Page 21 of Bad Things Come in Threes (The Rule of Three #1)
Liv wasn’t in the house when I woke up. She left me a voice message saying she had gone to work and she had informed Marissa that I wouldn’t be coming in.
I made my way into the living room expecting to see it messy with tequila bottles but it was so spotless, you wouldn’t be able to tell that someone almost had a mental breakdown there.
I started to wonder how Olivia was able to clear it up considering she drank as much as I did last night but I remembered that all she had to do was take an Advil and she would be perfectly fine.
Sometimes I envied her ability to drink like she had an invincible liver and not get winded or bothered by it the next day.
I made myself a quick cup of coffee and took two tablets of Advil then spent the rest of the day sitting on my bed in my pajamas while scrolling through my social media to see what everyone was saying about Joseph’s tweet.
Contrary to Nathan’s belief; the apologies didn’t come through.
People doubted the validity of Joseph’s tweet.
Very few people actually believed it; most of them were perfectly content with villainizing me.
I read through what felt like a million comments about the situation and with each one, I grew number to the entire situation.
It wasn’t surprising; it was disappointing.
What did surprise me yesterday was that I didn’t get any calls from my family. I fully expected my mother to blow up my phone with calls and texts but she surprisingly didn’t. At one point, I was tempted to call her and find out if she was alive or ask if she had seen what happened.
I wasn’t so lucky today though, because her call came in at exactly 6 a.m. I was just getting out of the bathroom when my phone rang. She was equal parts angry and concerned but at the end of the day, her concern won out and she just wanted to make sure I was okay.
I forced thoughts of yesterday out of my mind and tried to focus on the work at hand for today. I want to wear an original for Couture Week and it is proving extremely difficult to style a dress that I genuinely want to wear.
I don’t want to wear something that already exists. The whole point of Couture Week is to make a statement and even though I am a judge and not a competitor; I still have a lot to prove and an original will do just that.
I have to make sure that everything is perfect; from the color scheme to the style and the design. I have to make it good enough to stand out but then not too much that I will stick out like a fucking sore thumb.
The more minutes I spent staring at the blank piece of paper in front of me, the more frustrated I got. It was like my creative juices had been blocked and I couldn’t bring anything to life. I let out a groan of frustration and lay my head against my desk.
I need coffee if I’m going to get through this.
I glanced at the clock on my wall- 12: 30. I guess now is as good a time as any to go for a coffee break.
I made my way to Marissa’s office. The door was opened and she was sitting in front of an opened laptop at her desk. I knocked slightly and she jumped slightly as she raised her head to look at me.
“I’m going out for coffee; I’ll be back soon.” I told her, “Do you want something?”
“No,” she pushed her glasses up to the bridge of her nose, “I’m staying off coffee for a while.”
“Alright; if I get any urgent calls that cannot wait at all while I’m out then tell them to reach me on my personal line.”
I didn’t wait for an answer because I knew she wouldn’t give one. As soon as she nodded, I was on my way to get my coffee. I got to the exit when someone cleared their throat behind me.
I muttered a silent prayer under my breath before finally turning to Nathan, “What do you want? ”
“Good afternoon; how was your day? Mine was great thanks for asking.” He said in a bland tone, “I wanted to run some ideas by you.”
“Can we do that when I get back?” I asked, “I need coffee before I can deal with you.”
“Coffee isn’t good for the health in large amounts.”
“I think I’ll be fine; thanks.” I turned to leave but he stopped me with a hand on the door.
Before I could even ask what his problem was, he walked over to his crew, took some papers from them along with a jacket and stepped out of the office. He held the door open and I stared at him on confusion.
“My hands are getting tired,” he drawled, “Are we going for coffee or not?”
I had half a mind to refuse but judging by the amused look in his eyes; I would simply be giving him what he wanted. Instead, I huffed and walked past him. I didn’t thank him or acknowledge him for holding the door open for me. Instead, I walked over to the driver’s side of my car.
“I’m driving,” I told him, “That way when you piss me off; I can drive away and leave you stranded in the middle of the road.”
He held up his hand in mock surrender as the corner of his lips quirked up in amusement.
I ignored him throughout the drive. It was a petty action, I admit, but I didn’t care.
I would have loved to go to the bookstore café but it was too far away and I didn’t want to be out of the office too long. I ended up going to my usual coffee place .
I didn’t wait for Nathan to catch up as I made my way to the counter to place my order, thankfully there was no line. I had half a mind not to order for him but I decided to do the nice thing and order black coffee for him.
I was about to take out my card to pay when Nathan appeared and handed his card to the barista. She took it with a smile and swiped it before I could even speak. He thanked her and walked away from the counter to get a seat.
It took my brain a minute to catch up before I followed him.
“You didn’t have to pay,” I began as I sat opposite him, “Coffee was my idea.”
“It’s not a big deal; you can pretend I did it to spite you if it makes you feel better.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that, “Thank you.”
He looked up at me with a raised brow, “I didn’t realize that word existed in your vocabulary.”
“You could just say ‘you’re welcome’ like a normal person.” I mumbled.
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“Didn’t you want to talk about something?”
“Maybe I just wanted to get coffee with you,” I gave him a blank stare, “I was thinking of amending a part of our deal regarding this-,”
“No,”
“You haven’t even heard me out first,” he tried to reason and I scoffed, “I know you want to keep your personal life out of this, but I think a little bit of vulnerability will go a very long way. You come off as mechanical on a good day and uptight on a bad one. ”
“Insulting me isn’t going to help your cause.”
“Just think about it. The only time I see even a tiny bit of emotion from you is when you’re talking about work.
You shut down when it comes to everything else and it makes you seem like this unfeeling person.
People love when they can relate to someone.
They need to know that you are human just like they are. ”
“Last I checked; I don’t have cyborg part so I’m definitely human.” He muttered something under his breath.
I knew he had a point, but I still wasn’t convinced. The last thing I want to do is put myself out there for people to hate. I’d rather they hate me without knowing me than actually hate me when they know me.
“I’m not asking you to make a choice now,” he said softly, “I’m just saying that you should think about it and maybe bring more of yourself to the table.”
I was saved from having to answer him when the barista called out my name. I hurried out of the seat to get our drinks and scones.
We ate in silence, our earlier conversation still hanging in the air over us. I caught him occasionally glance at me. It wasn’t like I was looking at him, I just caught him staring through the corner of my eye and after the second time, I glared at him .
Nathan finished before me but he sat silently and scrolled through his phone while he waited for me. As soon as I was done, he grabbed the cups and wrappers to recycle. It would have been rude of me to leave without him so I waited by the door.
I stepped out of the door and was met with screaming people. It took me a second to orient myself when I felt something hit me on the arm. I felt something wet slide down my arm and looked down to see a runny egg. Another one hit me in the chest before I could say anything.
“What the hell?” I had forgotten Nathan was behind me.
“Wait a minute then go to the car.” I pushed him back into the café as the eggs started coming at me quicker.
I hurried away from the front door of the café and onto the sidewalk because I can imagine the last thing she would want to do is clean up the mess that a bunch of eggs would make.
“Where the fuck are you going?” Nathan asked although it was difficult to hear him over the noise people were making.
“Just go to the fucking car.” I screamed back.
Getting away wasn’t an easy feat because they kept following me with screams and more eggs. It took me almost three minutes to realize what they were chanting- ‘whore’. I thought that chapter was closed and behind us.
I walked in the opposite direction first before crossing the street and making my way to the car. I assume they ran out of eggs because they stopped pelting me, but they still followed me while yelling obscenities.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and was about to scream out of frustration when I realized it was Nathan. I felt my shoulders deflate in relief as he guided me to the car. He stood close to the screaming fans and guided me so I was on the safe side and out of their sight.
I tried my best to block them out and mentally detach from my surroundings. It was working too well because I almost didn’t notice a woman block my way. She looked my age or slightly older and she was wearing ripped jeans and a plain white shirt .
I ignored her and tried to side step but she blocked my way. I grabbed her shoulders and shoved her to the side.
“Get the fuck out of my way,” I spat.