Page 114 of Love, Academically
Rhys clicked the refresh button on his email. Nothing yet.
It was silent, but there was still the sweet smell of vanilla standing in front of him.
“I can’t believe I ever thought you were different to Jason,” she whispered. “Fuck you, Rhys.”
Rhys snapped his eyes to her, confused. Like Jason? He was nothing like that absolute sweat stain. He’d think about that later.
The door slammed shut and he was left with no unread emails and fading vanilla. Heart slowing somewhat now he’d exploded, he tapped his fingers on his desk, waiting for his father. Retrieving his phone from his pocket, he lined it up next to his keyboard on the desk.
Refreshing his email again, a message from Elin’s assistantpopped up asking if he and Lila would be free next Saturday for dinner. Yeah, no, he couldn’t think about that right now, not when all this Fellowship stuff was going on.
Besides, he wasn’t sure that he actually wanted to spend time with Lila right now.
“Fuck,” he whispered, because that wasn’t true.
It wasn’t true at all.
She had just been a convenient punch bag in a convenient place at a convenient time. An easy target. What had he done?
Shit.
His email updated with something from his father’s assistant, but Rhys didn’t bother to open it. He was on his feet and wrenching open his office door.
Dan, with a Taylor Swift heart around his eye, was heading in his direction, brow uncharacteristically low over his eyes.
“Dan, I can’t deal with you now,” he said, aiming to push past him. “I need to find Lila.” He needed to fix it, to apologise, to hold her.
“No, the last thing you need to do is find Lila,” Dan said, shoving him hard in the chest. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Rhys?” he hissed.
“Dan, I know—”
“Do you? Do you actually know? Because she’s in her office with Amanda, bawling her eyes out. Absolutely fucking distraught.” Dan shook his head in disgust. “I’ve called Jasmeet to come and get her, because she can’t even drive in this state.”
“Look, I’ll talk to her. I’ll fix it, it’s just been a bit of a shit hour and a half.”
“No fucking way will you talk to her. She hasn’t said it, but Iknowthis was you, Rhys. I know you and I know how you get. I know how to deal with you, I can tell you to back off. I know when to take things seriously and when not to. But her? Your‘girl’?” Dan pointed down the corridor. “You don’t get to treat her that way.”
Rhys opened his mouth to say something,anything, to defend himself. But what was there to say?
“There is absolutely no way you’re talking to her again today.” Dan sighed and passed a hand over his face. “She was good for you, Rhys. She pushed you to think about how you treat people, how to enjoy life. You were really happy, for the first time since I’ve known you.”
“Dan, I—”
“I bet you ran roughshod over her, didn’t you? Wouldn’t let her get a word in edgeways becauseyourshit is always so much more important than anyone else’s, right?” His voice was low, disappointment leaking out of each syllable.
“That’s not true and you know it,” Rhys said, pointing a shaking finger at Dan.
“Do I? Really?” Dan snapped. “I care about you, man, but you have fucked up big time here. So big, that I can’t even deal with you right now.”
“Whatever, I need to see her.” Rhys moved to push past Dan again.
“You need to listen to me,” he said, his voice tense but so calm. How could he be so fuckingcalm? “You don’t get to see Lila. Not now.”
Dan just didn’t get it. Heneededto see her, make things right. Shake her devastated, broken look from his mind and just hold her. Apologise and apologise and apologise again, because it would never be enough.
Dan put a firm hand on his shoulder and gave him a pointed stare. Rhys looked back at his friend for a long moment, before his shoulders slumped and he felt his soul sinking. Dan was right, this was not the time. He left Rhys standing in the corridor outside of his office, alone with nothing but dread and guilt.
Lila
