Lie To Me

Lie To Me-Chapter 31

What a crappy day...

First, there was that stupid argument I'd had with Harry, which put me in a general funk... Then, I'd broken one of my heels tripping over a coworker's purse strap... Who puts their damn purse sticking out into the walkway anyway?!? And finally, I was reprimanded that afternoon for being "rude" to a client, when all I'd done was explain to the man yelling at me over the phone that I couldn't help him...

I was near the point of screaming, and throwing things when my phone buzzed on my desk. Looking at the screen, I smiled. It was Gemma.

'Hey, almost birthday girl! I can't wait till Friday's dinner. Want to grab a drink after work?'

She had the best timing ever...

'YES!! I could definitely use a drink after the day I've had!! Maybe this way I won't be forced to murder someone... Usual place? At 6?'

'Uh oh... Sorry to hear about the bad day, but I've got two ears, and a credit card!! Whatever it takes, we can turn that frown upside down!!'

Her response made me laugh. This was what I needed. A little girl time. Time away from my recently irritated, and irritating, roommate. Time away from the rude people I had to deal with on a daily basis. I just wished I had more friends to do these things with... Most of the people I knew here were in some way connected to Harry. His friends were my friends, his sister was my "sister," his family was my "family." Everything I had, aside from my stupid job, was because of Harry.

To top off my already rattled mind, Jeremy's words once again played in my ears. If Harry and I stopped being friends, if this all came to an end, what would that mean for me? Would I really lose everything? Would everyone automatically stop talking to me? Push me aside too? Replace me with whatever girl he'd choose to spend his time with?

Looking at the clock, I willed it to move faster. I REALLY needed that drink now...

(Harry's POV)

With sweat dripping down my chest, and my muscles burning, I set the weights back down on the floor.

This wasn't helping... Even after a long run, a cold shower, and two hours in the gym, I still couldn't get Riley out of my head. I'd been a complete ass to her this morning...lying to her, telling her I'd regretted kissing her...

But, what was I supposed to do?!? Tell her the truth?!? That the kiss we'd shared twisted my world around into a giant knot?!? That I didn't even know which way was up anymore?!? That I felt stupid for spending so much time and energy looking for the right girl, when the perfect girl was right under my damn nose the whole time?!?

I'd nearly tripped over my own feet when I'd come into the kitchen to see her bent over, scooping cat food into Millie's bowl. It should be illegal for a woman to wear pants like that... The way they hugged each and every curve, as if they'd been painted on her lush body...

I had to come up with something to say before I blurted out everything that was going through my mind, or worse, just stood there drooling like an idiot. Why all of THAT crap came out of my mouth, I still didn't know... But, although she was good and pissed at me now for sure, I was glad I'd avoided further conversation about our kiss. I don't think I could have survived hearing her talk about it... The images, the sounds, the feel of her were already etched into my brain...

But, now what? How do I get things back to where they were after upsetting her the way I did? At a complete loss of what to do, where to go from here, I did the one thing I could think of...

I called my mother...

"Harry? Is that you?!?" She answered on the second ring.

"Hey, mum..."

Reading into my voice, she immediately jumped to the wrong conclusions.

"What's wrong?!? Are you okay?!? What happened?!?"

"I'm fine. It's okay. I just... I need to talk to you. It's about Riley..."

"Oh my God... Is she okay?!? Is she hurt?!? I can be there in a few hours!!"

"No!!" Geez... That'll teach me to skip the usual pleasantries next time... "Riley's fine. But... Well... Something happened... I messed up..."

I heard her take a deep breath over the line. "Okay. Well, now that I know you're both safe, what's going on?"

I brought her up to speed with what's happened between Riley and I since I've been home, omitting certain details that a mother should never hear from her son, finishing up with the tension this morning.

"So, what do I do now? How do I fix this? How do I get things back to the way they were before?"

"Well, the first question is, do you really want to?"

"Of course I do!!" What kind of question was that?!?

She cut me off before I could say anything else. "No, listen to me. I'm going to tell you something I probably shouldn't... When you first told us about Riley coming to live with you, we were worried...all of us. There had already been so many people in your life that had hurt you, taken advantage of you. We just didn't want to see that happen again. But then we met her, saw how the two of you were together, and we knew... She was THE ONE, your perfect match. But, you were both just so blind to it, insisting that you were just friends. Obviously, your opening your eyes now, and seeing the possibilities. So, the question you need to ask yourself is, do you want to go back, where the two of you are just friends? Or do you want to go forward?"