Page 33 of Picture Perfect Love

Abby

Ihovered over the serving counter at work, looking over both shoulders to make sure no one was looking. When I was sure my boss wasn’t around to see, I secretly slid my phone from my pocket and checked for any new messages. Joshua’s relentless attempts to reach me were both infuriating and comforting. I needed to know he was still there, waiting for me. But my phone had been silent since the morning before. Maybe he had given up, and maybe that was for the best. If he had, it was my own fault for not answering. But that did nothing to make me feel better.

“I haven’t seen you look this down since you realized you had finals and three big waitressing gigs all on the same day,” Valerie said, coming up from behind me. She kneeled down next to me and propped her cheek on her hand. “Still giving him the cold shoulder?”

“Not necessarily by choice,” I sighed. “I just don’t know what to say.”

“Say that you want to talk to him. That you want to see him. Because you obviously do.”

“Do I? I’m not so sure.”

She nudged my arm, shooting me the “don’t try and pull that crap on me look” she was so good at. “We’ve been working together for years now, and I’ve never seen you in such a good mood from some guy. Or so down, for that matter. Come on. We both know you were going to dump Christopher anyway. Joshua did you a favor and did it for you. So what?”

“It was invasive and crossed a major line,” I argued. “It was unforgivable.”

“I can think of way worse things,” she said.

I could think of worse things too. Honestly, Christopher was boring. And if there was anything I could say for Joshua, it was that we hadn’t shared a single dull moment together. It was hard not to get caught up in his contagious fantasies about if that could last forever.

I was seconds away from pulling out my phone again to text him when a commotion rippled through the kitchen. I tried looking busy in case it was my boss coming in. I had waited that long to text Joshua back. I could wait a little longer, even if my heart felt like I couldn’t.

“Look who finally showed up,” Valerie quipped, eyeing Cassie down as she came in.

Her hair was frazzled, she had dark circles under her eyes, and she looked like she had been hit by a train. But the crooked smile on her face told a different story.

“Sorry,” she sang, not really sounding like she meant it.

“Someone had a good time last night,” Valerie grinned, examining her with a hand on her hip. “And from the looks of it, some lucky guy did too.”

The guys cooking by the stove broke out into laughter and chatter. “Oh, she had a good time alright. And now it’s all over the internet.”

“Can’t get away with stuff like you used to,” another one said. “That’s the downside of everyone being glued to their cell phones now. You get caught red-handed in everything.”

“Thankfully my accomplice knows that all too well,” she boasted, blowing a loose strand of hair from her face. “He’s well-versed in the world of tabloids. He’s their poster child, in fact. And for good reason, I learned. But the real party came after we left the club, far out of sight of all the paparazzi.”

“What are you going on about?” Valerie groaned, barely feigning interest.

“I think Abby knows my new friend,” she replied. “Or she used to anyway. But you know what they say. One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure.”

“I assure you I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I rolled my eyes.

“Oh no? Huh. I thought you were giving Joshua Meadows the run-around up until recently,” she said. “You obviously never got him into bed. Because if you had… you never would have let that man go. Phew. I’m getting hot just thinking about it.”

My heart started pounding louder than the sound of Valerie grilling Cassie. I knew what she was trying to say, but there was no way it could have been true.

“Joshua and I very much were a thing,” I chimed in when I finally caught my breath. “We still are. We just had a fight. There’s no way he was with you last night. Not like that, anyways.”

“Don’t believe me? See for yourself.”

One of the cooks came over with his phone in hand. I reluctantly looked at the screen only to have my worst nightmare confirmed true. There it was, plain as day. Cassie and Joshua tangled up together, drunk on the dance floor in a state that was reminiscent of his old ways. It was a world I never ventured into with him, but Cassie was apparently all too willing to play his rowdy games. No wonder she was late for work.

“So what? You got drunk and danced. It doesn’t mean anything,” I grumbled, trying to convince myself just as much as her.

“Oh no. I assure you. We did much more than dance,” she shot back. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I better get to work before the big guy finds me and chews me out. But after last night,” she whistled, shaking her head. “Whatever happens to me is more than worth it. You were a fool for letting that one get away from you, Abby. You better believe that if he shows up here, offering to support me and let me quit my job… I’m not going to say no.”

“Whatever you think happened between you two… It was not the same as what happened between me and him,” I fumed, trying not to let my voice crack. “He’s not going to offer you anything. You’re just another random girl at the club.”

“I’m just the kind of girl he needs. Someone who knows how to have a little fun and who won’t fight him and play hard to get at every turn.”

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