Chapter 24

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The dread that I felt while walking into work the next morning was almost insurmountable. I considered using a sick day, but I forced myself to suck it up.

I caused this problem, and now I had to face it. I was hoping that we could both just be adults about it, but I didn't know what to expect.

I came in and sat down next to Brooklyn, noticing that everyone had already started to divide up into our usual groups.

"Hey, morning," I said to her.

Just act normal, I thought to myself, this will all blow over.

She briefly looked up at me, but her eyes looked blank.

"Good morning," she sighed.

Everyone was talking quietly amongst themselves, and it sounded like the planning had started.

I told myself that I was going to give her some space and not bring up what had happened last night, but I couldn't help it.

"Brooklyn listen," I started.

"Don't," she quickly said, "this isn't the place, and I'm not having this conversation anyway."

"I need you to just let me say something," I said under my breath.

She sighed and looked up at me before motioning like she was telling me to go ahead.

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Eliana's voice cut through our tension.

I rolled my eyes before turning around to face her at the other end of the table.

"It doesn't concern you Eliana," I bit back.

"Jesus, okay," she muttered.

I turned back to face Brooklyn, and saw a smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth.

"Is this amusing for you?" I asked.

"Well that was," she shrugged, "just tell me what you need to tell me Ariana."

"Right," I nodded, "I'm sorry, again, I need to make sure that you know that I wasn't trying to be a bitch or make a shady comment or anything like that."

Her eyes looked intently into mine, and I couldn't get a read on what she was thinking. Before she could stop me, I continued speaking quietly.

"And I um, I had a really good time, and I hate that I screwed it up so badly."

"It's not a big deal," she said calmly, "it's not the first time I've been called a slut."

"Brooklyn!" I hissed, "come on, that's not - "

"Ari stop," she interjected, "I'm serious, don't worry about it. It was a mistake, we both got it out of our system, and it doesn't need to happen again now."

"A mistake..." I said as my shoulders slumped back in my chair, "yeah I guess - I guess you're right."

I didn't feel like us sleeping together was a mistake, just everything that had happened after that, but apparently she felt differently.

"I know I am," she grinned.

I rolled my eyes at her, but I watched as her expression grew more serious and she leaned in towards me.

"But don't say any shit like that to me again," she continued, "I'm well aware that I have that reputation, I don't need to hear it from anyone else. I have my reasons."

"No I - I won't," I stuttered, "and I wasn't asking you to explain anything."

"Good," she said as she sat back in her chair, "can we work on this now?"

She was so nonchalant about the whole thing, I was momentarily at a loss for words.

"I - yeah, work," I stammered, "that's fine."

"I would hope so since that's what we're here for," she responded sarcastically.

Good to know that our little mishap hadn't changed her attitude at all.

"We're going to have to go to the park sometime soon and map some more things out," Brooklyn said.

I was still having an extremely hard time focusing on work after everything that had occurred, but I did my best to look engaged. I nodded in agreement and tried to listen as she went on.

I couldn't get over how casual Brooklyn was being about all of this. Between that and her calling us sleeping together a mistake, my mind was not in a good place.

                                       ***

I left when everyone else did when the end of the day came around, I didn't have the energy to stay late and continue working.

I walked out to the parking lot by myself, and my stomach lurched when I saw Owen leaning against his car.

I stopped briefly as our eyes met, and he looked like he wanted to say something. Before he could, Eliana's voice broke through the awkward silence.

"Hey babe," she said as she pushed past me, "thanks for coming to pick me up."

"Yeah, of course," he said plainly.

I turned to walk away, but not before I saw them share a kiss.

I wasn't sure that it would be possible to put myself in any situations that were more uncomfortable than what I'd had so far this week.

When I saw Brooklyn looking over at me from across the parking lot, I realized that I was wrong. Just what I needed.

I finally got to my car and slammed my door shut, leaning my head against the back of the seat.

Had I really ruined any chance that I had with Brooklyn?

I didn't even know what I wanted from her right now, but I knew that I was upset that I had fucked up whatever we'd started.

When I got home, I was still feeling extremely irritated, so I took my phone out and texted Owen.

"Do you really have to show up at my office to pick up your new girlfriend?"

I knew it was a bad idea, but I needed someone to take my anger out on, and if anyone deserved it, it was him.

I tossed my phone down on my bed as I got changed, and I heard it go off a few minutes later with a response.

"Sorry...she asked me to."

Before I could send anything back, he sent another message.

"And maybe I still like seeing you."

Oh fuck, why had I texted him in the first place.

"Don't Owen, I told you to stop saying shit like that," I responded.

"I've been thinking about it a lot lately, can't help it," he said.

I rolled my eyes at my phone before sending him one last message before I went back to ignoring him.

"Well try harder because I don't want to hear it."

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