Three's A Crowd

Chapter 4

The sound of my alarm going off made me sit up in bed so fast that my head started spinning. I dragged myself out of bed knowing that I only have an hour to get dressed and get to work. I threw my red lacy summer dress on my bed and went to hop in the shower. I scrubbed my body and my hair, then got to work on my hair. After styling my hair to perfection and putting on make up, I grabbed my keys and purse, then jumped in my car and headed to work. I unlocked the store and starting getting everything ready to open. Katelyn came barging through the door, coffee and breakfast in her hand.

"I brought you a caramel frappe and a biscuit," she smiled.

"You're a life safer," I laughed, grabbing the bag from her.

"How was your night?" She asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"It was pretty good," I smiled, swallowing a bite of my biscuit.

"Are your feelings the same, or are they growing?" She wondered.

"They're growing, but I can handle it," I lied.

"Before long it's going to destroy you," she sighed.

"Maybe not," I shrugged, knowing she was right.

We cleaned up the store, preparing for customers to come in. The day went by pretty quickly and I was relieved. I was ready to go home and chill out for the night.  I locked up the store and hugged Katelyn bye before hopping in my car and driving home. As soon as I walked in my apartment, my phone started ringing.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Can we come over and talk to you?" Brendon asked right away.

"Yeah sure," I replied.

"We'll be there in about ten minutes," he said before hanging up.

I shrugged, plugging my phone in and straightening up the living room. I went into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of wine. I stared at the picture of my parents on the refridgerator. I miss them everyday and I hate that they're not here. I touched the picture, holding back tears. They died in a car wreck two years ago. It was around the time that I moved here and I hate that I missed out on seeing them before they passed. I wiped my eyes, hearing the doorbell ring. I went and pulled the big wooden door open, letting Brendon and Sarah into the living room.

"We should talk," Brendon said, sitting down instantly.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, cautiously  sitting down.

"Nothing is wrong," Sarah shook her head.

"We've been thinking a lot lately, and we think we should just be friends," Brendon suggested.

"Did I do something wrong?" I frowned.

"Not at all. We decided we need to stop sharing and just be married," Sarah smiled forcefully.

"Okay then.." I looked down at the floor, dreading this whole thing.

"It's nothing against you, I promise," Brendon assured me.

"It's cool guys. I'm fine with being friends," I lied.

"We can still hang out all of the time like before," Sarah promised.

"That's fine," I forced a smile.

"We were thinking about going to the beach Saturday. Is that cool with you?" Brendon asked, standing up.

"Yeah sounds fun," I nodded.

"Alright, we'll see you Saturday," he smiled, leading Sarah out of the apartment.

As soon as the door shut, I broke down in sobs. I grabbed a throw pillow off of the couch and screamed as hard as I could in to it. How did I not know this was going to happen? I'm such an idiot for thinking this was a good idea. I thought about calling Katelyn, but decided against it. I knew she would say I told you so and I'm not in the mood for that. I grabbed my phone and went into my room, throwing myself on my bed. I cried myself to sleep the whole night not knowing what to do.

Work the next day was a drag and I was in a terrible mood. I think Katelyn knows something is up, but I don't feel like telling her about last night. I can't deal with being proved wrong right now. My heart feels like it's been split in half and I just want to curl up in bed and forget anything that's happened lately.

"What's up with you?" Katelyn asked me, hopping up on the counter to face me.

"Nothing. I'm just tired," I lied.

"Lia, please talk to me. I know something is wrong," she frowned.

"I got dumped by them last night," I shrugged, trying not to cry.

"I'm sorry Lia. Did they say why?" She put her hand on my shoulder for support.

"They said they want to just be married and not share anymore," I frowned.

"That's a legit reason. I'm sorry though," she sighed.

"What am I going to do? I'm so in love with Brendon," I sighed, fresh tears threatening to spill.

"You're going to have to get over it, or tell him the truth. Maybe he feels the same way," she shrugged.

"If he felt the same way he would have trouble cutting this off," I pointed out.

"Maybe, or maybe Sarah made him," she offered.

"I don't know if I want to. I'll give it a few days and think about it. They invited us to the beach Saturday," I told her.

"You can tell him Saturday then. That's perfect and I'll keep Sarah busy," she said, hopping off of the counter.

"If you say so," I nodded, feeling my stomach tighten.

I'm terrified of telling him for rejection, but it's better than not knowing. I can't go on without knowing exactly how he feels about me. Either way, I have to know. I just don't know if I can deal with his answer. If he says yes, will he leave Sarah? If he says no, will it ruin our friendship? What the hell is the right thing to do? Love is hard and I hate it already. I turned my focus back to work, trying not to dread Saturday so much. It didn't help much though since it was all I could think about.

I know it's not long, but I'm setting this into motion. It'll get better, I promise. I'm just setting the scenes for everything that's going to happen eventually. If you like it, please vote/comment! Thank you so much for reading. :)