Christian

“Eloise, wait!” I shouted as I began to go after her.

“No, Christian. Let her go,” Claire firmly spoke as she stopped me. “She’s in shock. Let her go.”

I walked over to my desk, and in a fit of rage, I swiped my hand across it, knocking everything except my computer off.

“Why did you pick here in the office to tell her?” Claire asked.

“I didn’t. Apparently, she was texting Mobile Man and my phone was sitting on the desk. I was with Jimmy looking over some prints.”

“Wait a minute. Then there was no way she knew you knew.”

“No shit. I’m thinking that now. But at the time when I walked in and saw her standing there with my phone in her hand, the only thing I could say was that I wanted to tell her.”

“YOU IDIOT! You could have acted like you didn’t know and you both found out together at the same time!”

“I realized that after I told her I was sorry. I’m so stupid.” I sat down in my chair and placed my face in my hands.

“We’ll talk about this later. I need to go after her.”

I needed to get out of here. Grabbing my briefcase, I left my office and told my secretary that I wouldn’t be back for the rest of the day. FUCK! I forgot about my meeting with Ron. After hailing a cab back to my apartment, I sent a group text message to my design team and told them to be at my house promptly at five o’clock for a meeting. Then, I sent a text message to Ron.

“We’ll need to meet at my apartment for the meeting if that’s okay? Something’s come up and I had to leave the office.”

“Sure, Christian. Your place is fine. Text me the address.”

****

Eloise

“Eloise, wait,” Claire shouted as I walked down the street.

“Claire, please leave me alone. I don’t want to talk to anyone right now. Please.”

She caught up with me and lightly grabbed hold of my arm.

“What happened between you and Christian?”

“I can’t talk about it. Not now. Please, just give me some time.” The tears continued to fall.

“Okay. But please call me later.”

I gave her a slight nod and continued walking down the street and around the block. Where was I going? I thought home, but home was too far to walk. So I was just walking to nowhere. After wandering around the streets of New York with tears streaming down my face and the sympathetic looks from strangers, I hailed a cab back to my apartment.

I needed to calm down. My mind was racing a mile a minute and I couldn’t keep up with it. I was drained, both mentally and physically. I took a glass down and poured some wine into it. Bringing the red liquid up to my lips, I gulped it as if it were water. I could feel the alcohol soothing my nerves as it flowed through my body. Picking up the bottle, I poured another glass, took it over to the couch, and wrapped myself in my soft gray blanket. I could hear the annoying dings of text messages coming through to my phone, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t about to get up and see whom they were from. I slowly sipped on my wine as I thought about Christian. How could he do this to me? Of all men, I thought he was different. He was the rare find I’d been searching for my entire life. All those text messages from him encouraging me to go out with him. All those things he said about waking up one day and wondering what could have been. I felt sick to my stomach and I jumped off the couch and ran to the bathroom, where I vomited in the toilet. When I was done, I started the water for a bath. After grabbing a bath bomb and putting it in the water, I climbed in and laid back, closing my eyes and trying to escape the shit show of today.

My heart was completely shattered. I’d had many broken hearts in my lifetime, but never shattered. I couldn’t comprehend his reasoning for not telling me. Or maybe I could. It was all a game to him. He wanted to take me out and I rejected him. He knew I didn’t want to date, and when he found out I was Digits, the girl who sent him that nasty text message by mistake, he took advantage of it for his own sake and to get what he wanted. Tears started to fall down my face again and I lay in the tub and cried my shattered heart out.

****

Christian

I sat there, staring into space as Ron shared his vision with my design team. I hurt so bad. A hurt I’d never felt before. Not even with my ex-girlfriends. My life fell apart in a matter of seconds, and over what? Some fucking text messages. I knew what I did was wrong and I’d struggled with the decision of telling her since I’d found out. I could sit here all fucking night and analyze the what if’s. But it wouldn’t change anything. The damage was done. I was done. Eloise made it very clear she never wanted to see or talk to me again. I couldn’t accept that. I needed her in my life. I wanted her in my life.

“Earth to Christian,” Ron spoke.

Snapping back into the dark reality, I looked over at him.

“Sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”

“I think we’re finished here.” He smiled.

“Sorry I had to have the meeting here. Something came up and I wouldn’t have gotten back to the office on time.”

“It’s not a problem. Everything okay?” he asked. “You’re not having problems with Eloise, are you?”

“We got into a huge fight earlier.”

He patted me on the back as he walked to the door.

“Couples fight all the time. You two will figure it out,” he spoke.

“Thanks, Ron. I’ll give you a call when the campaign is ready.”

“Sounds good. Take care, Christian.”

“You too.”

I shut the door and poured myself a whisky, something I rarely drank, but today it was warranted. I did a couple shots, poured a full glass, and sat down on the couch to drink my troubles away. How was I going to fix this? I guess meeting her parents on Saturday was out of the question, not to mention the Broadway tickets I’d bought for Sunday evening.

“FUCK!” I yelled as I threw my glass at the wall.