Relevance

I rested my hands on the bathroom’s counter to support my weight, staring at the person who stared back. My expression was solemn and I could see the beginning stages of frowning wrinkles between and a little above my brows.

Twelve hours had passed since I last spoke to John and I was slowly going insane, hearing phantom phone vibrations only to later check my unaltered screen.

The door was wide opened and Scott took the liberty to step in to rest a peck on the back of my neck. I faintly smiled at his warm touch as he slid a hand under my shirt, wrapping an arm around my waist.

“How does Chinese sound?”

I spun around to face him. He didn’t avert his eyes from mine whilst I gently ran my fingers through his cheek, processing this moment. My lips twitched into a subtle smile when my senses registered the texture of his skin and the warmth that radiated from him.

My gaze jumped from his eyes to his mouth numerous times. And as he patiently waited for what he thought would come next, I couldn’t shake off the one thing I had been muttering to myself all day long: why’d John have to ruin this?

Yesterday morning my reaction would’ve been different to this. I would’ve squealed in delight with his touch that caused tickles, spun around, planted a tender kiss on his lips, whispered how much I loved him.

“What?” he broke the silence and pulled me away from my consuming thoughts. I ever so slightly shook my head ‘no’, brushing off his worries, offering him a quick smile as a means of saying ‘nothing’.

He smiled in return, with much more eagerness in the act in comparison to mine. Leaning in, he reaped the kiss he’d been waiting on and the butterflies roamed around the pit of my stomach.

“I’ll make the call!” He hurriedly walked out, heading to the living room. I could hear his heavy footsteps on the hardwood floor.

I remained frozen in my spot and after a few heartbeats, it felt as though he had never been upstairs. My thoughts returned to John and I swear, my head threatened to hurt whenever he came up.

Our kiss was stuck on repeat in my mind. My breath became heavy whenever I thought about the rush his touch had given me, as though I had stuck a finger in a socket, minus the pain—only the thrill and surprise.

I considered calling him, but what would I say? I didn’t know what to think, nevertheless what to say to him. As if it were divine intervention, I heard the phone’s define buzz and rushed to answer it.

“Hello?” I said, too avid for my own good, expecting his voice to erupt from the other end of the line.

“Hey, stranger!” Margie’s sarcastic tone was one of her infamous ways of scolding at me. “You’ve really been into the disappearing act lately, huh? What happened last night? You did even say goodbye!”

I squeezed my eyes shut in realisation.Right, I thought to myself. “I’m sorry about that,” I took a sharp breath in, “there was just a lot on my mind, headed straight home.”

Margie accepted the apology without further questioning, which was a rare occurrence when it came to her—she would’ve been a terrific prosecutor, crushing everyone at the stand whenever it was her time to interrogate.

I didn’t know where else to get answers from since googling them would be steeping too low. “Can I ask you something?”

“What’s up?”

Unsure whether it was appropriate to discuss matters over the phone, I arranged to meet up with Margie at her house.

After a ten minute drive, I entered without a knock, kicking off my slippers and pushing them to the corner of the entrance. As soon as I had ended our call, I grabbed a raincoat and my car keys, heading out without further delays.

“Hi!” she enthusiastically spoke. The sound of her voice put me at ease and my only response to it was a prolongated hug. God, I missed her.

Ever since her wedding, my emotional turmoil and mess had been too great for me to focus on three people at a time. And Margie’s honeymoon and new experiences left her mostly oblivious to everything that had happened since last week’s fiasco.

“What did John do this time?” she asked once our embrace came to an end.

I furrowed my brows, and then remembered those threatening frown lines. With an expressionless face I asked, “How’d you know?”

“You only ever come around in such a hurry when it’s a John related thing. And that’s been happening way too often. What’s going on? This is so unlike you, G!”

She ventured into the living room, sitting on the arm chair as though her client had just arrived for therapy. I followed her lead and slumped down on the couch with a dramatic exhale.

I bit the inside of my cheek as I lay back, resting a hand on my stomach. “Have you ever…” I trailed off, unsure how to word things right, “can you…”

She chuckled, “I only work with complete sentences.”

With a smile, I rolled my eyes at both her remark and my speech’s incompetence. “I love Scott, you know that, right?” She nodded. “And this whole time, I’ve wanted nothing less than spend forever with him. I mean, I’ve been waiting this for so long, you know?”

I kept asking for confirmation on whether she understood me to the core, even though I knew she did without me ever needing to say it. “Then why is it that it isn’t enough? Doesn’t the entire being-in-love thing ensures that?” I turned my head to face her, examining her eyes as I waited for an answer.

She mindlessly stared at empty air whilst pouting her lips like she always did whenever she put deep thought into something. “It should.” Tired from this position, I shifted to the side and held my head up with a hand. “Sure, it isn’t easy. But that’s something that there is no questioning. Whether you’re upset, or if he did something that maddened you, or if you’re doing something fun together—you’re still in love. And you wouldn’t have it any other way because it wouldn’t be the same with someone else. It could never be the same.”

Silence filled up the room as I soaked in her words. Although I knew she was right, I didn’t want to believe her wholeheartedly. I wanted to believe that my feelings were enough and nothing else mattered.

“You know, I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

I met her soft eyes with a wide-eyed gaze. When did she ever catch John looking at me?

“He looks at you like he found something after having searched for it for a long time, without ever realising that it had been right in front of him this whole time. He really does love you, Georgia. It won’t be picture-perfect like you imagined all of these years, but Scott’s good for you.”

I felt my heart sink a few inches. Scott. My gaze dropped to the floor and before I even finished processing the thought that had emerged, I was already near the door, slipping my slippers back on and leaving without a goodbye.

“Georgia? Where are you—”

I closed the front door before she could finish.

A newfound rush of adrenaline traveled through my body, making my heart pump faster, echoing louder in my ears. I patted my pockets, and then rapidly checked for my phone’s whereabouts inside my car. Nothing. Well, I suppose a voice message wouldn’t be appropriate anyways.

I rushed out of the car and into my apartment, pressing the elevator’s floor button multiple times as though that’d make it any faster.

“Scott?!” I called out for him in a frenzy, spinning my head from corner to corner, trying to find him.

“Where have you been?” he peeped from upstairs, worry plastered all over his face. He hadn’t grown used to my disappearance acts yet. Hell, I hadn’t gotten used to them.

I was panting, out of breath from the commute. I shook my head in dismissal, “It doesn’t matter. Hey,” I removed my coat, placing it on the couch, “I know what we could use the warehouse for!”

“Yeah?” he asked dubiously, trudging down the stairs.

“Yeah!” I beamed and he mirrored me. I silently laughed at myself for not having thought about this any sooner. “We could make it into a studio! John’s band could record their album there.”

His smile dismantled soon after I said John’s name.

It was my turn to ask. “What?”

“Don’t they have a studio already?”

“Well, yes, but Seattle’s much nicer than California. Besides, they know people here, unlike over there.”

Scott crossed his arms over his chest. “By people you mean you?”

His tone whipped the smile right off my face. His body language screamed defensiveness.

“Us,” I corrected him.

He huffed a sarcastic laughter. “Did he put you up to this?”

“What?” I frowned in confusion, “No! I just tho—”

“Look, I’m not very fond of the guy. He probably suggested this to begin with so they wouldn’t have to pay colossal rental fees.”

Before I could finish my sentence or counter argue, he swirled around and disappeared into the kitchen. I could hear glasses clinking. My frown remained I could care less about the goddamn wrinkles it’d contribute to.

I followed him, anger about to boil my blood, “That’s my friend you’re talking about.”

He scoffed at me, repeating, “Friend.”

“What the hell has gotten into you?!”

He was about to drink a sip of water, but instead he put the glass back on the counter and turned to face me. “Oh, don’t be so naive, Georgia. Neither of us are fools. I saw the way he looked at you at the opening.”

I stared at him for a good amount of seconds, incredulous. “You don’t trust me, is that it?”

“I don’t trust him.”

“You don’t even know him! You should be thanking him for us being together,” I unleashed the fury and before I could sensor myself, the words had already gone out of my system.

“What are you talking about?”

I paused dead on my tracks in silence, hoping he hadn’t heard me right or that he’d forget the moment and we’d make up.

“Nothing.” I spoke the word too swiftly not to arise suspicion that now contaminated his eyes.

“What are you talking about, Georgia?” He spoke word for word, demanding an answer, unwilling to repeat himself again.