Page 4 of The Player
“I had no idea,” she said, stumbling over her words, unable to look directly at me. “He didn’t tell me he had a girlfriend. I’m so sorry. If I’d have known, I wouldn’t have gone near him. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Despite the sick feeling in my stomach and the rage burning inside, I couldn’t be mad at her. Not really. He’d fucked us both over. This was on him, not her. People are always so quick to judge the other girl, but he was the one who was in a relationship. ‘Was’being the operative word. He owed me an apology, but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for it.
“He’s a dick.” I shrugged, pretending to be less affected than I was, and she nodded, snivelling and standing in front of me, looking as awkward as hell. “Here,” I said, taking a tissue from the box on reception and handing it to her. “He isn’t worth crying over.”
She took the tissue and wiped her tears, then blew her nose.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked, peering up at me through her wet, clumpy lashes and frowning.
“I’m saving my anger for that fucker back there.” I nodded to the door behind her. “He’s the one that deserves it.” And he did. But I couldn’t lie and say her being here didn’t make me feel uncomfortable.
She tried to smile, but her lips were quivering because she was so nervous around me, and in a way, I felt bad for her. She clearly wanted to leave. Can’t say I blamed her. This was the last place I wanted to be right now too.
“Are you planning on seeing him again?” I asked, stepping to the side to let her walk past me. It was up to her what she did, but I couldn’t stop my curiosity from asking the question.
“God, no,” she shot back. “I told him he was lucky I didn’t bite his dick off after you found us. I feel like such a fool.”
“You’re not a fool,” I replied sadly, shaking my head. “He is.”
She nodded and headed for the door to leave; her shoulders slumped in defeat.
I wasn’t going to walk out like that.
I’d go with my head held high.
And I did just that, but I made sure to leave him with a lasting reminder of what he’d lost. I went back to his place and sprinkled pepper in his boxer shorts and cut the toes off one sock for every pair he had in his drawers. Then I unscrewed all his lightbulbs and changed the password to my Netflix account that he'd been using. Petty, I know, and I could’ve done more, but I didn’t want to get arrested. He wasn’t worth doing time for.
I later found out it wasn’t the first time he’d cheated on me, and everyone in the shop knew about it. The fact that they hadn’t told me pissed me off more than what he’d done. I thought they were my friends, and so I left my job. Walked right out and didn’t look back.
Loyalty means a lot to me, but so does honesty. If you don’t have that, you don’t have anything. Luckily, the boss caught wind of all the drama and offered me a job in his other store in Sandland. He said he didn’t want to lose good staff over a guy who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants. So, thankfully, I didn’t lose anything because of that asshole, except my pride, and I gained a new chink in my armour. Armour that I was fed up of carrying, but that’s life, I guess. You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince charming in this life, and I’d kissed a fair few.
“Earth to Bryony,” Paula sang, pulling me back to the here and now. “Come in, Bryony.” I grinned back at her as she asked, “Are you sure you want a general reading?” Paula stared at me intently, waiting for a response.
I flicked my long, black hair over my shoulder and sat up tall and confident. That was the last time I’d let that prick seep into my thoughts. Onwards and upwards, that was my motto.
“Yes. Keep it general,” I told her, like I always did, giving her a cheeky wink and trying to appear playful and relaxed as she tried to hide her subtle eye roll. “Let’s go for it,” I said, reaching across the table to give her hand a comforting squeeze.
She took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes to focus on whatever was coming through to her. And I sat back and stayed quiet, giving her the peace she needed.
“Okay.” She let out a long breath. “I’m getting that there’s an apology coming your way. Someone wants to apologise for something they’ve said or done, or maybe there’s a sense of wrongdoing by someone close to you. They’re struggling to show you they’re sorry. Does that make sense?”
I hummed a response. I could think of a few people who I deserved an apology from. Again, I wasn’t going to hold my breath on that one.
“And I sense that you’re experiencing some tension with a friend, or could it be a potential partner?”
And there it was, a potential partner. I rolled my eyes, grateful she couldn’t see me with her own being closed.
“You’re so independent, Bryony,” she carried on. “You always have been, but even though you’re fun and tell everyone how laid back you are, you crave control. You like to have things your way.”
I loved Paula, but this wasn’t new information for me. She’d known me for all the twenty-four years I’d been on this earth, and me being independent was old news. Growing up with a father who was mostly absent, and a mother that struggled to put food on the table, meant I often had to take care of my little sister, Shelley. Me and my older sister, Kate, were always looking out for her, scaring off bullies at school, making her food when she was too young to do it herself. We even took it in turns to read her bedtime stories. Mum tried her best, but she had to work two jobs and she couldn’t do everything. Independence was something you learnt early on in our household.
“Oh, wait. Hold on.” Paula lifted her hand up, and I noticed her shoulders hunch slightly as she took another deep breath, but then a shroud of darkness seemed to fall over her as her expression turned from calmness to something more akin to fear. The chilled atmosphere in the room suddenly shifted, becoming eerie and sinister. Paula never got spooked, so seeing her right now was a little unnerving.
Oh God, what had she seen?
She gave a thinly veiled smile to try and put me at ease, but the shiver I saw her suppress and the goosebumps now prickling her forearms made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and a chill trickled down my spine. She let her head fall slightly to the side as she tried to process what she was seeing, but I could tell it wouldn’t be good.
“You need to be careful,” she stated abruptly, and I felt my heart stutter.
