Chapter Twenty-six
Morgan
It has been several days since I met Dex’s parents, and while the weekend was fantastic, I’m starting to feel a little anxious. Dex and the team flew out for a tournament yesterday morning. They aren’t due back for another three days. I really hate it when he travels. At least, he has made an effort to contact me more this time. He has texted me several times and called a few. Definitely progress.
I can’t knock this sense of being left behind. I despise the feeling. I hate that when he is gone. I miss him. I miss him so much that it makes me uneasy. Why the heck should I be this dependent on a guy? And this soon? It’s utterly ridiculous.
If I’m this dependent on him now, what would happen if he were to break up with me? The thought lingers. If he breaks up with me…
When he breaks up with me.
I shake myself out of the broken record that’s playing in my head. What the hell makes me think he’s going to break up with me? I push the thought away and try to focus on the book I’m reading.
Thirty minutes later, I don’t think I even read two pages. I know I’ve read the same paragraph at least three times now. So, I pull up the Facebook app on my phone. There’s nothing a good ol’ Facebook stalking session can’t fix.
I start looking through my newsfeed, then move on to people I know well and then people I haven’t spoken to in ages. A good chunk of time later, just as I go back to my newsfeed, a photo pops up on the page. My stomach drops.
It’s a picture of Dex in the middle of two really attractive women. One arm hangs to his side and the other wraps behind the back of the girl who is…kissing him.
Ok, she is kissing his cheek, but still. Dex and the other girl are smiling for the camera, and I can tell that the kisser is super happy with what she is doing. Why are random girls, fans or not, kissing my boyfriend?
“GIA!” I yell from my room.
“What?” she yells back from the living room.
“Facebook. Now.”
What seems like long minutes pass in silence. My bedroom door slowly pushes open, and Gia is standing there with her phone in her hand.
“I can almost bet, that it is not what it looks like,” she tells me.
“What does it look like to you?”
“It looks like a fan that just caught him off guard and kissed him as the picture was taken.”
“I don’t think it’s a fan. They are friends on Facebook. She tagged him.”
“Well…” she looks at her phone, at the photo and doesn’t finish her thought.
“Is Dex cheating on me? Do you think this happens all the time when he leaves? Oh my God. It’s happening again, isn’t it?”
“Ok Mo, slow down. One, you have no idea what actually happened before or after this photo was taken, and two, I highly doubt that Dex is cheating on you.”
Tears fill my eyes as I stare at the stupid photo. I am at a loss for words.
“You know; you could just call him. Or text him,” Gia offers.
Still staring hard at the photo, I set my phone down with more force than necessary and hastily wipe away the rogue tears from my face.
“It’s fine. You’re right. Probably a misunderstanding,” I say. I stand up and walk to the door. “I’m just gonna go to bed,” I say, and I start to close the door on Gia.
“Hey, wait a second. Don’t shut me out. Do we need to talk about this? Do you want me to sit with you while you call him?” she asks, with concern etched all over her face.
“No, I’m fine. I just want to go to bed. I will talk to Dex in the morning. Night.” I offer a forced smile and close the door.
I hear her on the other side of the door say, “You are not fine,” but then I hear nothing more. I turn off the light and crawl into bed.
That’s when the tears fall in earnest. It doesn’t matter if he cheated on me or not. The fact is that I can’t handle this. This relationship is too much for me. It’s either great, moving too fast, or full of doubt and unease.
My phone starts to vibrate, and his handsome face covers the entire screen of my phone. I stare at his face in a daze and let it ring. I wait until it beeps with a voicemail. I pick up my phone and to listen to his message.
Over lots of noise and music, he booms into the phone, “Hey. I just thought I would call; I know it’s late. Bernie said I should call you. So, I am. Alright, so you are probably asleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Night, Morgan.”
I cry for a while longer before one final round of torture. I pull up Facebook on my phone, look at the photo once more and see that Dex has been untagged from the photo.
I cry for a while longer before one final round of torture. I pull up Facebook on my phone, look at the photo once more and see that the Dex has been untagged from the photo.
Why are guys so clueless sometimes? I place the phone on the nightstand next to me, turning my back to the text that comes minutes later and force myself into a restless night of sleep.