Matters Of The Heart ✔

Chapter Nine

“Slow down tiger, we don't want you dead beat drunk before the game starts”, Ryan joked as he took a sip from his beer. Ian threw him a glare of disapproval. Ryan quickly noticed and held out both his hands in a surrender.

“Bad joke. I'm sorry”.

It was days like this when he would turn to alcohol. He somehow felt it helped him cope with not being able to feel anything.

“Who is she?”, Luther quizzed. “Do we know her?”, he gave a mischievous look Ian shook his head.

“I doubt it”

“She must be something else is she's got you thinking overtime like this”, Ryan said as he and Luther exchanged looks

“She is”, he chuckled to himself as he thought of her. “She's beautiful, smart, funny-”

“And our boy is definitely a goner”, Ryan chipped in before he rolled his eyes

“It's been a while since we've seen you like this ever since-”, Luther started, but Ian glanced at him before he could finish, warning him not to continue

He quickly got the hint and cleared his throat.” All I'm saying is, if she's worth it, don't let her slip through your fingers”. Ian gave a short nod. Luther just gave him the push he needed.

“Is she though?”, Ryan quizzed as he took another sip

“Is she what?”, Ian's eyebrows knitted in confusion

“Is she worth it?”

He thought about her, he couldn't resist how happy even just mentioning her made him feel

“Very”

The sound of the dishes being thrown around in the sink made Stephanie cringe. The sound was definitely disturbing her peace. She picked up something was wrong, but didn't know how to approach the situation.

“I'm even afraid to ask how your date went”, she sipped on her morning coffee. The other woman roughly scrubbed the dishes.

“I'm such an idiot”

She felt Stephanie's soft hands take hers as she guided her to the couch to sit down

“What happened?”, she asked as she helped Abigail dry her hands

“I ruined everything”, tears welled up on her eyes. “We had an amazing night and I ruined everything”, she said as her voice started to break down.

“Calm down”, her friend encouraged softly, her voice was soothing. “How did you ruin things?

Abigail took a deep breath

“When he kissed me, I thought of Austin. It's like I wanted Ian to be him in that moment”, she sobbed. “Why can't I get over him Steph? Why can't I just move on from what we had just like he did?”, she finished before Stephanie wrapped her arm around her, pulled her down so that she laid her head on her lap as she comforted her.

“It's going to take time to move on from Austin. It's not going to be easy for you because you have a constant reminder of him”, she pointed at Emily who was sitting closely to the Tv, watching cartoons. “But it doesn't mean it's impossible. You'll have to try”.

“I don't think Ian is going to want anything to do with me after last night”, she sobbed as she pulled herself up

“I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you”

“Abigail, can I see you in my office?”, Debby called out to her as soon as she arrived at the diner. Her heart sank. Was she in some sort of trouble? She panicked while looking at Tracy and Ginger, hoping they could probably tip her off on what was going on but they both shrugged as they also had no clue of why she was being called in. She gulped heavily as she walked towards Debby's office, who was already leaning on the door frame, waiting for her. It was definitely about the day she sat down when she was talking to Ian. She shouldn't have let him convince her.