The Holiday Buddies (A Romantic Comedy)

Chapter 33

Sienna

Coming back to reality after a holiday usually sucks.

Coming back to reality after realising I was harbouring unrequited love for Joe is a whole new level of shit though.

I didn't leave the airport immediately after I ran away from Joe. I hid in a toilet cubicle and cried for about 20 minutes. Then I hid in the pub and cried some more for another hour or so before I finally thought it was safe to get a taxi. Then I cried in the taxi.

I've cried a lot over the past few days.

Gin and "Modern Family" isn't fixing me this time. I've tried wine too. Copious amounts of chocolate. Multiple bubble baths - I had as many as three in one day once. Nothing works.

I haven't seen Kate since the flight. She's still loved up with Jack. We only got back on Wednesday; it's now Monday and she's pretty much been living at his place ever since. So at least it was worth her ditching me, I guess.

How often do holiday romances even turn into more? I wonder. I actually do know a few people who ended up eventually married to folk they met on holiday. It's few and far between though.

I wish it could have worked out for me and Joe.

I know what you're thinking, by the way. You're judging me right now, wondering why I'm acting like there's no way of getting in touch with him.

"Her best friend and his brother are in a relationship now, she could get his number and contact him quite easily, for fucks sake," I can hear you say.

Or "she only lives a couple of streets away from him, hang about long enough and she'll just bloody run into him."

I could do either of these things. I know this. But I'm worried there's no point. Because if he gets bored of me then I'm just back at square one, possibly even more hurt than I already am. Why go chase after him only to end up heartbroken?

Plus it's not like he's been trying to track me down, and maybe that's hurting me too.

I hoped he would realise he couldn't live without me, that I'd find him waiting outside my flat with another bottle of prosecco (I'd even accept flowers I suppose) and make some sort of grand announcement of his everlasting love. That's Dream Scenario A.

Dream Scenario B is slightly lower key: he would just send me a message saying hi, that he missed me. You know, like that message Greg sent me that I didn't even bother to reply to. From Joe, it would mean so much more.

But neither scenario has materialised and I need to accept the fact that he's not interested.

Also to add insult to injury, I'm back at work.

Since the pandemic (mostly) ended, I sometimes work at home and sometimes go into the office. Since me and Greg split up, the office tended to win just so I wasn't alone all the time and, now I'm back from holiday and feeling hopelessly lonely once more, office trumps home again.

It's a good distraction at least, I suppose, getting stuck into my numerous unread emails, trying to establish which tasks I still need to tackle. Going through a version of the same conversation over and over with different colleagues: "yes, I had a great holiday"; "Kefalonia, it's a Greek Island?"; "yeah, it just went way too fast" etc etc.

By mid morning it's like I was never away.

How fucking depressing.

I'm in the kitchen, adding a ginger and lemon teabag to my mug of hot water and half-seriously considering if my employers would let me move to Greece and work remotely, when my best work friend Lindsay appears at my side.