Not even the music blaring from her stereo or the AC trying its best could soothe her fried nerves.
The drive home was supposed to clear her head-- that was why she'd taken a longer route, forgetting the rumors of spirits around that area. Her life was already haunted enough.
Before she started her car, a silver colored Mercedes- Benz G-Wagon, she texted her besties, Joyce and Margaret(mostly called Maggie), to meet her at home. They had a lot to talk about.
Jared. Cute, flirty, playboy Jared from Facebook. The one she'd friend-zoned for years. She should've kept it that way, she thought.
But how was she supposed to know it'd turn out like this?
The gentle persistence,the annoying but endearing energy, the fun they had.. she was sure he was her forever.
She chuckled bitterly. "Forever indeed."
But to be very honest, she hadn't seen it coming.
She racked her brain, searching through all the memories she still had of them(which was pretty much everything), trying to see if there was any hint- any gesture- that suggested he was gay.
Nothing. So where did it come from?
"Oh, God," she muttered, tightening her hands on the steering wheel. "I better not get into an accident thinking about this mistake."
Yeah, that's what he was now. A mistake. She turned up the volume of the music.
Big mistake. Adele's 'Hello' wafted through the speaker straight into her ears, her mind.. her heart. She felt like crying.
Damn. "Not today, Adele." She hissed, as she hit the 'Next' button. "Not today."
As she drew closer to her estate, she felt excited; the other parts of her friendship-triangle were waiting for her.
The lights upstairs were on when she drove through the gate of her forty-million-dollar mansion. The gates automatically slid shut behind her. She was glad to be home.
She parked her car and walked quickly into the main house and up the stairs.
"Little demon, we ran here as soon as your texts dropped. What happened?!"
That was from Maggie Kelly, dressed in a pair of grey, plaid shorts and a pristine black T-shirt with *G-T University* printed on it.
Thirty years old. Short, curly, coppery hair with really great, wincingly expensive, emphasis on expensive, dark-blond highlights. She liked loud colors, so she often dyed her hair in colors that seemed pretty outrageous just to get her holiness-and-deliverance-pastor parents, to clutch their bibles in despair. She couldn't care less. Hypocrites as they were.
Green eye contact lenses and round, horn-rimmed glasses falling halfway down her rather pert nose had her looking like another version of Velma Dinkley from 'Scooby doo'.
She was walking into the sitting room from the Master's bedroom, hands in the pockets of her shorts, a vape dangling from a full, wide mouth just now curved into an unholy grin.
She and Mina had been friends since high school, an only-girls boarding school her pastor parents had forced her to go to. Mina's parents had invested in the school and therefore had to go by default.
"Call me whatever, Mags. I just survived a horror movie at work. The devil walked in. Jared." Mina said, slumping onto the couch.
Joyce screamed from the bar where she'd gone to pour Mina a drink.
"Jared.. WHAT?!. Tell me he looked ugly at least, please!" She yelled, handing over a glass filled to the brim with red wine.
Joyce. Joyce's father and Mina's mother were coursemates back in the university. They'd lost contact and only bumped into each other again six years ago. Since then, Joyce and Mina were inseparable.
"Joyce, shut the fuck up!" Maggie jumped in. She then turned to Mina. "Tell me you threw something at him at least- anything! A stapler, your heel?" She demanded, flopping beside Mina on the couch with her legs spread wide.
Joyce snorted. "You really can't sit like a normal person, huh? Always sitting like a man."'
"And I can't sit comfortably again? Go fuck yourself." Maggie shot back, unbothered. She had survived her parents-nothing else could touch her.
Mina rolled her eyes. "Like I could."
"Now..." Joyce leaned forward from the arm of the couch she was sitting on, eager as hell. "Tell me what happened before I die of suspense."
"Yeah, babe, what did the bastard do this time? Don't tell me he sent you flowers. I'll set them on fire." Maggie said, narrowing her eyes.
Mina pressed a hand to her temples. "He didn't send flowers, Mags. He sent himself-to my office."
Joyce almost dropped her glass. "YOUR WHAT?!"
"My office." Mina repeated, frowning at the TV like it had wronged her too. "He just showed up, like a bad dream. Talking about partnership proposals and project management"
Maggie gasped. "Wait, wait, wait.. don't tell me... he's the new client?"
"The project manger." Mina muttered dryly.
Joyce choked on her drink. "You're lying." She said in disbelief, almost like a whisper.
Mina sighed. "I wish i was. Apparently, the universe decided I hadn't suffered enough. Talk about tough luck."
Maggie pounded her right fist into her left palm. "I swear, men are like mosquitoes. No matter how much you slap them away, they still come back buzzing around your peace!"
Joyce pointed her almost empty glass at Mina. "And you, what did you do, boss lady?"
Mina smiled without her teeth. "I was civil. You know, professional. Mature."
Maggie arched a brow. "Mature, huh?"
"Fine." Mina admitted, rolling her eyes. "I might have told him to fix the printer or confess while I signed another document."
Joyce howled. "You didn't!"
"Oh, I did. And when he mentioned he was the new project manager for SK, I swear I almost threw my stapler." Maggie said, seething.
"Girl, you should've!!." Maggie said, with a smug smile on her face.
"Make him dodge responsibility AND stationery."
Mina laughed softly but it faded almost instantly. "You know what's crazy? I actually thought I was fine. Two years, plenty of therapy, focus on work, no contact, nothing. Then he just walks in like... like these our country's firefighters after a house has completely burned to the ground. And my brain just... short-circuited."
Maggie's expression softened. "Ohh, Mi..."
"No. Don't Mi me." Mina said quickly, sitting up. "I'm not catching feelings. I'm catching fury. Righteous fury!"
Joyce smirked. "Fury in a red wine glass."
"Exactly." Mina said, downing the rest of hers. "And he had the nerve to tell me he never stopped thinking about me."
Joyce gasped. "He did not."
Maggie groaned. "The male species really have no shame. No shame at all. Disappears for two years, comes back with a new haircut and a sob story.. and he's expecting you to forgive him, crying? Haha, the audacity of the male species."
"Say that again!" Mina said, clapping her hands together.
"If I had a dollar for every time a man disappeared on me and came back thinking everything would be normal, I'd own this country"
Joyce tilted her head forward. "Are you sure you're not going to see him again, though?"
Mina sighed. "Joyce..."
"I'm just saying." Joyce said, shrugging her shoulders innocently. "Hatred this obvious often has a level of affection underneath it."
Maggie glared at her. "Joyce, if you don't shut that hopeless romantic mouth. She's not falling for that again. Right, Mi?"
"Right." Mina said, firm but quiet. "I'm over him. Completely!"
Her besties looked at her like she'd just said she was joining a convent.
Maggie snorted. "Uh-huh, and I'm Virgin-Mary."
Joyce raised her glass. "To the lies we tell ourselves."
Mina sank deeper into the couch. "I hate you both."
"We know. That's why you called us."
They both laughed. And for the first time after leaving her office that day, Mina actually smiled-for real.
But in the quiet moment between their laughter, she couldn't stop replaying his voice in her head.
"I never stopped thinking about you."
And that terrified her more than she'd ever admit.