I went through kind of a skanky phase in high school. I blame alcohol. You’d think I would have learned my lesson by now, but alas. I’m still a drunk mess 88% of the time. The first time I got really, really drunk was the fall of my sophomore year of high school. My parents let me have sips of wine and beer previously but I hadn’t had any hard liquor. I didn’t really hang out with the upperclassmen (who drank) freshman year, but I started dating a guy a year older over the summer. Coincidentally his name was Matt (meeting Matt the businessman reminded me of him). Matt was your typical Texas high school jock. He was popular, played football and his dad worked for my dad. Plus he was really hot. So I definitely hit the jackpot with him.

Anyway, one time one of Matt’s friends had a shindig in his basement. Not a rager or anything, but just a few people over for drinks and inappropriate conversations. Someone suggested shots. The friend poured us shots of Smirnoff then filled the handle back up with water because it was his parents’. We were so slick back then.

I’d never taken a shot before. I didn’t realize that you were supposed to take it quickly and I ended up spitting half of it out on the carpet. It tasted like rubbing alcohol. But that half a shot was all my little ass needed to start feeling tipsy. Plus I’m already a little bit crazy anyway so I basically turned into the life of the party. This is probably really bad and a sign of a problem, but I loved the feeling.

Someone made me a Jack and Coke (my first cocktail!) while I flirted with all the guys there. Matt didn’t seem to care. I’m not sure why, but suddenly all the guys were all over me. They were shoving drinks at me and asking me stuff like, “What’s your favorite position?” and “What size bra do you wear?”

My head was literally spinning from people saying my name and asking me stuff. I felt like a celebrity at a press conference. But y’all know me – I was eating all this attention up while rubbing Matt’s crotch who was standing behind me.

One of the guys asked to see my boobs and then none of them would let it go. They were like, “Oh, come on. You have such a nice rack, just let us see.”

Clearly I was waaaasted because finally I was like, “Fine, fine, fine. Just real quick though.” And then I lifted my Abercrombie and Fitch tank top up and flashed all my admiring fans.

That’s when I found out that I have at least above average tits. The crowd went wild. And I literally couldn’t fight them off. They were following me around the basement like they were puppies and I had treats. Later on in the night, I remember one of them licking whipped cream off my thigh during a game of truth or dare.

Matt broke up with me at school on Monday. Couldn’t be with the girl who flashed the entire football team, obviously. But with my new found fame, I didn’t really care. I could find a new guy in no time.

A couple of months later when the new semester began, I had a class with one of Matt’s friends from the football team, Austin. We sat right next to each other and usually talked throughout the whole class period. We exchanged numbers and somehow – I honestly don’t know how – but we just started hooking up. Well, fooling around. We never had sex. I didn’t have sex until senior year.

Usually Austin would pick me up from my house around midnight and he would drive us to the parking lot of a nearby elementary school and I would go down on him or he would finger me or we would just make out and dry hump until like four in the morning. Then I would sneak back in and sleep for two hours until I had to get up and get ready for school.

Austin was obsessed with me. He would text me randomly throughout the day asking why I was talking to certain guys and begging me to ditch class with him. He was super emotional and clingy. He thought I was using him which was a little ridiculous and I could say the same thing about him. Both of us were getting the same thing out of our arrangement.

Eventually, Matt found out about us. Apparently Austin was telling everyone that we were “talking” during their football spring training and Matt confronted me about it. Naturally, I denied everything and claimed Austin was fabricating the whole thing which technically was true. Matt wanted to know why we even exchanged numbers in the first place and I was like, “We have a class together so we were study buddies. Duh!”

I stopped talking to Austin after that because obviously he just wanted drama. Matt and I started talking (“talking?”) again. He would tease me and say things like, “Did your boyfriend, Austin, do this?” when he bought me vanilla bean frappuccinos. Matt didn’t hold a grudge about it though.

The summer after my sophomore year, I started talking to another one of their friends. In all honesty, I really didn’t know they were all friends because this guy (Trevor) went to the rival high school and was on the baseball team. Trevor is the guy I saw in Houston last September – the one with the girlfriend. I met Trevor at one of Brittany’s pool parties. Brittany had a ton of those frozen daquari pouches she’d stolen from her mom so I was a wee bit tipsy when I ran over to Trevor to introduce myself.

An hour later I was straddling him on Brittany’s toilet in just our bathing suits. I was grinding on him, liking the feeling of his boner between my legs. Needless to say, we hit it off. We were inseparable for like a month straight. One time his dad walked in on me giving him head. The dad flipped shit because Trevor was 18 at the time and apparently I looked young. I was a 16/17 year old responsible adult though.

We continued to see each other throughout the summer and went to a house party together after school had started. Imagine my surprise when Trevor walked right over to where Matt, Austin and their friends were standing to give them bro handshakes and say hello. Have you ever stood in a group with three guys who have all had their dicks between your boobs? It isn’t fun. Like, I know I was a little bit slutty, but this was absurd.

I think after this incident, I realized how out of control I’d gotten. I needed to calm down. Why didn’t any of my friends stop me? Brittany, if anything, encouraged it. I think she just wanted someone to out-skank her. Happy to help, Britt!

Out of all of them though, I probably should have just stuck with Matt. He was a good guy and I actually really liked him. Plus our parents were pretty friendly. If only they knew what their teenage children were getting in to. Austin and Trevor were fun while they lasted, but I just shouldn’t have went there.

Matt and Austin are both married now. They have lots of pictures up on Facebook of their lovely $50,000+ weddings and gorgeous teacher wives. Matt might even have a baby on the way. So obviously they win.

Usually when I travel for work I fly coach, but I got a free upgrade to first class on my flight back from Dallas on Wednesday. I love when that happens. I ended up getting a window seat next to this guy in a baseball cap and fleece zip up who was messing around on his phone as we were waiting for takeoff. I guess it was some sort of app to help manage his stocks because at the bottom it said he has a balance of like $10,000 and he was picking different companies (I saw Apple and Netflix) to put money into.

I sat there watching him because I was nosy intrigued and then he looked at me. Nothing like being caught looking at someone’s phone. I quickly pretended to be texting. The pilot turned on the seatbelt light indicating that we were about to take off so my neighbor turned his phone off and I did the same.

“Are you from Dallas or Chicago?” he asked me casually.

“Chicago,” I answered. “What about you?”

He nodded. “Chicago. Business or pleasure?”

I laughed and it was kind of an awkward laugh. Ew. “Business.”

“What kind of business are you in?” he asked.

So then we talked the entire two hour flight home. I gave a brief description about my job and I must have made it sound really terrible because he asked if I planned on doing that forever. So I told him about my new position and definitely hyped it up to sound super, duper important. Which it is I guess.

The guy told me about how he runs a really well known company in Chicago (I won’t say which one!) and I pretended I wasn’t totally impressed. He asked if I know stocks or if I’m into them at all and I admitted that I’m not so he explained it to me. I must have been too busy thinking about how rich he must be because I still don’t know anything about stocks.

Toward the end of our journey my new friend introduced himself as Matt. He was probably in his early thirties because he looked young, but he had a hat on so I could really look for any grays. He definitely has a sexy DILF kinda look. Matt gave me his business card then when we landed suggested we exchange numbers. I said okay and didn’t think anything of it. Never know when you may need stock advice!

Brady was busy with work and I didn’t get to see him until Thursday night after I had dinner with my friends Taylor and Elyse. Taylor and Elyse are like the knockoff version of me and Preston. I know them from college and they were visiting Chicago for Taylor’s birthday. I took them out for traditional Chicago deep dish pizza and pretty much spent the entire dinner telling them about my life. I didn’t even eat because I was too busy talking. In my defense though, I haven’t gotten a chance to really talk to them in like a year.

Brady texted me while I was in the middle of dinner and invited me over so I went over afterwards. It was our first time hanging out since Sunday and I really missed him. He opened the door and pulled me into a big hug and picked me up off the ground. Then we went to his room and I made him tell me everything he did over the week. He mentioned that he talked to his mother and she said there was an opening at the hospital she works at so he should apply. Like in Massachusetts. I always forget that Brady’s mom wants him to move back home (even though she doesn’t even act like she likes him) and sometimes he entertains the idea.

“Did you tell your mom we broke up?” I asked suddenly.

“Uh, yeah-” Brady said.

“What? You did?!” I was kind of offended. Like yeah we broke up, but did he not think we’d get back together? Why would he tell his mom unless he thought it was permanent?

“I kind of had to. She wanted us to go to Florida with her and my dad for Easter.” Brady was looking everywhere except at me, awkwardly.

“What did she say? Was she happy?” I asked.

“No. She just wanted to know what happened and if I was okay with everything…”

I felt myself wanting to say a lot of really unnecessary shit like, “She’s probably happy and wants you to get back with your doctor ex-girlfriend,” and “I’m sure she wants you to be unhappy because she is.”

But instead I said, “My mom likes you so much that I didn’t have the heart to tell her.”

If Brady and I are going to make this work then I need to be a better girlfriend. This includes getting along with his mom so I guess I need to be nicer.

Kate called me on Friday morning.

“Reese!” she said hysterically in her British accent. It sounded like she was rushing down a busy New York street. “I just spoke with Andrew. Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?”

“I’m so sorry! I meant to tell you!” Which was true. I wanted to let her know before I even told Andrew since she was nice enough to get me the job, not honestly I just completely forgot.

“What happened? Is there something we could have done differently?” Kate asked and it made me feel really bad. I don’t mind screwing Andrew over, but Kate has been nothing but sweet to me.

“No. It’s nothing you guys did at all. I just really don’t feel like I’m doing very well here. I got a really good offer from the last company I worked for and I loved my old boss,” I said.

“Did you not have a good working relationship with Andrew?”

“No, I did!” Oops. I didn’t mean to throw shade at Andrew in the process. “I just don’t think it’s a good fit.”

Kate said she understood and that she wanted me to know that she isn’t mad, but I definitely feel like an ungrateful bitch for not talking about it with her.

I also heard from Matt on Friday. My old stock market friend! He texted me letting me know that his company is having a pub crawl (on them) at some bars around the city and I was welcome to come with any of my friends. It’s next Friday night and obviously I told him that I would be there.

On Friday night, I went out with Taylor and Elyse. I needed to show them how we party in Chi-Town. We were drunk before we even left their hotel room. So by the time we were ready to call it a night I was trashed and wanted to go see Brady. He didn’t answer any of my texts so I called him after we left the bar. It went straight to voicemail. Being the drunk mess that I was, I started bawling.

“He’s cheating on me!” I cried. “We haven’t even been back together for a week!”

“His phone is probably dead,” Elyse suggested.

“Dead?!” I screamed. “How would his phone be dead if he’s at home?”

Luckily we got back to their hotel room and I passed out on Taylor’s bed on top of all his clothes and shoes. I woke up on Saturday morning because my phone was ringing. It was Brady.

“Oh hiiiiii,” I answered, rolling over and puncturing my hip on a boot.

“Hey. I’m sorry, I was sleeping. Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine. Why?”

“Your text messages were weird last night…”

Oh shit. I had no idea what I texted him so I told him to hold on while I went back and looked. I’d sent Brady about a dozen or so text messages letting him know how disappointed in him I was and how if he wanted this to work he needed to call me at his earliest convenience. There was one that said, “URGENT 911!!!!”

“Oh sorry about that,” I said into the phone. I was actually pretty embarrassed. I’m trying not to be a psycho girlfriend this time around, you know? “How was your night?”

“I was pretty exhausted so I went to sleep early. How was yours?”

“Pretty much the same. I miss youuuuu! Come get me?” That’s when I realized I was still a bit drunk from the night before. #signsofagoodtime

Brady said okay so I jumped up to try to make myself look more presentable and less like last night. I washed all my gross makeup and mascara off and pulled my hair into a chic half up messy bun.

“Heyyyy boo!” I said when I met Brady downstairs. I jumped in the car and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m starving. Can we get food?”

I was hungry, but not presentable enough to actually go somewhere so I had Brady stop at a McDonald’s drive thru. McDonald’s has these new muffins and I definitely recommend them. I got three. And three hashbrowns.

On Saturday night, we hung out with Carly and Chris for a bit. Then I got bored and started yawning really dramatically to get Brady to go to his room with me. We still hadn’t had sex and I was feeling frisky after three glasses of wine.

We got upstairs and I started kissing him. We made out until he flipped me over and pushed my top up. I almost squealed with excitement. He planted kisses down my tummy and hooked his thumbs under the waistband of my undies. Damn, I miss Brady going down on me. But then he stopped at the top of panties then stood up.

“I’m going to shower,” he announced.

Ugh. He must have went in there to jack off because when he came out he just wanted to snuggle. Like, okay. Guess I’ll just be horny.

Brady and I woke up early on Sunday. We laid in bed talking and I convinced him to download Instagram. Then I took his phone and picked a username for him, followed myself and no one else, linked it to his Facebook then uploaded his first picture: one of us looking hot from the wedding.

We got up and went for a run then went to Starbucks (can we be any more white?). Then spent the day sitting next to each other at the dining table with our laptops doing our respective work. Even though I still have another week left of working for Andrew, I just thought up ideas for my new office instead of doing any actual work. Priorities.

I asked Brady if he planned on telling his mom that we are back together.

“Umm, I don’t know. Should I?” Brady said not looking up from his computer.

“Maybe. Just in case she wants to hook you up with someone else.” I laughed loudly, but Brady didn’t say anything.

“Does your mom do that? My mom used to. She gave my number to like all of her friend’s sons. And all of her friend’s friend’s sons. Basically whoring me through the suburb,” I blabbed.

“And none of them were to your liking?” Brady asked, still not looking up.

“Well they’re not you, so no,” I said sweetly.

He finally looked up and smiled at me.

Later that night we were laying in bed and I saw that Brady had some comments on his Instagram picture. People were like, “Who’s the lady?” and stuff like that. I think it’s weird that some of his friends don’t know me. Even my friends back home know who he is and what he looks like and stuff. I’m going to tell him he needs to show me off more even if it’s online.

As we were laying in bed on Sunday night I got a text from Matt. It said, “How was your weekend, gorgeous girl?”

I smiled and said,”It was so much fun!”

He asked what I did and I told him about going out with Taylor and Elyse. He said that I should have told him that I was going out because he would have gotten me and my friends free drinks. Apparently he can just do that? Matt mentioned that he wants to see me this week and I told him that I’m really busy which I am. I probably should tell him that I have a boyfriend? I never know when to include that in conversation. Plus, I don’t want to burn my bridge with him. Is that awful? I just want unlimited free drinks!

Andrew was in Chicago on Friday and I was so excited/nervous to tell him that I (kind of) accepted another job offer. I hadn’t talked about the details with Diana, but I knew I wanted to go back and the new position sounds really, really awesome.

“Heya, Reese!” Andrew greeted me. He seemed to be in a really good mood which made me more nervous. If he was being an asshole I would have no problem being like, “You know what? I fucking quit!”

I avoided him for the majority of the day and then around three I finally cornered him in the office.

“Hiiiiii. Can we talk?” I asked.

“Of course! What’s going on?” Andrew still seemed to be in a good mood.

I shut the door and stood at the edge of the desk he was sitting at. “So, I know you’re going to hate me, but I’ve been offered a really amazing position with the company I was with previously.”

I paused so Andrew could say something, but he didn’t and just looked at me expectantly.

“So I’m going to take it.”

After a moment, Andrew said, “Wow… Okay. I’m very surprised. I wish you would’ve talked to me about this sooner.”

“It happened pretty fast,” I said. “But I’m willing to stay as long as needed for you guys to find a replacement for me.”

“Who knows how long that’s going to be? Do you know how long I had to do my job and your job before we found you?”

“I’m sorry. I feel really bad about leaving since I just started, but I don’t want to pass this opportunity up.”

“Okay. We’ll talk about this more later. Please don’t tell anyone else right now.”

Uh, okay? I nodded.

Andrew looked back down at his laptop and didn’t say anything else. So I went and did my own work for a few hours until he announced to us that he was heading out.

I left soon after he did and bought a new pair of shoes to cheer myself up and to celebrate my new job. I talked to my mom while I was out. I told her about Diana’s job offer and she seemed excited and wanted to know how much they were offering me. Good question. I probably should’ve figured that out before I quit since I got such a big pay raise when I accepted Andrew’s offer. I’ll have to look into that.

I made sure to let her know about me and Brady’s wedding date so she’ll know/think we are still together.

Brady came over late Friday night after work. I was like disgustingly excited to see him. We didn’t see each other at all on Thursday and I was surprised and pleased to see that he’d gotten his hipster locks chopped off. He looked so freaking cute.

We sat on the couch for an hour telling each other about our days. I made him go first, but he just said his day was fine and long. I told him all about what happened with Andrew and Brady said, “I think he’s going to make your last couple of weeks there awful. You should prepare yourself.”

Ew. I hope Andrew doesn’t, but he does seem like a spiteful prick so Brady is probably right. We got in bed and Brady fell asleep right away, but I stayed up going insane on Sephora.com. To be fair, I needed all of it.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and talked for a little while then got brunch. The menu looked so good that we got three entrées to share between us because we couldn’t choose. After a ton of bacon, waffles, French toast, eggs, fruit, and hash browns we were stuffed.

There was a Forever 21 near the restaurant and they had all these fun festival outfits in the window so I insisted we go in. I guess I was inspired by all the Coachella posts from Instagram. I haven’t been in a Forever 21 in like ten years but I was pleasantly surprised with all the really inexpensive pieces they had so I ended up leaving with three shopping bags full. I know I can only wear everything once, but whatever.

We needed to go get ready for the wedding after that. I decided against the romper since the wedding was at a church and it was a traditional catholic wedding. So I wore a sleeveless hot pink pleated mini dress and my Alice + Olivia heels I haven’t gotten a chance to wear yet. Brady wore a dark blue suit and we honestly looked really hot together. The church was really big and packed. I hope that many people want to see me get married.

Afterwards, we all went to the reception which was down the road a bit at a large reception hall. The lights and decorations and cake and stuff were so amazing that I had to document it all for SnapChat. Totally fangirling over their wedding decorations. The bride and groom made a grand entrance and she had changed into this amazing white strapless ruffly midi dress that I’m pretty sure was Marchesa. At the ceremony she was wearing this lace number with sleeves that I wasn’t a fan of, but her reception dress was bomb. I wanted to take a picture with her and her dress.

We had food then everyone started dancing. Well, we didn’t. Not drunk enough for that and they weren’t even serving alcohol. Which in my opinion is a mistake. Every wedding should have alcohol. There was a photo booth (great idea, stealing) and after Brady and I got our pictures back he said, “I have the best looking date here.”

I made the super big smiling emoji face. “No I do,” I said all affectionately. Maybe all the love from the wedding rubbed off on us, but we kept holding hands and kissing and complimenting each other all night.

Oh and then the bride and groom were making their way around saying hello to everyone and they stopped to talk to us.

Without hesitation, Brady said, “This is my girlfriend, Reese.”

I honestly think it just slipped out out of habit, but I looked at him and smiled before shaking the bride and groom’s hand. The groom was nice, but the bride gave my hand a sideways glance before giving me a really limp handshake. Not sure what I did to her, but I’m glad I didn’t wear the romper – she would really hate me then.

We were so tired after the wedding that we went back to Brady’s and crashed. I missed his huge clean bed. Not that my bed is dirty or anything, but the clean white bedding just does it for me. It’s like he puts a brand new set on each time.

On Sunday morning we laid in bed talking and looking at each other. We decided that we were going to make breakfast and before we got up, Brady leaned over to kiss me. As he pulled away, something caught my eye. A strand of hair on the pillow. A long blonde strand of hair.

“Ew, whose is this?” I asked, picking it up between two fingers.

Brady looked at it all confused for a moment before saying, “It’s yours,” like I was being ridiculous.

So my hair is naturally a light brown caramelly color and sometimes I have sun kissed/golden highlights, but they’ve mostly all grown out or faded now. I guess technically one of my highlighted strands could have fallen out, but this hair looked longer than mine and I think mine is more coarse. Do you who has long blonde hair? Blow Job Queen (I can’t remember which commenter made up that nickname, but I’m keeping it, thanks).

I looked back up at Brady and he said, “I’ll get started on the bacon and eggs and you can do the pancakes,” and then he got up.

I followed him and we didn’t mention the hair again. I know I have no right to be mad if rebounded with someone since I hooked up with Kyle and everything, but he could have at least put new bedding on. I couldn’t help wanting to know what whore he had over though.

Andrew called me on Monday morning wanting to talk about me leaving. He seemed frustrated and wasn’t being very nice about it. Before I even told him when my last day will be he said, “The courteous thing would be to give us a two week notice.”

Like duh. I’ve had jobs before. Plus I told him I’d stay as long as they needed me, but since he was being a dick I let him know that my last day will be April 24th. You’re welcome, Andy.

You know what I think is a bit weird? Brady and I haven’t had sex since the night he came over drunk after the Cubs game. I don’t know if he’s apprehensive because I teased him for six hours the other night, but he hasn’t even tried anything. I haven’t either though, but still. Hope he tries something soon.

I hadn’t heard from Brady by the time I left town on Tuesday. I planned on talking to him, but I wanted to do it in person so it would have to wait until Wednesday night when I got back. I actually thought about canceling my trip so I could stay back and talk to him, but I figured that was a bit dramatic.

Tori ended up being at the store I was visiting and she was all like, “So good to see you again, Reese!”

I don’t know why, but I really don’t like Tori and I definitely don’t feel like I can trust her. So I avoided her for most of the day and kept all of our conversations short. She was asking how I like the job and Andrew as a boss and things like that. As if I would tell her the truth.

In the afternoon, I got an email from Diana. It said, “Reese, are you free this week? I would like to talk to you about an upcoming opportunity.”

Yessssss. So there was a chance I could go back! I was in a great mood for the remainder of the day and was even engaging in conversation with Tori. I told Diana I was free on Thursday morning to meet with her.

I got back to Chicago Wednesday afternoon and Brady still had not contacted me at all. I was feeling used and stupid so naturally I wanted to kick his ass. After I got home and showered and got settled in, I finally texted him.

“Seriously? What the fuck, Brady?” I said.

“What?” he replied immediately which only pissed me off more. I could imagine the fake innocent looking face he was making. There’s no way he can be this clueless.

“We need to talk as soon as possible so make yourself available,” I wrote back.

“Okay.”

“And I want pizza so we’re getting pizza.”

“Okay. Just let me know when and where.”

I told him the name of a nice pizza place we’ve gone to before together and to meet me at 7:30. I started getting ready and decided that I was going to show up fifteen minutes late because fuck Brady.

He texted me at 7:20 saying that he had just arrived then told me he was sitting in the back. I finally showed up and told the hostess I was meeting someone and she knew exactly who it was. Maybe we just look like we belong together. Love that.

Brady stood up when I got to the table and I didn’t acknowledge him as I dropped my things and slid into the booth across from him.

“How are you?” he asked, sitting down. He had his stupid little glasses on and I kind of wanted to punch him in the face.

“I’m really fucking pissed off, Brady,” I said.

He looked confused. “Why?”

“Why?! Are you fucking joking?” I didn’t believe it when people commented that Brady is manipulative and only pretends to be oblivious, but at that moment I really believed it was true. “Why did you text me on Sunday? Why did you come over?”

Cue deer in headlights look. Brady looked down and I noticed that his neck was turning red. Usually I feel bad when he looks all sad and helpless like that, but I didn’t feel bad for him at all.

“I don’t understand why you even bothered me. You dumped me, remember?”

“I’m sorry! I don’t know what I’m doing!” he blurted out.

“Would you stop with that helpless bullshit? You’re a grown fucking adult. You know exactly what you’re doing. I’m not falling for that shit anymore.”

Brady blinked.

“You’re manipulative. I didn’t believe anyone when they told me that, but I do now. It’s not like you’ve never been in a relationship before. You can’t dump me without explanation then come over and say all that stuff and try to leave like it was a one night stand in the morning. You fucking bootycalled me! You’re an asshole! I know I said that I don’t hate you, but I take that back. I hate you!”

I started crying. I didn’t want Brady to see me so I buried my face in my arms on the table. Well then. That went south quickly.

He let me cry for a few minutes then I heard our waiter come over and ask if we were ready.

“Please give us a moment,” Brady said.

I cried in silence for a while longer until he finally said, “I’m sorry. I don’t want you to hate me.”

Silence/sniffling.

“I texted you because I wanted to talk. I didn’t intend for any of that to happen. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to bootycall you.”

Brady saying “bootycall” is one of the top ten funniest things I’ve ever heard. I didn’t laugh though.

“I screwed everything up. I completely understand your anger and I’m not going to make any excuses for myself.”

“Deep dish,” I said in between my sniffles. “Italian sausage and peppers.”

“Excuse me?”

“That’s what I want!” I exclaimed. “Please let the waiter know.”

“Oh. Um, okay.”

I heard Brady stand up so I quickly pulled myself together while he went to find our waiter. I pulled out my compact and touched up my face so maybe I could pretend that episode never happened. My eyes were red, but whatever.

Brady came back with a plate of garlic bread sticks and suddenly I didn’t hate him as much anymore.

“Do you want a breadstick?” he asked.

Instead of answering, I slid the plate toward me and grabbed one. Brady sure does know the way to my heart. I finished a whole breadstick before he started talking again.

“Are you okay?”

“Why did you break up with me?” I asked as I stuck another breadstick in my mouth. They were really good.

“I freaked out.”

“You freaked out?” I repeated.

“I was selfish. I was dealing with a lot and it just seemed like an added stressor to try to keep you happy.”

We both started talking at the same time, but what I had to say was obviously more important.

“I hope you’re happy with that decision.”

“I’m not.”

I quickly took a bite so I didn’t giggle. Good.

“So if you’re not then why didn’t you ever call me?”

“I didn’t know what to say. I was confused. I didn’t know what I wanted or what you wanted and I didn’t know what to do,” Brady said. “And Carly said you were happy so I thought I’d stay out of your hair.”

Seriously Carly?

“Okay… So you were okay with never speaking to me again then?”

“Of course not.” Brady looked at me like that was utterly ridiculous.

“So you were okay with fucking me one last time then never speaking to me again.”

“Reese, no.”

It was his turn to explain so I poured myself a glass of water from the carafe while I waited.

“I’m not good at this,” he said finally. “All I wanted to do was make you happy, but I feel like I don’t know how. If you’re happy without me then I don’t want to stop you.”

I felt something familiar tugging at my heart. You know what this reminded me of? Do y’all remember that conversation Carly and I had where she said, “If he’s happy without then let him be. Don’t ruin him.”? She must have said the same thing to him about me.

“I’m not happy without you,” I admitted. “I think we both suck at this.”

“No, this is my fault. Let me take the blame.”

“Okay.” I felt a small smile forming.

Brady started to say something, but our waiter came with the pizza. He cut two slices for us and served them on our plates. For some reason I just wanted to be close to Brady so I got up and went to the same side of the booth as him.

“Hi,” he said looking at me like this was completely normal.

I couldn’t handle the eye contact so I started working on my slice of deep dish pizza. Sausage and peppers was the right choice. We both ate in silence for a while.

“So when you came over drunk on Sunday,” I said. “Do you even remember what you said to me?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you mean it?”

“Yes.”

I finished off the crust of my pizza.

“Then why did you try to sneak out the next morning? You weren’t even going to say goodbye!”

“You know I work early. I didn’t want to wake you,” Brady said.

“Were you going to leave a note? ‘Thanks for the pussy! Glad you’re happy without me!'”

“Reese.”

I cut myself another piece of pizza and smiled to myself. I can’t believe I was ever afraid to call him. It’s just Brady.

“What I don’t understand is after you came over and I told you how I felt why you didn’t call or text me,” I said.

“Why didn’t you call me?” he exclaimed.

“It’s your job to call!” I exclaimed back. “Plus I texted you. That’s why we’re here.”

“Fair. I felt pretty stupid about the way I handled it. I thought you were mad.”

“Well, you did a great job of trying to smooth things over.”

We bickered back and forth until we were full then Brady paid the bill. As I slipped my jacket on he asked, “What do you have planned for the rest of the night?”

“Oh I don’t know,” I said breezily then looked at him. “Why? Do you want to come over?”

“I do.” Brady smiled politely.

I rolled my eyes. “I guess you could come over for one glass of wine.”

As I drove to my apartment with Brady trailing me, I felt anticipation building up. I decided that I was not going to have sex with him though. We hadn’t figured anything out. I definitely didn’t want to end up being fuck buddies.

I made Brady wait on the couch while I showered and brushed all the garlic off my teeth. I changed into pajama shorts and a v-neck and met Brady back on the couch.

“Why didn’t you pour us any wine?” I demanded then I went and poured two glasses.

We ended up sitting there catching up for three hours. He said he isn’t working as much and he’s much happier at work. So he isn’t looking to go down a different career path anymore. Hunter and Brady still haven’t spoken, but apparently their mom has heard from him so he’s at least alive. It seems weird that Hunter wouldn’t want to talk to Brady and I made the mistake of asking Brady if he’d done anything to piss him off. He changed the subject, but I could tell it bothered him.

I told Brady about how fed up I am with Andrew and my meeting with Diana. I didn’t go into detail for obvious reasons.

“Wow. What do you think Andrew’s reaction will be if you quit?” Brady asked.

“I don’t fucking care. He doesn’t value me as an employee anyway,” I replied.

Eventually we found our way to my bed and I didn’t even have the energy or desire to kick him out. Brady took off his tie and shirt and started kissing me. I kissed him back briefly then pushed him off.

“No,” I said as sternly as possible.

“Okay.”

We laid there facing each other and I ran a finger along his tattoo and then down his chest to his navel. Brady reached down and tried to grab my pajama bottoms, but I pushed his hand away.

“No,” I said again.

He shifted a bit and I ran my fingers through his hair. When I first met Brady, his hair was really short – like a buzz cut. Now it’s grown out and it’s almost in that hipster haircut where it’s shorter on the sides. I hate it only because I don’t want people to think he’s a hipster.

“Cut your hair,” I instructed.

“Okay.”

I leaned down and started licking and sucking his neck and Brady groaned. He pulled me closer by my waist and tried to push my shirt up, but I pulled away and looked at him in the eye.

“No.”

Brady nodded like he understood. I loved how childlike he looked and decided to keep going – just to torture him.

So that went on for literally six hours. I would kiss his neck and chest, grab his dick and suck it for five seconds then stop, put his hand on my vagina to see how wet I was, but I wouldn’t let him touch me on his own or do anything. It was so much fucking fun. A couple of times he whispered, “Reese, you’re killing me,” and I could tell he was in agony. That only made me want to do it more. This was actually the worst case of blue balls of his life. I mean, if we’re being honest, he deserved it.

We kept falling asleep, but I would randomly wake up then start stroking his penis to get him hard again. Then he would wake up and I would fall back asleep. We probably only got an hour of sleep total.

Right before he needed to leave for work, Brady said, “A guy from work is getting married on Saturday. Do you want to be my date?”

I nodded, smiling. He wants to take me to a wedding? I loved the sound of that.

“What’s it going to take to make you not hate me?” he asked.

I forgot about my outburst at the pizza place where I said I hated him. That was mean. Oopsies. I shrugged.

Brady smiled and got up to start getting ready. “Can we talk about it later?”

I shrugged again. He picked up all of his things and stood next to the bed next to me.

“Okay,” Brady said. “I’m leaving now. Is that okay?”

“I suppose,” I said back.

“I plan to call you later this evening – perhaps around eight. Maybe we can discuss it then. Feel free to contact me before then if you’d like.”

I smirked at him. “Oh fuck off.”

After Brady left I needed to get up to get ready to meet with Diana. I was so fucking tired. I was meeting her at ten thirty at the office so I stopped at Starbs on the way to pick us both up a green tea latte. Had to butter her up if she was going to hire me back. While I waited for our drinks I texted Brady, “I’m so sleepy. :-(”

He replied, “I am too. I would stay up all night with you again though. :-)”

Brady never uses smileys or emojis or anything so I actually laughed out loud. I was so happy and excited, it felt like back when we first got together. I don’t know what we’re doing or where we stand, but I love the shit out of him right now.

When I got to Diana’s office she wanted to talk right away.

“There are some structural changes going on right now. One of the biggest ones is transferring all of our marketing and advertising efforts to a third party agency,” she started.

“Wow!” I said. That’s a huge change.

“We’ll still do small projects in house, but we want get into bigger campaigns and we just don’t have the team and resources to do it. I think it’ll be good.”

“So what about the ad team? Whitney?” I asked.

“We will find places for them if needed. There will still be a marketing role for Whitney if she decides to take it. It’s a lesser role, but maybe something she might be able to handle more,” Diana explained.

“So you are eliminating my old position!” I couldn’t help smirking.

She kind of rolled her eyes, getting what I was referring to. “Essentially. But we are downsizing the marketing department so we can focus more on product development. We want to put more effort in creating unique and worthwhile collections that people actually want. So instead of having all of our stuff manufactured overseas and not having much say in the designs, materials and small details, we want to design everything from start to finish. That’s where we figured you could come in.”

“Okay…” I wasn’t exactly following.

“We want to have a head of product development who would oversee the product development team we have in place. I can already tell what you’re thinking: you don’t know anything about design. That’s okay. You would be in charge of the team, coming up with collections and collaborations and actually being involved with what each piece looks like, approving specs and spec sheets, knowing the trends in the market, keeping in constant communication with our manufacturers…”

“Okay…”

“Do you think you would be interested in something like that? Before I even told Dave you were considering coming back, he mentioned you and asked if I thought we could pluck you from your new job.”

“Really?” I can’t lie, I was excited to hear that at least someone was interested in me. “What if I suck at it?”

Diana gave me a look and said, “What kind of attitude is that to have? You aren’t going to suck. We can’t think of a better person for this position.”

At this point I knew she was just flattering me, but I was still smiling like a crazy person. “Thank you. I’m flattered.”

Diana smiled back. “When can you start?”

Oh shit. What did I agree to?

“I’ll let you know,” I said, not breaking my smile. I needed time to think, but I already felt like an asshole for having to quit.

I called Carly after I left and asked if she wanted to get lunch. Luckily she was in the city and she agreed. The first thing I asked her was where Chris is moving to after he finishes school. We hadn’t really discussed it, but it is a done deal as far as I knew.

“He has some interviews on the east coast,” she answered without missing a beat.

“Really? That’s far,” I said. “What are you going to do? Try long distance?”

“Well actually, I was looking at jobs there too. Like Philadelphia,” Carly said, stirring her ice water.

“What?! Seriously? What will your parents say?”

Carly has lived in the Midwest her entire life and didn’t even go away for college. She’s so close to her family. So this was surprising.

“I haven’t told them. They’ll support me though! It’s time for me to spread my wings!”

“Well, good for you two,” I said and I meant it. I felt a pang of jealously that they were planning their lives together, but I’ll always root for Carly and Chris.

“So what’s new with you?” she asked.

“I talked to Brady last night. Why did you tell him I was happy without him?” Saying this felt like I had released my breath I’d been holding.

Carly’s brow furrowed. “What?”

“He told me you said that,” I told her.

“Well what was I supposed to say? ‘She’s miserable and won’t stop crying. Please call her because she refuses to call you.'”

“Uh yes! He didn’t call me because he thought I was happy without him. And you told me not to call him because he was happy without me. I thought y’all never even talked about me!” I tried to keep my voice even.

“I didn’t want to give him too much information. All I told him was that you’re doing good,” Carly said.

“So you guys did talk about me?” I clarified.

“Just once. You came up in conversation one time. I thought you’d want him to think you were doing well!”

“Do you not want us to be together? Because that’s what it’s feeling like.” I really didn’t want it to turn into an argument, but it seemed to be going in that direction.

“Of course I want you guys to be together! I want both of you to be happy!” Carly said, looking genuine. Scared almost. “This is exactly why I didn’t want to get involved. I didn’t want to talk about him to you or you to him.”

“You’re one of my closest friends. I kind of feel like you should choose me over him, Carly,” I said sarcastically.

“Jeez, sorry for not wanting to get involved in your relationship problems,” she shot back.

We changed the subject and talked about what she wants to do in Philly. She applied for a bunch of non-profit jobs. She works as a nanny now and she says she loves it and the family she works for, but she feels like she should be doing something else, something that will make a greater impact.

After we ate, I still had some time to kill before I needed to get on a conference call with Andrew. I asked Carly if she wanted to go get pedis.

“Hmm, I can’t,” she said, looking at her watch. “I need to get back to the ‘burbs.

“Kay,” I said. I sensed that she was upset about our conversation, but I’m not going to apologize until she does. Maybe she meant well, but whatever plan she had kind of made things worse.

I’m still super tired from being up all night. Brady called a bit ago to tell me he was stay a little later at work. So cute how he made sure to keep his promise of calling me. Anyway, bed time. Bye!

Carly’s birthday was on Thursday and Preston’s was Saturday so they had a combined birthday dinner on Friday evening. They rented out a room at a sushi place in Lincoln Park for all of our friends. I don’t know why it didn’t cross my mind that Brady would be there. Maybe I just thought since I’m avoiding him everyone should be.

Preston came to my apartment early to get ready and I wore a chambray shirt dress, fringe booties, and lots of jewelry obviously. Preston and I made plans to come back and change after dinner then go to Boystown.

Carly met us at my apartment so we could Uber to the restaurant. We asked my new doorman to take pictures of us and he seemed kind of annoyed, but he better get used to it. We also took some selfies in the car.

When we were walking into the restaurant, Carly walked up close to me and said, “Brady is going to be here. I forgot to tell you. Are you okay with that?”

I stopped suddenly, but quickly recovered. Seriously? She couldn’t tell me something that important sooner? I wasn’t prepared physically or emotionally to see Brady. I planned on looking blindingly hot the first time I saw Brady since he broke up with me and I was wearing a fucking shirt dress. My hair wasn’t even curled. I hadn’t thought about him in a week (okay, a day)!

“Yeah, it’s fine,” I said breezily before speeding up and practically running to the bar at the front of the restaurant. I needed to drink.

I ordered three raspberry Long Islands for us and immediately started chugging mine. I wanted to get another one to take to the table with me, but I didn’t want to use alcohol as a crutch. I was going to face Brady like a champ, sober.

When we got back to the room they reserved, Kendra and John were already  there along with some of Preston and Carly’s friends so there was a pretty good turn out. I didn’t see Brady right away, but I also didn’t look around for him. I followed Preston to meet his friends (Preston is the kind of person who has a new best friend every week, but I’ve stuck around this long).

After planning our trip to Boystown later, I heard Carly say something like, “Oh, my boo is here,” and someone else say, “Hey Chris!”

I assumed that meant Brady had arrived also so suddenly I was really interested in what Preston’s friend, Julia, had to say. I actually can’t stand Julia. She’s one of those people who tells stories just to get a reaction. Like, “My dad works in the entertainment industry so he brought me home John Mayer’s guitar pick once.”

Cool, Julia. I’m so glad you told me that.

I had to pretend to be interested though and kept nodding and said, “Oh yeah, totes.”

Finally, after what felt like years of trying to avoid looking around the room, I glanced up. Carly and Chris were in a corner with Kendra, John and Brady. His back was to me and suddenly I felt like I was going to cry. Why would Carly invite him without asking me first? My arm pits started to sweat and I considered making a run for it and skipping the dinner all together.

I told Preston I was going to the restroom so I could make sure I looked okay. I sent Kendra a text while I was in there.

“I can’t fucking believe he’s here and Carly didn’t tell me beforehand.”

She didn’t respond as quickly as I wanted so I added, “I’m seriously about to go home.”

Finally she said, “Just say hi and be nice. You’re making it a big deal.”

Rude. I touched up my lipstick and brushed my hair before finally going back out there to avoid Brady for the entire dinner. I found Preston and proceeded to complain to him about Carly. He listened for a moment before glancing over my shoulder and saying, “I’ll be right back, lover.”

I was confused and turned around to find Brady walking toward me. Oh, fuck.

“Hey stranger,” he said, stopping so there was a chair between us.

Hey fucking stranger. That’s all he had to say? I guess I give him credit for even having the balls to come up to me, but he couldn’t think of anything better to say after a month and a half of not talking?

“Oh hey,” I heard myself say.

“How’ve you been?”

I noticed that Brady had a hand gripping the side of the table, almost nervously. He smelled so fucking good and he looked really good too obviously. He looked exactly the same. I feel like I looked a little different – I’m going to the gym regularly now and I think you can see it in my face and I parted my hair differently that night.

“Um, wonderful. No complaints,” I said.

Brady smirked like he thought it was a lie. For some reason it really annoyed me and I suddenly wanted to remind him who he was dealing with.

“What about you? Love the shirt. Is it new? It seems a little daring for you.”

I hoped he caught on to my subtle shade. His shirt was actually typical Brady – short sleeved slim fit button down, but in a light purple, teal and white checked pattern. Probably from J. Crew’s spring collection. He looked really adorable.

Brady looked down at himself and back at me then kind of laughed. “Thank you. I picked it out myself. Glad you like it.”

Wait. Was he flirting with me? In his subtle Brady kind of way? I raised my eyebrows at him and he shrugged sheepishly.

“But yeah, I’m doing well-”

I cut him off. “Working lots as usual?”

He stuck his hands in his pockets and I secretly hoped I was making him regret his entire existence.

“Yep. Working a ton. You as well?”

I nodded. “Mmhm. And I just moved into a new apartment. It’s really nice, I love it so much.”

Brady’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

I definitely wanted him to know that I was just fine even though I didn’t move in with him, but I also wanted to invite him over and fuck him in front of my huge windows.

“Yeah. Best decision ever,” I smiled.

Brady smiled back and I almost considered seeing what he was doing after dinner.

“Well, I’m glad you’re doing well,” he said. “We…don’t have to be strangers, you know.”

Excuse me? What was he getting at?

“Uh, okay,” I said.

“It was good seeing you,” Brady said and then he turned to walk away.

That was it. We didn’t talk to each other for the rest of dinner or say goodbye. I wasn’t really in the mood for Boystown after dinner, but Preston wouldn’t let me back out. I only lasted one drink before I started complaining and whining and being really annoying to be around. Preston gave me the go ahead to go home.

On Saturday evening I hung out with Kendra and John at their apartment. I really wanted to talk to Kendra about what happened with Brady so I waited until John went into the kitchen to start talking.

“He said, ‘We don’t have to be strangers,'” I recalled. “Which means he wants to talk? Like as friends?”

“Why don’t you call and ask him?” Kendra replied.

“No! He needs to call me, he’s the one who said it!”

John must have been lurking around a corner because he came back just then and offered his own opinion.

“Why does it matter who calls who? You both want to talk to each other so just fucking do it.”

“Because it’s his fault we are in this situation anyway. He needs to call me,” I pouted.

“With that attitude, no wonder you are where you are,” John said.

I rolled my eyes.

“Has Brady said anything to you about me?” I asked.

John shrugged in the way that I imagine he did when Kendra confronted him about the condom receipt (when he cheated on her).

“He has? What did he say?” I demanded.

“I think Brady just liked to pick John’s brain about sustaining a long term relationship. Not recently,” Kendra explained.

“Reese, you may not know this, but you’re kind of a tough nut to crack,” John said.

“I am not!” I exclaimed.

Kendra and John looked at each other.

I let them know how annoying I think they are then went home soon after to get ready to go out with Preston. We were going back to Boystown and I needed to make up for how lame I was on Friday night.. So I danced for two hours straight. Literally my cardio for the day. If you ever need a fun workout, I recommend going dancing at a gay club. So much fun.

I spent Sunday finishing unpacking and cleaning then got lunch/dinner with one of my former coworkers. I came home and went to the gym in my apartment (haven’t met any hot guys there yet). Then I curled up on my couch with my laptop and a glass of wine to do some work.

I was really, really surprised when I checked my phone later that night and I had a new text from Brady. My heart started racing and I immediately put my phone down so I could mentally prepare myself for what it said. Plus – I don’t have my read receipts on or anything – but I didn’t want to open it right away.

A few minutes later, I picked my phone back up and opened the text message.

“Hey, how’s your day going?” it said.

It took me fifteen minutes to think up a response.

“Great. Yours?”

I didn’t know where the conversation was going, but I desperately wanted it to last all night. Our last text message was exchanged on February 18th and it felt ridiculously nice to be texting him.

“Good. I’m at the Cubs game and it looks like it’s going to be a shutout.”

There were still typing bubbles when I read this one so I waited.

“It was really nice seeing you on Friday. I hope you don’t hate me.”

I stared at my phone for five minutes trying to think of what to say. Finally I decided on, “I don’t hate you.”

“I’m an idiot. I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. Yep, definitely an idiot. Before I could respond, he sent another.

“I know you don’t care, but I really miss you.”

Whoa. That’s when I realized he’d been drinking. Brady wasn’t going to say all this to me sober, even if it was via text message.

“Yes. You are an idiot,” I said. I held my breath as I sent another one. “And I do care that you miss me. I miss you too.”

He didn’t say anything for fifteen minutes and I was standing up pacing around my living room. Shit. He was probably pissed at me for calling him an idiot.

But then Brady said, “The game just ended. Do you think we could meet up and talk?”

“Sure. Do you want to come over and see my new place?”

Brady said yes so I typed in my address then jumped in the shower. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I definitely wanted to fulfill my dream of looking hot to show him what he’s missing. I put on a tight tank top with no bra and lace trimmed shorts.

Brady texted me after a while saying, “I think I’m outside your building,” so I ran down to get him. Sure enough, I found him standing out front. His hands were shoved in his pockets because it had gotten chilly and he was just wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He looked so, so good and I just wanted to warm his cute ass up.

“Hi,” I said, letting him in.

“Hey,” Brady said, smiling nervously.

We were silent as we waited for the elevator then when we were on our way up to my apartment, I asked, “How was the game?”

“It was okay. It looks like it might be a long season for the Cubs,” he said. I could tell he was trying really hard not to look at my chest so he was staring intently at my face. His eyelids were low and his nose was a little red and it was so adorable.

I looked away. I don’t know what he meant by long season or whatever so I was just like, “Yeah.”

We got up to my apartment and I let us in. It never gets old walking into my gorgeous apartment.

“Do you want a tour?” I asked, bragging.

“Yes.”

I took him around the apartment, showing him the kitchen, my office, bathroom, living room and finally my bedroom. We stared out the huge window for a moment then Brady said, “This is such a great place for you. It fits you perfectly.”

“I know,” I said excitedly. “I’m so happy I moved here.”

Brady sat down on the end of my bed and I followed him. Okay. Time to talk. Does anyone else touch their hair a lot when they get nervous? I do. I was running my hand through my hair and I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was probably pushing my boobs out and looked like I was trying to seduce him. I wasn’t.

Brady said, “So,” and before either of us could start talking he kissed me.

I don’t know if I was expecting it or what, but I kissed him back without hesitation. He groaned into my mouth and I took in his familiar scent and taste. Hastily, he pushed me back on the bed and hiked up my shirt up. I yanked his t-shirt over his head and started sucking his neck. Had to give him a hickey for old times sake, right?

“Oh God, Reese,” he moaned and leaned down so he could suck on my boobs. He made his way down my torso and stopped at the top of my waistband. Then Brady inched my shorts down and pulled them off.

It was all happening really fast, like Brady was afraid I would stop him if I had time to think about it. I would never stop him. It felt too good.

The next thing that happened is one of those moments that is going to replay in my head over and over. Brady stood up in front of me and pulled his pants down so his penis sprung out. His penis is so fucking perfect. He grabbed it with his hand and started, like stroking it before taking a step toward me and pushing it inside me. I don’t know why or if it makes me a pervert, but that turned me on so much.

Brady lightly kissed my neck while thrusting in and out then he started talking to me.

“I miss you so much. I miss this,” he said.

“Mmmhm, me too,” I said back.

“Really? You miss me?”

“Mmmhm.”

“You don’t act like it,” Brady said.

“I do. I miss you,” I breathed.

A couple of minutes later, Brady said, “I love you.”

“I love you,” I said back and he moaned my name as he came.

He climbed off me after he caught his breath and then he pulled me next to him on the bed so we were laying side my side. A few minutes went by then Brady turned to me.

“Do you mean that?” he asked.

“Mean what?” I knew what he meant, but I wanted to make sure.

“You love me? Are you just saying that?” Brady was looking at me closely.

“No, I really do,” I heard myself say. “Seriously.”

“I messed up. I’m sorry. I deserve for you to hate me.”

“I could never hate you,” I said even though I did for like a week. I kissed his cheek then turned so he was spooning me.

We fell asleep almost immediately and I was literally so happy. I didn’t know what any of it meant, but just being with Brady and snuggling with him was exactly what I wanted. It just felt right.

Something woke me up this morning and I opened my eyes to see Brady quietly putting his shoes on at the side of my bed. It was still dark out so it had to have been really early. I watched him for a moment and he must have felt me staring because he turned around and looked at me. He seemed startled.

“Hey,” Brady said quietly, standing up. “I have to get to work.”

I nodded.

He picked up his phone and wallet and paced a bit before saying, “I’ll see you later, Reese.”

“Bye,” I croaked in my sleepy voice. I watched him walk out of my room and listened to him let himself out the front.

I laid there for a couple of hours just recapping what happened and what we said. I’m so fucking confused. Did Brady bootycall me? Or was it my own fault for inviting him over? I haven’t heard from him since he left, but we definitely need to discuss what happened. He can’t just come over and tell me he loves me and stuff without wanting something to come of it. Right? I mean, I don’t know if I even want anything either. Actually that’s a lie. I would probably marry him tomorrow if he asked me. I just hope last night wasn’t a mistake.

I was in Texas on Tuesday and Wednesday for work and Andrew flew in to visit on Wednesday morning. I wasn’t particularly excited to see him, but I did have a lot of questions to ask him. When he walked into the store, he went straight to the office and greeted me with an unenthusiastic, “Hi Reese.”

I gave him a few minutes to settle in before I bombarded him with my questions. When I did go back to the office, he was on a conference call so I signaled to him that I would be back later. I worked for a few hours by myself until the manager of the store came up to me and said, “What’s wrong with Andrew? He’s being so weird today.”

“Really?” I noticed that Andrew seemed to be avoiding me (but that’s how it’s been the past few weeks), but I thought nothing of it.

I decided to go investigate and found him working on paperwork in the office.

“Hey Andrew,” I said cheerfully.

“Hello Reese,” he said back, not looking up from his paperwork.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

Andrew sighed. “I do have some things on my mind…”

I really wanted to know what he was thinking about, but didn’t think it was my place to ask. So I just said, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

He finally looked up at me and seemed to consider it for a moment before saying, “I’m okay. Thank you.”

He only worked for about an hour more then he grabbed his stuff and said he was heading out. Andrew was being so weird. I know I always talk about how much I can’t stand him nagging me, but I think I like that more than silent, moody Andrew. It made me so uneasy.

I took Thursday and Friday off so I could move into my new apartment and my mom flew in on Thursday afternoon to help. I picked her up from the airport and the first thing she said was, “Let’s find a happy hour!”

I was like, “Mom! None of my apartment is even packed, we have so much to do!”

But I still drove to my favorite place for margaritas anyway. We ordered a pitcher and chips and queso. I was shoving chips in my mouth when my mom asked, “Is Brady coming?”

Caught off guard, I started choking. Oh yeah. I forgot to mention to my parents that Brady and I broke up.

“He’s at work,” I replied quickly, which was probably the truth.

My mom accepted that answer and asked me how he’s doing and stuff. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that he dumped me. She loves him!

After margs, we went to my apartment and opened a bottle of wine. My mom apparently just got SnapChat (ew) so she wanted to take Snaps of everything. I told her I deleted mine because I already know she would have annoyed me with her Story.

We finally started packing up my things and had to stay up all night so we would have everything ready for the movers on Friday morning. The movers arrived bright and early so my mom and I sat around while they did all the work. It literally took all day for them to finish and we were so exhausted from ordering them around that we showered and then napped on my old bedroom floor.

When we woke up, we decided to go to dinner and I suggested pizza (since we had such a long day). We got a large pizza with a ton of gross toppings and while we waited for it, my mom said, “Where’s Brady? Invite him to dinner!”

“Mom,” I groaned, annoyed with hearing his name. “He’s really busy.”

“Too busy to have pizza with his mother-in-law?” she beamed at this.

“Yes!”

Her smile faded. “Is everything okay with you two? You’re still together, aren’t you?”

“We’re fine.”

“Are you sure?”

I knew this was my opportunity to come clean about everything that happened. I would have to tell her eventually, right?

But I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to have to tell her the whole story and her to tell me that I needed to call him or she would do it for me. So I sighed loudly and said yes and luckily my mom changed the subject and started talking about my dad. I feel bad about not telling my mom the truth, but I didn’t want to disappoint her this trip. Maybe I’ll think of a good way to tell her for next time.

My mom left on Saturday morning and even though I still had a ton of unpacking to do, I decided to get ready and meet Kendra and Carly for brunch. We ordered bottomless mimosas and I got french toast and fresh fruit. The mimosas came out first and I don’t know what the fuck they put in those mimosas, but after two, I was over on Kendra’s side of the booth, consoling her.

She was crying because she was happy. She was happy that even after everything that she and John have been through, that God still wants them to spend their lives together. Kendra is really religious sometimes. I can’t remember our food coming or eating (but I know I did because I uploaded a picture of me taking a bite of french toast to Instagram with the caption, “Pretty people eat too.” No wonder everyone hates me).

The next thing I remember is puking outside the restaurant. Right in the middle of my barf sesh, Kendra and Carly came out of the restaurant and announced that they wanted to go get manicures at a nail salon next door. I somehow made it to the nail salon and into the manicure chair and I told my lady that I wanted a no-chip in whatever color she thought would look good with my skin. She started taking off my old polish and I felt sick again.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” I told her.

She ignored me and continued taking off my nail polish so I literally jumped up and bolted to the back of the salon. After a couple of accidental stops to the waxing rooms, I made it to the bathroom but not quite the toilet. I cleaned up my mess with toilet paper then passed out on the bathroom floor for who knows how long. When I finally peeled myself off the floor and went back out there, Kendra and Carly were sitting under the nail dryer.

“Are you okay, babe?” Carly asked, looking concerned.

I imagine I looked like death at this point. I sure felt like it. I told them I was calling an Uber and went outside to wait for it. Then I proceeded to puke even more out on the sidewalk.

I can’t remember getting home, but I woke up in my bed around 9:00 PM to throw up some more. I’m pretty sure I was poisoned. I literally could not get out of my bed until Sunday afternoon. And when I did finally get up and shower, I was starving, but the thought of eating anything made me want to vom.

So yeah. Still recovering from that. I’m working from home today and wishing I had a man to come take care of me. Maybe I shouldn’t have cut Kyle off. He would come in handy right now.

By the way, I love my new apartment. With all my furniture in it, it’s still really spacious (my old apartment was teeny tiny) and I’m so excited to finish unpacking and decorate! Hope everyone had a better weekend than me!

Lauren and I used to go to Vegas a lot one semester. It was about a five hour drive so we would pack our car up on Friday afternoon, spend the weekend in Vegas and come back on Sunday night. On our one of our first trips we met these two guys, Zo and AJ. Zo was Lauren’s guy. He was tall, tan and good looking. He was Italian and was a borderline Guido (this was at the height of Jersey Shore). He had a bad temper and definitely wore the pants in he and AJ’s relationship. AJ was my mine: dark hair, blue eyes and didn’t take himself too seriously which I loved. I always thought AJ probably came from a good family, but got caught up with a bad crowd. They both had really sexy New York accents.

The first time we met them was right outside a Jamba Juice. Lauren and I were walking out trying to figure out what we were going to do that night when a really nice black sportscar pulled up to the curb. I know nothing about cars, but this one just looked ridiculously expensive and everyone turned to look to see who got out. Zo got out of the driver’s side and AJ got out of the passenger side.

“That’s a nice ass car,” Lauren said loudly.

I shrugged and sipped my smoothie. There was something really sexy about them getting out of that car, but you can’t let these guys know you’re impressed.

Zo approached us and said something like, “What, you wanna ride?” which was incredibly lame, but Lauren ate it right up. The four of us started talking and we explained that we were just in Vegas for the weekend. They invited us to a club that night and Lauren and Zo exchanged numbers. Neither of them were my type and I wasn’t interested in whatever club they were going to (did I mention that Zo was wearing Jordan sneakers and a thick gold chain around his neck?), but as we were getting ready that night, I realized that Lauren actually wanted to hang out with them.

“Are you kidding? They’re probably going to rob and murder us,” I pointed out.

“Oh my gosh, stop,” Lauren said. “It’s going to be fine. If nothing else, they’re rich and will buy us whatever we want to drink.”

Turns out, she was right. That night we met Zo and AJ at a club and they had a booth in VIP with some of their friends. They were all so happy to have us. Zo asked us what we liked to drink and Lauren and I looked at each other before saying, “Vodka,” in unison. He called the cocktail waitress over and asked her to bring the best vodka they had on hand and to keep them coming.

“Shit!” Lauren whispered in my ear. “What do you think he does for a living?”

I shrugged. Bottles of top shelf vodka go for hundreds and hundreds of dollars at the club so being broke college students, we were gagging that he told the waitress to keep them coming. Not complaining though obviously. We all danced with each other and had so much fun, but it wasn’t until afterwards when we went to a diner to eat, that we paired off. Zo and Lauren sat on one side of the booth and AJ and I sat on the other.

“You should just move hee-uh,” AJ said in his super cute accent. He was clearly already ready to wife me.

I leaned my head on his chest drunkly, giggling “Nooo, I have to finish school and stuff.” I wasn’t ruling out any possibilities of moving to Vegas after I graduated to become a trophy wife though.

Zo and AJ seemed to be intrigued that we were in college and asked us a lot of questions about it that night. It was obvious that we were in completely different worlds even though I think we were all around the same age. We hung out with them until 6:00 AM and while I actually had fun, I didn’t think we would ever see them again. But somehow every weekend for like two or three months, we went to Vegas to see them. We would drop our stuff off at our hotel then they would pick us in a different luxury car every week. They would take us to clubs, fancy dinners, strip joints, the mall or we would just ride up and down the strip while they played loud rap music and smoked weed. Even though we were only nineteen (I think?), I recall going to the casino and them dropping ungodly amounts of money at the blackjack table. They just kept pulling out stacks of money and were super nonchalant when they lost. It was sick. AJ even gave me a stack of cash so I could play the slots and I considered just pocketing it and going shopping.

But the funny/odd thing was we never really did anything with them sexually. It was so weird. Sometimes Lauren and I would go back to Zo’s condo with them trashed and they wouldn’t even try anything. I remember this one time, AJ and I were in his room (he had a room in Zo’s condo, but apparently had his own home elsewhere) and I was drunk so I hopped on top of him and started making out with him. He seemed distracted and kept looking at the door like someone was going to come in. Then he said, “Come on, let’s go down-steahs.” So I guess he wasn’t that interested.

Lauren and I didn’t ask questions though. We didn’t ask where all their money and cars were coming from when they obviously didn’t have jobs. We didn’t ask about their family. We didn’t ask anything. We just enjoyed escaping Tempe and acting like Vegas socialites for the weekend. We came up with theories though. 1. They were drug dealers. They usually smoked a lot of pot and sometimes did cocaine or took pills or drank some concoction in red party cups. So they obviously they were familiar with the industry. 2. Zo came from a family of mobsters. It seemed kind of far fetched, but looking at the clues, it kind of made sense. 3. Their parents were honestly wealthy and they just took the money and rebelled. Maybe their parents were back in New York and had no idea that they were blowing their money on luxury cars, drugs and alcohol for cute college girls. 4. They were some other kind of criminals. They were really, really sweet around us, but we suspected something sketchy going on.

Especially since sometimes we would go to this really huge house a few miles outside the city. We don’t know whose house it was, but there were always different people in it. The house didn’t have much furniture in it so it looked even more massive. Usually we would stay in the living room while they hung out with their friends and participated in illegal activities. Lauren and I would take selfies and gossip about our classmates.

Everything changed one weekend. We rode around the strip on Friday night while they smoked (we always declined to smoke with them, but probably got a contact high anyway) while Lauren and I shared a fountain drink spiked with vodka in the backseat. Eventually they took us to the house where a couple of their friends were already hanging out.

Lauren and I piled into one of the lone chairs in the gigantic living room and watched Zo and AJ and their friend snort coke through a dollar bill. This was nothing new to us. There was loud rap music playing, but everyone was really chill and relaxed.

Suddenly the front door flew open and some black guys stormed in. One of the guys started yelling things like, “Where is it?” and “Where are they?”

Zo and AJ just started blankly. Their friend stood up and started arguing back and one of the guys was getting in his face and bumping chests with him. Zo got up to try to break up the impending fight and the guys started to push him. AJ continued to sit there.

Lauren and I looked at each other like, “What are we supposed to do?” and then things got louder.

Zo and one of the guys started throwing punches at each other so everyone jumped in. So basically there were like nine guys all fighting each other. It looked like a riot. The fight started migrating across the room and Lauren and I jumped up so we wouldn’t get caught in it.

Zo got pushed into the glass coffee table and it shattered under him. It looked like something out of a movie. One of the guys leaned over him and pulled him to his feet by his collar and I saw that his face was bloody, but at least he wasn’t dead.

“Holy shit, should we like call 911?” I asked Lauren, but she was busy screaming and crying.

One of their friends came running from upstairs waving a handgun with a naked woman trailing behind him. “What the fuck is going on down here?”

All we could hear was yelling and arguing and Lauren and I cowered in a corner trying to go unnoticed.

“I want to go home, Reese,” Lauren cried. Clearly we had no business being here and needed to stay in suburbia where we belonged.

“We’ll go home soon,” I said as calmly as I could.

I looked up and saw AJ and one of their friends escorting Zo out of the house while the friend with the gun seemed to be negotiating with the black guys. I didn’t know if we were supposed to follow Zo and AJ outside (they were our ride), but we were too afraid to move.

The friend with the gun pointed his gun at one of the intruders and said something like, “I’ll blow your fucking brains out, don’t move!”

I don’t pray a lot, but I literally sat in that corner praying we would make it out alive. I had no idea what was going to happen, but I was thinking the worst like one of the intruders was going to pull a machine gun out of his waistband and light the whole room up. What would my parents say when my dead body was found in an abandoned house in Vegas?

When they all started arguing loudly again, I yanked Lauren up and dragged her out the front door before they could start shooting. We found Zo and AJ in the driveway and it appeared that AJ was trying to calm Zo (who was bleeding all over the hood of their car for the weekend: a new, white Mercedes) down.

“I’ll fucking kill him. I swear I’ll murder him,” Zo was grumbling. The look in his eyes was frightening. He actually did look like he was ready to murder someone.

A lot of things happened in the matter of about a minute. We heard police sirens off in the distance, then we heard a couple of gun shots in the house and Zo, AJ and their friend hopped in their Mercedes and sped off. They didn’t say a word or even acknowledge us, they all hopped in the car and fucking left us there. Lauren started bawling.

The intruders ran out of the house and sped off in their car and then Zo and AJ’s friend, the one who had the gun, ran out with the naked girl. She was now wearing just a man’s jacket.

“Come on, come on, come on!” the friend said to us as they ran to his SUV. Lauren and I didn’t know what else to do, but follow. We all got in and he drove off.

We drove in silence for what felt like hours until he stopped at a gas station on the strip. We pulled in right next to Zo and AJ. Without a word, the friend we were in the car with rolled his window down and handed a leather duffle bag to Zo, who was in the passenger seat (which was weird because he was always the one driving). Then they drove off without even looking at us. Uh…okay.

Luckily their friend was nice and pretended like nothing happened. He asked us if we wanted to get something to eat or anything, but we declined and asked if he would drop us off at our hotel. I don’t think we even knew his name (or if we did, I forgot it now). Obviously once we were back in the safety of our hotel room, Lauren and I were shaken up and couldn’t sleep. Like what the fuck did we just witness? Was anyone dead? What was even going on?

So we did the only thing we could think to do: drink. We polished off a bottle of vodka until the whole situation was funny. And then we passed out.

Zo and AJ started calling us around seven o’clock the next morning. I personally refused to answer any of their calls, but Lauren did. Zo wanted to apologize about what happened the night before and offered to take us to breakfast. Lol seriously? After they left us at that abandoned drug house to be killed/arrested for suspicion of prostitution? I told Lauren to hang up the phone.

We didn’t go to Vegas for a long time after that. Zo and AJ called us every weekend for a month or so acting like everything was normal. It was weird. That kind of stuff must not be a big deal to them. What were we thinking hanging out with them every weekend anyway? I’m so glad nothing seriously bad ever happened.

It’s kind of sad, but we never saw Zo and AJ again. I hope they’re okay.

I went out with Carly and some of her friends from high school on Friday night. Carly is a reformed party girl. When we first met we used to go out like four times a week and stay out until the sun came up. We both grew out of that luckily. 

She said some of her friends were in the city so she wanted to go bar/club hopping and I agreed to tag along. I wore shorts, a tight cropped top, leather jacket and booties. I drank an entire bottle of wine before we even left for Boystown. I was so thirsty after not drinking for almost two weeks. We didn’t stay in Boystown for long, just long enough to dance, take a couple of shots and get molested by a drag queen. Normal things.

After Boystown, we cabbed to Lincoln Park to meet some of their other friends. By then I was super drunk and super friendly. I hit it off particularly well with Carly’s friend, Alyssa, who seemed to be almost as crazy as me. We ran into the Lincoln Park bar before everyone else and immediately found two guys who bought drinks for all seven of us.

The next thing I remember is standing in a corner with the two guys and one of them had me pinned against the wall. We were making out. Alyssa was next to me with the other guy hovering over her.

“Lyss,” I said, swatting her arm to get her attention. “Is he hot?” I pointed to the guy who had me pinned against the wall.

She did an exaggerated head turn to get a better view of him then turned back to me and shrugged. I took that as a no so I gave my guy an apologetic look before grabbing Alyssa’s arm and dashing away.

Carly, Alyssa and I are the only ones who made it to the late night bar. I really just wanted food so I went because I knew their kitchen was still open. I sat at the bar and ordered cheese sticks, fries and grilled chicken nachos while Carly and Alyssa talked to some guys. When my food came out, Carly ran over and plopped on the barstool next to me.

“Oooo, cheese sticks!” she squealed, shoving a stick in her mouth.

We started going to town on all the food while talking about Kendra and John and how we haven’t seen Kendra in years (days). Then suddenly I was like, “I’m going to text Brady. I miss him. Do you think he will care if I come over?”

Carly literally dropped the mozzarella stick she was eating and leaned over to grab my phone from me. “Noooooooooo!!”

“Whoa, why are you freaking out?” I asked, leaning away from her.

“Seriously, do not text him right now,” Carly said as she successfully took my phone away.

“Why? What’s the big deal all of a sudden? I thought you wanted me to talk to him.”

“Not right now. You’re drunk!” Carly said as if she wasn’t drunk too.

“Who cares?”

“If you want to talk to him, do it when you’re sober and have something more intelligent to say than, ‘Can I sit on your face?’ [That’s what the message I was typing said.] Reese, that boy is in love with you.”

“How do you know? Does he talk about me?” I gasped dramatically.

Carly shook her head. “No. I haven’t heard him say your name since he gave me your things back. He won’t even talk to Chris about you. I think – we think – he’s trying to get over you.”

I looked at her for a minute while trying to blink back tears. “Really? Trying to get over me?”

Is that what I need to do, stop saying his name? Will that make it easier?

Carly nodded and resumed eating. “You haven’t talked in how long? He probably assumes you aren’t going to call.”

“Why would I have to call him?” I yelled.

“Babe, calm down.”

“I feel like I want to cry.”

“Oh, Reese.”

Carly watched me while I started sniffling. I shoved a fry in my mouth to keep myself busy.

“Do you know what will make you feel better?” she asked suddenly.

“What?” I peeked at her skeptically.

“Spa day tomorrow! We can get massages and facials and I definitely need a manicure…”

“So you don’t think I should call him?”

Carly looked like she was getting annoyed with me, but I didn’t care. “No, I don’t. I don’t think you should call him if you haven’t thought long and hard about what you want to say and if you even have any desire to make things right with him. Don’t call him just because you’re drunk and miss him. If he’s doing okay without you then let him.”

I didn’t have an appetite anymore, but continued eating fries.

“Don’t ruin him,” Carly added softly.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I blew up. “He ruined me!”

“Let’s talk about this tomorrow,” Carly said.

“No! I’m never saying his name again!”

I requested to close my tab and demanded my phone back from Carly. She asked me if I was pissed and I told her that I was fine and just wanted to go home. She watched me cautiously like I was going to do something rash. I hugged her goodbye before I ran outside and got in a cab. Does anyone else always talk their cab driver’s ear off? I do. But I only got halfway through the Reese and Brady saga before he dropped me off.

“K thanks! Have a safe night! Love you!” I said as I got out of the car. I told the cab driver that I loved him. Time for bed.

I didn’t go to spa day on Saturday, but I texted Carly and apologized for being dramatic. She replied, “No worries. Call him if you want to, but please think about it before you do, okay?”

Whatever. I’d lost the urge to call him anyway.

I hung out with Kendra on Saturday since John was out. She said they don’t have a wedding date set and they will probably have a long engagement. They are already looking for places to buy together though in Lakeview. Lucky. When is someone going to wife me?

Preston wanted to go out on Saturday night, but I declined. Then at around 10:30 everyone was posting going out pictures and I suddenly felt so lame for being at home. So I texted Preston and told him I was on my way.

Our Mexico trip is supposed to be this coming weekend and I still planned on going alone (sometimes you just need some me-time), but I’m moving instead! So excited! I ended up going with the first place, the one with the den and private terrace. Chris mentioned in a comment that it sounded like it was more my style and as soon as she said that, I realized that she was exactly right! Thanks Chris!

So anyway after talking to Carly, I decided that I’m not going to call Brady and I’m going to stop talking about him and how I miss him and stuff. I think it’s just ridiculous. Time to move on. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

I’ve been looking at apartments nonstop for like a week. Finding a place to live is so exhausting. I’m not picky at all, but I’m indecisive so I ended up loving about six of the places I looked at. I was overwhelmed, but I managed to narrow it down to two. They’re both really similar: high rise building with all the amenities, floor to ceiling windows, AMAZING updated kitchen, hardwood, etc. One has a “den” that would be perfect to turn into my home office, private terrace, a better gym and indoor pool. The other is more of a lofty feel with exposed duct work and track lights and has an extra half bath and an all glass balcony. I got approved for both, but I seriously cannot decide. Help!

Kendra found out about me and Kyle. Well, I told her. I just had to. Kyle and I were talking and hanging out regularly (and not just hooking up, he took me to dinner and brought me stuff) and it started to feel like he thought we were a thing. Or maybe I was just imagining it? I had to ask Kendra what she thought.

“So I have a bomb to drop on you,” I said to her.

“Oh God,” she groaned. “What is it?”

The way she reacted made me second guess telling her. But I blurted it out anyway.

“I’ve been hooking up with Kyle.”

Kendra paused until she realized which Kyle I was talking about.

“What? How? Why?”

“I don’t know. I ran into him at the bar one night and I don’t know… We’ve just been talking ever since.”

“That’s such a bad idea. Does Carly know?”

“No. Do you think she would be pissed?” I knew the answer, but still asked just in case.

“So pissed. How long ago did you and Brady even break up? How are you already hooking up with someone else?” Kendra asked, sounding very judgey.

I shrugged even though she couldn’t see me. “Rebound. What should I do?”

“Stop having sex with him! Carly is going to kill you!”

“Don’t tell her!” I exclaimed.

“I won’t, but you should come clean. She is going to be even more mad if she finds out you’re hiding it,” Kendra pointed out.

I decided that Kendra was right and I needed to stop hooking up/going on with dates with Kyle, but I’m not telling Carly anything. So after that conversation with Kendra, I’ve been really short with Kyle when he texts me. Should I just tell him how I feel? That would probably be the mature thing to do.

I do enjoy hanging out with Kyle, but after dinner with him on Friday, I realized that he just doesn’t get me. After scanning the menus, he asked me what I wanted. I told him all I wanted was a shot of tequila then quickly said just kidding because I’m on a drinking hiatus and I actually wanted the first half of the appetizer menu. He just stared at me. And then when his Jack and Coke came, I pretended to snatch it from him and he’s like, “You can totally have some,” while looking at me all weird.

Like ugh. I’m on a drinking hiatus. Brady would have laughed (or not ordered alcohol knowing I couldn’t have any). Brady understands me. Thinking about it made me miss him.

Speaking of Brady, Carly hung out with Brady, Chris and some of their friends on Saturday for the St. Patrick’s Day debauchery. I texted Carly around noon to see if she wanted to get brunch + bottomless mimosas and she replied that she was out.

“Thanks for the invite. Who are you with?” I said back.

“Umm, Chris, Stacey, Jacob, Dan, Nate, Brady…”

I love that she threw Brady’s name in there last like it was an afterthought.

“I’m sorry, we’re all really drunk. I don’t even know exactly where we are. Brunch tomorrow though, love you!” she added.

Later that night, Carly uploaded a group picture to Facebook from their St. Patty’s Day shenanigans and I was excited to see how miserable Brady looked and how his outfit probably sucked (obviously I taught him everything he knows about fashion), but he wasn’t even in the picture. Ugh.

Carly and I met for brunch on Sunday. I ordered a waffle topped with Nutella and strawberries, bacon, eggs with tomatoes and spinach, a side of avocado and a rosé mimosa (that doesn’t count as drinking right?). It was all so fucking good.

“So how was yesterday?” I asked Carly. Really, I just wanted dirt on Brady.

“I felt like I was back in college. It was so much fun. What did you do?” Carly said.

“I sat at home and looked at paint swatches and furniture. I was supposed to hang out with Preston, but he flaked.” This was all true and I made sure to sigh sadly at the end so Carly would feel bad.

“I’m sorry babe. I would’ve invited you out, but you know… Brady was there…” She dug into her omelet aggressively.

“Oh yeah. How’s he doing?” I asked as nonchalantly as possible. I couldn’t let her think I actually cared.

Carly took a huge bite so I had to wait for her to chew. “He’s good. He got so drunk yesterday, he was funny.”

Funny? Funny like how? I really wanted to know the details of Drunk Brady, but Carly changed the subject and started talking about Chris. I don’t think she did it on purpose, but I was annoyed. I don’t care about Chris!

Let’s see, what else has been going on? Andrew has been doing an amazing job of avoiding me. He used to call me and text me every single day and now he emails me with questions, reports and assignments so I haven’t had a chance to talk to him. Which I’m okay with. I actually really like my job when Andrew isn’t breathing down my neck.

Diana emailed me to follow up and asked how my talk with Andrew went and I admitted that I haven’t talked to him. She asked if I was serious about coming back and I waited a few hours to ask her if there was an opening. I can’t lie, I was getting my hopes up about going back.

Especially since Andrew was in Chicago on Wednesday and he was with Tori. He said hello to me and asked how things were then he walked through the store with Tori before they went to Panera to work. And they didn’t invite me which was kind of rude. When they came back, Andrew kept sending messages to me through Tori.

She would come up to me and say things like, “Andrew wants your updated sales report for the quarter. Do you have that on hand?” and “Andrew asked if you have any outstanding supply orders?”

Seriously? I didn’t even feed into it and kept myself busy the whole day. And then he told Tori to tell me that he wanted to walk through the store before they left so I waited around for them. At around 6:00 (I usually leave around 4:30 or 5 on a normal day so this was late for me), Andrew and Tori came out of the office with all of their things, preparing to leave.

“Sorry we couldn’t spend more time together this trip, Reese,” Andrew said. He and Tori continued toward the door.

“Uh, I thought you wanted to do a walkthough?” I said.

“Oh yeah! We can do it next time, everything looks good here,” Andrew replied cheerfully.

Are you FUCKING kidding me? So basically I wasted an hour waiting for them for no reason. I bet he did it on purpose.

I haven’t heard back from Diana so I’m not sure what that means. I just want to get away from Andrew. I know y’all think I’m running from my problems instead of addressing it, but I don’t care. I don’t want to talk to him or work with him.

I think that covers everything. I’ve been going to gym and shopping like a crazy person. Since I’m back on the market, I need a new wardrobe and a hot little body, right? Missed you guys!

She replied, “No. You both probably need space.”

Which I thought was weird. Carly was one of the main people encouraging me to reach out to him. I wonder why she suddenly decided it wasn’t a good idea. Do you think he said something to her?

Diana agreed to meet me at 9:00 AM on Monday morning – as soon as she got to the office. I didn’t know what I wanted to say, but I knew I needed to talk to her, even if it was just for career advice like a lot of people suggested.