"She left me," he said as removed his jacket and hung it over the back of one of the chairs in the kitchen.
"Huh?"
"Sandy. She left me. That's what that phone call at lunch was about today. She packed her bags, trashed my apartment and left," he said walking over to sit down on the couch.
"Why?"
"I don't know. When the landlord called me at lunch today, he said something about her finding out about me cheating on her." He kept his gazed fixed on his hands.
"Cheating? With who?" I asked.
"You," he said, still not making eye contact with me.
"ME? Where the hell would she get an idea like that?" I asked with confusion in my voice.
"I guess she thinks since we work together and we're such good friends -- "
"Wait, wait, wait. She thinks that just because you and I are friends that we're sleeping together?" I asked, finally sitting down next to him. "That's crazy."
"I know. When I got home, I found the note she'd left saying she was at her sister's, so I called her. She said she was looking through my cell phone last night and saw your number stored. Since you're the only other girl whose number I have, I guess she drew her own conclusions," he said, looking up at me. My heart raced when he looked into my eyes.
"That's crazy," I repeated. "Does she realize how stupid that theory is? I mean just because you have one girl's number in your phone doesn't mean you're cheating." I placed a hand on his. He pulled his hand away and blushed slightly.
"I tried to convince her of that, but she wouldn't listen. Honestly, I think she's seeing someone else behind my back anyway. Remember, I caught her cheating before."
"Yeah, I remember," I said as I broke eye contact with him and remembered the lingering hug we shared that night. "She's pissed at you for cheating on her, but she's done it to you. That makes no sense."
"I'm better off without her, right?" he asked, moving his hand closer to mine again. Our fingers touched lightly, but I didn't take his hand.
"I've never met her, Michael. But you know I always felt she wasn't the right woman for you. She treated you like shit and you treated her like a queen. You deserve so much more than that. You deserve a woman who loves you and wants to treat you like a king." I looked up at him and and felt my heart racing faster.
"I told her nothing had ever happened between us, but ever since that night I caught her, she's acted suspicious. She knows I came over here that night to talk to you. She thinks I'm in love with you -- " he trailed off.
I got up from the couch, walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. The look in Michael's eyes made me want to kiss him so bad that I had to move away from him or I would have done something I regretted. He got up and followed me.
"Why would she think that, Michael?" I didn't turn to look at him, instead I kept my gaze fixed on the table in front of me. "I mean, seriously, why would she think that unless you gave her some reason to think that?"
"I don't know, Reese. I really don't know. She said she came to see me one day at work just as you and I were going out to lunch. I guess she saw us together, then saw your number in my phone last night and put two and two together." He came to the table and sat down beside me. "She said she saw the way we looked at each other and thought we looked like we were madly in love."
"I'm sorry, Michael. Maybe you shouldn't be here. I don't want to cause you any more problems than you're already having. If she thinks we're in love with each other, it's probably best for us to keep our distance so you can work things out with her." I still didn't make eye contact with him.
