Mimeomia

14 | lacuna

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

LACUNA

( — a gap or missing part, as in a manuscript, series, or logical argument; hiatus. )

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

          LENNOX IS FIVE SECONDS AWAY FROM THROWING HIS OWN COFFEE TO MICHAELA'S FACE. It doesn't take a body language expert to figure it out and, since Michaela clearly isn't one, she's glad to have noticed that before Lennox decides to actually do it, giving her more than enough time to bolt out of the café.

          At that moment, standing right in front of Lennox's dark eyes, she feels tiny, almost like a child who got caught delivering a forced, half-assed apology to a classmate by simply inviting them to her birthday after having been mean to them. The problem, however, is that there's no one to serve as a mediator, as Roya couldn't possibly care less, Ginny has better things to worry about and Jillian wouldn't jump into the middle of a potential argument.

          She's pretty sure she's about to scream, anyway. Lennox's eyes dart between her and the ticket, Jillian keeps answering Roya's questions as she fires them one after another like bullets, and Ginny stays quiet, entirely focused on her phone. Michaela hopes she's talking to her mother, but, at the same time, she doesn't want her friend to fight for a lost cause, as some people just won't change their mind, even for their children.

          Michaela feels sick to her stomach, despite knowing she has been a lot worse to him than the other way around, and she'd totally understand if he ends up rejecting her invitation. She supposes she'd probably do the same, as she's almost as good at holding grudges as he is, but she's making an effort to fix things between them, as not even being on speaking terms with him can't be an option for much longer.

          Either way, the silence has been dragging on for too long—better yet, his silence has been doing just that. Roya and Jillian try to remain as oblivious as possible to the awkwardness around them, but this is an entirely innocent invitation, with no hidden wishes behind it.

          It's not even to make Lincoln jealous, even if she's almost certain she'd be doing that if they were in high school or even in college, but she's a grown woman now and knows a lot better. Plus, trying to make him jealous and hurting him are two totally different things and showing up at NYFW with Lennox by her side would only result in the latter—she's not doing this to get back at him for breaking her heart, when she has done the same to him.

          The only reason she's doing this is because she needs to fix her own problems instead of waiting for it to happen out of thin air. Fixing things with Lennox might be a lot easier than doing the same with Lincoln, so that's where she wants to start. If it takes dragging him to New York Fashion Week with her just to make her parents happy, then so be it.

          She wonders when she turned into a people-pleaser. That's Ginny's job, not hers.

          Hell, for all Michaela knows, Lincoln might not even attend the event. It has never been his cup of tea, as he'd much rather spend the entire night sleeping, reading, or working on some novel or novella, but was still nice enough to join Michaela whenever Yvonne showed off her work on the runway. There might not even be as much drama as Michaela thinks there will be, so it's just a matter of convincing Lennox to go . . . if she knew how to do that, since having the ticket in front of him isn't doing any wonders.

          "Michaela," Lennox eventually begins, shattering the silence. "What makes you think I'd want to be your date?"

          "It's not an actual date, you know," she clarifies, her voice an octave higher than her usual tone, and he quirks an eyebrow. "We'd only be going as friends—"