Illicit Affairs

Bedroom Ceiling

Chris huffed as she plopped down on the comfy chair in her apartment. She had invited Lara Jean over to destress after taking her dad to treatment. She picked up her glass of wine and relaxed. "Now that we're all here, how'd it go today?"

"Treatment went well. My life: a cluster fuck." She said flippantly while leaning up against a side of the sofa.

"Oh my god, what?" Chris's eyes got big as she took a sip. "Also, before I forget, remind me to tell you about the job I may have gotten you."

"WAIT. Everything else on hold. You got me a job?" LJ sat up straight.

"Maybe. One of my donors is the CEO of a huge event planning company in DC and said she was looking for people and I told her all about you this afternoon. I gave her your number. She said she'd call tomorrow."

"Chris, that's... wow. Thank you." She felt her heart flutter.

"You know I got you girl." She smiled. "Now back to the cluster fuck of a day. Are you okay?"

"Well, to tell you what happened today, I have to explain what's been going on for the past couple of months." She shrugged.

"That you're sleeping with Peter." Chris blurted out.

"How did you? Huh?"

"Trevor, Rachel & I had a hunch. We all guessed you were trying to hide it and you didn't do a great job of hiding it at your house for dinner that one night. I watched when you were in the kitchen and he couldn't keep his hands off of you."

"Oh." She rolled her eyes. "Well, apparently I started dating an engaged dude."

"He's still engaged?!"

"Yes. Well, maybe not now, but when we started seeing each other he was still engaged. Daisy, his maybe ex-fiancé, was in Europe making a movie. He told me that he thought they broke up but she would still text him almost every day and he would respond. I found it on his phone and he didn't deny anything. I felt fucking horrible because I'm not a cheater and I felt shitty because I made someone else a cheater. And even worse that Daisy didn't know she was being cheated on. So, I broke it off."

"Okay." Chris said fully engaged in the story, taking another sip of wine.

"And then I met up with you and we saw that girl who was flirty with Ben and I felt even worse and went back to him." LJ took a sip trying to read her friend's face who was slightly shocked. "Then I made him break up with Daisy. He left her a voicemail cause time differences but apparently that didn't mean anything because now she is back."

"SHE'S BACK?!"

"Yeah, we got into an argument the night after my dad's surgery and I went over to make up and she answered the door. It was beyond embarrassing. I wanted to go hide in a hole for real. She thought I was a cookie delivery person. Who even has that? Why did I go along with it?"

"Oh LJ, I'm so sorry." She said reaching out to her friend.

"That's not even the worst part. She was still wearing the ring."

"You're joking!" Chris choked back her drink.

"No. Ring on. It felt like a dagger through my heart. I basically became a puddle crying when I got to my car, no one is surprised by that."

"Why didn't you call me? I would have been there for you."

"I disappeared for the day. I drove around blasting loud music in sad girl rage. I know I'm not supposed to isolate myself, but I needed to be with my thoughts." LJ paused to take a sip of her wine. "And today at treatment, Peter just shows up."