I tried to composed myself.
The door opened slowly, and Dani stood there, looking at me with confusion in her eyes.
“Yes?” I said as I looked away, and pretended to sort some papers on my desk.
“Um,” she began, but didn’t finish.
“Would you like to, sit down?” I asked, unsure if I really wanted that, that being a confrontation.
She moved toward my desk and sat down. She looked up at me, then at the rings on her ring finger. “I wasn’t sure if I should have or wanted to when he asked me, it’s just that we were together for a long time, I thought I owed it to him,” she trailed off.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, confused about what she was babbling about.
“Chris. When he asked me to marry him, I knew about the other girls, I just thought that maybe he would stop when we were married,” she said, then laughed, “but boy was I wrong.”
“What other girls?”
“You didn’t know? Well, he cheated on me often, like he got some sort of sport out of it,” she said, then looked at me, “but never had he with someone I was close to.”
When she said that, I looked away. I was at loss of words.
“I think he had to have every woman he saw, or even a woman that had a remote interest in him,” she said.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
“Because I guess I should have forgave you, because I did forgive him. I don’t know why though. I know how persistent he is, that I do know well. I guess I was just shocked because he told me and said how he didn’t mean for it to happen. He said that you seduced him, but,” she was saying until I cut her off.
“He has his story twisted. He seduced me.”
“I know, I guess…I don’t know.”
“You guess what?”
“In a way, I wanted to believe him, because I love him very much. I just wanted to think that he cared about me that much to be faithful.”
“Maybe you should leave, Dani. It’s obvious that we can never be friends again. That and he would probably never allow it.” I said and stood up.
“I know, I just wanted to tell you that I forgive you.”
“You didn’t have to tell me,” I said.
“What?” she said, confused.
“How can you forgive me when I can’t even forgive myself?”
“Oh,” she said, realizing what I said, “maybe you should.” She then stood up and walked to the door. “You look really good Jen. Maybe sometime in our lives we’ll be able to see each other again and we’ll be able to be friends.”
“Maybe,” I said as she left the room.
*************************************************************************
“Took you long enough. Was there a line for the bathroom or something?” Chris mumbled as Dani returned.
“Actually,” Dani began, “I’m not feeling to well. I’m just gonna head back to the hotel.”
“Fine,” he said as she grabbed her purse and jacket. She leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips.
“Bye,” she said and left the restaurant.
*************************************************************************
I walked out of my office just as the place was about to close. I helped get everything put away and soon I was the only one still here. I walked outside and locked the door. As I walked to my car, I felt some one put their hand on my shoulder. I turned around quickly, hoping it wasn’t who I thought it was.
“Calm down Jen,” Austin laughed as he pulled me into a hug.
“Austin, you scared me,” I said, and hugged him back.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to surprise you.” He said and held onto me tighter.
“Well, you did,” I said and pulled away.
“Then I succeeded,” he said, smiling, “I was wondering if you’d want to go out on a date with me tomorrow?”
“I can’t,” I said regrettably.
“Yes you can. Candi will cover for you.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Great, we can go to that little Italian restaurant.”
“Okay.”
“I gotta go, but I’ll call you tomorrow. Okay?”
“Sure,” I said as he walked away. I got into my car and drove away.
*************************************************************************
“That was weird tonight,” Justin said as he got into bed beside Michelle.
“Yeah it was. It must have been hard for Dani,” she said as she snuggled against him.
“I feel bad for her, ya know?” he said and kissed Michelle on the forehead.
“Me too,” she said.
***********************************************************************
Meanwhile, in the next room. Dani mindlessly watched the TV as Chris got his shower. Her mind kept replaying the conversation she had with Jen. ‘He seduced her. He cheated on me. He didn’t even deny it,’ she thought to herself and remembered the day Chris told her.
Flashback:
“Hey,” Chris said as he walked into the room.
“Hi,” Dani said as she continued to get dressed for her day of shopping with Jen.
“Where are you going?”
“Shopping,” Dani said as she buttoned her blouse.
“With who?”
“Jen.”
“Why are you going with that whore?” he asked.
“What do you mean?” Dani said and she pulled back her hair, “I thought you two were friends.”
“Dani, I have to tell you something,” Chris said and pulled Dani to him, making her sit on the bed.
“What?”
“This is kind of hard for me,” he said.
“What?” Dani asked, afraid of the inevitable.
“Jen and I had sex. It was a mistake. When she invited me up to Pittsburgh, I didn’t think that she had others plans but for me to help her paint her walls. I wasn’t going to tell you because I was ashamed of myself, but last night, she tried to do that again.”
“What?” Dani said and moved away from him.
“Baby, I’m sorry,” he said and wrapped his arms around her, “please forgive me.”
End of Flashback:
‘The only falter in his performance was that it seemed almost rehearsed,’ she thought to herself.
Chapter Three
Chapter One
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