Be Careful Who You Trust

Chapter 9

I walked out of my apartment and she was there, in her car waiting for me. "Why are you here this late? Couldn't we talk about this tomorrow at work?" I asked her.

"I'm not going back to work Alex"

"Oh yea, I forgot you got a few days off, how are you feeling?"

" I didn't get a few days off, I quit."

"Why? Are things that bad between you and Sophia?"

"You can't trust her. I actually need to-"

"I know her secret already," I interrupted her.

"And you're still friends with her? You still think you can trust her?"

She looked shocked, betrayed even.

"What do you mean, Mary? You want me to stop talking to her because she's in love with me? I asked her, confused.

"She's not in love with you Alex, are you really that blind? You know why I asked you if you had worked late on Friday?"

She knew, she found out Sophia had hooked up with someone from work and now she was probably going to make me confess that I also knew about it.

"Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?" I asked her, because I really didn't know why that had to be brought up, was Mary mad because she knew Sophia loved me but was hooking up with someone from work? That was an odd reason to be mad at her best friend.

"I found out Sophia was with someone at the office on Friday. They weren't working, if you know what I mean. At first, I thought she had finally told you that she was in love with you, but I knew she was too chicken to confess her love to you, especially now that you guys are working together, but I did figure out who she was with that night."

"Ok and who was she with?" I asked because I seriously wanted to know.

"She was with Lucas."

It couldn't be true. She was lying because she wanted me to be on her side. She probably found out that Sophie and I were hooking up and now she's making up these nasty rumors about her.

"You're lying, why would you make up these rumors about her? You're supposed to be her best friend!" I shouted. "Leave Mary! You need to go, and you know what? I'm glad you quit, you lunatic," the words slipped out of my mouth. I was walking towards my apartment and I realized she was following me.

"I'm not lying Alex! You have to believe me! Lucas didn't come home that night, his car was there, but he wasn't. I spent all night texting and calling him and I got no answer. I checked the cameras to the office and to my surprise, they were turned off. I decided to go to the office to see if he was there, or if something had happened to him. I was so worried. When I got there, I noticed Sophia's car was outside. I let myself in and I heard her hooking up with someone, I was about to walk away when I heard her say Lucas' name. She said his name! I stood there, frozen, thinking maybe I heard wrong, but then I heard his voice telling her she was the best he's ever had."

I remember those words, those were the exact words he used to try to convince Sophie to stay, and she did stay.

"I asked her to be my girlfriend today, and she rejected me. Now I know why," I said with a broken heart. Two broken hearts in one year, both from two best friends. I didn't see this one coming though.

"I'm sorry, for what it's worth, she's missing out on a great guy," said Mary.

"You know, I've always loved you and I was too afraid to say it because I thought it would ruin our friendship. Then here comes Lucas and ruins it anyway. He took you away from me. I lost you the day you met him," I finally told her how I felt. Too late, right?

"Really? You loved me?" she blushed.

"You're really going to pretend like you didn't know? Everything I ever did, I did it to impress you. I tried new things for you, I ate sushi for you, for fucks sake! You knew I hated any food that was raw or had fish in it, but you made me try it and I did it because, somehow, I thought it would win me points with you. I swear if I could turn back time, I would tell you how I really feel before Lucas walked into your life,"

Mary looked at  me and smiled, "I wish I knew sooner. Maybe we could've tried things out, you never know what could've happened between us."

I was in disbelief, she really said she would've given me a chance if she would've known sooner.

"Did you ever have any feelings for me?" I asked her.

"I did, but I never said anything out of respect for Sophia. I mean, she knew I liked you first, but she always mentioned the 'girl code' whenever I would talk about you," Mary said.

"You talked about me?"

"Yes, we talked about you, now, can we go inside your house to continue this conversation? I'm getting cold."

We went inside my apartment and when I reached out to turn on the lights, I felt her hand there on the light switch.

"Leave them off," she said, and she placed my hand on her waist. She got closer to me and put her arms around my neck. I was nervous, my heart was racing. I've been wanting this moment to happen since the first day I met her. I had plenty of dreams where she was wrapped around my arms and we slept together all night. I couldn't see a thing, but I felt her face getting closer to mine. Her lips touched mine and I closed my eyes. Her tongue slipped inside my mouth and for a second I started to imagine Sophia.