Grayson couldn't believe himself. He was just complaining about how his heart was broken and in his mind, told himself that he vowed to never even speak to another woman because of it. Yet, here he was. Getting ready to take some random gas station girl for coffee. He contemplated backing out of it, but felt that he'd owed it to her due to the way he was blatantly disrespected her. He had never disrespected a woman so openly and he wasn't going to start, but maybe he'd figure out a different way to make it up to her. Taking her for coffee wasn't really ideal for him right now.
As he was making this decision, his cellphone rang. Pulling it out of his pocket, he glanced at the number before twisting his face in confusion. Who's number was this?
He answered. "Yes?"
A soft, feminine chuckle came through the other end. "Is that how you greet everyone? Yes?" Arabeth asked and in turn, Grayson found himself cracking a smile.
"Sorry, I wasn't really expecting a random number to call..." he stated but then immediately regretted it. She shouldn't have been a random number but he'd forgotten to save her number when she wrote it down. He could hear the dry laugh and it made him feel guilty.
"Random number, huh? That's okay.. now you have even more of a reason to take me out for coffee. So what time did you wanna meet?" she questioned.
Grayson sighed deeply before running his hand down his face. He pulled his mouth away from the phone before letting out a groan. "Look Arabeth, I'm really sorry but I have to cancel. I-uh.. My mom. She's sick. And I need to go visit with her for a while. I'm really sorry because I know you may have been looking for-..." he tried to finish but was interrupted by an exasperated sigh.
Arabeth should have seen this coming because men like Grayson were always too good to be true. She would know from personal experience. The good-looking ones were always entertained with a bunch of lies and drama. "It's fine. I hope your mom gets better. Bye." she said brutishly before hanging up.
Grayson let out a long, hard breath before setting his phone down on the table next to the couch. He plopped down on the sofa and tilted his head back as he closed his eyes.
You're doing the right thing.
"Am I?" he said aloud to no one in particular. He'd already been incredibly rude to her before and now, he had just canceled their date.
Woah, shit.. hold on. Date? No, no.. it wasn't a date. It was.. an "I'm sorry"... date? Fuck!
No wonder she sounded so curt on the phone with him. She'd probably thought that's what it was. But she couldn't have, could she? They'd only just met and he'd told her about his bad breakup. She couldn't have expected him to jump back in the sea so quickly...
Damnit!
He grabbed his phone and unlocked it, going straight to his recent calls. He saw her number and immediately saved it. He didn't know why, but he felt the strange urge to keep her number just in case he needed her for something.
Something like what?
"I don't fucking know.." he answered, again to no one in particular. Something.
**
Arabeth was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling as if waiting for it to cave in. "Why'd I do that?" she asked herself. She'd just hung up the phone with Grayson was already dreading the next time he decided to call her. If he ever did. She had acted like an angry girlfriend just then and was more embarrassed than she had ever been before. She didn't even give him time to explain, she was just so disappointed because she needed a distraction from Benji, who was thoroughly neglecting her.
Neglecting you? He's not even yours...
She sighed dramatically and sat up. Glancing at her phone, she noticed it was 5 pm. The day had passed quickly, mostly due to her sleeping. After working until 6 that morning, she was extremely tired and grumpy and Ina hadn't made it any better. She'd walked in and found Ina sleeping on the small couch with some guy she'd never seen before. He looked considerably older than Ina's 20 and it was a bit unsettling. Then again, Grayson looked a little older the more she thought about it and her first instinct when she saw him was to think of all the positions he could put her in if they were in a room alone. Arabeth had shrugged and threw her belongings down before she shuffled her way into the bedroom. The minute her head hit the pillow, Ina had come into the room and Arabeth sat up.
"Hey, if you don't care, my friend and I are gonna move in here." Ina said so casually it almost instantly upset Arabeth. Of course she cared if they moved in here! She was about to sleep and didn't really want some random guy sleeping in the bed on the other side of the room, even if her roommate was there with him. She didn't know him.
"I care." Arabeth stated simply and turned over on her side. This attitude she had with Ina was still a reflection of her feelings towards the things Ina had said to her last night. She heard Ina laugh and say something under her breath. Never one to let things go, Arabeth sat up and glared towards Ina's direction. "What was that?" she asked heatedly.
This was not going to end well.
"I said," Ina began, ready to let Arabeth have it, "You're a selfish, inconsiderate bitch." she finished, not at all phased by Arabeth's attitude. If she wanted to act like a brat, so be it, but Ina had better things to do.
The argument ended with the both of them calling each other a handful of names and Ina, along with her male friend, leaving the dorm. Ina had made sure to slam it shut as she walked out.
"Well, fuck her too." Arabeth sighed, remembering the morning fiasco. Now, the day had basically gone and she hadn't done anything but ruin what could have been a perfectly good friendship. She didn't even know why she'd gotten so upset, it wasn't like they were going on a date.
But you thought so...
She nodded solemnly as she sat there in a silent discussion with herself. She hated to admit it, but part of her was starting get what Ina was talking about. Constantly doing
this
