Corey was jolted awake by a simultaneous ringing of the phone and his doorbell. He noticed his headache from the day before wasn’t even close to being gone. In fact, it was worse. He wasn’t sure what to answer first. He glanced at the phone and saw Ileana’s name on the call ID. He decided to get the door first. It was pretty much a no win situation for him when he opened the door and saw Ileana standing there, cell phone pressed to her ear, with one pissed off look on her face.
“We need to talk,” she demanded as she walked past him into the house. He groaned and shut the door. Worst morning ever, he thought.
“What about?” He feigned ignorance only because he didn’t know what else to do.
“You slept with Amelia!” she yelled at him. He wanted to slam his head off of something.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“Don’t fucking lie to me!” she shouted. Just as she yelled, she threw something at him. He only had enough time to duck. When he turned around, he saw it was her phone that had been aimed right at his head.
“What the fuck, Ileana?!” he called out. He knew he didn’t have any right to be mad at her right now, but she’d thrown a fucking phone at his head.
“Just tell me the truth for once!” He stayed silent, which was enough proof for Ileana. She let out a scream he didn’t think a human could possibly make. He managed to duck in time to avoid the wallet that was thrown at him next.
“Okay, fine. I slept with Amelia. I’m sorry!” he confessed. She screamed again. This time the makeup compact hit him in the chest. No ducking that one.
“You couldn’t even tell me! You let me find out on fucking TMZ!” Okay, not his smartest play ever. He should have realized that the first thing she did upon waking up was check that website.
“I’m sorry!” he apologized again. She didn’t throw anything this time. Instead she walked up to him and slapped him across the face. He’d seen it coming.
“You were really going to leave me for her?” she asked. Her voice was quiet this time. He’d hardly heard her. Jesus, he felt like shit right now.
“Ileana-“ He couldn’t finish. He didn’t know what to say.
“You didn’t though,” she said. He froze in his tracks. Had her voice just become less angry?
“No,” he said cautiously. He really didn’t want anything else to get thrown at him.
“So you chose me.” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was she forgiving him? And what the hell did he do now? He needed to just tell her. As he was finding the words to end things she flew into his arms. “I knew you loved me!” Shit.
He hugged her back simply because he didn’t know what else to do. It’s not like he’d ever been in this situation before. He didn’t love Ileana and he knew it. Even so, it was hard for him to leave her right now. First her grandmother, who he knew she was close to, was dying. Now she’d found out he’d cheated on her with his ex. Even so, she’d decided to forgive him for God knows what reason. He was in deep.
“We’re not okay, but eventually we will be,” she told him when she pulled away. He just stood there speechless. She took that as meaning that things were going to be okay between them. “I have some things I need to get done. I’ll come back over later. Things definitely need to be discussed.”
He just nodded. She kissed him quickly before collecting the stuff she’d thrown and walking out the door. She called out a goodbye over her shoulder and shut the door. He fell back on the couch with his head spinning. He’d never understand women.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay?” I said into the phone to my publicist. Unfortunately I hadn’t been very intelligent the day before. My outburst towards Corey was all over the internet, and probably the television soon enough.
“I get that, but we need to figure out how we’re going to spin this,” Zane said. Brianna was also in on the conference call.
“Maybe you should just say that you two know each other from home, not mention the dating, and say that the conversation was completely out of context,” she suggested. Both Zane and I groaned. That was totally not going to work.
“I don’t know. All I know is the guy I’ve been in love with since I was 16 years old is still fucking someone else,” I spat into the receiver. There was no response for a minute.
“We could say that you two have been friends for a while and he came to you for advice. You got mad at him for some kind of indiscretion,” Zane offered up. Again, I was less than impressed.
“Is that seriously all you can come up with?” I yelled into the phone.
There was silence for a few minutes as the three of us tried to think of any sort of excuse that could play that whole situation in my favor. I’d made a mistake. A big one. I really needed to have stayed calm and not done that in front of people that were going to report it, but I’d been stupid and too caught up in my emotions to care.
“Can you think of anything?” Zane asked. I’d had it with this phone conversation.
“Hey, publicity is what you are trained to deal with. This is your job, not mine. Do it,” I snapped. I hung up the phone as soon as I’d said it.
I fell back onto my bed. I felt like an idiot. What the hell had I been thinking? Not once, not ever, had I felt the need to do anything like that in a public setting. Even so, yesterday afternoon had been different. There was no stopping me then. I guess I was just a product of my emotions, just like everyone else. It was also not something I could necessarily afford since I was in the public eye.
My phone rang a few more times, but I ignored it. I didn’t even bother to see who was calling. The last thing I needed was a lecture of any sort from Zane or Brianna. I eventually just turned my phone off, not interested in anything anyone had to say. When my doorbell rang a little bit later I fully expected to see one of the two of them standing there.
“What the hell do you want?” I asked in shock when I saw Ileana standing in front of me on my doorstep.
“I think we need to talk,” she said simply. I shook my head and began to shut the door in her face. She stopped the door with her foot. I looked at her in surprise.
“I’m not in the mood to talk,” I told her.
“Well, too bad. I am.” I glared at her, and she stared right back at me. This was it. We were about to have it out.
“Then say what you have to say and get the hell off my property.” I was over pretending that I liked her.
“Corey told me you two slept together. I was pissed. I threw things at him. Then I realized something. He’s still with me.”
“Yeah? How long do you think that’s going to last? I’m not going anywhere,” I returned. She smirked at me.
“All I need to know is that he came home to me. He’s not here with you, comforting you over this whole thing. Instead he let me into his house and comforted me. Have you talked to him since this all happened?” I wanted to smack the grin off her face. Even so, she had me there.
“It’s kind of hard to talk to someone you’re not speaking to,” I retorted. It was lame, and I knew it. I was still in shock that she’d shown up at my door.
“Right, I’m sure that’s why. I just came here to tell you to stay the fuck away from my boyfriend. You blew your chance. You left him. You disappeared out of his life. He moved on and he chose me. Learn how to deal and get over it.”
I stared at her in complete contempt. It took every ounce of strength to not punch her. God, I wanted to. She gave me another one of her stupid grins before turning to walk back to her car. That was when I noticed Brianna getting out of her car and looking back and forth between the two of us.
“When was the last time Corey told you he loved you?” I called after her. I saw her body stiffen as she froze in her tracks. I hit a nerve and knew it. She turned to look back at me.
“And how is that any of your business?” she called back with her hand on her door handle. I shrugged.
“I guess it’s not.” I paused and watched her open the car door. “It only took Corey four months into our relationship to tell me he loved me. How long did it take him to tell you?”
It was a cheap shot and I knew it. Corey had told me he’d never told Ileana that he loved her. Ileana glared at me but didn’t say anything. Despite the lack of response, or maybe because of it, I knew that I’d won this battle. She gave me one last dirty look before getting back in her car. I watched her car pull out of the driveway with a smile on my face. Even though I was more than pissed off at Corey for everything, this had become war.
“Was that last comment really necessary, Lia?” Brianna asked walking up to me.
“Hey, she came here. I didn’t seek her out. She deserved every word of it.”
“You’re trying to steal her boyfriend,” she reminded me. I rolled my eyes at her and closed the door behind us.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Chapter 22
About a week had passed since Jordan and I had ended our relationship. It had become public knowledge now and everyone wanted to ask me about it. Thankfully it hadn’t been a bitter or angry break up so it was more annoying than painful to answer the questions. Seriously, how many times can you reiterate that it was an amicable breakup to people?
I also hadn’t heard anything from Corey about his talk with Ileana. She was supposed to be home the day after Jordan was so I couldn’t figure out what was going on. He’d said he was going to end things with her. Why wasn’t he calling me to tell me that he had? I didn’t have a good feeling about the whole thing.
I was tempted to call him and ask him, but I was scared. What if I called and he hadn’t done it? I decided just to wait until he called me, because then I would know that it was over between them. At least I hoped so. It was another couple of days before he finally did call.
“Are you free for lunch tomorrow?” he asked. I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face.
“I am. What did you have in mind?”
He gave me a place and a time and I couldn’t contain myself for the rest of the night. This was it. We would finally be able to be together without any problems. I put a lot more effort into getting ready than I had in a long time. I wanted to look good for our first day back together. When it was time I got in my car and drove to the restaurant. I got there first and had to wait for Corey to meet me after practice.
“Hey!” I called jumping up from my seat when I saw him. I hugged him and gave him a quick kiss before sitting back down.
“How is everything?” he asked as he sat down across from me.
“Good. Great. Fantastic,” I gushed, grinning ear to ear. He smiled back at me. The waitress came over and took our orders a minute later. “It was much easier with Jordan than I expected it to be.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked as he took a sip of his water.
“Jordan actually was thinking the same thing. He’s the one that brought it up.” Corey looked surprised.
“He wanted to break up with you?” he asked. I nodded.
I told Corey about the conversation that we had. He didn’t talk much, or interject a whole lot while I was talking. I figured it was because I was just so happy that I couldn’t make myself shut up. What I didn’t fail to notice by the time our food got there was that he hadn’t mentioned ending things with Ileana yet. I wondered if he’d had a really bad experience doing that.
“You haven’t told me how it went with Ileana,” I finally pushed when we were almost done with lunch. He sighed and took a drink of his water.
“That’s why I asked you to lunch.” I felt my heart stop for a minute. What the hell was going on? “Things with Ileana are complicated.”
“What do you mean, they’re complicated?” I asked, my voice rising a little.
“Her grandmother’s dying.”
I wasn’t sure how to take that. On one hand I felt terrible for her. I knew what it was like to lose a family member and as much as I disliked Ileana, I’d never wish for anyone to go through that. On the other hand I was wondering what the hell that had to do with Corey breaking up with her.
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but what does that have to do with this?” I asked.
“Meels, I can’t break up with someone who has a family member dying.” My eyes widened and I sucked in a breath. He hadn’t ended things with her.
“So, what, you’re still dating?” I spat at him.
“What do you want me to do?” I saw a glimmer of something in his eyes. I couldn’t figure out what it was. He looked guilty. Well, he should.
“Corey, it’s been over a week since we agreed to do this and you’re just telling me now?!” I yelled. I noticed a few tables turn their attention to us, but right now I didn’t care. I was angry.
“We had games, and Ileana’s been around a lot and I just didn’t have time.” They were excuses. I struggled to think of something to say when realization hit me. I knew what that look in his eyes was.
“You slept with her!” I screamed out. A hush fell over the restaurant as I saw the look on Corey’s face. He looked busted.
“Amelia, this is not the place,” he started. I didn’t want to hear it.
“Fuck you, Corey! You brought me here.”
I got up from my seat and grabbed my purse. Without another word I turned and walked out of the restaurant. Let him pay the whole bill. It’s not like he couldn’t afford it. I was seething when I got outside. I could see some members of the paparazzi standing outside waiting for me. I handed my ticket to the valet and waited for my car to come around while ignoring the questions being shouted at me.
“Amelia, let’s go somewhere and talk,” I heard Corey say as he walked out next to me. I spun around on him.
“I have nothing to say to you right now.” He sighed as I glared at him.
“Yes, you do. I’ll just follow you home and we’ll talk about this.”
“Right, sounds good. Come on over, Corey. You can pretend that you want to talk to me, but we both know it’ll be about five minutes before you’re trying to get me in bed!” I yelled. Cameras were flashing and video was rolling. Right now I didn’t care.
“Amelia, come on,” Corey said looking nervously at the paparazzi who were recording the whole exchange.
“Don’t tell me to come on! You slept with Ileana!” I screamed.
“She’s my girlfriend!” he yelled back. I saw my car being pulled up.
“One you were supposed to be breaking up with for me! What the hell is wrong with you? You’re a fucking liar. You sat there and told me that you loved me. I left Jordan for you!”
“You said you were ending things with him anyway. You said he wanted to do the same!” Corey yelled incredulously.
“That’s not the point. The point is you lied to me. You’re an asshole. I don’t want to see or talk to you ever again.”
I ripped the car keys out of the valet’s hand and threw some money at him. Then I got in my car and tore away from the restaurant nearly running over a few members of the paparazzi on the way. They would have deserved it.
Fuck. Shit. That was all Corey could think when he’d finally come clean to Amelia. He couldn’t remember her ever being that angry at him before. He was shocked when she started yelling at him. Even so, he knew he deserved it.
Fuck. Shit. That was what he thought when she continued to yell at him outside while those tabloid leeches recorded and snapped photos of them. He was in deep shit with both Amelia and Ileana and it was now public knowledge.
He ignored the questions directed towards him as he got into his car and drove away. He debated whether he should go after Amelia or not. His decision was to just go home. She’d never yelled at him like that before. And to think, he’d been scared of Ileana. Ileana’s anger didn’t even touch the venom coming from Amelia.
He pulled up to his house and groaned when he saw Ileana’s car in the driveway. This was really not the time. He thought about driving right past so he wouldn’t have to deal with her until he saw her getting out of her car and waving at him. Fuck. Shit.
“Hey, Hun!” she called when he got out of the car. He grimaced when she kissed him. “You’re home later than normal. Where’d you go?”
“Lunch,” he replied walking past her and into the house. She followed him in.
“You should have called me. I would have gone with you.”
“Too late.” He sat down on the couch and rubbed at his temple where a headache was forming.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked. Everything.
“I’m not feeling great. I have a headache.”
“Aw, anything I can do for you?”
“Leave.”
“Excuse me?” She sounded shocked, angry, and disappointed. He didn’t care right now. He needed to figure things out.
“I’m going to take a nap. You should probably go.”
She glared at him, but stood up. Without a word he watched her walk out the front door. He got up too and went to his bedroom. He stripped down to his boxers and fell into bed. He wondered how long it would take Hollywood gossip queen Ileana to find out about his lunch.
I also hadn’t heard anything from Corey about his talk with Ileana. She was supposed to be home the day after Jordan was so I couldn’t figure out what was going on. He’d said he was going to end things with her. Why wasn’t he calling me to tell me that he had? I didn’t have a good feeling about the whole thing.
I was tempted to call him and ask him, but I was scared. What if I called and he hadn’t done it? I decided just to wait until he called me, because then I would know that it was over between them. At least I hoped so. It was another couple of days before he finally did call.
“Are you free for lunch tomorrow?” he asked. I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face.
“I am. What did you have in mind?”
He gave me a place and a time and I couldn’t contain myself for the rest of the night. This was it. We would finally be able to be together without any problems. I put a lot more effort into getting ready than I had in a long time. I wanted to look good for our first day back together. When it was time I got in my car and drove to the restaurant. I got there first and had to wait for Corey to meet me after practice.
“Hey!” I called jumping up from my seat when I saw him. I hugged him and gave him a quick kiss before sitting back down.
“How is everything?” he asked as he sat down across from me.
“Good. Great. Fantastic,” I gushed, grinning ear to ear. He smiled back at me. The waitress came over and took our orders a minute later. “It was much easier with Jordan than I expected it to be.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked as he took a sip of his water.
“Jordan actually was thinking the same thing. He’s the one that brought it up.” Corey looked surprised.
“He wanted to break up with you?” he asked. I nodded.
I told Corey about the conversation that we had. He didn’t talk much, or interject a whole lot while I was talking. I figured it was because I was just so happy that I couldn’t make myself shut up. What I didn’t fail to notice by the time our food got there was that he hadn’t mentioned ending things with Ileana yet. I wondered if he’d had a really bad experience doing that.
“You haven’t told me how it went with Ileana,” I finally pushed when we were almost done with lunch. He sighed and took a drink of his water.
“That’s why I asked you to lunch.” I felt my heart stop for a minute. What the hell was going on? “Things with Ileana are complicated.”
“What do you mean, they’re complicated?” I asked, my voice rising a little.
“Her grandmother’s dying.”
I wasn’t sure how to take that. On one hand I felt terrible for her. I knew what it was like to lose a family member and as much as I disliked Ileana, I’d never wish for anyone to go through that. On the other hand I was wondering what the hell that had to do with Corey breaking up with her.
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but what does that have to do with this?” I asked.
“Meels, I can’t break up with someone who has a family member dying.” My eyes widened and I sucked in a breath. He hadn’t ended things with her.
“So, what, you’re still dating?” I spat at him.
“What do you want me to do?” I saw a glimmer of something in his eyes. I couldn’t figure out what it was. He looked guilty. Well, he should.
“Corey, it’s been over a week since we agreed to do this and you’re just telling me now?!” I yelled. I noticed a few tables turn their attention to us, but right now I didn’t care. I was angry.
“We had games, and Ileana’s been around a lot and I just didn’t have time.” They were excuses. I struggled to think of something to say when realization hit me. I knew what that look in his eyes was.
“You slept with her!” I screamed out. A hush fell over the restaurant as I saw the look on Corey’s face. He looked busted.
“Amelia, this is not the place,” he started. I didn’t want to hear it.
“Fuck you, Corey! You brought me here.”
I got up from my seat and grabbed my purse. Without another word I turned and walked out of the restaurant. Let him pay the whole bill. It’s not like he couldn’t afford it. I was seething when I got outside. I could see some members of the paparazzi standing outside waiting for me. I handed my ticket to the valet and waited for my car to come around while ignoring the questions being shouted at me.
“Amelia, let’s go somewhere and talk,” I heard Corey say as he walked out next to me. I spun around on him.
“I have nothing to say to you right now.” He sighed as I glared at him.
“Yes, you do. I’ll just follow you home and we’ll talk about this.”
“Right, sounds good. Come on over, Corey. You can pretend that you want to talk to me, but we both know it’ll be about five minutes before you’re trying to get me in bed!” I yelled. Cameras were flashing and video was rolling. Right now I didn’t care.
“Amelia, come on,” Corey said looking nervously at the paparazzi who were recording the whole exchange.
“Don’t tell me to come on! You slept with Ileana!” I screamed.
“She’s my girlfriend!” he yelled back. I saw my car being pulled up.
“One you were supposed to be breaking up with for me! What the hell is wrong with you? You’re a fucking liar. You sat there and told me that you loved me. I left Jordan for you!”
“You said you were ending things with him anyway. You said he wanted to do the same!” Corey yelled incredulously.
“That’s not the point. The point is you lied to me. You’re an asshole. I don’t want to see or talk to you ever again.”
I ripped the car keys out of the valet’s hand and threw some money at him. Then I got in my car and tore away from the restaurant nearly running over a few members of the paparazzi on the way. They would have deserved it.
Fuck. Shit. That was all Corey could think when he’d finally come clean to Amelia. He couldn’t remember her ever being that angry at him before. He was shocked when she started yelling at him. Even so, he knew he deserved it.
Fuck. Shit. That was what he thought when she continued to yell at him outside while those tabloid leeches recorded and snapped photos of them. He was in deep shit with both Amelia and Ileana and it was now public knowledge.
He ignored the questions directed towards him as he got into his car and drove away. He debated whether he should go after Amelia or not. His decision was to just go home. She’d never yelled at him like that before. And to think, he’d been scared of Ileana. Ileana’s anger didn’t even touch the venom coming from Amelia.
He pulled up to his house and groaned when he saw Ileana’s car in the driveway. This was really not the time. He thought about driving right past so he wouldn’t have to deal with her until he saw her getting out of her car and waving at him. Fuck. Shit.
“Hey, Hun!” she called when he got out of the car. He grimaced when she kissed him. “You’re home later than normal. Where’d you go?”
“Lunch,” he replied walking past her and into the house. She followed him in.
“You should have called me. I would have gone with you.”
“Too late.” He sat down on the couch and rubbed at his temple where a headache was forming.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked. Everything.
“I’m not feeling great. I have a headache.”
“Aw, anything I can do for you?”
“Leave.”
“Excuse me?” She sounded shocked, angry, and disappointed. He didn’t care right now. He needed to figure things out.
“I’m going to take a nap. You should probably go.”
She glared at him, but stood up. Without a word he watched her walk out the front door. He got up too and went to his bedroom. He stripped down to his boxers and fell into bed. He wondered how long it would take Hollywood gossip queen Ileana to find out about his lunch.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Chapter 21
I paced around my house nervously. Jordan was going to be over in a little while. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was nervous about. I just knew that I was nervous. I’d never broken up with anyone before. Sure, I’d left Corey, but I hadn’t really broken up with him. I’d disappeared instead. There was a knock on the door and I opened it to see Jordan standing on the other side.
“Hey, Hun,” he said throwing his arms around me. I hugged him back.
“How was your trip?” I asked him after a kiss. I closed the door as he made his way into the house.
“It was fine. The usual. How has everything been here?” Hm, where to start.
“Kind of crazy,” I told him. Hey, I wasn’t lying.
“That’s what happens after filming a pretty major movie.”
There was a kind of awkward pause between us after that. I was struggling to think of how to breach the topic. Even as I did so I could tell that something was a little off with Jordan as well. Something was definitely up with him too.
“Can I ask you something?” he finally asked, breaking the silence.
“Sure, what’s up?” He cleared his throat before saying anything.
“How do you see things going between us?”
I jerked my head up in surprise. I hadn’t seen that question coming. I paused for a minute trying to figure out what he meant by asking that. Was he trying to elevate the relationship or did he want to break up too? I decided that honesty was definitely the best policy in this case.
“Truthfully, I kind of see us as being more friends than anything,” I told him. He let out a deep breath.
“You have no idea how happy I am to hear that.” I smiled at his response. In any other situation I probably would have been offended, but not this time.
“You feel the same way,” I said. It wasn’t a question. He nodded.
“Things have just been so hectic. You filmed a movie and weren’t around. Now I’m filming and won’t be around. I don’t know when it happened, but at some point we reverted into just being friends.”
“I completely agree.”
There were no hard feelings. I wasn’t in love with Jordan, and he wasn’t in love with me. I also didn’t hold any grudges or regret anything that happened between us. There had never been a major fight and we weren’t fighting now. Those were really signs that we were truly only meant to be friends.
“Well, I promised you a nice dinner when I got home. Still up for it?” Jordan asked. I smiled and laughed.
“Definitely.”
“I’ll pick you up at 7.”
He stood up and gave me a hug before heading to the door. He turned back one last time and smiled at me before leaving. When he was gone I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I don’t know what people were so nervous about. Breakups weren’t that hard.
I thought about calling Corey right away and telling him, but when I looked at the clock I realized that wouldn’t be a good idea. It was the middle of the afternoon and it was a game day for him. While I didn’t know for sure, I figured his game day routine was still relatively similar to what it had been in London. That meant he’d kill me if I called and woke him up from his nap right now.
Instead I called Brianna and told her the news. Even she sounded a little relieved to hear it. When I got off the phone with her I decided to go for a run. I’d skipped my normal workout that morning because of my nerves and now I felt guilty. I changed and grabbed my iPod before heading outside.
Almost an hour later I was back at the house showering and getting ready for dinner with Jordan. It was a little strange to be getting ready to go to dinner with him as just a friend. When he picked me up he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek. It wasn’t any different than when we’d been together.
We sat down to dinner and there was never a lull in the conversation. Before when we’d been dating there had always been pauses. Now it was just one flowing conversation. I couldn’t explain it and neither could he. We talked about his prep work for the film and about the interviews and photo shoots I’d been doing. I’m sure to anyone in the restaurant it looked like we were still together.
When he dropped me off he gave me another kiss on the cheek and said he’d call to catch up soon. Based on how dinner had gone, I believed him. I even hoped that he would. We’d always been close, and I didn’t want to lose that just because we weren’t together anymore.
I changed into pajamas and checked the score of the game. I smiled when I saw that the Ducks had won. I wondered if I should call Corey but then remembered Ileana was going to be home tomorrow. I decided to just leave him alone for the night. He’d call me later when he’d finished talking to her. I got into bed and fell asleep with a smile on my face.
Corey groaned when his alarm went off the next morning. He was dreading today. It hadn’t been easy talking to Ileana the last couple of days on the phone knowing that he was ending things with her when she came home. It especially wasn’t easy knowing she was probably going to throw something at him when he did.
He finally pulled himself out of bed and grabbed some breakfast before heading to the rink. He went through his usual routine before practice. He was a little distracted on the ice. He played it off to the guys like he was just tired from the night before. For whatever reason he just didn’t want anyone to know about what he was doing until it was done.
He passed on offers from some of the guys for lunch, choosing instead to just go home. He needed to think about what he was going to say to Ileana and how he was going to say it. They’d been together for about a year at this point. He felt he owed it to her to not be an asshole about the whole thing.
He turned his phone on and saw he had a voicemail. For a second he wondered if it was Amelia. Jordan was supposed to be back yesterday. He wondered if Amelia had talked to him yet and if so, how she’d gotten through it all. He was tempted to call her and check, but decided to just worry about himself right now. He clenched his teeth when he heard Ileana’s voice in his voicemail.
“Hey, sweetie. I just landed and I’m back in town. Can you come over as soon as you get out of practice? I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever. Love you!”
He cringed at the last couple of words. She always said that to him. He’d never said it back. Did that make him an asshole? He didn’t think so. It’d be worse if he lied to her and did say it, right? He’d gotten around it by saying “you too” or something along those lines. Okay, maybe he was a bit of an asshole. Nothing he could do about it now.
He took a deep breath before starting up his car. When he did he decided it was best to just head over to Ileana’s like she wanted. The longer he put it off, the more he was going to psyche himself out. He pulled up and got out of the car. He’d hardly knocked on the door when it was pulled open. She flew into his arms with a squeal and he felt bad all over again.
“Thanks for coming right away,” she said as she followed him into the living room. He just smiled and nodded. He wasn’t good at this whole pretending thing.
“How was your flight?” he asked, trying to be polite. It was also just him trying to gain the courage to get this over with. He realized he was kind of scared of her.
“Ugh, it was awful. Turbulence the whole time. I thought I was going to be sick,” she complained as she fell down next to him on the couch.
“I’m sorry,” was all he could manage to say. She just shrugged.
“How was practice?” she asked.
“It was practice.” God, he felt like someone had cranked the heat up to 150. Come on, Corey, just get it over with.
“I need to talk to you about something,” they said in unison. He looked at her in surprise. She gave him the same expression back.
“You go first,” he insisted. Hey, maybe she was going to break up with him. Wouldn’t that make things easier?
“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “My grandmother’s dying. I’m going to be in and out of town for the next little bit. They don’t know how much time she has left.”
He felt awful. He felt guilty. Was this really happening? He couldn’t break up with someone who had a family member dying. He realized she was looking at him strangely when he didn’t respond.
“I’m really sorry, Ileana,” he said. He couldn’t even form words right now. All he could think was that Amelia was going to kill him.
“The doctors said it could be weeks or it could be months. They’re just kind of taking the wait and see approach. Basically all they can do now is try to make her as comfortable as possible.” He nodded because he didn’t know what else to say.
“I’m so sorry,” he said again, lamely, a few minutes later. She curled up on him, laying her head on his shoulder.
“I know what you can do to make me feel better,” she whispered in his ear.
He squeezed his eyes shut. This was not happening, he told himself. Sure enough, when he opened his eyes she was giving him that look. He knew what that look meant. He should tell her no. He couldn’t do that to Amelia. It was bad enough that he’d decided he couldn’t end things with Ileana because of the situation with her grandmother. He couldn’t sleep with her too.
Of course, how was he supposed to stay with Ileana and not sleep with her? He seriously wished that he’d be struck by lightning, or that something, anything, would happen to him right now. Ileana grabbed his chin and forced him to turn towards her. She kissed him and he wished that Amelia would somehow find a way to understand as he kissed Ileana back.
“Hey, Hun,” he said throwing his arms around me. I hugged him back.
“How was your trip?” I asked him after a kiss. I closed the door as he made his way into the house.
“It was fine. The usual. How has everything been here?” Hm, where to start.
“Kind of crazy,” I told him. Hey, I wasn’t lying.
“That’s what happens after filming a pretty major movie.”
There was a kind of awkward pause between us after that. I was struggling to think of how to breach the topic. Even as I did so I could tell that something was a little off with Jordan as well. Something was definitely up with him too.
“Can I ask you something?” he finally asked, breaking the silence.
“Sure, what’s up?” He cleared his throat before saying anything.
“How do you see things going between us?”
I jerked my head up in surprise. I hadn’t seen that question coming. I paused for a minute trying to figure out what he meant by asking that. Was he trying to elevate the relationship or did he want to break up too? I decided that honesty was definitely the best policy in this case.
“Truthfully, I kind of see us as being more friends than anything,” I told him. He let out a deep breath.
“You have no idea how happy I am to hear that.” I smiled at his response. In any other situation I probably would have been offended, but not this time.
“You feel the same way,” I said. It wasn’t a question. He nodded.
“Things have just been so hectic. You filmed a movie and weren’t around. Now I’m filming and won’t be around. I don’t know when it happened, but at some point we reverted into just being friends.”
“I completely agree.”
There were no hard feelings. I wasn’t in love with Jordan, and he wasn’t in love with me. I also didn’t hold any grudges or regret anything that happened between us. There had never been a major fight and we weren’t fighting now. Those were really signs that we were truly only meant to be friends.
“Well, I promised you a nice dinner when I got home. Still up for it?” Jordan asked. I smiled and laughed.
“Definitely.”
“I’ll pick you up at 7.”
He stood up and gave me a hug before heading to the door. He turned back one last time and smiled at me before leaving. When he was gone I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I don’t know what people were so nervous about. Breakups weren’t that hard.
I thought about calling Corey right away and telling him, but when I looked at the clock I realized that wouldn’t be a good idea. It was the middle of the afternoon and it was a game day for him. While I didn’t know for sure, I figured his game day routine was still relatively similar to what it had been in London. That meant he’d kill me if I called and woke him up from his nap right now.
Instead I called Brianna and told her the news. Even she sounded a little relieved to hear it. When I got off the phone with her I decided to go for a run. I’d skipped my normal workout that morning because of my nerves and now I felt guilty. I changed and grabbed my iPod before heading outside.
Almost an hour later I was back at the house showering and getting ready for dinner with Jordan. It was a little strange to be getting ready to go to dinner with him as just a friend. When he picked me up he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek. It wasn’t any different than when we’d been together.
We sat down to dinner and there was never a lull in the conversation. Before when we’d been dating there had always been pauses. Now it was just one flowing conversation. I couldn’t explain it and neither could he. We talked about his prep work for the film and about the interviews and photo shoots I’d been doing. I’m sure to anyone in the restaurant it looked like we were still together.
When he dropped me off he gave me another kiss on the cheek and said he’d call to catch up soon. Based on how dinner had gone, I believed him. I even hoped that he would. We’d always been close, and I didn’t want to lose that just because we weren’t together anymore.
I changed into pajamas and checked the score of the game. I smiled when I saw that the Ducks had won. I wondered if I should call Corey but then remembered Ileana was going to be home tomorrow. I decided to just leave him alone for the night. He’d call me later when he’d finished talking to her. I got into bed and fell asleep with a smile on my face.
Corey groaned when his alarm went off the next morning. He was dreading today. It hadn’t been easy talking to Ileana the last couple of days on the phone knowing that he was ending things with her when she came home. It especially wasn’t easy knowing she was probably going to throw something at him when he did.
He finally pulled himself out of bed and grabbed some breakfast before heading to the rink. He went through his usual routine before practice. He was a little distracted on the ice. He played it off to the guys like he was just tired from the night before. For whatever reason he just didn’t want anyone to know about what he was doing until it was done.
He passed on offers from some of the guys for lunch, choosing instead to just go home. He needed to think about what he was going to say to Ileana and how he was going to say it. They’d been together for about a year at this point. He felt he owed it to her to not be an asshole about the whole thing.
He turned his phone on and saw he had a voicemail. For a second he wondered if it was Amelia. Jordan was supposed to be back yesterday. He wondered if Amelia had talked to him yet and if so, how she’d gotten through it all. He was tempted to call her and check, but decided to just worry about himself right now. He clenched his teeth when he heard Ileana’s voice in his voicemail.
“Hey, sweetie. I just landed and I’m back in town. Can you come over as soon as you get out of practice? I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever. Love you!”
He cringed at the last couple of words. She always said that to him. He’d never said it back. Did that make him an asshole? He didn’t think so. It’d be worse if he lied to her and did say it, right? He’d gotten around it by saying “you too” or something along those lines. Okay, maybe he was a bit of an asshole. Nothing he could do about it now.
He took a deep breath before starting up his car. When he did he decided it was best to just head over to Ileana’s like she wanted. The longer he put it off, the more he was going to psyche himself out. He pulled up and got out of the car. He’d hardly knocked on the door when it was pulled open. She flew into his arms with a squeal and he felt bad all over again.
“Thanks for coming right away,” she said as she followed him into the living room. He just smiled and nodded. He wasn’t good at this whole pretending thing.
“How was your flight?” he asked, trying to be polite. It was also just him trying to gain the courage to get this over with. He realized he was kind of scared of her.
“Ugh, it was awful. Turbulence the whole time. I thought I was going to be sick,” she complained as she fell down next to him on the couch.
“I’m sorry,” was all he could manage to say. She just shrugged.
“How was practice?” she asked.
“It was practice.” God, he felt like someone had cranked the heat up to 150. Come on, Corey, just get it over with.
“I need to talk to you about something,” they said in unison. He looked at her in surprise. She gave him the same expression back.
“You go first,” he insisted. Hey, maybe she was going to break up with him. Wouldn’t that make things easier?
“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “My grandmother’s dying. I’m going to be in and out of town for the next little bit. They don’t know how much time she has left.”
He felt awful. He felt guilty. Was this really happening? He couldn’t break up with someone who had a family member dying. He realized she was looking at him strangely when he didn’t respond.
“I’m really sorry, Ileana,” he said. He couldn’t even form words right now. All he could think was that Amelia was going to kill him.
“The doctors said it could be weeks or it could be months. They’re just kind of taking the wait and see approach. Basically all they can do now is try to make her as comfortable as possible.” He nodded because he didn’t know what else to say.
“I’m so sorry,” he said again, lamely, a few minutes later. She curled up on him, laying her head on his shoulder.
“I know what you can do to make me feel better,” she whispered in his ear.
He squeezed his eyes shut. This was not happening, he told himself. Sure enough, when he opened his eyes she was giving him that look. He knew what that look meant. He should tell her no. He couldn’t do that to Amelia. It was bad enough that he’d decided he couldn’t end things with Ileana because of the situation with her grandmother. He couldn’t sleep with her too.
Of course, how was he supposed to stay with Ileana and not sleep with her? He seriously wished that he’d be struck by lightning, or that something, anything, would happen to him right now. Ileana grabbed his chin and forced him to turn towards her. She kissed him and he wished that Amelia would somehow find a way to understand as he kissed Ileana back.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Chapter 20
I woke up with a pounding headache. I rolled over to look at the clock expecting it to be just before dawn based on how dark it was inside the room. I groaned when I saw that it read 9:30 pm. The day came back to me and I cursed myself for downing almost a full bottle of wine by myself in 20 minutes. I pulled myself out of the bed in Brianna’s guest room and made my way out to the living room. She looked up at me with a smile.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“I can’t say I’ve ever had a hangover at 9:30 at night before,” I told her. She laughed and I narrowed my eyes at her.
“There’s water in the fridge if you want,” she suggested. I made my way into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle. I chugged half of it in one gulp. The other half quickly followed. I grabbed another one and made my way back into the living room.
“Sorry I took down that bottle earlier,” I apologized. She shrugged.
“It wasn’t one of my better ones, thankfully,” she replied. We watched TV together for a bit before I decided to head home and sleep off the hangover.
The next day I woke up to my alarm and another interview. Thankfully I felt much better as I got out of bed and didn’t need to take any Tylenol like I was worried I might. We did the interview over lunch and I cringed every time the journalist took a sip of her glass of wine. I was going to be avoiding alcohol, and especially wine, for a while now.
When the interview was over I made my way across town for some promotional stuff. I somehow managed to make it through the day without thinking about Corey or what I was going to do about him. All I knew was that we needed to talk and figure something out. I went home when I was done, grabbing a salad with grilled chicken on the way.
When I was done eating I jumped onto the treadmill and began to run. As I ran I thought about how to approach Corey and what to say to him. Should I just come out and tell him that I still love him, or should I wait to see what he says? Did I want to end things with Jordan to give it another try with Corey? Would Corey even take me back?
I got off the treadmill nowhere near closer to a solution. I hopped in the shower and let the hot water rinse away any and all thoughts from my brain. Feeling much more relaxed after a workout and a shower I put on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt. I thought about vegging out in front of the TV but decided on something else.
I pulled up in front of Corey’s, not even sure if he was there. I took a deep breath before gathering up the courage to get out of the car. I figured it was best to get this talk over with. I wondered how Corey would respond to what I had to say. Just as I was about to knock on his door it flew open and he nearly ran into me as he started to walk out.
Corey went home after lunch with Getzy and thought about what he should do. No matter what the outcome was, he knew that he and Amelia needed to talk. He waited until after practice the next day to do anything about it. He picked up his phone to call her, but remembered that she had said that she had interviews and promos all week. She probably wouldn’t even be able to answer right now.
Instead he popped in a video game and focused on that for a few hours. It was nice to do something brainless for a while and not have to think about how complicated things were right now. When he tired of the game he turned it off and grabbed his car keys. He got into his car and started to drive towards Amelia’s.
He decided just showing up probably wasn’t the best idea and drove back home. About 20 minutes later he was back in his car on the way to her house again. This is how most of his evening went. He kept getting into the car only to turn around and go back home. On the last time he actually stopped and picked up some food for dinner.
He sat at his island eating the take out order and debating what to do. As he finished the meal he decided to just get in his car and go to Amelia’s. The worst case scenario would be that she was home and she’d tell him to get lost. At least then he’d know, right? He grabbed his car keys and walked out his front door. He nearly ran into someone standing in front of it.
“Jesus Christ!” he heard a voice yell. He jumped back as well. When he looked he saw Amelia standing there with a hand over her heart. “You scared the shit out of me!’
“Ditto,” he responded catching his breath. He stepped back through the door and held it open for Amelia. She followed him in. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh boy. Cor, we need to talk. Seriously this time,” she said. He nodded and sat down on his couch. She chose the chair as far away from him as possible.
“I was actually on my way to go see you for the same reason,” he told her.
“What did you want to talk about?” she asked. He paused and tried to think of how to start.
“You drove here. You start,” he said. He was pussying out and he knew it. She sighed.
“That’s not fair. I asked you first.” Fuck, were they going to argue over who should talk first?
“I told Ryan about what’s been happening,” he said. Amelia’s head jerked up. There was a momentary flash of anger in her eyes, but it faded quickly.
“I told Brianna,” she told him. They both sat there in silence for a few minutes. He finally decided to just get it going.
“I’m not over you. I never was.” There, it was out. Sort of, anyway. He stopped short of telling her he’d fallen in love with her all over again in case she didn’t feel the same way.
“I’m still in love with you too,” she replied. He let out a breath he hadn’t even known he was holding.
“So what do we do?” he asked her. She shrugged.
“Well, whatever we decide, I’m ending things with Jordan.” She lifted her feet off the floor and curled them underneath her in the chair. He could never figure out how she was comfortable when she was contorted like that.
“Meels, there are really only two options in my mind right now. Either we give this another shot or we can’t be around each other. I know we’ve said that before, but seriously this time,” he said. She nodded.
“I agree. So which is it, Cor? Who do you love more?” she asked. The answer to that was a no brainer.
“I’ve never loved Ileana,” he responded. He saw tears fill Amelia’s eyes and her mouth twitch. He’d seen that before. She wanted to smile, but was holding it back.
“Does that mean?” She didn’t dare finish the question. She wanted him to say it.
“I love you, Amelia. I don’t ever want to be away from you again,” he told her. She sprung out of the chair and ran into his arms, pressing her mouth on his.
A million and a half thoughts ran through my mind as I kissed Corey. He still loved me. He wanted to try this again. I knew this time it would be different. There wasn’t the possibility of achieving a dream hanging over us anymore. We were both where we’d always wanted to be, and now we could just focus on each other.
“We probably shouldn’t be doing this right now,” I whispered as I pulled away from Corey.
“Why not?” he asked, resting his forehead against mine.
“We’re technically still with other people,” I replied. He groaned and pulled back, but kept his arms wrapped around me, holding me on his lap.
“You’re right. We need to end things with them before we do anything else.”
“It’s the right thing to do,” I said. He nodded and released me. I got up off of his lap and settled into the couch next to him. “Jordan comes home in a couple of days. I don’t want to do this over the phone. I feel I should at least do it in person.”
“It’s the same with Ileana,” Corey responded. I nodded.
“Well, I’m going to go home. I don’t think I can stay here and keep my hands off of you,” I told him. He smiled up at me as I stood up.
“And I wouldn’t be able to keep mine off of you.” He stood up and walked me to the door. I turned and gave him one last kiss, because I couldn’t resist.
“I’m really busy until Jordan gets home. I’ll try to call, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to.”
“It’s okay. Do your best. Otherwise let me know when it’s done.” I smiled, turned and walked out the door and got into my car. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d ever been so happy.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“I can’t say I’ve ever had a hangover at 9:30 at night before,” I told her. She laughed and I narrowed my eyes at her.
“There’s water in the fridge if you want,” she suggested. I made my way into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle. I chugged half of it in one gulp. The other half quickly followed. I grabbed another one and made my way back into the living room.
“Sorry I took down that bottle earlier,” I apologized. She shrugged.
“It wasn’t one of my better ones, thankfully,” she replied. We watched TV together for a bit before I decided to head home and sleep off the hangover.
The next day I woke up to my alarm and another interview. Thankfully I felt much better as I got out of bed and didn’t need to take any Tylenol like I was worried I might. We did the interview over lunch and I cringed every time the journalist took a sip of her glass of wine. I was going to be avoiding alcohol, and especially wine, for a while now.
When the interview was over I made my way across town for some promotional stuff. I somehow managed to make it through the day without thinking about Corey or what I was going to do about him. All I knew was that we needed to talk and figure something out. I went home when I was done, grabbing a salad with grilled chicken on the way.
When I was done eating I jumped onto the treadmill and began to run. As I ran I thought about how to approach Corey and what to say to him. Should I just come out and tell him that I still love him, or should I wait to see what he says? Did I want to end things with Jordan to give it another try with Corey? Would Corey even take me back?
I got off the treadmill nowhere near closer to a solution. I hopped in the shower and let the hot water rinse away any and all thoughts from my brain. Feeling much more relaxed after a workout and a shower I put on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt. I thought about vegging out in front of the TV but decided on something else.
I pulled up in front of Corey’s, not even sure if he was there. I took a deep breath before gathering up the courage to get out of the car. I figured it was best to get this talk over with. I wondered how Corey would respond to what I had to say. Just as I was about to knock on his door it flew open and he nearly ran into me as he started to walk out.
Corey went home after lunch with Getzy and thought about what he should do. No matter what the outcome was, he knew that he and Amelia needed to talk. He waited until after practice the next day to do anything about it. He picked up his phone to call her, but remembered that she had said that she had interviews and promos all week. She probably wouldn’t even be able to answer right now.
Instead he popped in a video game and focused on that for a few hours. It was nice to do something brainless for a while and not have to think about how complicated things were right now. When he tired of the game he turned it off and grabbed his car keys. He got into his car and started to drive towards Amelia’s.
He decided just showing up probably wasn’t the best idea and drove back home. About 20 minutes later he was back in his car on the way to her house again. This is how most of his evening went. He kept getting into the car only to turn around and go back home. On the last time he actually stopped and picked up some food for dinner.
He sat at his island eating the take out order and debating what to do. As he finished the meal he decided to just get in his car and go to Amelia’s. The worst case scenario would be that she was home and she’d tell him to get lost. At least then he’d know, right? He grabbed his car keys and walked out his front door. He nearly ran into someone standing in front of it.
“Jesus Christ!” he heard a voice yell. He jumped back as well. When he looked he saw Amelia standing there with a hand over her heart. “You scared the shit out of me!’
“Ditto,” he responded catching his breath. He stepped back through the door and held it open for Amelia. She followed him in. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh boy. Cor, we need to talk. Seriously this time,” she said. He nodded and sat down on his couch. She chose the chair as far away from him as possible.
“I was actually on my way to go see you for the same reason,” he told her.
“What did you want to talk about?” she asked. He paused and tried to think of how to start.
“You drove here. You start,” he said. He was pussying out and he knew it. She sighed.
“That’s not fair. I asked you first.” Fuck, were they going to argue over who should talk first?
“I told Ryan about what’s been happening,” he said. Amelia’s head jerked up. There was a momentary flash of anger in her eyes, but it faded quickly.
“I told Brianna,” she told him. They both sat there in silence for a few minutes. He finally decided to just get it going.
“I’m not over you. I never was.” There, it was out. Sort of, anyway. He stopped short of telling her he’d fallen in love with her all over again in case she didn’t feel the same way.
“I’m still in love with you too,” she replied. He let out a breath he hadn’t even known he was holding.
“So what do we do?” he asked her. She shrugged.
“Well, whatever we decide, I’m ending things with Jordan.” She lifted her feet off the floor and curled them underneath her in the chair. He could never figure out how she was comfortable when she was contorted like that.
“Meels, there are really only two options in my mind right now. Either we give this another shot or we can’t be around each other. I know we’ve said that before, but seriously this time,” he said. She nodded.
“I agree. So which is it, Cor? Who do you love more?” she asked. The answer to that was a no brainer.
“I’ve never loved Ileana,” he responded. He saw tears fill Amelia’s eyes and her mouth twitch. He’d seen that before. She wanted to smile, but was holding it back.
“Does that mean?” She didn’t dare finish the question. She wanted him to say it.
“I love you, Amelia. I don’t ever want to be away from you again,” he told her. She sprung out of the chair and ran into his arms, pressing her mouth on his.
A million and a half thoughts ran through my mind as I kissed Corey. He still loved me. He wanted to try this again. I knew this time it would be different. There wasn’t the possibility of achieving a dream hanging over us anymore. We were both where we’d always wanted to be, and now we could just focus on each other.
“We probably shouldn’t be doing this right now,” I whispered as I pulled away from Corey.
“Why not?” he asked, resting his forehead against mine.
“We’re technically still with other people,” I replied. He groaned and pulled back, but kept his arms wrapped around me, holding me on his lap.
“You’re right. We need to end things with them before we do anything else.”
“It’s the right thing to do,” I said. He nodded and released me. I got up off of his lap and settled into the couch next to him. “Jordan comes home in a couple of days. I don’t want to do this over the phone. I feel I should at least do it in person.”
“It’s the same with Ileana,” Corey responded. I nodded.
“Well, I’m going to go home. I don’t think I can stay here and keep my hands off of you,” I told him. He smiled up at me as I stood up.
“And I wouldn’t be able to keep mine off of you.” He stood up and walked me to the door. I turned and gave him one last kiss, because I couldn’t resist.
“I’m really busy until Jordan gets home. I’ll try to call, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to.”
“It’s okay. Do your best. Otherwise let me know when it’s done.” I smiled, turned and walked out the door and got into my car. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d ever been so happy.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Chapter 19
I walked out of my interview and headed back to my car. I’d been distracted during my photo shoot and then the interview, which wasn’t good. I couldn’t stop hating myself. Now that I was out of the moment, I was regretting absolutely everything that went on between Corey and me. Last night I didn’t care. Today I was upset.
I began to drive towards home but changed my mind. Instead of getting off at the highway exit leading to my house, I got off at the next one and drove to Brianna’s. I was almost positive that she was there and was relieved when I saw her car in the driveway. I needed someone to talk to. Badly.
“How was the interview?” she asked when she pulled open the door. I tried to find words, but couldn’t. Instead I just started crying. “God, Amelia, what’s wrong? What happened?”
I still wasn’t sure how to tell her so I walked into her kitchen and opened a drawer. I pulled out the corkscrew and walked over to where she kept her wine. I grabbed a bottle without checking what it was and stuck the corkscrew in. Then I grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and poured almost overflowing glasses. I took an enormous sip before noticing that Brianna was just watching me.
“I’m an awful person,” I said through my tears.
“Sit down and tell me what’s going on,” she ordered taking her glass and sitting at the dining room table. I took another large gulp before starting.
“I think I’m still in love with Corey,” I choked out. She didn’t look surprised.
“Okay, there’s more to the story than this,” she said when I didn’t say anything else. I took another sip before continuing.
“I told him why I left him in Maine. I felt like I owed it to him. It made everything so complicated.” I paused and took a breath before finishing off my glass of wine. I avoided meeting Brianna’s eyes. “We kissed.” I wasn’t done, not even close but I needed to take steps, so I refilled my glass. I noticed that Brianna had only taken a sip or two of hers.
“So you kissed your ex that you’re still in love with. That doesn’t make you an awful person,” she assured me.
“No, but sleeping with him does,” I corrected her. I could tell she wasn’t expecting that. I rested my forehead on my arms. The tears were still coming and I couldn’t make them stop.
“When did this happen?” she questioned. I looked back up.
“Well, he kissed me about two weeks ago. Then the night you and Ryan fought he came over to apologize and it just sort of happened.” Her jaw dropped but she was quiet for a moment. I took the opportunity to finish off half of my second glass of the wine.
“Does Jordan know?” she asked quietly, as if he’d overhear us. I shook my head.
“No. I didn’t want to tell him because I thought it was just this big mistake that would never happen again,” I replied. She nodded in understanding.
“Well, you’ll just have to make sure that it doesn’t happen again then.” I made a face and took another drink. “Amelia…..it didn’t?”
“Last night,” I groaned as I covered my face with my hands. I looked up to see her shaking her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Yes you do,” she said. I looked up at her in confusion. “You already said you think you’re still in love with him.” I let out a deep breath and took another drink.
“What the hell am I going to do? Obviously I need to stay away from him, but I can’t just stop feeling, you know?” She shook her head at me again.
“Are you that dumb?”
“Excuse me?”
“Amelia, you’re in love with him. Just tell him. He obviously still has feelings for you too since you’re sleeping together.” I finished glass number two and poured a third. At this point I didn’t care anymore.
“Right, and what about Jordan and Ileana? It’s not like there aren’t other people involved. I need to take them into consideration,” I sighed.
Down went half of drink number three. Wine was not an easy drink to chug, but after gulping down two of them already, it got easier. Brianna made it all sound so simple, but it just wasn’t. Was it worth it to end things with Jordan and take the chance on Corey? Did I talk to Corey first and see if there were mutual feelings on the subject? And worst, what if he didn’t choose me over Ileana?
The last part made me finish my third glass while Brianna answered a phone call. I dumped what was left from the bottle into my glass. I knew that I needed to talk to Corey again, but I wasn’t convinced that a lot of talking would get done. All I knew was that I was still in love with him and I’d be crushed if he didn’t feel the same way.
“All I can tell you is to talk to Corey and see where he stands on all of this. And for fuck’s sake, don’t sleep with him again unless you break up with Jordan and Corey breaks up with Ileana!” There went glass number four.
“You’re not doing anything tonight, right? Because I definitely can’t drive right now,” I responded. She rolled her eyes at me and tossed me a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
Corey wondered what exactly he was going to do with this whole Amelia situation. He’d woken up this morning bummed about her not being in bed next to him yet it was hard to keep the smile off of his face when he thought of last night. As those thoughts entered his brain he let out a yell of pain when he felt something hit him.
“Perrs, wake the fuck up! I just asked if you wanted to take some shots before you got off!” Giguere yelled at him. He looked down and saw a puck lying at his feet.
“Jesus, Giggy, I didn’t hear you!” he yelled back rubbing the spot on his calf where the puck had hit.
“No shit,” he commented as he skated off the ice apparently no longer in the mood to take any shots.
“What’s your problem?” Getzy asked skating over.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Corey told him as he stepped off the ice.
“Bullshit you don’t. You were off in some other world all practice. I can’t play a game with you like this. Just fucking talk to me.” Corey sighed and knew that he really did need to get this all off his chest.
“I’ll tell you over lunch.”
Corey got out of his gear and showered. When he was dressed he met up with Ryan and they walked out of the locker room. They both stopped to sign a few autographs and take a few pictures before agreeing on a location and getting into their cars. When they were seated and had ordered Ryan began to stare at him waiting for him to say something. Corey didn’t know how to start.
“So, are you going to make me beg?” Ryan asked.
“I slept with Amelia. Twice,” Corey said. He figured the direct approach was best. Ryan almost choked on his soda.
“Jesus, Perrs. When did this happen?” he asked.
“The first time was when I had her phone. The second was last night.” Ryan laughed.
“I knew that breakfast line was bullshit. I just had a feeling you fucked her.” Corey glared at him.
“Nice, Getzy.” Ryan rolled his eyes at him.
“So you broke up with Ileana then,” Ryan assumed as their lunches were brought over.
“Yeah, about that,” Corey started but didn’t finish, instead choosing to take a bite of his wrap.
“Fuck, Corey, you’re in Pronger territory,” Ryan joked.
“Not quite, but thanks for the support,” Corey said sarcastically.
He continued to eat his lunch not really sure what else to say. He definitely wasn’t as bad as Pronger, was he? No way, he wasn’t married to Ileana and he’d hardly call sleeping with Amelia twice an affair. Nope, he wouldn’t be run out of town like Prongs was from Edmonton. Although Amelia’s a little more famous than the reporter up there is.
“So what are you going to do? Keep sleeping with Amelia behind Ileana’s back or end things with Ileana?” Ryan asked.
“I notice you didn’t throw in the option of staying with Ileana and no longer sleeping with Amelia,” he commented.
“Come on, Perrs, be serious. If it came down to it every person in the world would choose Amelia over Ileana. It’s a no brainer. And not just because she’s hotter,” Ryan scoffed.
“It’s not that easy. I don’t even know what’s going on with Amelia. As far as I know those two times were it.”
Corey tried not to roll his eyes at himself. If he were to see Amelia again, there would be no way he could keep his hands off of her unless Ileana was in the room. Even then it would be difficult. He was ridiculously attracted to Amelia but he was still trying to figure out if the attraction was just physical, or if he was falling for her all over again.
“Then talk to her,” Getzy suggested. How did he make it sound so easy?
“I guess I have to. No way around it,” Corey agreed.
“Try not to fuck her before it gets figured out, eh?” Corey groaned and threw a french fry across the table at him.
I began to drive towards home but changed my mind. Instead of getting off at the highway exit leading to my house, I got off at the next one and drove to Brianna’s. I was almost positive that she was there and was relieved when I saw her car in the driveway. I needed someone to talk to. Badly.
“How was the interview?” she asked when she pulled open the door. I tried to find words, but couldn’t. Instead I just started crying. “God, Amelia, what’s wrong? What happened?”
I still wasn’t sure how to tell her so I walked into her kitchen and opened a drawer. I pulled out the corkscrew and walked over to where she kept her wine. I grabbed a bottle without checking what it was and stuck the corkscrew in. Then I grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and poured almost overflowing glasses. I took an enormous sip before noticing that Brianna was just watching me.
“I’m an awful person,” I said through my tears.
“Sit down and tell me what’s going on,” she ordered taking her glass and sitting at the dining room table. I took another large gulp before starting.
“I think I’m still in love with Corey,” I choked out. She didn’t look surprised.
“Okay, there’s more to the story than this,” she said when I didn’t say anything else. I took another sip before continuing.
“I told him why I left him in Maine. I felt like I owed it to him. It made everything so complicated.” I paused and took a breath before finishing off my glass of wine. I avoided meeting Brianna’s eyes. “We kissed.” I wasn’t done, not even close but I needed to take steps, so I refilled my glass. I noticed that Brianna had only taken a sip or two of hers.
“So you kissed your ex that you’re still in love with. That doesn’t make you an awful person,” she assured me.
“No, but sleeping with him does,” I corrected her. I could tell she wasn’t expecting that. I rested my forehead on my arms. The tears were still coming and I couldn’t make them stop.
“When did this happen?” she questioned. I looked back up.
“Well, he kissed me about two weeks ago. Then the night you and Ryan fought he came over to apologize and it just sort of happened.” Her jaw dropped but she was quiet for a moment. I took the opportunity to finish off half of my second glass of the wine.
“Does Jordan know?” she asked quietly, as if he’d overhear us. I shook my head.
“No. I didn’t want to tell him because I thought it was just this big mistake that would never happen again,” I replied. She nodded in understanding.
“Well, you’ll just have to make sure that it doesn’t happen again then.” I made a face and took another drink. “Amelia…..it didn’t?”
“Last night,” I groaned as I covered my face with my hands. I looked up to see her shaking her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Yes you do,” she said. I looked up at her in confusion. “You already said you think you’re still in love with him.” I let out a deep breath and took another drink.
“What the hell am I going to do? Obviously I need to stay away from him, but I can’t just stop feeling, you know?” She shook her head at me again.
“Are you that dumb?”
“Excuse me?”
“Amelia, you’re in love with him. Just tell him. He obviously still has feelings for you too since you’re sleeping together.” I finished glass number two and poured a third. At this point I didn’t care anymore.
“Right, and what about Jordan and Ileana? It’s not like there aren’t other people involved. I need to take them into consideration,” I sighed.
Down went half of drink number three. Wine was not an easy drink to chug, but after gulping down two of them already, it got easier. Brianna made it all sound so simple, but it just wasn’t. Was it worth it to end things with Jordan and take the chance on Corey? Did I talk to Corey first and see if there were mutual feelings on the subject? And worst, what if he didn’t choose me over Ileana?
The last part made me finish my third glass while Brianna answered a phone call. I dumped what was left from the bottle into my glass. I knew that I needed to talk to Corey again, but I wasn’t convinced that a lot of talking would get done. All I knew was that I was still in love with him and I’d be crushed if he didn’t feel the same way.
“All I can tell you is to talk to Corey and see where he stands on all of this. And for fuck’s sake, don’t sleep with him again unless you break up with Jordan and Corey breaks up with Ileana!” There went glass number four.
“You’re not doing anything tonight, right? Because I definitely can’t drive right now,” I responded. She rolled her eyes at me and tossed me a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
Corey wondered what exactly he was going to do with this whole Amelia situation. He’d woken up this morning bummed about her not being in bed next to him yet it was hard to keep the smile off of his face when he thought of last night. As those thoughts entered his brain he let out a yell of pain when he felt something hit him.
“Perrs, wake the fuck up! I just asked if you wanted to take some shots before you got off!” Giguere yelled at him. He looked down and saw a puck lying at his feet.
“Jesus, Giggy, I didn’t hear you!” he yelled back rubbing the spot on his calf where the puck had hit.
“No shit,” he commented as he skated off the ice apparently no longer in the mood to take any shots.
“What’s your problem?” Getzy asked skating over.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Corey told him as he stepped off the ice.
“Bullshit you don’t. You were off in some other world all practice. I can’t play a game with you like this. Just fucking talk to me.” Corey sighed and knew that he really did need to get this all off his chest.
“I’ll tell you over lunch.”
Corey got out of his gear and showered. When he was dressed he met up with Ryan and they walked out of the locker room. They both stopped to sign a few autographs and take a few pictures before agreeing on a location and getting into their cars. When they were seated and had ordered Ryan began to stare at him waiting for him to say something. Corey didn’t know how to start.
“So, are you going to make me beg?” Ryan asked.
“I slept with Amelia. Twice,” Corey said. He figured the direct approach was best. Ryan almost choked on his soda.
“Jesus, Perrs. When did this happen?” he asked.
“The first time was when I had her phone. The second was last night.” Ryan laughed.
“I knew that breakfast line was bullshit. I just had a feeling you fucked her.” Corey glared at him.
“Nice, Getzy.” Ryan rolled his eyes at him.
“So you broke up with Ileana then,” Ryan assumed as their lunches were brought over.
“Yeah, about that,” Corey started but didn’t finish, instead choosing to take a bite of his wrap.
“Fuck, Corey, you’re in Pronger territory,” Ryan joked.
“Not quite, but thanks for the support,” Corey said sarcastically.
He continued to eat his lunch not really sure what else to say. He definitely wasn’t as bad as Pronger, was he? No way, he wasn’t married to Ileana and he’d hardly call sleeping with Amelia twice an affair. Nope, he wouldn’t be run out of town like Prongs was from Edmonton. Although Amelia’s a little more famous than the reporter up there is.
“So what are you going to do? Keep sleeping with Amelia behind Ileana’s back or end things with Ileana?” Ryan asked.
“I notice you didn’t throw in the option of staying with Ileana and no longer sleeping with Amelia,” he commented.
“Come on, Perrs, be serious. If it came down to it every person in the world would choose Amelia over Ileana. It’s a no brainer. And not just because she’s hotter,” Ryan scoffed.
“It’s not that easy. I don’t even know what’s going on with Amelia. As far as I know those two times were it.”
Corey tried not to roll his eyes at himself. If he were to see Amelia again, there would be no way he could keep his hands off of her unless Ileana was in the room. Even then it would be difficult. He was ridiculously attracted to Amelia but he was still trying to figure out if the attraction was just physical, or if he was falling for her all over again.
“Then talk to her,” Getzy suggested. How did he make it sound so easy?
“I guess I have to. No way around it,” Corey agreed.
“Try not to fuck her before it gets figured out, eh?” Corey groaned and threw a french fry across the table at him.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Chapter 18
I walked out of the hotel restaurant and gave valet my ticket. I pulled my sunglasses off of the top of my head and put them on while I waited for my car. The valet opened the door for me and I got in, handing him his tip. I smiled at him as he thanked me and got into the car.
I’d just finished an interview for the following month’s Glamour. I was on the cover and was doing the photo shoot for it tomorrow. I sighed as I thought about it. I hadn’t exactly been motivated to do much lately, which was a problem considering the buzz about the movie. I heard my phone ringing and checked the call ID.
“We’re good,” Brianna said to me when I picked up the phone.
“What’s the story?” I asked with a smile. She sounded so happy.
“Well, apparently Ryan’s ex was a bit of a psycho. She didn’t allow him to have any female friends. Thanks to her he was terrified of telling me that a friend from home was coming to town and wanted to go to a game if they were playing while she was here. He just panicked when he found out I knew it was a girl on the phone. She’ll be here this weekend, and I’ll be meeting her, so there really isn’t anything to hide,” she explained.
“Good. See, I told you that there would be an explanation for it. You told him you’re not that insecure, right?” I checked.
“Of course. I could care less if he has female friends. That just means that I don’t have only guys to hang out with when I visit him this summer.” I laughed.
“Exactly.”
“So how did the interview go?” she asked.
“It was pretty good. Basic stuff. You know the drill,” I told her.
“Good to hear. As far as I know the shoot is still at 10 tomorrow morning. Then there’s another interview set up at 2 about the movie. I’ll get you the details later.” I groaned.
“Alright, thanks.”
“Is something bothering you? You’ve been kind of weird since yesterday,” she commented. Yeah, something’s bothering me. I cheated on Jordan with Corey and I still have feelings for him.
“I’m just still tired, I think. You know it takes me forever to adjust to a normal routine after filming,” I responded.
“Yeah, I guess. Okay, I’ve got some phone calls to make so I’ll talk to you later to confirm everything.”
“Sounds good.” We hung up and I drove home.
I sat down on the couch and put in a movie. I began to think about Corey again. How could I possibly have done what I did? I wasn’t like that. I’d never been like that. I told myself it was just a one time mental lapse in judgment and tried to leave it at that. Unfortunately my brain kept conjuring up memories of the feel of his hands and his lips on mine.
I groaned and covered my face with a pillow as if that would block the images. I forced myself to think of Jordan. Those memories just didn’t seem as good. I shook my head and looked back at the TV screen. The movie was almost over. Had I really been thinking about Corey that long? I suddenly knew what I needed to do to end all of this. Either I had to avoid Corey at all costs, which wasn’t exactly practical since Brianna was dating one of his best friends, or we had to find a way to be around each other.
I grabbed a jacket and a purse along with my car keys. I locked up and got into my car. Brianna called to confirm everything for the next day. By the time I was off the phone I was pulling up in front of Corey’s. I wasn’t positive that Ileana wasn’t back, but I was hoping she wasn’t. I had something to prove to myself. I walked up to the door and rang the bell. He answered it with a shocked expression on his face.
“Amelia, what are you doing here?” he asked stepping aside to let me in.
“Experimenting,” I replied walking into the living room and sitting down.
“What does that mean?” he questioned.
“Is Ileana here?” He shook his head. “I need to prove to myself that we can be around each other and not let anything happen. I need to know that we can just be friends and nothing more.”
“Okay, sure,” he said not sounding at all convinced. I shrugged and saw that he had the NHL Network going on the TV.
“You never change,” I joked. He laughed.
“I was just about to make dinner. Interested?”
“You cook now?” I asked in shock. He made a face.
“I can put pasta in boiling water and pre-cooked chicken and vegetables in pasta sauce. Then I can combine them. Oh, then there’s the whole opening a bag of salad. That’s the most difficult part.” I shook my head and rolled my eyes as I laughed at him.
“Game tomorrow?” I checked. He nodded.
I got up from my spot on the couch and walked into the kitchen with him. I helped him prepare dinner and my smile grew as I worked. Maybe we could do this. Neither of us had made a move for the other and it didn’t even feel awkward. We made it through dinner without a problem and I began to load dishes into the dishwasher.
“You don’t have to do that,” he told me. I looked at him over my shoulder.
“Yeah right. These dishes would probably sit here until you ran out, crusting over. I’m putting them in.”
He laughed and carried dishes to the counter as I put them in. We chatted as I added the pile of plates and silverware that had already been sitting on the counter into the dishwasher as well. He cracked a joke that caused me to laugh just as I reached for a knife. I laughed so hard I stabbed myself.
“Shit!” I yelled as I saw blood immediately start flowing from my finger.
“Are you okay?” he asked rushing over.
I stuck my finger underneath the water flowing out of the faucet and began to look around for a towel or something to put over it. Corey was one step ahead of me and handed me one that he’d grabbed. I put pressure on the cut for a minute before checking to see how bad it was. Luckily it wasn’t deep and was already starting to stop bleeding. I let out a breath, happy that I wouldn’t need anything more than a bandage to put on it. Corey handed me one and I put it on.
“You’re still as accident prone as I remember,” he joked. I glared up at him, but couldn’t stop the smile from forming.
“It’s your fault! Stop being funny!” I yelled at him. He laughed.
“I can’t help it. Let me see it,” he said grabbing for my hand.
“You’re not going to see anything now,” I told him. Even so he studied my already bandaged finger.
“It doesn’t look like it’s going to bleed through at all. You’re lucky. You really could have done some damage,” he said, his tone taking on a more serious note.
“I’m fine. I always had a high pain tolerance,” I insisted. I looked up at him and our eyes locked. I noticed that he was still holding my hand.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
“I told you. I wanted to make sure that we could be around each other without anything happening,” I responded. I noticed that we had moved closer to each other.
“Right, your experiment. How’s that going?” My heart was pounding now.
“It was going well until now.”
I barely had time to get the sentence out before his lips were on mine. I didn’t make a move to pull away and neither did he. I felt one of his hands cup my face while his other hand, which had never let go of mine, gripped it even harder. I wrapped my free hand around his waist and pulled him closer to me. So much for being around each other without a problem.
I wanted to pull away from him. I thought of 100 different excuses I could use to get out of there right now but my brain didn’t seem connected to my body. I gave up and just gave in to what I was feeling. We stood in the kitchen with our lips locked together for what seemed like an eternity. We only stopped when we heard his phone ring.
“Is it important?” I asked as he looked over my shoulder at it.
“Not at all,” he replied as he hit ignore.
I caught sight of the name on the screen and saw that it was Ileana. I should have felt terrible, or guilty, or something, but I didn’t. Instead I followed Corey into his bedroom. I pushed him back onto the bed and crawled on top of him. He smiled as I pulled his shirt over his head and ran a hand over his chest. He reached up and pulled my shirt off as well. I straddled him and kissed him hard.
“What are we going to do?” I whispered into his ear.
“I’m not sure what you’re confused about,” he joked, kissing my neck.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know. We’ll worry about that later.” I agreed and focused only on how good he made me feel. I curled up to him after and kissed him.
“I have to go,” I told him. He turned his head to look at me.
“Just stay here tonight,” he offered.
“I can’t. I have a photo shoot and an interview tomorrow. Otherwise I would,” I declined. He pouted but nodded. I got up and got dressed and he did the same. He followed me to the door as I grabbed my stuff.
“Do you have the right phone?” he joked. I smiled and held it up to show him that I did.
“When does Ileana get back?” I asked.
“Sunday. Why, you want to get together again before?” I shook my head ‘no’ but smiled despite myself.
“I’ll talk to you later.” I stretched up to give him a kiss. Then I turned and walked out to my car. I was a terrible person, and right now I just didn’t care.
I’d just finished an interview for the following month’s Glamour. I was on the cover and was doing the photo shoot for it tomorrow. I sighed as I thought about it. I hadn’t exactly been motivated to do much lately, which was a problem considering the buzz about the movie. I heard my phone ringing and checked the call ID.
“We’re good,” Brianna said to me when I picked up the phone.
“What’s the story?” I asked with a smile. She sounded so happy.
“Well, apparently Ryan’s ex was a bit of a psycho. She didn’t allow him to have any female friends. Thanks to her he was terrified of telling me that a friend from home was coming to town and wanted to go to a game if they were playing while she was here. He just panicked when he found out I knew it was a girl on the phone. She’ll be here this weekend, and I’ll be meeting her, so there really isn’t anything to hide,” she explained.
“Good. See, I told you that there would be an explanation for it. You told him you’re not that insecure, right?” I checked.
“Of course. I could care less if he has female friends. That just means that I don’t have only guys to hang out with when I visit him this summer.” I laughed.
“Exactly.”
“So how did the interview go?” she asked.
“It was pretty good. Basic stuff. You know the drill,” I told her.
“Good to hear. As far as I know the shoot is still at 10 tomorrow morning. Then there’s another interview set up at 2 about the movie. I’ll get you the details later.” I groaned.
“Alright, thanks.”
“Is something bothering you? You’ve been kind of weird since yesterday,” she commented. Yeah, something’s bothering me. I cheated on Jordan with Corey and I still have feelings for him.
“I’m just still tired, I think. You know it takes me forever to adjust to a normal routine after filming,” I responded.
“Yeah, I guess. Okay, I’ve got some phone calls to make so I’ll talk to you later to confirm everything.”
“Sounds good.” We hung up and I drove home.
I sat down on the couch and put in a movie. I began to think about Corey again. How could I possibly have done what I did? I wasn’t like that. I’d never been like that. I told myself it was just a one time mental lapse in judgment and tried to leave it at that. Unfortunately my brain kept conjuring up memories of the feel of his hands and his lips on mine.
I groaned and covered my face with a pillow as if that would block the images. I forced myself to think of Jordan. Those memories just didn’t seem as good. I shook my head and looked back at the TV screen. The movie was almost over. Had I really been thinking about Corey that long? I suddenly knew what I needed to do to end all of this. Either I had to avoid Corey at all costs, which wasn’t exactly practical since Brianna was dating one of his best friends, or we had to find a way to be around each other.
I grabbed a jacket and a purse along with my car keys. I locked up and got into my car. Brianna called to confirm everything for the next day. By the time I was off the phone I was pulling up in front of Corey’s. I wasn’t positive that Ileana wasn’t back, but I was hoping she wasn’t. I had something to prove to myself. I walked up to the door and rang the bell. He answered it with a shocked expression on his face.
“Amelia, what are you doing here?” he asked stepping aside to let me in.
“Experimenting,” I replied walking into the living room and sitting down.
“What does that mean?” he questioned.
“Is Ileana here?” He shook his head. “I need to prove to myself that we can be around each other and not let anything happen. I need to know that we can just be friends and nothing more.”
“Okay, sure,” he said not sounding at all convinced. I shrugged and saw that he had the NHL Network going on the TV.
“You never change,” I joked. He laughed.
“I was just about to make dinner. Interested?”
“You cook now?” I asked in shock. He made a face.
“I can put pasta in boiling water and pre-cooked chicken and vegetables in pasta sauce. Then I can combine them. Oh, then there’s the whole opening a bag of salad. That’s the most difficult part.” I shook my head and rolled my eyes as I laughed at him.
“Game tomorrow?” I checked. He nodded.
I got up from my spot on the couch and walked into the kitchen with him. I helped him prepare dinner and my smile grew as I worked. Maybe we could do this. Neither of us had made a move for the other and it didn’t even feel awkward. We made it through dinner without a problem and I began to load dishes into the dishwasher.
“You don’t have to do that,” he told me. I looked at him over my shoulder.
“Yeah right. These dishes would probably sit here until you ran out, crusting over. I’m putting them in.”
He laughed and carried dishes to the counter as I put them in. We chatted as I added the pile of plates and silverware that had already been sitting on the counter into the dishwasher as well. He cracked a joke that caused me to laugh just as I reached for a knife. I laughed so hard I stabbed myself.
“Shit!” I yelled as I saw blood immediately start flowing from my finger.
“Are you okay?” he asked rushing over.
I stuck my finger underneath the water flowing out of the faucet and began to look around for a towel or something to put over it. Corey was one step ahead of me and handed me one that he’d grabbed. I put pressure on the cut for a minute before checking to see how bad it was. Luckily it wasn’t deep and was already starting to stop bleeding. I let out a breath, happy that I wouldn’t need anything more than a bandage to put on it. Corey handed me one and I put it on.
“You’re still as accident prone as I remember,” he joked. I glared up at him, but couldn’t stop the smile from forming.
“It’s your fault! Stop being funny!” I yelled at him. He laughed.
“I can’t help it. Let me see it,” he said grabbing for my hand.
“You’re not going to see anything now,” I told him. Even so he studied my already bandaged finger.
“It doesn’t look like it’s going to bleed through at all. You’re lucky. You really could have done some damage,” he said, his tone taking on a more serious note.
“I’m fine. I always had a high pain tolerance,” I insisted. I looked up at him and our eyes locked. I noticed that he was still holding my hand.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
“I told you. I wanted to make sure that we could be around each other without anything happening,” I responded. I noticed that we had moved closer to each other.
“Right, your experiment. How’s that going?” My heart was pounding now.
“It was going well until now.”
I barely had time to get the sentence out before his lips were on mine. I didn’t make a move to pull away and neither did he. I felt one of his hands cup my face while his other hand, which had never let go of mine, gripped it even harder. I wrapped my free hand around his waist and pulled him closer to me. So much for being around each other without a problem.
I wanted to pull away from him. I thought of 100 different excuses I could use to get out of there right now but my brain didn’t seem connected to my body. I gave up and just gave in to what I was feeling. We stood in the kitchen with our lips locked together for what seemed like an eternity. We only stopped when we heard his phone ring.
“Is it important?” I asked as he looked over my shoulder at it.
“Not at all,” he replied as he hit ignore.
I caught sight of the name on the screen and saw that it was Ileana. I should have felt terrible, or guilty, or something, but I didn’t. Instead I followed Corey into his bedroom. I pushed him back onto the bed and crawled on top of him. He smiled as I pulled his shirt over his head and ran a hand over his chest. He reached up and pulled my shirt off as well. I straddled him and kissed him hard.
“What are we going to do?” I whispered into his ear.
“I’m not sure what you’re confused about,” he joked, kissing my neck.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know. We’ll worry about that later.” I agreed and focused only on how good he made me feel. I curled up to him after and kissed him.
“I have to go,” I told him. He turned his head to look at me.
“Just stay here tonight,” he offered.
“I can’t. I have a photo shoot and an interview tomorrow. Otherwise I would,” I declined. He pouted but nodded. I got up and got dressed and he did the same. He followed me to the door as I grabbed my stuff.
“Do you have the right phone?” he joked. I smiled and held it up to show him that I did.
“When does Ileana get back?” I asked.
“Sunday. Why, you want to get together again before?” I shook my head ‘no’ but smiled despite myself.
“I’ll talk to you later.” I stretched up to give him a kiss. Then I turned and walked out to my car. I was a terrible person, and right now I just didn’t care.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Chapter 17
A strange beeping sound woke me from a deep sleep. I was still a bit groggy and it took me a minute to figure out that it sounded like an alarm. Before I could find it and turn it off I felt a body next to me shift. I froze and the night before came rushing back to me. I felt Corey’s arm slip off of me and a second later the beeping stopped.
“What the hell did we do?” I asked without turning around to look at him.
“Do you really want me to answer that?” he returned. I groaned and sat up, pulling the sheets up with me to keep my naked body covered. I noticed the flour, sugar, etc. covering my bed.
“You know what I mean!” I yelled at him.
“I know what you mean, but I don’t know what you want me to say.” I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my forehead on them.
“Last night was stupid. It was so stupid. And a mistake!”
“Gee, thanks a lot, Meels.”
“God dammit, Corey, you know what I mean!”
“Again, I know what you mean. Obviously it shouldn’t have happened like that, but there’s no going back. What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing. There’s nothing you can do.”
He stood up and started searching for his clothes. I couldn’t help but peek out of the corner of my eye and watch his naked body move about the room. He turned back towards the bed and I pretended I hadn’t been looking at him at all.
“Can I get in the shower before I go?” he asked.
I nodded and heard him make his way into the bathroom. A minute later I heard the shower turn on. I used that time to get out of bed and grab a towel to wipe myself off the best I could before throwing some clothes on. I gathered up my sheets and threw them into the washing machine. By the time I was done Corey was out of the shower.
“Do we say anything?” I asked him. He shrugged.
“Are you planning on breaking up with Jordan?” he asked. I shook my head. “Then we don’t say anything.”
“This was obviously a mistake. It can’t happen again,” I told him sternly.
“I agree.” He made his way downstairs. I followed him and cringed when I saw the state of the kitchen. He picked up his phone and made his way to the door. “Amelia?”
“Yeah?”
“It was better than I remembered.”
He quickly walked out the door before I had time to respond. I narrowed my eyes at the door before turning back to the kitchen. This was not going to be fun.
Corey didn’t know whether to smile or punch something. He really had only intended on going over last night to apologize to Amelia. He certainly hadn’t intended on starting a food fight that led to them sleeping together. Despite his intentions he obviously couldn’t control himself around her.
Not that he necessarily regretted last night. Sure, it shouldn’t have happened like that while they’re both seeing other people, but he wouldn’t take it back for a second. Amelia had always been unbelievable, and last night was no different. He chose to smile as he thought about the night before.
His thoughts were interrupted by his phone vibrating in the center console. He didn’t remember putting his phone on vibrate only, but didn’t think too much of it. He checked the call ID to see who would be calling him so early and saw that it was Getzy.
“Hey, what’s up?” he answered. There was a short pause.
“Uh, nothing. I’m sorry, I think I have the wrong number,” Ryan replied.
“Getz, what the hell is wrong with you?” Corey questioned. There was another pause.
“Perrs?” he finally asked. Was he drunk?
“Obviously, since you called me.”
“No, I didn’t call you. I called Amelia.” It was Corey’s turn to be confused. Then he realized the call ID had said “Ryan Getzlaf” instead of “Getzy” like he had Ryan programmed in his phone.
“Ah, shit,” Corey cursed out loud.
“What are you doing with Amelia’s phone?” Ryan asked.
“We have the same phone. I obviously grabbed the wrong one,” he explained.
“Perrs, it’s 9 AM. What the hell are you doing with Amelia’s phone so early?” Fuck, now what?
“We had breakfast,” he lied. He heard Ryan laugh.
“I thought Ileana banned you from seeing Amelia.”
“She did, but she’s out of town. Why are you calling Amelia anyway?” Corey asked changing the subject.
“I was looking for Brianna. I thought Amelia might know where she was,” Ryan told him. “I’d get that phone back to her.”
“I’m doing that right now,” Corey said as he turned and headed back to Amelia’s.
I had just finished cleaning up the kitchen and was about to head upstairs to wash all that shit off of me when I heard music start to play. I paused and tried to figure out where it was coming from. It sounded like it had started mid song which was odd. I followed the sound into the living room and saw my phone sitting on the table with the screen lit. That was strange, I didn’t have whatever that song was as a ringtone. I looked at the screen and was even more surprised to see my own name on the call ID. What the hell was going on?
“Hello?” I answered.
“I have your phone. You have mine,” I heard Corey’s voice say.
“I was wondering what the hell was coming out of my phone.”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes to switch back.” He hung up and I put the phone back down. Near disaster averted. Just like he said a few minutes later there was a knock on my door.
“How did you figure out you had my phone?” I asked him as we exchanged them.
“Ryan called. He was really confused when I answered instead of you.”
“Ryan knows you had my phone?!” I exclaimed.
“Calm down. I told him we had breakfast together.” I let out a sigh of relief.
“Why was he calling me anyway?” I asked.
“He said he was looking for Brianna,” Corey responded.
“Thanks for bringing this back,” I said.
“No problem.” Corey smiled and walked back to his car. I watched him drive away before dialing Brianna’s number.
“Hey, Bri. I really need to talk to you about something. Could you come over whenever you get this?” I asked when the call went to her voicemail. I hung up the phone and went upstairs to finally take that shower. An hour later I heard a knock on my door. I opened it to see Brianna standing there with tears running down her face.
“You wanted to talk?” she asked. I grabbed her and pulled her inside.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” I asked her. She collapsed down onto the couch and started sobbing.
“Ryan and I got into a fight,” she told me. So that was why he was looking for her. I grabbed some tissues and sat down next to her on the couch.
“What about?” She grabbed a tissue and wiped at some tears before talking.
“After the game we got dinner and then went back to his place. His phone rang and I heard a girl’s voice on the other end when he answered. He got up and left the room to talk to her. I thought that was strange because he never does that. When he got back he looked upset so I asked him who had called. He told me his friend Steve. I knew he was lying but didn’t say anything. Later on when he’d basically been a jerk all night I flipped and told him I knew it was a girl. He denied it and we really got into it. He finally confessed that it was a girl he knew, but that was all he’d say. I’ve never once implied that I didn’t trust him or said that he couldn’t be friends with a girl, so why would he lie about that? The only reason he’d hide that he was talking to a girl would be because he’s cheating on me, right?”
“Bri, you don’t know that. There could be plenty of reasons why he didn’t tell you.”
“Like?” I thought for a minute and really couldn’t come up with anything. Even so, I couldn’t imagine Ryan cheating on her.
“I don’t know. What I do know is that he’s worried about you. He called me looking for you this morning. You have to talk to him.” She looked up at me and nodded.
“I know. It’s just the first real fight we’ve had, and it’s a big one. Trust isn’t exactly something you can just blow off like it’s nothing.”
“I’m sure whatever it is will make sense and you guys will be fine.”
“I hope so. You said on the phone that you needed to talk to me. What’s up?” I didn’t think now would be the time that I’d confess what Corey and I did.
“Just that I went a little crazy with the baking last night and I wanted some help eating it. I know it’s only 10 in the morning, but it’s never too early for a brownie pig out.”
She smiled and nodded. I got up and made my way into the kitchen. I grabbed two bottles of water out of the refrigerator and then the container of brownies. When I walked back into the living room I saw Brianna curled up under a blanket and flipping through the channels on the TV. She looked miserable and I hoped that whatever Ryan was hiding wouldn’t hurt her.
“What the hell did we do?” I asked without turning around to look at him.
“Do you really want me to answer that?” he returned. I groaned and sat up, pulling the sheets up with me to keep my naked body covered. I noticed the flour, sugar, etc. covering my bed.
“You know what I mean!” I yelled at him.
“I know what you mean, but I don’t know what you want me to say.” I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my forehead on them.
“Last night was stupid. It was so stupid. And a mistake!”
“Gee, thanks a lot, Meels.”
“God dammit, Corey, you know what I mean!”
“Again, I know what you mean. Obviously it shouldn’t have happened like that, but there’s no going back. What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing. There’s nothing you can do.”
He stood up and started searching for his clothes. I couldn’t help but peek out of the corner of my eye and watch his naked body move about the room. He turned back towards the bed and I pretended I hadn’t been looking at him at all.
“Can I get in the shower before I go?” he asked.
I nodded and heard him make his way into the bathroom. A minute later I heard the shower turn on. I used that time to get out of bed and grab a towel to wipe myself off the best I could before throwing some clothes on. I gathered up my sheets and threw them into the washing machine. By the time I was done Corey was out of the shower.
“Do we say anything?” I asked him. He shrugged.
“Are you planning on breaking up with Jordan?” he asked. I shook my head. “Then we don’t say anything.”
“This was obviously a mistake. It can’t happen again,” I told him sternly.
“I agree.” He made his way downstairs. I followed him and cringed when I saw the state of the kitchen. He picked up his phone and made his way to the door. “Amelia?”
“Yeah?”
“It was better than I remembered.”
He quickly walked out the door before I had time to respond. I narrowed my eyes at the door before turning back to the kitchen. This was not going to be fun.
Corey didn’t know whether to smile or punch something. He really had only intended on going over last night to apologize to Amelia. He certainly hadn’t intended on starting a food fight that led to them sleeping together. Despite his intentions he obviously couldn’t control himself around her.
Not that he necessarily regretted last night. Sure, it shouldn’t have happened like that while they’re both seeing other people, but he wouldn’t take it back for a second. Amelia had always been unbelievable, and last night was no different. He chose to smile as he thought about the night before.
His thoughts were interrupted by his phone vibrating in the center console. He didn’t remember putting his phone on vibrate only, but didn’t think too much of it. He checked the call ID to see who would be calling him so early and saw that it was Getzy.
“Hey, what’s up?” he answered. There was a short pause.
“Uh, nothing. I’m sorry, I think I have the wrong number,” Ryan replied.
“Getz, what the hell is wrong with you?” Corey questioned. There was another pause.
“Perrs?” he finally asked. Was he drunk?
“Obviously, since you called me.”
“No, I didn’t call you. I called Amelia.” It was Corey’s turn to be confused. Then he realized the call ID had said “Ryan Getzlaf” instead of “Getzy” like he had Ryan programmed in his phone.
“Ah, shit,” Corey cursed out loud.
“What are you doing with Amelia’s phone?” Ryan asked.
“We have the same phone. I obviously grabbed the wrong one,” he explained.
“Perrs, it’s 9 AM. What the hell are you doing with Amelia’s phone so early?” Fuck, now what?
“We had breakfast,” he lied. He heard Ryan laugh.
“I thought Ileana banned you from seeing Amelia.”
“She did, but she’s out of town. Why are you calling Amelia anyway?” Corey asked changing the subject.
“I was looking for Brianna. I thought Amelia might know where she was,” Ryan told him. “I’d get that phone back to her.”
“I’m doing that right now,” Corey said as he turned and headed back to Amelia’s.
I had just finished cleaning up the kitchen and was about to head upstairs to wash all that shit off of me when I heard music start to play. I paused and tried to figure out where it was coming from. It sounded like it had started mid song which was odd. I followed the sound into the living room and saw my phone sitting on the table with the screen lit. That was strange, I didn’t have whatever that song was as a ringtone. I looked at the screen and was even more surprised to see my own name on the call ID. What the hell was going on?
“Hello?” I answered.
“I have your phone. You have mine,” I heard Corey’s voice say.
“I was wondering what the hell was coming out of my phone.”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes to switch back.” He hung up and I put the phone back down. Near disaster averted. Just like he said a few minutes later there was a knock on my door.
“How did you figure out you had my phone?” I asked him as we exchanged them.
“Ryan called. He was really confused when I answered instead of you.”
“Ryan knows you had my phone?!” I exclaimed.
“Calm down. I told him we had breakfast together.” I let out a sigh of relief.
“Why was he calling me anyway?” I asked.
“He said he was looking for Brianna,” Corey responded.
“Thanks for bringing this back,” I said.
“No problem.” Corey smiled and walked back to his car. I watched him drive away before dialing Brianna’s number.
“Hey, Bri. I really need to talk to you about something. Could you come over whenever you get this?” I asked when the call went to her voicemail. I hung up the phone and went upstairs to finally take that shower. An hour later I heard a knock on my door. I opened it to see Brianna standing there with tears running down her face.
“You wanted to talk?” she asked. I grabbed her and pulled her inside.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” I asked her. She collapsed down onto the couch and started sobbing.
“Ryan and I got into a fight,” she told me. So that was why he was looking for her. I grabbed some tissues and sat down next to her on the couch.
“What about?” She grabbed a tissue and wiped at some tears before talking.
“After the game we got dinner and then went back to his place. His phone rang and I heard a girl’s voice on the other end when he answered. He got up and left the room to talk to her. I thought that was strange because he never does that. When he got back he looked upset so I asked him who had called. He told me his friend Steve. I knew he was lying but didn’t say anything. Later on when he’d basically been a jerk all night I flipped and told him I knew it was a girl. He denied it and we really got into it. He finally confessed that it was a girl he knew, but that was all he’d say. I’ve never once implied that I didn’t trust him or said that he couldn’t be friends with a girl, so why would he lie about that? The only reason he’d hide that he was talking to a girl would be because he’s cheating on me, right?”
“Bri, you don’t know that. There could be plenty of reasons why he didn’t tell you.”
“Like?” I thought for a minute and really couldn’t come up with anything. Even so, I couldn’t imagine Ryan cheating on her.
“I don’t know. What I do know is that he’s worried about you. He called me looking for you this morning. You have to talk to him.” She looked up at me and nodded.
“I know. It’s just the first real fight we’ve had, and it’s a big one. Trust isn’t exactly something you can just blow off like it’s nothing.”
“I’m sure whatever it is will make sense and you guys will be fine.”
“I hope so. You said on the phone that you needed to talk to me. What’s up?” I didn’t think now would be the time that I’d confess what Corey and I did.
“Just that I went a little crazy with the baking last night and I wanted some help eating it. I know it’s only 10 in the morning, but it’s never too early for a brownie pig out.”
She smiled and nodded. I got up and made my way into the kitchen. I grabbed two bottles of water out of the refrigerator and then the container of brownies. When I walked back into the living room I saw Brianna curled up under a blanket and flipping through the channels on the TV. She looked miserable and I hoped that whatever Ryan was hiding wouldn’t hurt her.
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