Drawn To You

Chapter 18

Henry :

I woke up to my phone buzzing on the night stand, I picked it up to see and unknown number on the screen.

"Hello?" I answered breaking into a yawn.

"Henry! Oh my God, I'm so sorry. You were asleep." said a familiar voice.

"It's alright. I was just about to wake up anyway. I'm sorry I don't have this number, who's speaking?" I asked putting my phone on speaker to check my emails.

"It's Tara, sorry this is a new number." Tara, I paused. My ex girlfriend. Why is she calling me?

"Oh, hi! How are you?" WHY is she calling me. 

"I'm good, thanks. What about you?" WHY are you calling me. 

"Great, thanks." I replied, wondering what the reason is behind this call was.

"I'm actually here, in L.A." she said. Oh boy. 

"That's great! L.A. is the perfect vacation spot." I replied after a moment's pause, trying to sound as enthusiastic about this as possible.

"I'm not here on vacation, I'm here for an internship" she added. 

"That's brilliant, congratulations!" Now I know exactly why she's calling. 

"Thank you. Umm.. Listen" she said sounding desperate, uh-oh. "Are you free for lunch today?"

"I'm afraid I've already got plans. Sorry" I replied.

"How about dinner?" she said after a moment's pause. Hesitation was clear in her voice but so was desperation. She really sounded lonely.

"Umm.. sure." I replied feeling bad for her, shit.

"Great! Where do you want to go?" she asked, her tone suddenly changing for sad to excited.

"Wherever you want." What did I just get myself into.

"There's a restaurant opening tonight. It's invite only, want to be my plus one?" she suggested instantly. So, she had been planning this.

"Sounds great. Text me the address?"

"Will do."

"I'll see you at 7 then."

"Can't wait to see you, Henry."

"Bye, Tara."

After we hung up, I sat down on the edge of my bed wondering if this was such a good idea or not. Tara is a mature, smart girl and we broke things off on friendly terms; us dining together shouldn't really be an issue.

but, what if Spencer is not okay with it? I pushed the thought away almost as soon as it occurred. I finally got up to go get ready for the gym.

I ran for about 45 minutes and got back to find Mark, my trainer, sitting on the front porch waiting for me.

"Hey!" I said, walking up to him.

"Henry. How are you?" He asked, as we shook hands.

"Been good, you?" I asked opening the front door and gesturing him to enter.

"Fantastic!" he replied and we walked to the basement.

We discussed some details about the alterations in my training routine and how we will go on about it. I turned the music and we both set up the studio to begin our workout.

"You've got a really good space down here." Mark complimented looking around. "Impressive work."

"Thanks, mate." I said following his gaze. "This way I can spend more time at home and out of media scrutiny."