“What are you doing?” she asked.
Chelsea leaned back against the door, hands coming up to her face. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
“What did he say to you? And why did youhughim?”
Chelsea shrugged. “Momentary insanity?”
Jae nodded. “You’re lonely and missing Adam.”
“He asked if I was with Adam, said he wants to get back together, and hired me as his second AD.”
Jae let out a long whistle. “There’s a lot to unpack there. Are you with Adam?”
Chelsea dropped her hands. “No. I don’t know,” she added, slumping forward. “Iwantto be.”
“Then why are you hugging Jasper?”
“I . . .” Chelsea was having way too many thoughts to speak an answer. She wished Adam were there. She wished she didn’t fall for fuck-boy men.
“Chelsea, you can’t keep doing this,” Jae said.
“Doing what?”
Jae sighed. “Okay, I’ve been thinking for a while now about your situation and the choices you’ve been making lately, and I’m sure you don’t want to hear this, but . . .”
“Hear what?” Chelsea asked, completely lost.
“You keep compromising.”
Wheels were turning in her brain, but she was coming up short. “Huh?”
“You don’t see it.”
Chelsea stared at Jae, wondering where the hell she came up with that.
Jae seemed to brace herself before speaking. “You’re compromising with Jasper, when you want Adam. Just like you’re compromising with a second AD position for, what? Like, two weeks, when you should be directing our film.” She paused for long enough to look up and shake her head. “You’re like a master settler.”
Chelsea stared at Jae, unable to really believe the words. “No, I’m not.”
Jae just nodded. “You’re heading down a path where you’re going to compromise so much, you won’t even recognize your own life.”
Chelsea shook her head. Where the hell was this coming from? “Jae—”
She couldn’t even get the words out before Jae cut her off.
“Just think about it,” she said, then turned and walked away, up the stairs and into her room.
Honestly, she didn’t even know what words she would have said. She thought they’d agreed about their screenplay, but apparently, Jae wasn’t over it yet.
Was she right? Did Chelsea compromise too much? She did a little, but sometimes there just wasn’t a choice.
And shewasn’tcompromising with Jasper. She wasn’t getting back together with him. She wanted to be with Adam. That much she knew for sure.
But was she settling for being Adam’s “situation” rather than his girlfriend, like she wanted?
Ugh, probably.
Chelsea lumbered through the house to the living room, where Ben was playing on the floor. She sat down with him for a while, playing, talking, laughing, distracting herself by asking him whathis favourite part of the day had been. When it was time for bed, he protested.