Practice Makes Perfect (A Romantic Comedy)

Chapter 26

God, I detest Carrie.

You'd think if you'd essentially stolen a colleague's ex for yourself, you'd at least have a dash of humility about it. But not our Little Miss Shelley. She seems to be delighting in her victory a little too much.

I deliberately ignore the email she's just sent the team, suggesting we all meet at O'Neills before the wedding. The choice of pub is irritating me too; you may remember this was the same pub I met Declan for drinks on the night he properly ended things with me. Actually, it was also the pub I met him in when he suggested the original "break" in the first place!

So I don't think I'll be revisiting O'Neills anytime soon; it's clearly not lucky for me, and Declan obviously frequents it way too often. I'm guessing it's probably him who suggested the venue, given it's less than five minutes from his flatshare.

Typical Declan.

Now that the wedding is so close, I'm starting to freak out about Ric and Declan meeting and interacting. I just can't imagine the two of them in the same room together, possibly talking. What would they even have in common? Well, apart from yours truly, of course!

I'm also panicking about how I'm going to act around Ric. After life sadly returned to banal normality in the week since our kiss-and-various-other-stuff, he'd managed to somehow make things worse by acting like a bit of a dick last night. Essentially behaving just like the guy I'd expected him to be, based on my first impressions. Although he didn't bring that girl home with him; I could be thankful for that, at least.

(Maybe he just shagged her in an alleyway before coming back to the flat? Or in the pub toilet? Wow, my brain is being so fun today.)

Based on that last interaction though, that look that passed between us as I left the pub, I don't think we're as okay as he claims we are. I know I'm certainly not all right.

I can't be just friends with him; let's face it, we were barely friends in the first place. And I have no idea how to convince him that I don't secretly want to be with Declan, which seems to be the massive stumbling block in all of this. The issue that Ric is somehow fixated on.

I'm actually starting to wonder if he's just using this as an excuse not to be with me. Maybe he thought he wanted to start something, and then he panicked again, realising he's just not that into me after all. It wouldn't be the first time that has happened to me. It probably won't be the last time either . . .

I realise I've been staring blankly at my computer screen for at least five minutes. I'm usually far more productive than this, even when I've had a boy fuck me over. It seems Ric has managed to break me even in that respect. Slow clap, Ric, slow clap.

Deciding I really need to clear my head, I have a little wander around the office, then pop to the kitchen to grab a juice from the vending machine. Hopefully a sugar fix will sort me out, albeit temporarily.