Page 60 of Ever After

Me: Hey, do you want to come over and talk tonight? Lia won’t be home.

Aiden: Sure. What time?

Me: Just got done at the gym. Give me an hour.

All Aiden sends back is a thumbs-up emoji. I roll my eyes and sigh while I turn my car on. It could’ve been worse.

I’m pulling up my leggings and I hear Lia come storming into my room. Frightened by her approach to enter my room with no warning, my back aches from hitting the wall.

“What the fuck? I thought you weren’t home?” I say while releasing my hand from my chest like I was holding my heart in from jumping out of my chest.

She storms over and lies on my bed. “My plans changed. I was seeing what you were up to. Have you had dinner? I’m starving! I haven’t eaten since the morning.”

“Are you on crack? You’re going a hundred miles a minute. I thought you had a date?” As soon as my nerves calm down, I go over to my dresser and grab a T-shirt.

“I did, but I canceled it. After what happened on the last date, I’m too traumatized.

I laugh. “You’re traumatized. Imagine me!” I say, pointing to myself.

She leans up on her elbows and looks over at me. “Okay. You have a point. I don’t know. Dating is exhausting.”

“You’re not giving me high hopes here for the dating scene.”

I’ve been out of the dating scene for so long that I never realized how bad it is nowadays. I blame it on technology. It’s awful. I don’t even know how to use those stupid ass dating apps everyone depends their life on now. It’s ridiculous. Once I finally got my ass out of bed Lia and I went out to a bar for drinks and a guy came up to me and asked for my Snapchat. I looked at him in disbelief. He didn’t even say hi or ask me my name. He walked straight up to me and only asked me for my Snapchat. Who the hell does that? At first, I thought he was kidding. But he looked at me like I was stupid. Then I knew he wasn’t. Who asks for someone’s Snapchat before their name? That was such a red flag.

“I told you not to letyou know whoget away.”

“Don’t remind me.” A loud gasp is let out as I fall flat on my back over my bed.

She leans over and looks over at me. “You know…I could call him or I could talk to Alex and get a feel of how he is feeling.”

“I go back and forth on what to do and say. The best thing to do right now is to get my divorce completed. I can’t keep going back to Jay while still married. Especially now. It’s going to show him I’m not serious. He already had doubts. I already feel dumb enough for what all went down that night.”

“It’s not like you knew what was going to happen. We’ve never been to that bar. We don’t know anyone who goes to it. I never expected Aiden to be there.”

“What you said makes me and the whole situation sound stupid. I should have never pursued someone. Regardless of what Aiden did or not.” You would think married people have it all figured out. In reality, we don’t. We take our marriage day by day like everyone else in the world that’s single or dating. People say adults have everything figured out. I can assure you they don’t.

A ping comes buzzing through my ear, and I sit up and scoot myself closer to my nightstand and grab my phone.

Aiden: I’m outside

I read the message, confused. Why didn’t he come in or knock? Oh shit, I told him Lia wouldn’t be here. “Lia, are you leaving anywhere?”

“No, why?” she asks with a hesitant voice.

“I told Aiden to come over and talk. I told him you wouldn’t be here.”

She sits up and stares at me. “Why does it matter if I’m here?”

I shrug my shoulders. “He would feel more comfortable if it was only us two. You know how hard it has been to get him to respond to anything.”

“Fine. I’ll leave,” she says and rolls herself off the bed.

I jump up from the bed and race downstairs before he leaves. Right as I get to the front door and open it, Aiden is standing there with his fist up, about to knock.

“Oh. Hi,” I say shyly.

Now that he’s standing right in front of me, things feel weird and awkward. I move aside and he comes through the door. We both look up at Lia coming down the stairs. She has a smudged look on her face. I know she’s not happy I’m making her leave. “She’s heading out,” I say to Aiden.

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