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28
Sighing theatrically, Elena relented, her expression turning serious. “Alright. At first, it started off fine, you know? We had a good time, the party was great, sparks were flying and the conversation flowed smoothly. I met a lot of nice people too.”
Beth leaned in, hanging onto Elena’s every word.
“But then,” Elena continued, her voice tinged with frustration, “I ran into this guy, Matt. Chandler introduced me to him weeks ago. We started talking and then he told me he wanted to ask me out when we met, but Chandler had apparently told him to back off.”
Beth’s eyes widened in surprise, anticipating the twist in the story.
Elena’s face clouded with conflicting emotions. “I got really upset with Chandler because I didn’t like the fact that he was already trying to control who I went out with. We argued about it, and then he stormed out of the hotel room. After a while I felt guilty because I thought maybe I overreacted. Do you think I overreacted?”
Beth’s expression mirrored the rollercoaster of emotions Elena was describing, but she nodded. ” Ermmm…. I
“guess it depends. You had every right to be mad at him, but honestly when you try to see things from his perspective, he was just being…Territorial, I guess. Men do that sometimes when they like a girl,”
“Okay maybe I screwed up there,” Elena continued, her voice tinged with hurt, “But later that night, I went out to look for him because he hadn’t returned and I was getting worried. Anyways, I found him at the hotel bar… kissing another woman.”
Beth gasped, her hand flying to her mouth in shock. “What? No fucking way!”
“Yeah,” Elena replied with a mix of disappointment and disbelief. “I couldn’t believe it either. I thought we… I.. I don’t even know what I thought was going on between us. I was even going to sleep with him, Beth. I guess I was just being silly but now I’m just glad I didn’t go through with it.”
The silence between them was palpable, punctuated only by the distant hum of the bakery’s cooling ovens. Beth reached out to comfort her friend, understanding the weight of Elena’s disappointment.
“I’m so sorry, Elena. That’s just… awful,” Beth finally managed, her voice filled with sympathy. “Are you sure you are alright?”
Elena shrugged, trying to brush it off. She’d known somehow that he’d hurt her eventually, but it still hurt. “Yeah, well, I guess it’s better to know now than later, right?”
“So what did Emily say about all this? I’m sure she’s currently planning his funeral as we speak,”
Elena chuckled. That was an exaggeration, but it wasn’t too far from the truth. Emily would be mad as hell… Especially after she’d been so skeptical about Chandler, “I haven’t told her yet,”
“Why not?”
“Honestly, Beth, I have no fucking idea,”Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.
———–
The gym was alive with the rhythmic clinks of weights and the hum of treadmills. Chandler Kendrick, was amidst the clatter, lifting weights with a fervor that matched the turbulence within him. Beside him, his brother, Elijah, stood mirroring his movements and trying to match Chandler’s pace.
Chandler’s focus was fractured, his mind clouded by thoughts of Elena, the woman who had captured his heart but had slipped through his fingers after that disastrous date. The weight of that failure bore down on him, evident in his clenched jaw and furrowed brow. It’d gone horribly wrong in a way that he had not been expecting at all. Somehow, their date had unraveled into a tangle of misunderstandings and missteps, leaving him riddled with an ache that lingered long after. He wanted to see her… Wanted to talk to her, but everytime he picked up his phone to dial her number he couldn’t go through with it. How would she react if he did, would she let him explain, or would she tell him to fuck off. He had a feeling the second option would be the result, and honestly, he deserved it. .
Chandler maneuvered through his workout routine, pushing himself hard as if punishing himself. The metallic clinks of the dumbbells punctuated the silence between them, until Elijah finally snapped.
“Okay, damn it,” he began, as he dropped the dumbbells and sat on a bench to catch his breath, “You’ve been salty all week, man, and it’s obvious that you are upset about something. Why don’t you share instead of working yourself silly? What’s up, brother? Talk to me.”
Chandler lifted the weights two more times before he dropped it, then gulped down the water in his bottle before he faced his brother. “First of all, no one talks like that, and Secondly, mind your business, Golden boy,”
Elijah waved his hand at Chandler like he was a lost cause. He shook his head but didn’t say anything. Which was good, because for days, Chandler had been one hair shy of snapping at anyone who came too close. The truth was that while Chandler did love his brother, for years, they weren’t on very good terms. After Chandler’s mother died, his father, Grayson Kendrick had remarried Elijah’s mother, Laura, and she and Chandler never really got along. Chandler didn’t care for a replacement mother either, and it wasn’t until Elijah came along that things got tougher.
Chandler cared for his brother, but as Elijah grew, their parents favored Elijah more. He was the good son who never did anything wrong…the straight A student the family was proud of, and Chandler was simply the rebel. The black sheep of the family who eventually left home at a young age. As they grew up, resentment grew between the two brothers. The treatment from their parents earned Elijah the name ‘Golden boy’ from Chandler. They argued a lot and sometimes it even got physical. It wasn’t until after Elijah graduated from the university before Chandler reached out to him, and they began to mend their relationship again.
But at this moment Chandler didn’t want to talk about Elena with Elijah… Or anyone for that matter. Eventually, he’d be able to get the thought of her out of his head. Eventually, he’d be able to drink enough that he wouldn’t dream of her. Eventually, he’d work himself hard enough that all the blood in his veins would be focused on keeping his heart working instead of screaming at him that he was the biggest fucking idiot in the entire world for how he’d acted. But it wasn’t happening yet.