Page 73 of Not Falling for the Forward
“Oh, fuck off. He’s been trying to get hold of you all week, just like the rest of us. He finally flipped and tracked me down. Must say it was delightful getting a message fromtheJack Cartwright. I was hoping for a dick pic seeming as you still won’t tell me if it’s tattooed or not,” she teases. “Anyway, I ended up having to get Dan to get Chris’ old key, so I could come round, since you haven’t been answering the door, and your phone appears to be broken. Side note, we will be talking about the fact that Chris still had a key to your house at a later date.”
“It’s dead.”
“Yes, you could have been.”
“My phone,” I say flatly.
“And your charger…”
“I don’t want to speak to anyone.”
“That’s a shame. Because I’m here now.” She says as she perches on my bed, puts her arm around me and pulls me in for a squeeze only to immediately push me away. “You fucking stink.”
I huff a laugh, “Yeah, I haven’t showered for a bit.”
“Or brushed your teeth by the smell of it. Fucking hell, Em. If I knew it was this bad, I would have been round sooner.” She looks at me with sadness in her eyes. “What did he do?”
“Nothing,” I sigh.
“Don’t shut me out.”
I stop her with one finger raised, “It was me. As soon as I saw all the messages, it sent me back to when I found out Chris had cheated. It’s all I could think.”
“Valid,” she nods.
“Jack didn’t think so. I appreciate the best friend immediate back up, but it wasn’t valid. I should have believed what he was showing me was genuine. I hurt him, by not trusting him.” I wring my hands together for something to do.
“So… you’ve not been in work because you hurt a man’s feelings?” She looks at me confused, “I thought we enjoyed upsetting men?”
A small smile tugs the corner of my lips, “No, I’ve not been in work because everyone knows about me and Jack, and they will all be asking questions I can’t answer. And I can’t leave the fucking house because that guy is still in his car waiting for a picture of me!”
Jess grins. “Yeah, I shouted at him.”
“I heard.” My voice catches as I say, “He just left.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mid argument, or what felt like mid argument. He just left, saying I needed to decide if I trusted him or not. Then, he’s just left me to deal with all this media shit, that I don’t understand and I am unprepared for. He hasn’t tried to contact me since that first day. Even if he’s donewith us, he could have at least checked if I was okay. Or got in touch with whoever and tried to sink the story. It feels really shitty of him that he hasn’t, so I am leaning in to being mad at him. It hurts less that way,” I say, deflating back into my pillows.
“See that’s where I think you might be a little wrong, and if you turned your phone on you might have seen…”
“Seen what?”
Jess holds her phone out to me; it is open on Jack’s publicInstagrampage. The most recent video, posted five days ago, is an interview that looks like it has been recorded in his kitchen.
***
Jack
I fucked up. I left it too long. I should have just gone straight back to her house as soon as Aimee called me out for my shit.
I shouldn’t have let the press continue the hunt to find her. They’re probably parked outside of her house right now waiting for either her to come out or me to go in. I should have sorted out something with my contact in the media and worked with them instead of just hoping they would go away. They never do. I know this.
She hasn’t answered my calls over the last week and I don’t blame her. I was a dick and she told me herself that she withdraws from people to deal with things on her own, why would she let me be there after I abandoned her. Just like he did. On top of that, I brought her into my world and didn’t protect her from the things that could upset her.
Hopefully, Jess will hold up her end of the bargain and Emily will be watching my video now. All for the cheap price of VIP season tickets.
It broke my heart when Jess told me Emily hadn’t been in work this past week. Calling out because of me for the second time. None of this is helping me think this plan is going to work. But I had to do something. I had to try. I need her to know.
