Page 78 of Love, Academically
“Lila, please, let’s talk about this,” he pleaded.
“No, thank you,” she said. “Fourteen days, Jason.”
Lila ended the call and quickly tapped out a message with her bank details and the amount and sent it to him, then stared at the phone in her hand, waiting for Jason to call her back to try and persuade her to change her mind. True to form, it took about fifteen seconds for her phone to ring. She sent his call to voicemail. Twice. She didn’t bother replying to the WhatsApp messages he sent.
Lila felt good. Empowered, on top of the world, like she could doanything. She wanted to tell someone, anyone, how excellent she had been but no one knew about the supposed ‘joint’ loan. Not her parents, not Jasmeet or Maddy. It was too embarrassing to tell them.
Oh, by the way, whilst Jason was gaslighting me and cheating on me, I’ve also been paying off the loan he took out in our joint names! Well, yes, of course I know it was stupid and I shouldn’t have signed it, but I did anyway…
Only Rhys knew and she, one hundred percent, was not calling Rhys. She also wasn’t going to think about Rhys either because he, like Jason, didn’t deserve her time or her thoughts.
Lila smiled sadly. Jasmeet just expected her to be free on Wednesday, or if not, change her plans so she was free. Okay, so she had no Wednesday plans, but that wasn’t the point.
No answer. Not even blue ticks. Nothing. Nada.
Sunday was, strangely enough, a busy tourist day for her parents and of course they were an hour or so ahead, so they were slap bang in the middle of a vineyard tour. She texted their group chat in the vague hope either of them would be free.
Determined not to waste her excellent feeling after the call with Jason, and desperate to keep her mind busy and not contemplate the excruciating embarrassment of last night, Lila decided on a walk. A long walk around the reservoir, a walk that would tire her out. A walk with a very interesting podcast to keep her mind busy. If people were busy, that’s fine, she could do it by herself.
Technicolour Lila.
Chapter 12
Expound(verb)
to make known (as an idea, emotion, or opinion)
to make plain or understandable
Rhys
Dan would know what to do. Well, Dan would take the absolute piss first, and then tell him what he should do. Because once again, he had not managed to articulate himself very well and in the process had probably done exactly what Elin had said not to do. Fucked it up.
Last night had been so perfect.Lilahad been so perfect. She had charmed his family, been on his side one hundred percent with his father, played the dutiful girlfriend to perfection.
Rhys cringed. He’d run away like a scared teenager and hadn’t explained himself. She hadn’twantedhim to explain himself. That was fair enough, because she must have felt so rejected.Hemust have made her feel so rejected.
The wait for eight o’clock was interminable. He tried working, but the words all merged together and he couldn’t get the taste of her out of his mouth. His dick had been in a state of near permanent semi-hardness since he’d gotten home last night and release in the shower had been unsatisfying and pointless. The memory of Lila’s leg wrapped around his waist plagued him and was catnip to his not-neglected dick. He went for a run, but ended up running in circles because he couldn’t concentrate, so he cut it short after half an hour.
It was just after seven when he buzzed Dan into his flat. Rhys handed him a beer. Dan took a long look at him in his pathetic jogging bottoms and faded t-shirt worn thin around the neckline.
“You look like shit,” Dan said.
“I didn’t sleep well.”
Yeah, because every time he closed his eyes, all he saw was a red-faced and glassy-eyed Lila on her doorstep, slamming the door in his face.
“So.” Dan took a swig of beer. “What did you do wrong?”
Rhys clenched his jaw. Fuck, talking about this was hard. But Dan understood him and the situation. Dan had the insight that he sorely lacked.
