Status: Fin.

Live In Reality

Chapter 4

“…We’ll work on it,” Chantal muttered into her phone thirty minutes later. “I’ve got to go check on her now.”

Lenore stood outside her friend’s bedroom door. Who was she talking to?

“Chantal?” she peered into the room.

Her friend jumped and quickly hung up the phone. “What’s up, Lenore? Why aren’t you asleep?”

“I went to get something to drink,” Lenore pointed behind her. “Who were you on the phone with?”

“Oh, that was nothing,” Chantal waved it off. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Lenore didn’t like how Chantal was skirting around the question. “Are you sure it was nothing? It sounded like you were talking about me.”

This conversation was starting to sound a lot like one she had earlier that night with a certain hockey player boyfriend. She didn’t like it.

“No, no,” she assured her. “Well, it was about you. But I was talking to… I was talking to Chase! You know, from the mail room.”

Lenore crossed her arms. “Oh? Why would our mail room intern need to call you to talk about me?”

“He…, uh,…,” Chantal’s voice trailed off.

“Especially while he’s on vacation,” Lenore sassed.

Chantal’s face faltered. “Oh, um, he was just checking in on his time off. He wanted to make sure that he had filed all the paperwork.”

Shaking her head, Lenore backed out of the room. “You know what? Come find me when you’re ready to tell me the truth.”

“Lenore,” Chantal called out.

“Don’t, Chantal,” Lenore yelled back. “I’m not dealing with this right now.”

Shutting herself in the guest room, Lenore collapsed. Had her best friend been on the phone with her boyfriend? Why was everything so damn confusing?

Lenore groaned aloud. “Life sucks so much. Merde.”

****

Twenty minutes away, Sidney sat on his own bed staring at his iPhone. Chantal had abruptly hung up right after he had heard Lenore’s voice in the background. Lenore was no idiot. She’d put two and two together pretty quickly.

Chantal had come up with the idea of her taking Lenore out for coffee the next morning. Sidney would show up ‘out of the blue’ and ‘bump’ into them. In Chantal’s opinion, Lenore wouldn’t want to cause a scene so she would end up agreeing to talk with Sidney. It wasn’t a fool proof plan, but it was better than anything he had come up with.

Looking at the part of the dresser that Lenore used for her jewelry box, he saw that something was missing. Usually, when Lenore slept, she took off her necklace. If she had, her infinity necklace would have been in the wooden box. It wasn’t.

She had kept it on. That had to mean something, right? If Lenore had really been through with him, she wouldn’t have kept on a symbol of their relationship.

****

Tossing and turning in bed, Sidney decided that he couldn’t do it. Getting up and walking into the closet, he looked around for his usual hoodie. Not finding it, he realized what must have happened. Lenore had taken it with her. He could imagine her sleeping in it with the hood up. Grabbing a different jacket, he took his iPhone, wallet, keys, and a bag with a change of clothes and clambered down to his car. He couldn’t take being in that house alone. Mario’s guest house was always open to him.
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Just felt like updating again. I don't know why, haha. So we've had a little confrontation with Lenore and Chantal. Things just aren't going well for Lenore right now, aren't they? Let me know what's on your minds, lovelies!