Page 45 of Fourth Wall

Maeve

Christian remained absent for the next four days, leaving me to take the rest of the week off from work, citing a bout of flu as my excuse. The upcoming weekend was meant to be Gianna's baby shower, which Chels and I were supposed to host at her house. Initially, I had asked Christian to watch the girls while Iprepared, but since he had gone MIA, my mom stepped in and offered her assistance.

Tatum had been visiting daily out of concern for my well-being, but I made it clear that I didn't want her to mention Christian. If he couldn't even be bothered to call or send a text for days and was off somewhere with another woman, I honestly wasn't interested in whatever excuses he might have. It was Friday, the girls were at school, and I found myself relaxing at home, just chilling. Truthfully, I wasn’t really interested in what he had to say. I heard the doorbell, and I went to answer it, seeing Chels on the other side of the door.

“Oh hey! I’m here to take you out. Tatum and Gianna are going to babysit tonight, so we are going to the bar. They are calling this their hostess thank-you gift and practice for when they have their babies.”

“It's three o’clock.” I stared at Chels as her heels tapped along the hardwood flooring and into the living area.

“When did that ever stop us?” I gave her a side-eye, and she only laughed at me.

“Come on,” she encouraged. “What are you doing here anyway?” She grabbed my phone from the counter and looked back at me with a shocked expression.

“Maeve. Are you Tinder-ing?” I downloaded the stupid app because I wanted to see if I could find a fake boyfriend replacement.

“I was but realized quickly there was a kink in my plan since the school already knew Christian as my boyfriend.”

Her voice became quite somber, and her excited demeanor quickly changed. “He still hasn’t been back?”

“Nope. At one point, I was worried about him, but Julian keeps reassuring me that he’s safe.”

“But the bastard won't tell you where exactly?” I shook my head. “I tried to get Alex to call him, but no luck there either.”

“It’s okay. I appreciate you trying, though.”

“Turn off your phone, go put on your favorite outfit and let’s go get turned up.”

“I don’t drink much anymore living here with Christian,” I confessed.

“You don’t have to, but at least come to dinner with me?”

I smiled and nodded in agreement, making sure to conference Gianna and Tatum in on exact instructions on how to pick the girls up. This would piss Tyler off, I was sure of it, but I deserve a break today.

It was already well past eight o’clock, and despite having only three drinks, my tolerance had significantly declined since I stopped drinking a few weeks ago. In a YOLO state of mind, Chels took me to one of those upscale restaurants in downtown San Diego's financial district. The place was adorned with wooden accents and plush velvet couches, attracting a crowd of business people who had just finished their workweek.

I dressed in a denim jumpsuit and heels, while Chels worked magic on my hair and makeup. Throughout the past few hours, our conversations covered a wide range of topics, deliberately avoiding any heavy discussions. The thoughts were anxiously swirling around in my mind, so I ordered myself a drink, then another, and that was how I ended up on my third one of the night.

“I have a confession to make.” I crossed my ankles as we sat at the bar next to these guys who kept talking about basketball and their golf games extra annoyingly loud.

“What?” Chels leaned in like I was about to tell her a secret.

“I slept in Christian’s room.” There was a pause.

“Oh my god, Maeve. I thought you were going to tell me something wild.” She started to giggle, and I playfully tapped her shoulder.

“I’m being serious. This week, I missed him so much. I just wanted to stay close to him, so I slept in his bed.” I turned toward my drink at the bar top and signaled to the bartender that I wanted another. Chelsea shot me another warning look, and I just shook her off.

“Is that weird?” I asked her.

“What? No. This man left you completely alone for almost a full week without contact. It’s not weird that you want to be close to him.”

I turned over to the group of guys next to me.

“Do you find me attractive?” I asked them point-blank.

Another very long pause between my friend and this group of men. It was Chelsea who finally chimed in.

“Ignore my friend here.” She grabbed my shoulders, but I tossed her hand off.

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