Page 59 of Vicious Arrangement
I walk homefrom the office that evening.
Have I ever fucking worked on a Sunday before? Voluntarily?
Honestly, I don’t think I have.
But after putting in solid hours and doing the majority of the work I need to hit tomorrow and the week that follows at a run, I feel good. Exhausted but fucking good.
Like I did something special.
Obviously, I didn’t.
People work weekends and way longer hours than I do all the time. My grandfather did.
And I can’t help wondering if it was partly the same reason I did. Avoidance.
For him, avoidance of me.
For me, avoidance of Aria.
But I suspect it’s all for very different reasons.
Part of my avoidance is how goddamn idiotic I was a few weeks ago. And that fucked-up apology that I couldn’t stop spooling out.
Shit, all I needed to do was tell her I’m sorry and I’m a little tipsy.
All I needed to do was not lose my shit over the sandwich, which, if I examined it, wasn’t about the fucking pathetic thing. Or, if I’m brutally honest, simply text her back over the dinner invite to see what it was she wanted.
I’m not a kid.
And she deserved more than me ghosting her text like the arrogant dick I am.
I move through the streets, dodging the slow tourists as I go, the lights of the city bringing a different sort of life to the place as the evening deepens.
It’s not overly late. I check my watch. Coming on eight. Late, I guess, enough.
Normally, I enjoy the sounds of the city, all the noise and chaotic life exploding around me. But not right now. I slip in my ear pods and pull up some Mozart and hit play.
Before the piano sonata can soothe that part of my soul it’s interrupted by my phone ringing. I answer.
“Joshy,” Asher says, “is very excited and wants to know what to bring. He thinks it should be cake, ice cream, and candy and Lego, but I told him I’d check with you.”
“About what?”
Asher laughs. “You’re not home yet? You better not be stepping out, man.”
“I was at work. What are you on about? Did one of us have a fall?”
“Aria invited me and Josh over for dinner tomorrow night. I know what you want to drink, but we’ll bring dessert. What do you think?”
“Lego.”
“A little hard to chew.”
My head spins as my heart beats hard. “What the fuck are you on about, Asher?” I shoot a glare at a tourist standing in the middle of the fucking pavement staring up at a skyscraper.
“Dinner. Tomorrow. Aria invited us.”
I’m even more confused. When the fuck did she do that and how? I mean, clearly with words, but I haven’t seen her, she’s been avoiding me and what… sneaking around with my best friend?
