I'll Make You See It Was All Real

Lucy’s Pov

“Luce are you awake?” Tina shouts from the other side of my door. “Ya I’ll be out in a minute” I say zipping my shirt up. I wasn’t sure how much work I was going to get done today, but I needed to get back to normal. “Shit” I say dropping my a box with my earrings in it. I open the box and see my 7 necklace staring up at me. I only had worn it for a few weeks yet my neck feels empty without it. “Urgh” I say shutting the box closed. I open one of the drawers and shove the box into the back.

“I cooked” Tina proudly says as I walk into the living room. “Is it edible?” I joke. “I think so” she says. “You look nice” I say. “Thanks. We have a new exhibit at the gallery. So I’m wearing my buy from me clothes” she laughs as her phones rings. “You can speak to him” I say. “I’ll call him later” she says. “Tina go talk to your boyfriend” I say and she smiles as she answers the phone and leaves the room.

Tina had found a job in an art gallery. And she loved it. She had never looked happier in fact. Her and Mike’s relationship was going well. I still wasn’t sure what to think about him. Nut she was happy and that was the main thing. And although she’ll be spending more time with him and less time with me since Mike was moving to Manchester soon, she isn’t moving to London to be with him. At least something good came out of meeting Cristiano. Tina was healthy and drug free.

I had been away from the office for a few weeks, but you’d never think I had been. I found a vase of flowers on my desk when I arrived. “Good to have you back- Matt xx” the attached card read.

“You know for all the money footie boy gets, I had expected more than one bunch of flowers to get you back” Josh says behind me. “He knows it wouldn’t work. And these are from Matt” I say. “So how’s the day going?” he asks. “Ok. There’s certainly plenty for me to do” I say and he laughs. “Well don’t go away for as long again” he says. “I was only gone the same as I always go” I say. “I know. But it’s good to have you back. So have you heard from footie boy?” Josh asks. And right on queue my phone rings.

”I’d change my number if it wasn’t so much hassle” I say cancelling Cristiano’s call. “Well if he even thinks about coming here again, it won’t be security that will be kicking him out” Josh says angrily. “He’ll get the message sooner or later” I say. “You’re too good for him. I always knew he was rotten” Josh says. “Josh please can we talk about something else” I ask. I was sick of thinking about Cristiano. It was time to forget him.

“Am I boring you?” Matt asks as I yawn. “Jetlag is kicking in” I say. “How was snowy New York?” he asks. “Snowy” I say and he laughs. “It was lovely. I forgot how much I love the place” I say as he looks through possible designs for an upcoming project.

“Well just remember how lovely Manchester is” he says. “Well how nice me and the others are” he jokes. “I know how nice you are” I say. “It’s good to have you back though. It wasn’t the same talking to you on the phone” he says as we leave the boardroom.

“Ya it’s hard to talk about work over the phone” I say. “I wasn’t just talking about work” he says smiling. “Thanks for the flowers by the way” I say we walk to my office. “It was nothing” he shrugs as I take the papers from his hands. “So what are you plans for the rest of the week?” he asks. “Work and catch up on sleep” I guess.

“Maybe I could buy you a drink some night. Call it a late Christmas present” he says. “I’d better order champagne so” I joke. “Shit” he says looking at his watch. “I’m late for a meeting with Josh” he says. “Tell him I kept you” I say. “I’d rather stay here with you. Why do we have to work?” he jokes and I laugh until I see the two women walking towards us.

“Óle Lucy” Katia says looking between Matt and I. “Hi Katia. Elma” I nod. “You going to be ok?” Matt whispers. “Go before Josh gets even more moody then usual with you” I say as he nods a goodbye.

“It’s good to see you” Katia says. “Let’s go into my office” I say as I open the nearby door. I wasn’t expecting them to be here. “Nice flowers” Elma says as I close the door. “Thanks” I say. “Oh come on give us a hug” Katia says wrapping her arms around me. “I bet you’re wondering why we are here?” Elma asks as she hugs me. “I can guess. I you needn’t have bothered” I say moving around my desk.

“I want nothing to do with your brother” I say. “Can’t say that I blame you” Elma says. “Elma” Katia warns. “Katia if you came here to defend your bother, then you can forget it” I say. “He misses you” she says. “I told you already that I don’t want anything to do with that lying, cheating asshole” I shout. “I can see why you feel that way. But he does miss you” Elma says. “I’m sure Merche or the next bimbo will keep him company” I snap.

“We are sorry he lied to you” Katia says. “It’s not your fault he cheated on me” I say. “I was talking about Tina’s charges” she says and I sit up in my chair. “He told us everything” Elma says as she follows her sister’s lead and sits in the chairs in front of my desk.

I open my mouth to speak but no words will come out.

“I could kill him for even asking you to pretend to be his girlfriend” Katia says. “I want to kill him for asking her to sleep with him” Elma says. “He…He told you” I stutter. “Yes and it’s nothing to be ashamed off. He put you in that situation and you only agreed to help your friend” Elma says. “I can’t believe he told you that” I say in shock.

“He’s hurting” Katia says. “He is. Are you kidding me?” I say. “Look we just wanted to see you” Elma says. “And we’re not the only ones” Katia says. “I gathered from all his calls. Which he can stop. Because I’m not going to answer them” I say.

“He loves you Lucy. He may have lied to you, but he didn’t about loving you” Katia says. “Did you ever think the reason why we all believed you were pretending was because it was real” Elma says.

“Elma I can’t forgive him” I say. “We just wanted to see that you were ok. We miss you too you now. You weren’t just our brother’s girlfriend to us” Katia says. “I miss you both too. And your mother and Rodrigo” I say sadly. “Rodrigo really misses you too” Katia says. “Máe is very angry with Cristiano too. She hasn’t spoken to him since you two broke up” Elma says.

“He must hate that” I say. “He does. But he hates not talking to you even more” Elma says.

“Look I can’t. I just can’t talk about him anymore. Just tell him to stop calling me” I say.

“If that’s what you want, then we will” Elma says and stands. Katia looks at her confused but stands also. “I know you need time. But don’t leave it too long for us to catch up” Elma says. “I won’t. And it was good to see you both” I say as the head to the door. “So you’ll answer our calls then” Katia says. “Yes. But if he is on the other end then you can forget it” I say. “Just us. I get it” Katia says.

“I’m sorry” I say. “ For what?” Katia asks. “For lying to you all. I really hate doing that” I say.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. I told you already it wasn’t a lie” Elma says.