Page 53 of Rush of Jealousy

“Don’t drink any until I make a toast,” she scolds, stifling a laugh as my hand gets covered in fizz. “Cheers to being dickless. Um”—she shakes her head—“no, that came out wrong. Free-balling. Er, no.” She stares up at the ceiling, and then as if the idea falls from the sky, raises up her glass. “Cheers to being dick-free!”

I can’t help but laugh. “How about a simple cheers to our singleness?” I counter.

“Sweet and simple. I like it.” Claire clinks glasses with me. “Cheers.”

My phone buzzes on the bed, drawing attention to it. He is relentless.

“Let me just text Graham and then forget about him.” I write out a simple message, mainly because I want to detox from him and enjoy my girl time while he’s away. I will stay connected just enough for him not to go crazy. However, I really want this time to detox me and restore my mind.

Graham: Baby, I know you’re mad at me still. But I need to know you are okay.

Angie: I am fine. Please do not worry about me.

My phone vibrates immediately with an incoming call from Graham, but I decline it. I then see the dots on our text chain indicating he is in the process of typing out another message. It takes seconds for my phone to ping with his reply.

Graham: Stop avoiding me.

Angie: I need space.

Graham: I need YOU.

Angie: Respect my wishes. Shutting off my phone for a bit.

I turn it to “do not disturb,” ignoring whatever it is that Graham wants to bark about. How am I supposed to get over him if he is constantly inserting himself into all of my waking thoughts?

“Well, you handled that better than I thought,” Claire says, taking a sip from her glass, reminding me that I haven’t tried it yet.

“Hmm, that’s good,” I say, shifting my weight onto a pillow. “What did you expect me to do?”

She shrugs. “Give in.”

“We aren’t together anymore. I mean, we aren’t exactly apart either. It’s just”—I struggle for the right word—“complicated.”

“Always is.”

“I had a chance to go on a road trip with Zander to see his sister. But I declined.”

“Oh yeah?”

“It didn’t seem right to go. Not now.”

Claire nods but doesn’t say anything more. I’m still not quite sure why I didn’t go on the trip. Even though Graham is across the country, he is very much still present in my life. I just need more time to cleanse him from my world.

* * *

Another day finishes.

And another one passes.

Claire cleared her weekend work schedule to have this time for just us, and it is basically the best thing we could have done for ourselves. We’ve been dressing up in her fancy designer clothes to go absolutely nowhere on a Saturday. Each night so far has consisted of exfoliating our skin and applying a facial mask, while chilling in bed together and chatting about anything and everything.

It feels a bit nostalgic to have these uninterrupted moments together—just like when we first met and didn’t have the male population dragging us down. We bonded instantly then, and the ties between us have only gotten stronger throughout the years.

In these moments of bonding, I am simply reminded that my life needs Claire in it. That the thought of her going to California to pursue a passion causes my chest to tighten. It’s not because I don’t want her to be happy but rather because I will miss her.

Even if ninety percent of her ideas are crazy.

Like the game we are playing now, which requires us to take a sip of our drink every time Ethan tries to call or text her. But gone is the fancy champagne. No, tonight we are going back to the basics with tequila and whiskey. Luckily Claire agreed to allow me to bring in some mixers for the alcohol. Otherwise, we would be a lot tipsier than we are currently.

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