Behind the Screen

Chapter 34

"I know," Emily said as she patted my leg.

"Here's what you're going to do," she continued, "you're going to go to work tomorrow, and you're going to decide if you want to give Chloe the time of day or not, and whatever you decide is fine."

"Okay," I nodded, "I think I can do that."

"And you're going to call me if you need to," Emily said.

"Yeah, but - I don't know if I can avoid Chloe if I don't want to talk to her," I said.

"Just tell her that if you don't want to," Emily responded, "it probably won't be a great conversation to have at work anyway, use that as your excuse if you need to."

"You're right," I said, "and I think I need to go home now honestly."

"Are you sure?" Emily asked, "I just ordered dinner."

"Yeah I - I'm sorry, I just want to go," I said.

"No that's fine, just call me if you need me, okay?" Emily said.

"I will, thanks Em," I said as I got off of the couch, "I'll talk to you soon."

***

To absolutely no one's surprise, I didn't sleep well that night. I was upset, and I was nervous about having to face Chloe.

My hands shook as I tried to get ready that morning, and I felt sick to my stomach. I still wasn't sure if I wanted to talk to her or not, but I guess I'd have to decide soon.

When I walked into the building, I tried to quickly walk past Chloe's office without her noticing. I thought it might have worked, but she showed up at my door a couple of minutes later.

My stomach dropped as I looked up at her standing there.

"Is everything okay?" She asked as she gave me a concerned look.

"I um," I said as I looked down at my hands fidgeting in my lap, "I don't want to talk about it now."

Chloe stepped inside and shut the door behind her.

"Katie," she said, "what's going on?"

"Why don't you ask Mason?" I asked her calmly as I looked back up.

The look on her face confirmed everything that I needed to know.

"I - what? How do you -?" She stammered.

"How do I know? That's really what you want to ask me right now?" I quietly sneered.

"No, I -" she started.

"I brought Emily to the bar that everyone was at last night because I wanted her to meet you," I said angrily, "nice surprise that we got, huh?"

"I guess I know now why you didn't want to tell anyone at the office," I continued.

"Fuck," Chloe said quietly as she put her face in her hand, "it's not -"

"Save it Chloe," I cut her off, "I said I don't want to talk about it."

"Katie..." she said as she gave me a pleading look.

"Leave me alone please," I said quietly as I looked back to my computer.

She sighed, but she opened the door and left. I let out my breath that I felt like I'd been holding, and I leaned my head against my hands.

That conversation wasn't very reassuring at all. It's not like I expected her to tell me that it wasn't her boyfriend, but I don't know. She basically all but admitted that she had screwed me over.

The rest of the day went by painstakingly slow as I did my best to avoid Chloe. I noticed her walking by my office a few times and sneaking a glance at me, but she never came back in.

When 5:00 came, I basically ran out of the building and to my car. I knew that Chloe was going to try and talk again, and I just couldn't do it yet.

When I got home, I set my things down and stood in the kitchen. I felt numb.

Before I could make myself move, there was a knock at my front door, and I was pretty sure I knew exactly who it was.

I sighed as I went over to open it, and sure enough, Chloe was standing on the other side.

"What do you want Chloe?" I asked her.

"I want to talk to you," she said.

"You have a boyfriend, you screwed me over, what else is there to talk about?" I asked.

"It's not what it looks like, okay?" She said in a desperate voice.

"Oh really?" I said as my voice began to raise, "then what is it Chloe?"

"I've been - I've been wanting to end things with Mason," she said.

"That's your explanation? Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I -" she started.

"Chloe, you're the one who fucking convinced me to give this a try, this is what you wanted," I yelled at her, "what the fuck was your plan?"

"Just string me along until you'd had enough fun and then go back to your fucking boyfriend?" I continued.

All I wanted to do right now was scream in her face, and it didn't seem like she was going to say anything to change my mind.

"Katie, you don't -" she said before she paused.

"I don't what?" I asked her, "you know what, never mind. I'm not doing this Chloe, I can't."

"Katie please," she said desperately.

"No," I shook my head, "I really liked you, and you just - you used me, I don't know. It clearly didn't mean as much to you as it did to me."

Before she could respond, I stepped back and shut the door in her face. I couldn't do it anymore.

I leaned against the wall and slowly slid down it and on to the floor. I held my knees against my chest and I felt my eyes begin to sting with tears.

I hated myself for thinking that anything was going to come of this. Emily was right, I should've known the type of person that Chloe was from how she'd treated me before.

I don't know why I ever trusted her.

I stayed on the floor as the tears continued to fall down my face, and I fumbled around in my pocket for my phone.

When I finally grabbed it, I dialed Emily's number.

"Hey Katie, how did things go today?" She answered.

I was sure she heard me sniffling into the phone before I could respond.

"Can you come over? Please?"

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