Learning to Live

Chapter 25

I know I wanted Mark to like me because I know what it's like to have no family. That is what will happen if Shana and I continued dating, it will surely draw a wedge between her and her brother and I didn't want that. Some people, including Jon, may say it doesn't matter if he likes you or not, it only matters if Shana loves me and she does.

Unfortunately, Shana invited Mark to Joe's for coffee with Jon and me after work, she said it was the perfect opportunity for him to get to know me and my friends, another one of her great ideas. I love her for making me do things that I wouldn't normally do but this was too much. I will take this as an advantage to show him that I'm not a playboy or someone who's not prioritize like he probably thinks I am.

It's getting close to the hour that I have to go meet up with Mark and Jon but the nerves I get every time I think about how this could go starts making my palms sweaty and my stomach tighten with knots.

I was about to finish up some work when Ashley showed up, with pie. Ever since she found out that I ate pie from Joe's, she wouldn't stop hounding me about how disgusting their pies look, but continue to bring me pie from there.

"Guess what?" She asked in a sing-song voice, "I brought you some avocado pie from Joe's." She rests the container down on the desk and took a seat on the couch. "Disgusting. I swear Joe's has all types of weird pies."

"I thought I asked you to not bring me any more of those pies. I get your point okay? Joe's a shitty place...which I'll admit serves really good coffee." I said with a tight-lipped smile packing up my laptop.

"You're leaving early. What? Are you and Shana planning something?" She showed a toothy grin.

"Not really, but she planned something for me."

"Ooo. Okay."

"It's not even like that. She kind of invited her brother to coffee with me and Jon."

Her eyes widen, "Wait what? Doesn't she know that he hates your guts?"

"Yeah, she does. Anyway, I don't want to bore you with my drama. Bore me with your drama instead. What's been going on in Ashley's world lately?" I smile.

She squinted her eyes at me, "Bore you? You know what, dying as really brought out the funny in you...they're corny jokes but still jokes." I burst out laughing, something I'd never do. I wasn't laughing because what she said was funny, I laughed because it's funny how my dying made me open up more. "Anyways, if you must know, I started going to therapy. Well, it's more of a support group thing for people who've lost their children."

"Wow, Ashley that's great. So is it helping?"

"It's helped me, yes. In more ways than one." She smiled hinting something, "I've met someone. His name is Peter and we're going on a date tonight."

"I'm happy for you. So did you meet him at the support group? And let me guess, he's rich."

"Is that all you think of me that I'm this gold-digger?" I shrug at her question. She sighs, "Anyways, he's not rich-rich per-se, but he owns two hardware stores and he's really a great person. He lost his daughter a year ago so he's still grieving."

"Make sure you're not playing this guy, cause it sounds like he's been through a lot, someone like that needs a lot of support and someone to talk to." I sit next to her on the couch with the pie in my hand. "Now, I bet this pie tastes really good dispute it's green color. Wanna slice?"

Ashley looks at me with disgust as I take the first bite. Then a sudden knock on the glass door made us turn around. It was Mark, with Lian standing in front of him. She was going to open the door for him, when he puts his hand up, stopping her. They both smiled as he glances at me.