Friends with Benefits

Chapter 13

Having nothing else to do to fill her days, Ruby spent the next ten days or so trailing Kyle. She followed him to the bar, and was shocked and disgusted that, in her mind, he had stooped so low to take on part-time, minimum wage bar work. At the same time, she felt a sense of satisfaction. If he had married her, like he was supposed to, he would have his cushy job in her father's architecture office. Not only that, he would be well on his way to becoming a partner.

"Serves him right," she thought with a cruel sense of satisfaction. Now that she knew his schedule, she had pinpointed the time when he would be able to see his new girlfriend. Friday nights. She had waited outside his apartment the first Friday since he had told her he had someone else, but he had stayed at home, and no one had gone into his apartment. She had wondered if he was just calling her bluff – that he didn't actually have anyone, he just wanted her to leave him alone. She decided to give it one more Friday. If he didn't see anyone that Friday, she would know he was lying.

So when she saw him from her hiding place over the road and around a corner from his apartment, her heart leapt. "There he is! And he's all dressed up too. Smart shirt, smart pants."

She waited for him to leave his apartment, paused a few seconds and began to follow him. She didn't have far to go. Just as he was about to walk into a bar a few streets away, he waved at a woman, a tall blonde in a pretty lilac dress. Ruby looked at her with scorn – who wears lilac these days? Her scorn turned to nausea when she saw him bend down and kiss her on the cheek. "So he wasn't lying," she thought. "He's with some blonde."

Ruby walked across the road to where there were some benches, and sat down on one. She settled in for a long wait. From where she was sitting, she couldn't see inside the bar, but she could see who went in and out. As the sky darkened, and the street lights started to come on, she sat on the bench and played with her phone. A group of drunken men tried to engage her in conversation, but soon gave up when she blanked them. "Stuck up cow," one of them shouted as they sauntered away.

"Idiots," she thought.

Three hours later, she was bored and was ready to just give up and go home, when she saw Kyle and the blonde come out of the bar. She put her head down and pretended to be looking at her phone so she wouldn't be recognized. She needn't have worried. Kyle was looking at the blonde the whole time, and seemed oblivious to what was going on around him. She waited for them to walk around the corner and followed them. They were going in the opposite direction to Kyle's place. The blonde was now laughing at something Kyle said, which annoyed Ruby. The blonde then tapped him playfully on the arm. "Bitch," she thought.

They turned another corner, walked about halfway down the road and stopped outside a modern apartment building. Ruby stopped at the corner and watched them. They were standing under a street lamp and were facing each other. They seemed to be discussing something serious. Then, they fell silent, and to Ruby's horror, Kyle followed the blonde into the apartment building and the door closed.

"The bitch!" she thought. "She's invited him in!" Sheturned around and hurried back into the city centre. "I'll put a stop to allthis," she vowed. "The bitch won't know what's hit her."