Page 29 of Ready or Not
“I didn’t block him,” I muttered defensively, crossing my arms over my printed bathrobe. “I just… I didn’t get his number.”
Alexandra squinted at the screen like she was trying to decipher whether or not I actually had any brain cells left. “You what?”
“I—”
“So, let me get this straight—again—just for clarity,” she said slowly, her tone dripping with sarcasm as she rubbed her temples. “You ran out of there without saying anything, didn’t even get his number so you could call him for clarity now that there’s a chance you might be wrong, and you’re on the phone with us expecting us to…what? Tell you that was the right move?”
“It felt like the right move at the time,” I shot back, my voice higher than intended. “It?—”
“You’re really making me side with Mimi when she’s the one we need to put in time-out half the time,” Alexandra cut in, shaking her head.
“Hey!” Naomi scowled. “I’m the only voice of reason around here!”
Elizabeth snorted loud enough to rattle her speaker. “Oh, please. The last time you gave Allie’s little sister relationship advice, she ended up keying her man’s car and crying in a Wendy’s parking lot.”
“I did what I had to do,” Naomi shot back, narrowing her eyes at Elizabeth through the screen. “And besides, she said she felt liberated! Her words, not mine.”
“Back on topic because y’all not about to piss me off and remind me about Charlie’s breakdown,” Alexandra waved both hands in a calming gesture, her voice smooth and level as always. “All of this is beside the point. The real issue here is communication—or lack thereof. I mean, seriously, girl, you didn’t say a word?”
“No,” I muttered defensively, though the heat creeping up my neck betrayed me. “I just left once I saw the clothes…”
“Nah, bruh. Your bitch ass ran,” Naomi deadpanned. “You slipped out of there faster than Liz cancelling plans when it rains.”
“Mimi!” Elizabeth threw her hands up in mock offense, though the smirk tugging at her lips betrayed her amusement. “Chill out!”
“Yeah, Mimi,” Alexandra gave her a quick glare. “I know you’re right and all, but you’re doing the most.”
“Look,” I said, trying to muster some sort of defense. “I panicked, okay? The whole morning felt...weird. Like get-out-before-you-regret-it-and-have-an-awkward-conversation weird. The clothes were a clear statement.”
Alexandra leaned forward again, narrowing her eyes like she was dissecting me under a microscope. “Was it genuinely strange? Or were you simply overanalyzing things like you’re used to doing? Or maaaybe, were you just dodging confrontation again?”
Her words hit like a precision strike, and I found myself momentarily speechless, staring at their faces on my screen as if I had been caught red-handed without even knowing I was holding something incriminating. My silence said it all, and Naomi let out a dramatic groan, slapping her forehead.
“Classic avoidance tactic,” she groaned. “You don’t want to deal with the possibility that it might’ve been…complicated!”
Elizabeth smirked. “Or that you might’ve actually liked him.”
I shook my head, though the gesture felt weak even to me. “It wasn’t like that. I do like him and I was gonna tell him…”
“Then what was it?” Naomi challenged, the tilt of her chin betraying just how much she was holding back. “Enlighten the group. Because from where we're sitting, it sounds a lot like you got scared and avoided conflict once again. You constantly avoided conflict when it came to you and Andrew, letting him do the shit he pulled without ever standing up for yourself until we forced you to face it. And now here you are, different guy, same pattern. This is no different, Sol.”
Her words hit harder than I'd anticipated.
The Andrew card.
That was low.
My stomach twisted, and I let out a sharp breath, feeling the hot prickle of defensiveness spike in my chest.
“That’s not fair,” I said quietly, gripping the edge of my desk as if grounding myself would stop the upheaval in my head. “This isn’t like Andrew.”
“I don’t want to say it but…” Alexandra sighed, "…it kind of feels like Andrew all over again. Not that you’re the same person you were back then—you’ve grown a lot—but some habits are harder to break than others."
“It’s not the same,” I mumbled, though my voice was weak enough to make me question if I believed myself.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, stayed silent and sipped on her iced coffee.
“Oh, it’s not?” Naomi leaned forward, resting her chin in her hand. “Because it looks pretty damn similar from over here. You’ve got this pattern—you shut down and walk away instead of facing what you’re feeling. You did it last night when you saw Andrew with homegirl from high school. Instead of confronting him for lying to you about wanting to get back together, youacted like you didn’t care and chose to hang out by the bar until Des showed up.”
