Tangled in the Great Escape

I woke up the next day with a hangover from hell. With my head pounding like crazy and my limbs felt like failing, the last thing I want to do was go to work but I know if I stay at Robyn’s all day and do nothing, I will do exactly what I always do at times like these: think, and thinking leads to overthinking and it’ll drive me mad. I slid my legs off of Robyn’s couch and onto the floor, really taking my time in getting ready for work.

Once I reached the bathroom, I found a note stuck to the mirror from Robyn, telling me to use her clothes, make myself breakfast and that she had gone to work early to take care of some stuff.

I stepped into the shower and let the hot water cascade down my shoulder and onto my legs. The water felt like heaven and I can feel it released the tension in my entire body, I feel better instantly. I took my time in the shower and went to Robyn’s dresser once I finished, I didn’t want to seem like I was raiding her closet so I took the most basic piece of clothing: black leggings and a white sheer blouse. Looking at the clock, I realized that I was way past late so I rushed out of her apartment and straight to the train station.

I went inside the office building half running, cursing at everyone and everything in the process. After finally reaching my cubicle, panting and sweating a little, I threw my stuff under the desk and sat down, trying to slow down my breath. I fired up my computer and began working on the Bullet for My Valentine piece that I’ve been putting off for the longest time.

The entire time that I was writing, it felt like I was on autopilot mode. My hands danced on the keyboard with little effort and for a second there, I forgot about all the mess that I’m in. I figured that drowning myself in my work would serve as a distraction from everything shitty around me, it was working perfectly until I felt my stomach growled and then all the focus I put into my work was shattered. I realized that the last time I ate was yesterday and after the entire night of drinking, my stomach was literally crying and begging for me to eat. I saved my document and then decided to go to the pantry instead of eating out. I took out a cup of strawberry yogurt and green apple from the fridge, as I was about to head out, I bumped into Robyn who was headed to the copy room.

“Hey! I haven’t seen you all day, I borrowed your white blouse if that’s okay” I grinned and honestly a bit embarrassed that I was actually wearing her clothes to work.

“Yeah, that’s fine” She said with a flat tone and continues to walk towards the copy room.

I caught her hand before she got too far and she turned around, looking extremely annoyed. “Hey, what’s up? Is everything okay?”

“Everything is swell, thanks for asking” She snatched her arm from my grip and clacked away. I have no idea what her problem was but I decided to shrug it off and went back to work, maybe she was just as hangover as I was.

By the end of the day, I finished the article and edited a few that Eden dropped off for me. It was 9:30 PM and my body felt stiff for sitting all day and all I could think about was going home and take a long, hot bath to unwind.

“Hey Eden, I’ve emailed you the piece and I’m going to head out” I said as I poked my head from the doorway.

“Oh that’s great, alright then I’ll see you tomorrow dear” She gave me a smile and I waved goodnight.



For the past 3 days, I have been literally burying my head in my work and I’ve taken more jobs than I’ve ever had during my entire time working here. Eden started from being impressed to actually being worried because I kept working overtime. The upside to doing what I do is that I have so little time worrying about things that is unimportant; the downside is I also lost time to eat. I could count in one hand the number of meals I had these past 3 days and I know that it’s not healthy but I honestly don’t feel hungry at all and it’s like I just got the nitrous boost on some racing video game that I unlocked all this energy that I never knew existed.

“Cassie, honey. It’s lunch time and everyone is out getting something, why are you still here working?” I turned my attention to Eden who was standing behind me with a concerned look on her face.

“Oh it’s lunch time already? I completely lost track of time,” I said glancing at my watch. It was 12:30 PM.

“Go have lunch, your work can wait,” She said with a motherly authoritative voice.

I nodded and put my computer to sleep after saving the document. I grabbed my things and decided to go out and grab something to eat instead of digging around in the pantry, just as I was about to enter the elevator, Robyn and a few of our co-workers got out and I smiled widely.

“Hey! Where were you? I thought we’d go and have lunch together?”

She shrugged. “I just did, I have tons of work to do. Maybe next time” She and her friends then walked inside the office, whispering to each other while looking at me, leaving me once again confused and stunned.

I got into the elevator still thinking about what just happened and to think about it, Robyn and I haven’t had any real interactions since the night I spent crying and getting drunk in her place. Was that it? Was she annoyed or pissed at me because I’m a mess? I was starting to overthink what just happened and it scares me to have the only girl friend I’m close with in this country, mad at me. I grabbed a vegetarian kebab to go from this little Mediterranean restaurant down the street and went back to the office quickly. I felt like I needed to talk to Robyn about what’s going on but I also had the thought that I was only overreacting because I was scared.

When I got back to the office, I took a detour on the way to my cubicle and decide to walk past Robyn’s to see if she’s there to talk, but she wasn’t. I wanted to just brush it off and pretend like nothing’s going on but I just realized that it’s been days since the last time I talked to Robyn and from what I know, she’s not the kind to just shut off like that. I walked over towards the copy room to check if she was there when I bumped into someone.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking,” I said with an apologetic smile to the blonde coworker whose name I’m still having trouble remembering.

“Yeah, hey, you’re Cassandra right? The transfer?” She asked biting her inner cheek cockily.

“Yes I am, look I don’t mean to be rude but I’m looking for–“

“So you’re the tart that’s been screwing around the office?” She scoffed and laughed loudly.

My eyes widened and I could feel my jaw dropping.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh don’t play dumb, we all know about you and this certain photographer, props for you, a lot of girls have been after Callum Andrews” She winked and began to walk away.

“How the– Where did you hear that?” I asked barely above whisper, I was too terrified by now to even come up with a comeback.

“Oh love, the entire office knows, seeing we don’t really get office sluts here” She walked away, laughing loudly with her head dipped back dramatically.

I leaned back to the wall and felt my knees weakening, I felt overwhelmed with feelings that I don’t even know where to start thinking. All I know that I’m furious, extremely angry with Callum for being such a little blab-mouth bitch. I can’t believe out of all the assholes I’m associated with, I was blindsided by the one I thought I could actually trust. I was tired of being trampled on and people thinking they could just run me over because they think I’m not going to do anything about it, this is the last strike and I honestly am running out of patience.

Sighing, I pushed my body off the wall and marched right to the elevator and went straight to Callum’s floor. This would probably earn me more attention but I sure as hell am not going to stand here and be labeled as the office slut.

“Wh– Hey, what are you doing here?” Callum asked with a confused smile as soon as he saw me stomping my way to his cubicle.

I didn’t bother to say anything back and just let my palm collided with his cheek with a loud slap. Thankfully people around are busy with their work or on their headphones to actually notice what was going on.

“What the hell, Cass?” He stood up, with his hand over his red cheek.

“I need to talk to you, in private” I hissed and began to walk towards the pantry.

“I don’t know how you people do it in America, but in here we don’t just go around slapping people, then demanding to talk” He barked as soon as we were alone.

“Well where I’m from, what happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom. We don’t kiss and tell” That was a lie, people kiss and tell all the time, but I was just trying to make a point.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“When I agreed to do what we did, I was under the impression that we would be mature adults and not brag about it in the locker room, getting high-fives from your mates” I spat

Callum’s eyes went wide, “I didn’t tell anyone, geez I’m not that big of an asshole”

“Well what the hell did you do? Because the entire office is calling me the office whore”

“I have no idea, Cass, I swear. I didn’t do it”

I groaned and buried my face into my palms; I don’t understand why and how suddenly everything could go from great to shitty in just a matter of days. London was supposed to get me away from drama, but It turns out I just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Normally I would ignore it and play it off like I don’t care about what was going on but I don’t think this time I’m as emotionally strong as I was back then, now these things are getting to me like a virus.

After what feels like a lifetime of awkward silence, I brought myself to apologize for accusing Callum. I don’t know if I believed him or was just tired but I decided to let it go, nothing I do will undo the whole thing. We also talked about what happened yesterday and we both proposed to just stay friends.

The whole dramatic episode sucked the last energy I have and the last thing I wanted to do was go back to work, so I told Eden that I was going to take an half day and get some rest. I was walking fast to the train station, texting Avela to get on Skype as soon as I get home, when I noticed a familiar figure walking just a few feet ahead of me, carrying big, bulky binders.

“Hey! Hey Robyn!” I called out; she turned around and rolled her eyes.

“What do you want? I’m tired and I just want to go home”

“What’s going on with you?” I asked, panting and out of breath for walking fast.

“Nothing, have a good day” She turned around and began walking again, but this time I caught her arm and spun her around.

“Seriously, what’s wrong? Talk to me”

“I don’t want to, Cassie and I appreciate it if you would just drop it and let me leave”

“No! You know you’re the only one I have in this entire country. I’m not letting you go that easy, not after I lost Callum too”

She chuckled and sighed, before sinisterly smiling at me. “Right, Callum. It’s always about Callum isn’t it? Well fuck you Cassie” She spat and

“Huh? What the hell is wrong with you Robyn, I¬–“

“You really have no idea? Do you?”

She shifted her weight and readjusted her binders. “You didn’t realize that maybe I’m pissed because I felt lied to? Because I felt played and led on? You don’t have the slightest idea that maybe your little extracurricular activity with Handsome Callum hurts my feelings?”

My eyes went wide and it took me a few seconds to actually come up with a response. “Robyn, I don’t understand. What do you mean by played?”

“You know; if you’re not into me then just say so. I’m used to being rejected for being what I am, it doesn’t hurt me anymore, I can take it! But this? I have been nothing but nice to you and this is what I get?”

Then it hits me like a big double decker bus, I wanted to slap myself silly for not realizing it sooner that all this time I spent with her, both of us had different ideas on what it all meant. I was stunned, and frankly a bit scared knowing the fact, mostly because I have never been in this position and I have zero clue on what to do next. She was staring at me, her lips stammering and I could clearly see the frustration and hate etched on her face.

“Robyn, I… I’m really sorry, I had no idea. I never meant to–“

“Enough! I don’t care for your apology and frankly I don’t think I want to talk to you again. So leave me alone” She shouted and just like that, I was left alone in the middle of the sidewalk, with a million thoughts racing in my brain.



“Wait, are you serious right now?” Avela squeaked as she was half laughing and half screaming on the computer screen after I told her what happened earlier. Once I got home, I didn’t even bother to shower or even change my clothes; I just tossed everything onto my bed and fired up my laptop.

“Shut up Ave, I feel really bad and I don’t know what to do!” I groaned and buried my head into the throw pillow I’ve been hugging.

“I… Jesus Cass, this is fucking bizarre” She shook her head, with her hands on her face. “I just cant believe this is the same Cassie who–“

“Who fled the country because of one boy? You need to shut up little turd and help me, what the hell should I do?”

“I don’t know! You should go ask Frenchi, this is not my area of expertise”

I groaned even more and threw my pillow across the room. “Fine, how is Frenchi anyway? I haven’t been talking to anyone lately, work is killing me”

“She’s getting bigger, like really big. Mike’s being really nice to her, but you know Mike, he can still be a child sometimes. The last time I saw them, they were fighting over names, Mike wanted to name the baby Mike Jr. and Frenchi was soooo against it”

“Wait, they’re having a boy?”

“Nah, they wanted it to be a surprise, they were just brainstorming names. That’s it; really, things have been pretty boring here back home. Rachel’s missing all the time, Vic’s constantly bugging either Jaime or Mike. Ever since the guys finished recording, everybody seemed to be busy with their own things”

We talked for another 20 minutes before I decide to turn in early, I thought about taking a nice bath with the bath bombs I got from Harvey Nichols as a Christmas present for myself.

“Wait, can I ask you something?” Interrupted Avela as I was saying goodbye.

“Yeah”

“Why did you do it?”

“Did what?”

“Sleep around, I mean, I’m sure you just don’t wake up one morning and decide that you want to start sleeping with strangers”

I cringed. “Ouch”

“I’m sorry, that came out harsher than what I expected, but you know what I mean”

“I don’t know, I didn’t actually think about it” I shrugged. “I guess I hoped it would serve as a good distraction from home and Tony”

“I know it’s a stupid question, but have you like… tried to talk to him or anything?”

I laughed at how on point her questions were, as if she knew the answers already and was just trying to get me to talk. “Yeah, well he did. He sent me an email a few days ago and it kinda freaked me out”

“Did you reply to it?”

“No, I guess I’m not ready to talk to him yet. When the time comes, maybe”

I went straight to bed after that call with Avela, I was both emotionally and physically tired from what happened today. Talking to Avela didn’t do much help either as I felt the call ended rather awkward and sour.

It was around 4 AM when I was awakened by the sound of my phone blaring next to me, I looked at the called ID and saw Frenchi’s name flashing on the screen, I groaned and let the call went to voicemail. Then little seconds after the ringing stops, the call came in again and this time I forced myself to pick up the call.

“What”

“Dude, you’ll never guess what just happened”