Page 77 of Under Pressure

No, bad Mia. Tyler’s always been truthful with his words. It was his actions, his expressions that misled me. I read too much into them, but I won’t make that mistake again. I only need to learn a lesson once.

I pick up my phone and call Adelaide, asking if I can please come over and pet her cats. She doesn’t even need to entertain me, I just want cat therapy. She laughs and tells me she’d be happy to have me over.

Once I’m situated on her couch with not one but two purring cats kneading the plush blanket on my lap, I can finally relax.

“I’ve never met anyone they’ve taken to more instantly than you.” She smiles, watching Finn and Jake contentedly bask on top of me.

“I must be a cat whisperer.”

“They probably sense you’re a nice person. Kind to others.”

I blow out a breath, recalling how I’ve been burning bridges left and right today. Standing up for yourself is different than being mean, though, right?

“I actually, uh, wasn’t very nice today. I told my roommate she couldn’t mooch off me any longer, then sort of broke up with that guy I’ve been seeing, then dumped my tutoring client. Oh, and I also got this guy kicked out of his boxing gym.”

Her brows rise, impressed at how I’ve spent my day. “You didn’t come over here to dump me too, did you? Just don’t take my babies.”

I grin at her. “No, you’re safe. I’m off the warpath for today.” I stroke Jake’s soft fur as he lets out a sleepy yawn, his pink tongue sticking out slightly when he closes his mouth. If that’s not the most adorable thing in the world, I don’t know what is.

“What brought all that on?”

“Everything was a long time coming, I think. The stars just seemed to align today.”

She curls her finger around Finn’s tail, who stretches out further on my lap in delight. “I agree with the Kelsey thing. She’s been riding that gravy train long enough.” Adelaide has met her a few times when she’s come over to my apartment, but we eventually stopped hanging out at my place because Kelsey would usually come in and take over the living room, then whine when we protested. “What happened with your guy? He was your lab partner, right?”

I nod, focusing on petting Finn now, tracing the stripes on his coat. “I don’t really want to talk about it.” Ugh, now I sound like him and his refusal to discuss anything semi-meaningful. “I just… I mean… it’s my own fault,” I whisper. “I knew he didn’t want more and I was acting like he did.”

She soothes her hand along my arm, the contact comforting. “I was worried about that.”

I sigh. “Yeah, I get too attached to people.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” she exclaims, shaking my shoulder. “But, you know, just make sure the person deserves it.”

“I thought he did.” A tear slips down my cheek, unbidden. “I swear, there’s some kind of disconnect between his words and his actions.”

“What’s that saying? Actions speak louder than words?”

I snort. “Well, this time it was the words that were louder.” I grab a cookie off the plate she set next to me on the couch earlier and take a bite, glad she knew exactly what I needed. Cookies always bring me comfort. See, this is what friendship is. No underlying sexual tension. No falling in love.

A pang goes through me at the reminder. No, it couldn’t have been love. Not if we were so obviously on different pages. I could have sworn he felt something, though. Especially two nights ago as I fell asleep in his arms, him idly stroking his fingers through my hair. You didn’t do that with just anyone, right?

I shake my head, tired of beating myself up questioning everything. “I think I’ll move to a convent that devotes itself to cats. Is that a thing?”

“We’ll make it a thing.” She reaches out a hand to pet Finn again and he lifts his head, sticking out his chin for her to rub underneath.

I stretch out as much as I can on the couch without jostling the cats, asking, “Can you turn on something comforting? I don’t want to think about this anymore.”

“Adventure Time?” she asks, turning on her TV.

“Oh my God, yes. That sounds perfect.”

We sing along to the opening theme song together, and I point to the screen, saying, “Look, it’s your namesakes,” to the cats, not that they’re paying a bit of attention.

I let the Land of Ooo wash over me, blocking out everything that happened today, telling myself it’ll be better tomorrow.

Yeah, tomorrow will be fine. It’s just the next day that’ll be a problem when I have to work with Tyler again. That will be the real test.

Chapter Twenty-Three

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