Starting Over (Unexpected Encounters part 3)

Chapter 29

"Where the hell have you been?" Kaia asked.

I stopped in the doorway and raised my eyebrows at her.

"I was at Whitney's mom, calm down," I said.

"Whitney's, huh?" Gabbie asked with a smug grin on her face.

"Yeah," I sighed, "I could tell something was wrong the last few days and it was really starting to worry me, so I went to talk to her."

"God you are so smitten," Kaia teased.

"Oh whatever," I rolled my eyes, "turns out I was right, so it was a good thing that I checked."

"What happened?" Gabbie asked.

"Um," I said hesitantly, "things have gotten a lot worse with her parents, and Malia broke up with her."

"Well one of those things is bad," Kaia grinned.

"Okay I obviously wasn't too disappointed to hear that they broke up," I said, "but I still feel bad for her after the weekend she's had."

"Yeah what's with her parents?" Kaia asked.

"I don't want to go into too much detail," I told them, "it's not really my place...but basically her parents found out that her and Malia were dating and it did not go well."

"Shit," Gabbie responded, "that sucks."

"Uh huh," I nodded, "she's not doing great."

"We did almost kiss though," I continued, "so there's that."

"Excuse me," Kaia quickly said, "did you just try to casually throw that in there like it wasn't a big deal?"

"...maybe," I told them.

"Well you better start explaining, damn," she said.

I sighed and sat down on the couch before I started telling them what had happened.

"I also kind of told her that I'm still in love with her," I said.

Gabbie raised her eyebrows at me, "and how did that go?"

"She didn't really say anything..." I said, "but that's when we almost kissed, until her fucking brother had to knock on the front door."

"What a mood killer," Kaia laughed.

"No shit," I sighed.

"Okay hold on," Gabbie said, "let me just make sure I have this straight."

I looked over at her and nodded as she began to recount what I'd just told them.

"So you went over to Whitney's to check on her, ended up telling her that you still love her, and then you almost kissed, but were interrupted by her homophobic brother...and you're acting this casual about it?!" She asked in a flurry.

"That's all correct except for the brother part," I told her, "he actually came over to apologize and try to make things better with her."

"Yeah but - the other parts are still true?" Gabbie asked, "why are you not freaking out right now??"

"I'm honestly not sure," I laughed, "it's just a lot, I have no idea where we stand after all of that...so it's a little difficult to feel anything but confused."

"But didn't you say that her brother coming over was the only reason that you didn't kiss?" Kaia asked.

"Well, kind of," I said, "she kind of started to say something and then stopped, and then we got interrupted...so I really don't know if we would have or not."

"For all I know she might have pushed me away," I continued.

"Yeah somehow I don't think that's true," Kaia said.

"Whatever," I mumbled as I rolled my eyes, "quit giving me false hope."

"Bailey," Kaia said sternly, "you told the girl you loved her and then almost kissed her, do you really still think she doesn't have feelings for you?"

"I hate to admit this," Gabbie added, "but she does have a point."

"Well I don't - I can't think that way," I said as I started to feel flustered, "I don't want to expect something and then have her be thinking the exact opposite."

"Maybe you should stop telling yourself that and just talk to her about it," Gabbie said as she gave me a soft grin.

"I know," I sighed, "I was kind of hoping to take care of that part while I was over there, but no such luck."

"All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not in your position," Kaia said.

"Wow, thank you for that Kai," I said sarcastically.

"Any time," she grinned, "that's what I'm here for."

"Yeah I'm going to hide in my room now," I told them.

I walked down the hallway and shut the door behind me as I pulled my phone out. I stared at it and debated on texting Whitney, but I decided against it.

She was probably still talking to her brother, and I didn't want to interrupt.

Tomorrow was Friday anyway, so it wasn't like I wouldn't see her at work.

***

I woke up the next morning and immediately checked my messages, still nothing. I guess we'd have to see how awkward it was at work.

When I got to the office, I saw Whitney standing in her usual spot by the coffee station.

"Hey Whit," I said.

She looked up at me and a small grin crept across her face. Okay, well that was a good sign.

"Morning," she said.

"How did the rest of your night go? Everything okay?" I asked.

"Yeah," she nodded, "I feel quite a bit better actually."

"Good," I said, "I'm glad."

She gave me another silent nod, still not mentioning anything that had happened between us. I wanted to bring it up, but it didn't feel like the right time.

"I um, I should get to my office," she said after an awkward silence, "I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, me too," I responded, "have a good day."

We went our separate ways, but I couldn't stop thinking about her all day. What else was new?

Liz questioned me most of the day, trying to figure out why I was so distracted. I told her some of the story, but I didn't share everything. I had to know exactly what was going on before I said too much.

At about 4:30, I finally decided to text Whitney.

"Hey, think we could talk after work? Go for a walk or something?"

I set my phone down on my desk and continued to glance over at it. A few minutes later, the screen lit up.

"Sure, I'll meet you out in the parking lot," she responded.

I let out a sigh of relief and finished the short time that I had left for the day.

I went out to meet Whitney, and I saw her standing by her car.

"Hey," she said, "planning on just walking in the park across the street?"

"Yeah sure," I nodded, "I'm fine with whatever, I just wanted a chance to talk."

"Right," she sighed, "I know we probably should."

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