Rival Attraction

Chapter Three

Abby flopped back on her pillow, her eyes scrunched closed in frustration. It was almost 2am, and she'd been trying to sleep for the last few hours, but every time she did the conversation she had had earlier that day with Daniel echoed around her mind. She had to work tomorrow, and at the rate she was going she might as well get up and go in now. She should be exhausted – her eyes burnt from a combination of tears and tiredness - but instead the adrenaline from their fight still jangled through her veins, and every time she thought that she had managed to resolve it, to ignore their dispute, there it was in her brain on instant replay. Nothing that she had done had managed to route it out and banish it, and she was beginning to think that she would be doomed to re-live that moment in time over and over again until she found a new way to resolve the issue, like some sort of terrifying groundhog day. Only, there was nothing that could be done, no new resolution to be found.

Why couldn't Daniel just understand her position? It wasn't like they hadn't had this fight numerous times before. Each time it ended the same way, with both of them annoyed at the others' refusal to back down and change their mind. Abby closed her eyes, and it was like she was back there, arguing with Daniel again.

A frustrated groan escaped her along with the words "you know why we can't get married". In the empty bedroom they didn't sound nearly so horrible as when she had had to say them to Daniel. Then it had felt demeaning and confronting. Both of them knew the problem, but it seemed so final to keep heaving to remind themselves of it. But too much like a fantasy world for them to ignore it.

"Remind me again why you have to make this so complicated?" Daniel had taunted her. She knew it hadn't meant to come out like that, but the frustration had gushed forth from him and turned him into someone that snapped and bit and hurt.

She had tried to gentle her tone, but suspected it hadn't worked. "I'm not trying to make it complicated, it is complicated," she had reminded him. "Apart from everything else, both of our contracts have a non-fraternisation and a non-compete clause. If either of our companies found out what we were doing, then BANG! we'd both be right out of a job."

But Daniel had raised the same point he always did. "I hardly think that my father would hold me to the non-fraternisation clause," he argued. "He'd be pleased that I'd found someone I wanted to be with. We both know that."

"Ok, then," Abby conceded, the way she always did. "Then you'd have a job, and I wouldn't."

"But does that matter?" pushed Daniel. "We're a team. I don't mind working and supporting you while we wait out the non-compete clause. Then you can come work for the family business. It's a win-win!" His frustration was apparent, spilling over into his words until they were more shouted than spoken.

"We've been over this again and again," retorted Abby wearily. Somehow the more agitated Daniel got, the more resigned she felt as though the two would cancel each other out somehow. "I'm not the kind of person that can just sit at home twiddling her thumbs for two years, waiting for something to happen."

"Fine!" exploded Daniel. "Then I'll quit!"

"You know you can't do that," Abby had chided him. "Your father would be devastated. Besides, my job would be incredibly precarious if we formed a relationship right after you quit. And if I then lost my job, where would we be? With both of us out of work."

"You know," said Daniel coldly. "Sometimes I suspect that you don't want this to work out. That you're happy for us to continue like this," he waved his hand vaguely. "Only seeing each other in secret, sniping at each other in public. Maybe you're just not as committed to this relationship as I am – as I thought you were," and he looked at her with almost contempt in his eyes.