Status: This story has its basing in real life situations, some exaggerated, and then a couple added to aid the story. If it sucks please tell me why :)
What if...
Seven
It ended up being quite a quiet journey. None of them realised that it was because of all of the tension and attraction in the car. Finally they got to Sean’s stop.
“Thanks Edmund, and good luck on your date!” Sean said and Edmund almost physically flinched. The door closed and Sarah tried to act like a happy friend.
“Date?” she was impressed that she didn’t scream it at him or something.
“Um, yeah. Well it’s not a date really, just meeting a girl after work in the bar...” he began, desperately wanting her to stop it and go herself or something. He knew it was his mind running away with him, but he had to ignore it.
“Well that’s...that’s great. I hope it goes well,” she lied, her heart sinking as her last hope of being liked by him was firmly buried beneath this other woman’s no doubt shapely feet.
She spent the rest of the journey looking out of the window trying to hold her heart together as it fell apart.
He spent the rest of the journey looking out of the windscreen trying to hold his heart together, in the hope that this girl from work would have something strong enough to hold it together after Sarah’s acceptance of this date had smashed it so completely.
That night Annabel got to work. She was on a mission now. A mission for her friends’ hearts. She could already picture them happily being together, her two friends sorted and no longer single.
Finally she got to the part in the Instant Messenger conversation that she had been building up to all evening.
Edmund: How did you hear about me meeting up with Gretchin?
Abigail: It’s a date. And Ralph told Isabel and I.
Edmund: Oh right.
Abigail: And are you sure you should be going if you’re unwilling to even think of it as a date? Because that’s what it sounds like to me. Careful you’re not just using this girl.
Edmund: I don’t know...well I suppose I can just see how it goes. Why shouldn’t I go? She won’t fall in love with me after one meet up.
Abigail: I have one answer to that: Sarah. That’s why. She really liked you Edmund, how can you not see that?
There was then a pause. It was killing Abigail because she wanted to know what he was thinking. Clearly he wasn’t all that into this Gretchin girl, but she so wanted him to be into Sarah because after one meet up (and those conversations) her friend had fallen for him that much, and she’d far prefer someone like Sarah got to be with him happily.
Edmund: Why would you say that?
“Finally,” Abigail breathed.
Abigail: Because it’s true. Have you not seen it?
Edmund: No. Sorry I’ve got to go now though.
Abigail crossed her toes in her shoes. She hoped against hope that he would see sense. How did he not even think that Sarah would like him back? Could he not see that? She shook her head, and gave up.
Surely he would now have the sense to give up on Gretchin and go to Sarah, and Sarah liked him how much, how could she muck it up?
On the other side of the conversation Edmund was staring at the screen, suddenly feeling as though the dam he’d put up against his feeling for Sarah had been broken and his mind was rushing and whizzing around in swirls of thought.
He picked up his phone and for a long time hovered over Sarah’s number.
He had to have the right thing to say. He couldn’t just blurt everything out over the phone, and what if Abigail was mistaken or something?
He didn’t want to look a fool.
What to say though?
Start a casual conversation perhaps? At this hour? What if she was asleep, he didn’t want to annoy her.
He just had to let Gretchin down, make it actually nothing more than two people meeting up after work and then follow his heart finally.
“Thanks Edmund, and good luck on your date!” Sean said and Edmund almost physically flinched. The door closed and Sarah tried to act like a happy friend.
“Date?” she was impressed that she didn’t scream it at him or something.
“Um, yeah. Well it’s not a date really, just meeting a girl after work in the bar...” he began, desperately wanting her to stop it and go herself or something. He knew it was his mind running away with him, but he had to ignore it.
“Well that’s...that’s great. I hope it goes well,” she lied, her heart sinking as her last hope of being liked by him was firmly buried beneath this other woman’s no doubt shapely feet.
She spent the rest of the journey looking out of the window trying to hold her heart together as it fell apart.
He spent the rest of the journey looking out of the windscreen trying to hold his heart together, in the hope that this girl from work would have something strong enough to hold it together after Sarah’s acceptance of this date had smashed it so completely.
That night Annabel got to work. She was on a mission now. A mission for her friends’ hearts. She could already picture them happily being together, her two friends sorted and no longer single.
Finally she got to the part in the Instant Messenger conversation that she had been building up to all evening.
Edmund: How did you hear about me meeting up with Gretchin?
Abigail: It’s a date. And Ralph told Isabel and I.
Edmund: Oh right.
Abigail: And are you sure you should be going if you’re unwilling to even think of it as a date? Because that’s what it sounds like to me. Careful you’re not just using this girl.
Edmund: I don’t know...well I suppose I can just see how it goes. Why shouldn’t I go? She won’t fall in love with me after one meet up.
Abigail: I have one answer to that: Sarah. That’s why. She really liked you Edmund, how can you not see that?
There was then a pause. It was killing Abigail because she wanted to know what he was thinking. Clearly he wasn’t all that into this Gretchin girl, but she so wanted him to be into Sarah because after one meet up (and those conversations) her friend had fallen for him that much, and she’d far prefer someone like Sarah got to be with him happily.
Edmund: Why would you say that?
“Finally,” Abigail breathed.
Abigail: Because it’s true. Have you not seen it?
Edmund: No. Sorry I’ve got to go now though.
Abigail crossed her toes in her shoes. She hoped against hope that he would see sense. How did he not even think that Sarah would like him back? Could he not see that? She shook her head, and gave up.
Surely he would now have the sense to give up on Gretchin and go to Sarah, and Sarah liked him how much, how could she muck it up?
On the other side of the conversation Edmund was staring at the screen, suddenly feeling as though the dam he’d put up against his feeling for Sarah had been broken and his mind was rushing and whizzing around in swirls of thought.
He picked up his phone and for a long time hovered over Sarah’s number.
He had to have the right thing to say. He couldn’t just blurt everything out over the phone, and what if Abigail was mistaken or something?
He didn’t want to look a fool.
What to say though?
Start a casual conversation perhaps? At this hour? What if she was asleep, he didn’t want to annoy her.
He just had to let Gretchin down, make it actually nothing more than two people meeting up after work and then follow his heart finally.