Stuck In Love (COMPLETED)

chapter-2

Sophie Esinberg's POV

I swallowed hard, trying to choke back the tears threatening to spill. I had known I would see him eventually, but I thought I could face it—I thought I was strong enough.

I had planned to avoid him, hoping to keep my distance until the end of the evening. Fate, it seemed, had other plans.

Justin snapped his fingers in front of my eyes, jolting me back to reality.

"What do you want to drink?" he asked gently, sensing my distraction as I glanced around the dimly lit bar.

Justin had been a reliable friend since I first moved to California. We became close when we discovered we lived across the hall and attended the same university, though our fields of study couldn't have been more different—his in Business Management, mine in Physics.

Since then, he had always been there for me. A month into university Daniel started visiting whenever possible, the three of us were like an inseparable trio, spending weekends together and occasionally extending our hangouts into Mondays when Daniel could skip a few lectures at the university to join us.  

There were a few- okay, a few  might be an understatement, there were numerous occasions in our first year of university when Justin, being the gentleman he is, had to swoop in and rescue me from guys trying to flirt despite my obvious disinterest.

We called it the "rescue ruse," where he would wrap his arm around my waist and give a light kiss on my temple, and then I would leave with him. He hasn't done the rescue ruse since our second year of university. I've been able to handle those situations on my own since then. It turns out, all I had to do was speak thoughts.

Justin doesn't really know about Raymond. All he knows is that I dated someone in senior year who broke my heart. But that's only half the truth. Raymond did break my heart, but what we had, it wasn't all a lie. 

Hah. Keep being delusional, you fool. 

Daniel always cautioned me about the deceptive nature of people wearing masks. He'd say, "You never really know who's lurking behind a friendly smile." His words echoed in my mind, a reminder of the countless times I'd been fooled by appearances. By him.

"Nothing, thanks. I think I'll just go to my room and get some sleep. I'm tired," I replied, attempting to sound casual.

Justin's gaze bore into mine, studying my expression.

"What?" I asked, struggling to conceal the flood of emotions welling in my eyes.

"Are you okay?" Justin's concern was palpable as he studied my expression.

"Yeah," I murmured, more to convince myself than him.

"Alright. I'll catch you later, then," he replied, his brow furrowing with worry. The way he looked at me, I knew he sensed something was amiss.

"Okay, bye," I managed, heading towards the bar's exit.

Justin persisted, asking if I knew the guy from the library or if he was bothering me. I just shrugged, not wanting to delve into it further, and he let it drop.

The next morning, I woke up with the realization that I now lived in the same hotel as that heartbreaker, Raymond Reynolds. Just the thought was enough to set my mind spinning, memories of pain and weakness flooding back.

To distract myself from those haunting thoughts, I decided to head to the gym. Running for half an hour always helped clear my mind, even though I'd never been particularly athletic. It had become my solace seven years ago.