Page 4 of Heart Match

‘Yeah. I don’t know. Lewis is different. It’s almost as if—’ she stops for a moment, as if trying to understand the situation herself.

Lexi and I wait.

‘As if he’s afraid of me,’ she says, finally.

‘What?’ asks Lexi.

‘I wouldn’t be surprised,’ I say. Only after the words were out I realise I actually spoke them.

‘What do you mean?’ asks Naomi with furrowed brows.

Uh Oh.

‘I—I mean,’ I stammer before continuing, she has her defensive look on. ‘You are a bit intimidating sometimes, you’re aware of that aren’t you?’

She keeps watching me as if I just made the discovery of the year. Maybe she’s having an epiphany and is finally figuring it out for herself.

‘Maybe he’s just afraid to take the first step. Being your co-worker means once he asks you out, it could either go really well or screw things up,’ I say.

She seems to think for a moment. It looks like she hasn’t considered this possibility before. She’s had a thing for Lewis ever since he joined the company she works for. From what she told us, the feeling is mutual. But, she keeps on waiting for him to ask her out, and he never does. I’ve had my suspicions for a while that the real reason for that is quite simple: he’s intimidated by my friend.

Lexi’s eyes are full of excitement, my remark seeming to make a lot of sense to her now too.

‘Don’t be mad, but I think Livvy has a point,’ says Lexi.

‘Yeah, I think you should ask him out. Why wait for him?’ I tell her.

Naomi’s big green eyes tell me she’s considering discussing this further, but before she can say anything else, Lexi says, ‘I envy you guys.’

With furrowed brows, Naomi and I stare at our friend. I don’t know about Naomi, but I’m shocked to hear this from her.

‘What can you possibly be talking about?’ I ask.

She hesitates for a moment and says, ‘I don’t know. You guys seem to have this busy sexual life, different guys, possibilities …’

My eyes lock with Naomi’s and I know she’s as surprised as I am with this confession.

Lexi has been with Thomas—the love of her life, her words not mine—ever since high school. They moved in together just when I moved out from the flat we used to share, three years ago. We all love him, and it’s impossible to look at Lexi and imagine her without Tommy, so it really does come as a surprise hearing her confess this.

‘Okay? What’s going on?’ asks Naomi.

Lexi seems to try to find her voice or words for a moment.

‘It’s been months since I had sex,’ she says, flushing and unable to meet our gazes.

Oh.

‘Elaborate,’ I say.

She sighs, clearly frustrated.

‘Okay, this was a bad idea. I don’t want to talk about it anymore,’ she says, looking away and sucking on the straw of her cocktail.

‘No, no, no. We’re not judging, honey, we just want to know what’s going on so we can … help?’ says Naomi.

‘I don’t wanna talk about it. Forget I said anything. Please?’

Naomi and I exchanged worried looks but decide to respect our friend’s wish.

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