Elle
The anticipation was killing her.
Not literally of course, but she’d already woken Gwenevere once through her incessant pacing and talking to herself, or when she’d dropped the glass into the sink because her shaky hand simply couldn’t hold it any longer. Why couldn’t it be twelve thirty already! She wanted him here, so that they could hopefully work through everything, and get back to being the happiest that they’d ever been with each other.
Her phone buzzed and she looked at it again. It was Laura. She’d become quite close with her upstairs neighbor, though Laura hadn’t quite become a part of her crew. But nonetheless she still considered her a good friend, and she’d stayed up late texting back and forth as she waited for Braden to arrive.
Now that they were down to the final minutes before he should be at her place, she was extra grateful for the support.
Laura: What about now?
She grinned despite herself. It was starting to feel like Laura was more eager for him to arrive than she was! Which was nigh impossible of course, but it helped her feel less ridiculous about her own levels of trepidation and excitement for his arrival.
Elle: Nope, not yet. Any minute now. He’s usually here twenty-five to thirty minutes after he finishes a shift. Might be a few more today, ‘cause he’ll wanna shower. I hope.
Laura: He’d better shower!
She laughed and sent a smiley face as a reply, acknowledging the truth of the statement. After all, she’d taken the time to shower. And shave! It might be a little premature, but Elle had decided to go with her gut, trusting her feeling that something inside Braden had changed. If they could just have a conversation where he was open to the idea of doing things differently, everything would be better!
The minutes continued to pass, with Elle growing more and more impatient. Twelve thirty-five came and went. Then twelve forty-five. Her phone went off, bringing up the clock on the screen along with the notification of another text.
12:58
It was Laura again, not Braden.
Laura: Anything?
Elle: Nope. Nothing at all.
She didn’t even bother to look at the text back. Instead she sent one to Braden, asking him where he was, and how much longer he expected to be. It wasn’t like him. The few times he had been late, he’d always told her that something came up, and that he’d text her as soon as he had an idea of how much longer. Those had been on regular days, before they’d fought.
Shouldn’t he be more on top of things today?
Laura: Well, I’ve got another feeding likely to happen in the next half an hour. Want me to bring Lana down with me? I’ll watch Gwen if you want to go over to the embassy.
Elle had the best friends. Seriously the best. It was one in the morning and here Laura was offering to watch her child so she could go try and figure out what the hell had happened to her…her…whatever the hell Braden was to her!
Her first reaction was to turn down the offer. There was no way she could let Laura do that for her. There were limits to any friendship, and she didn’t want to test them. She would stay home, wait a little bit longer for Braden to show up, then send him a text telling him not to bother, because she was going to bed. That would be the best way to handle the situation. Going all riled up, marching down to the embassy, and tearing a strip off of him was not the mature thing to do. It would feel good to unload on him like that, but it certainly wouldn’t help the situation. Which is why she was going to decline her friend’s offer.
Elle: Are you sure?
Laura: On my way.
“Bless your heart,” she said softly, her brain already moving on to getting ready to leave.
What she meant by that, was it was letting her anger at being ditched flow freely. Very freely.
“I can’t believe that he would do this to you!” Laura said, waltzing in through the door a few minutes later.
“Oh, he’s going to regret it now. When I get there I’m going to ensure that he never forgets about me or anyone else ever again.”
“You go girl,” Laura said sternly. “Give him a piece of your mind.”
“I’m gonna give him the whole damn thing. It’s more than his pigheaded brain can handle, but that’s just fine with me this time. He’s not getting out of this that easily!”
She and Laura exchanged fist bumps—high fives were a bad idea with two sleeping children, though Lana didn’t look like she was quite as asleep as Gwen.
“You’re way too amazing to be left hanging like that.”
The smile Elle flashed her was anything but happy, more predatory than anything. Like a shark opening its mouth just before it swallows its prey. Elle was on the warpath, and Braden was about to pay.
“I’ll be home when I can. I’ll text you,” she said, hurriedly tugging her winter jacket and boots on. Her blood was up. She didn’t want to waste another minute.
If she did, rationale would start to kick in, and she might have to admit to herself that if she was truly mad at Braden, she would simply cut him out of her life.
Not go chasing after him in the middle of the night under the guise of yelling at him, something that could be accomplished over the phone.
No, she wasn’t willing to admit that. Not to herself.