Life in the Friend Zone

Chapter 12-Home is where the heart won't hurt

I woke up with a stiff neck. I had fallen asleep on the couch sometime after sunrise. I opened my eyes and slowly assessed my surroundings. The bed was still made because I hadn’t slept in it, and by the looks of things, neither had Alex.

I was startled by the sound of water running in the bathroom. Alex walked out after a few minutes with a towel wrapped around his waist. He looked startled when his eyes met mine.

“I didn’t mean to wake you.” Was the first thing he said to me. My boyfriend was with his ex all night and what he cared about was the fact that he woke me and not that my eyes were swollen, clearly from crying, or the fact that I slept on the couch and not the bed, or that he had ditched me for his ex without an explanation.

I looked at him incredulously. “Is that really the first thing you’re saying to me?”

“What do you want me to say,” he glanced at me as he quickly got dressed.

“Oh, I don’t know Einstein, maybe you could explain why you spent the night with your ex, or maybe you could apologize, I don’t know, just off the top of my head!”

“The mother of my child is back! She’s back Emily! Do you know what that means for Gabriella?” he shouted back.

“This is about our relationship moron! This is about you completely disrespecting me and disregarding my feelings last night!”

“I’m sorry okay! I’m sorry that I was human enough to want answers from someone who walked out on me!”

“Don’t you dare yell at me Alex, we both know I’m not the one who’s wrong here!” I fumed

He laughed humorlessly, “Get off your high horse princess,” he spat out, “For once in your life, something is not about you, so shut the hell up and get out of my face.”

A tear slid down my cheek and I furiously wiped it away, “You know what Alex, I’m sorry I wasted your time.”

“Emily,” he sighed, “Just let me sort this out please. I just need to figure out a way for all this to work out for all of us okay? I’ll be back later, let’s talk about this over lunch. I love you, you know that.”

I walked away from him without a reply. I locked the bathroom door and slid down to the floor. Tears ran down my face when I heard the door close. This was the second time Alex walked away from me and went to her in the space of 24-hours, but this time, I wouldn’t be around when he got back.

I took a quick shower and tried to look presentable. I texted Kim and Rachel, giving them a breakdown of what had happened from the time we had left the restaurant last night, to the very moment I was packing my bags.

They burst into my room a few minutes later along with everyone else and engulfed me in a hug. “Oh honey,” Rachel said, “We’ll go with you, this retreat won’t be the same without you here”

Everyone else chorused their agreement. “And besides,” Rachel spoke up, “We can’t let you be alone at a time like this.”

“But first we bust his balls,” Jason piped in looking murderous.

“And then break his toes one by one,” Tyler added.

“Then we peel off his skin!” Jason fumed.

“Whoa there tiger,” Kim interrupted them, “Going to prison won’t make Emily feel better, although killing Alex might, sure, but the aim is to stay out of prison okay.”

I smiled at my crazy friends sadly. “You guys are the best, and I love you all for being here right now,” I blinked back my tears, “But you all have to promise me that you’ll stay here and enjoy the rest of your vacation.”