The Pretend Girlfriend

Chapter Twenty One~ Spilling the Beans

Gwen couldn't rekindle her earlier inspiration, no matter how hard she tried. She sat at her desk, watching the cursor (which once again mocked her) blink at the end of the sentence she'd started.

Dinner had come and gone without a single bite of food. Gwen didn't think about it. Thinking about dinner made her think about Aiden asking her to dinner, which in turn brought on thinking about what they'd talked about. And she still wasn't ready to go through all that.
The clock in the bottom right corner of her screen informed her it was coming up to nine in the PM. A quick and dirty bit of mental math told her that meant she'd been sitting at this desk for the better part of four hours. An ache in the small of her back attested to that, and the prickling in her numb thighs seconded it.

Jerking the mouse, she highlighted the work that she did complete in that time. Looking at the pitifully low number, she blew out her cheeks. At her current rate of writing, she might be able to hand a complete essay in a week after the deadline. And that was if she didn't bother studying for the midterm.

"Oh, that's the stuff..." Gwen said as she stood up and stretched, feeling the blood flow back down into her legs.

She ignored the cracking noise her back made. Just like how the secret to falling asleep was trying to stay awake, apparently the key to keep thinking about something was to try and put it from your mind.

Gwen's train of thought went something along the lines of: "You need to work on this paper... but what about Aiden? Wow, this midterm came up so fast... does he like me? I'm not sure but I think he does... You're going to have to force myself to get through this essay... I wonder if Aiden will call me later?"
It was maddening. It was pathetic. It was infuriating. Gwen had never been so hung up on a guy before. She didn't understand how another person could so totally occupy her thoughts, pushing aside all reason, all the things she should be thinking about. And the thought that really brought home to her just how much trouble she was in was wondering whether Aiden experienced the same inability to concentrate on anything but her. She hoped he did.

When her phone started ringing in her purse, she went crazy. She tore everything out of the bag—old packs of gum, Kleenex, her keys—searching for her cell. Several times, she felt the case brush against her finger, but the thing slipped out of her grip as though it were a living thing trying desperately to get away. Finally, she just upended the whole thing onto her desk. Pieces of gum and bits of wrappers spread over her laptop's keyboard. Her phone struck the desk hard and spun, threatening to fall onto the floor and shatter into a billion unfixable pieces. Gwen grabbed it just as it started to tumble off. Trying to ignore the new mess in her already messy room, she looked at thescreen. An involuntary disappointment panged in her chest when she saw that it was only Beatrice and not Aiden.

"Hey, B," she said.

"Hi babe!" B replied.

Gwen couldn't be sure, but she thought she heard the sounds of traffic in the background from B's end of the line. How could the girl sound so chipper and upbeat all the time like this?

"What's up?" Gwen said, beginning to stuff the contents of her purse back into the bag. She left the loose pieces of gum and wrappers.

"Just on my way over, thought I'd give you some warning. Figured you'd appreciate it."

"Warning for what?" Gwen asked, a travel pack of Kleenex clutched in her other hand. This didn't sound good.

"To get ready to go out, duh!" Gwen decided to name the pain in her neck Aiden, and the one in the small of her back Beatrice. It suited them.

"You know I can't. I'm having a hard time with this paper, and then there's the midterm... And I know you can't possibly be finishedwith your schoolwork, either. Tonight's just not a good night, okay?"