With Grayson's sudden absence from her life, Mia tries her hardest to carry on as normal; to continue as though she had never met the man who turned her world upside down in only a short amount of time.
With the help of her best friend Hailey, and...
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Hurling myself through built-up crowds, navigating the humid platforms of London's underground system and clinging for dear life on the overpacked tube trains is somewhat refreshingly familiar, and perhaps comforting for a Monday morning.
The weirdness of the weekend still hasn't drained from my cells. Off-putting images of Hailey and Lucas swarm through my mind, and hopeless thought after hopeless thought of my ever-growing relationship with Anderson pulls thick, grey clouds into the concoction too. But the usual morning commute to work seems to take the edge off of all that, in some ways. I just want a bit of normality for once.
The arctic air is unforgiving today as it sweeps under my coat, its sheer force desperate to rip the garment right off of me, but for once I make the most of the solo walk to work, preparing myself for another jam-packed, busy schedule that I'm sure is lined up for me this week.
Danny is helping himself to pastries when I walk into the office, and, for the first time in what feels like forever, I decide to join him.
"Hey!" My voice is surprisingly cheerful today.
"Oh, hey!" Danny's eyes brighten as he turns, taking me in and surely wondering how my mood has changed so drastically in just under a few days. Truthfully, I don't even know myself. "How have you been? Did you have a good weekend?"
I nod, placing a paper cup under the coffee machine. "Super, thanks," I say, holding a smile that tries its best to mask the brief hint of sarcasm in my tone. "Yours?" I haven't properly spoken to Danny recently, and so I realise I know nothing of what's going on with him. I want to know how Ewan, his boyfriend, is, and I want to know how he's getting on at work too; I blush in embarrassment at yet another victim of my recent ignorance.
"It was good," Danny says, taking a large bite of a croissant, the stray flakes dancing as they fall to the floor. "Ewan and I had a chilled one—Netflix, takeaway, you know?"
Sounds perfect, I think. And I'm glad he mentioned Ewan, too. At least I know they're both still happy.
"That sounds lovely," I reply, taking the full cup of coffee from the machine stand. "Look," I turn to Danny, placing a stirrer into the hot liquid that I now hold within my hands. "I'm sorry I haven't been very chatty recently; I've just had a lot going on."
"I would never have asked," Danny chimes in. "It's not my business. We all have hard times Mia. There's no need to feel guilty about it."
For a brief moment it feels as though my knowledge of words has been pulled from me; he took that much better than I expected. But what did I actually expect? Danny and I are good work mates, but nothing more than that. We don't meet or talk outside of work—unless its for work purposes, of course—and he's in a steady relationship with Ewan, so we have no issues there either. In addition to that, he knows nothing of my relationship or breakup with Grayson. The more I think about it, the more I realise that Danny probably doesn't see this as a huge of a deal as I do. Yet, I still feel guilty.
