Cherish [GirlxGirl]

Chapter 14

He said, "I think I should meet her."

His statement wiped the smile from my face immediately. We were sitting in his car and we'd been talking about us, about his family, venting about work and planning a future weekend getaway. But then he said, "I think I should meet her."

"Meet who?" I asked even though I knew which she he was referring to.

"Your girlfriend. The woman who you spend so much of your time with even though I barely see you."

I ignored the obvious saltiness in his statement and corrected him. "Not my girlfriend and if she was, why would meeting her be a good idea?"

He thought for a moment, shifted his position so that his arm was no longer casually resting on the headrest behind me.

"I'm just curious. I mean this woman let you know she was upset about our weekend and all of a sudden plans changed."

"It was more than that."

"Well...I got time. Tell me the rest of it."

I shook my head slowly but smiled. Not humourously, I wasn't amused. If anything I was annoyed. The surprise lunch, him offering to "treat me" to lunch was no treat at all. His agenda was obvious. We hadn't talked about the weekend, the one I had cancelled but not spending the night. I saw him, spent the Saturday and Sunday, but I had stayed true to my word and slept in my own bed both nights. That was more than four weeks ago and as usual our schedules were out of sync.

"Can we just enjoy the rest of this time? I have to be back at work in 20 minutes."

"Why do you avoid talking about her? You won't say anything about her, not even her name This arrangement is new for me and if I'm supposed to be okay with it then I should know something about her."

I stayed silent; my eyes fixed on the crystal blue water before us. There were a few other cars there, most of them empty. Only two had occupants. I imagined they were having a better afternoon than I was. Probably even a better day.

I was originally eager to go out to lunch, even if just to be out of the bank for the few minutes. I'd already been in one argument for the day with the head of the loans department. Had I been at fault I would have been less upset. Had she been willing to listen to me, there would have been no argument at all.

If that wasn't bad enough, now Terrell was taking a run at my patience.

"Can I at least know her first name...first initial...is she older or younger? Do you love her, like her, do you think about her when we're together?"

I didn't answer his questions; kept my eyes on the calming waters. Focused on not getting upset while trying to think of a way to answer him.

"She doesn't matter." I finally said. "She and I and you and I are separate. I don't ask you about who else you're with. I don't even bring her up when we're together.

"There's no one to ask about and I would bring her up because you won't."

I shrugged, "okay".

"Jesus. It's difficult to get anything out of you when you don't want to talk."

I nodded. "Yup."

I reached for the door release. The only words I had left to say would have been intentionally hurtful.

"I'll call you."

Thankfully he didn't try to stop me beyond calling my name

Our conversation continued through text. At one point it became more heated than I could tolerate and I placed the phone in my bag. He had been pressuring me lately, wanting me to give him more of my time. Cherish was doing the reverse. I was stuck somewhere in the middle.