"Hey! it's been a while... You wanna catch up or something?" And my heart drops....
"Who's the message from?" Ariana asks, peering at my phone as I continue to look down at the message, in pure shock.
"James Worpel." I say looking up at her and she smiles.
"What does he want?" Ariana asks and I sigh.
"He wants to catch up..."
"Tahls, this is good, you should totally catch up with him, you haven't seen him what... like 3 years?."
"Yeah but why is he messaging me now? I reached out to him after Josh and I broke up and he never responded."
"Maybe he never even got the message."
"No, he did, he just never responded."
"Did you send him an actual message, like on messages or a Dm."
"A DM."
"Tahlia, he's a footy player for god sake, the amount of Dm's he gets would be out of this world, he probably just didn't see it."
"You're right, but still I thought he liked me."
"You guys had a fling didn't you?"
"Yeah... we did."
"So then obviously you must've made it clear to him that it wasn't going to get serious." Ariana says and I nod.
"I did say that." I say sighing and Ariana rolls her eyes.
"So even if he did see the message, he must've thought that you were going to use him to get over Josh."
"Shit." I say sighing. "I feel terrible because that's what I did in Noosa, I was trying to forget about Josh. He said it was fine, and he'd help me forget which was kind of him but I didn't take into account his feelings, I only thought about myself."
"I feel like an idiot." I say and Ariana sighs.
"Don't beat yourself up about it, if Worps had a problem with what was happening he would've said something.. surely."
"Yeah he would've. I still feel bad like what if he wanted things to become more serious between us? I didn't even give him a chance back then."
"I know. So, my advice to you is, don't make the same mistake again." Ariana says and I nod, then sigh.
"I won't. But I can't respond now."
"Why?"
"Because I just can't."
"Well, just leave it, but don't ignore him him completely you know."
"I know, and I won't. I've just gotta figure out what to say."
"Easy, Hey Worps, no time long see haha! Tell me a date and time and I'll be there xx." Ariana says and I smile.
"How do you come up with this shit on the spot."
"I've got heaps, would you like me to list them all."
"Yes please, I need to know the other's you have." I say pulling up Notes on my phone and typing in the reply that Ariana just said, obviously as a joke.
"Another one you could say is: Hey Worps, it has been a while hasn't it? I'd love to see your cute face again sometime xx."
"Very flirty with that one."
"Well, you're better off telling him from the get go that you're willing to see where it goes between you two."
"True." I say then I sigh, putting my phone back down on the couch and looking over at Ariana.
"I still don't get why he's messaging me now, it's been like what, three years?"
"I understand where you're coming from Tahls, but maybe he just wants to rekindle what you two had." She says and I nod.
"Yeah maybe you're right, anyway, enough about him." I say turning to Ariana and she nods, before changing the subject to something else.
As we're talking, I can't help but let my mind wander back to that Noosa trip. Thinking about it now, maybe I did actually like James. Our chemistry was insane, we clicked from the first time we spoke. And that is something I always admired about our friendship, we could talk for hours and it would never, ever, get awkward.
I brush those thoughts out of my head as I tune back into what Ariana is saying to me...
The next day...
I groan as my alarm beeps, signalling that it's time for me to get up. I sigh to myself, getting up and walking across the room where my phone is sitting. I turn the alarm off before heading into the bathroom and splashing my face with water.
I then walk out of the bathroom, chucking on a pair of nike tracksuits with a jumper, before heading downstairs where I am met with Marcus who is getting ready to head to the club.
"Morning." I say walking to the fridge and pulling out my smoothie that I made last night.
"Morning." My older brother says, smiling.
"You're in a good mood."
"I'm a married man who's still living with one of his sisters cause she doesn't wanna move out." Marcus says with a smirk and I sigh.
"I can move in with Ariana if you want to just live with Em Marcus, I have no problem with it."
"It's up to you Tahls, but I don't think Em minds, and I obviously don't mind either." Marcus says and I nod.
"It's just if I had a partner I could've moved in with him by now and I would've been out of here and..."
"Stop." Marcus says looking at me and I look up. "You don't need to rush that part of your life, let him come to you."
"Okay."
"Promise me you'll stop thinking about that part of your life?"
"I promise." I say and Marcus smiles.
"Good." He says then he smirks. "Worst comes to worst you have Naughts."
"Shut up." I say and Marcus laughs.
"What it's true though."
"Date another one of my brother's best friends... Been there done that, didn't work out, not going back there."
"Point taken." He says and I chuckle.
I quickly drink the smoothie before I head back upstairs to brush my teeth and fix my hair, then I'm out the door.
The drive to the high school I work at is a quick one as I deliberately left before the traffic. I park my car in the teachers car park before grabbing my things out and walking to my office.
"Hey Tahlia." Grace greets me as I place my things down on my desk and I smile at her.
"Hey Grace, how was your weekend?"
"Yeah it was good, just relaxing you know with the boyfriend."
"The life." I say and she chuckles.
"It sure is." She says then sighs. "How are you going?"
"Yeah, I'm good. Just trying to keep myself occupied you know now that it's offseason."
"Yeah, I would assume it would be difficult to keep busy, especially since you only work here part time."
"Yeah exactly, and I'm not gonna go change to full time cause once the season starts up again then I'll be back to square one."
"Totally understand." Grace says with a smile and I also smile.
"So what classes do you have today?" I ask and she sighs.
"My year 7's this morning, then year 8's and 9's."
"Delightful." I say and she laughs.
"What classes do you have?"
"I'm taking two of John's classes since he's away, plus my year 10's."
"I hope I get senior school kids next year, the younger ones do my head in sometimes."
"Just sometimes?" I ask and she laughs.
"Most of the time but I still love my job."
"I know you do, besides I'm sure most of the younger kids love you."
"I hope they do." She says and I smile.
The bell goes for period one and I gather my things, heading to the classroom where I will be taking a year 9 class.
This day better go fast... I think as I unlock the door to the classroom and let the students in...
Last two periods come quicker than expected and I couldn't be happier to see my year 10's as they are by far my favourite class, (after my year 12's of course.)
I look down at my phone whilst the class is doing some work, looking back over at the message James sent me and I sigh.
I know I should reply to him, but I don't know if I'm ready to go there yet.
What I want, and what I should do are two very different things.
I know I am not ready for a relationship yet. That's a fact. But what I don't know is what James wants. For all I know he just wants to catch up with me and become mates again just like how we were back in 2021.
And I'd be fine with that. It's just I don't understand why he's texted me now, like why now? Why not 6 months earlier? It makes me think he wants something from me. But then again it is James, he wouldn't use me... would he?
I am brought out of my thoughts when a student asks me a question.
"Wait so Miss, when answering question 5, do we just list the bone and explain what it is?" Brandon, a student asks and I smile at him.
"Yes so for example, this area here where the knee is located is labelled 1a, so you would write patella and you would say that the patella is located in the front of the knee joint, where the femur (thighbone) and tibia (shinbone) meet." I say and he nods. "Would you like me to write this example up on the board?"
"Yes please." He says and I smile, then nod, grabbing a whiteboard marker before getting up and walking over to the whiteboard and writing up what I just said.
The kids ask me a few more questions before I take a seat at my desk checking to see what emails I have. As usual, there is none. Since the year 12's have finished school there's been no coordinator stuff to do, so I've been chilling.
After marking some year 10 work from my other class, the bell finally goes and the kids rush out of the classroom. I also make a hurried attempt to leave, being the smart person I am I made sure to bring all my belongings with me to this class so I could leave straight from the classroom and not have to go all the way to my office.
I lock up the classroom before walking to my car without getting stopped by any teachers. I chuck my stuff in the backseat before hopping in and making the short drive home.
"Hello... anyone home?" I yell as I open the front door and make my way inside.
"Uh yeah, we're in the kitchen Tahls." I hear my brother's voice say and I sigh to myself as I walk through the hallway and into the kitchen.
"Hey." I say looking at Marcus and Em who smile back at me.
"Hey, how was work?" Marcus asks and I nod.
"Yeah it was good, most of the kids are scared of me so no trouble in my classroom." I say taking a seat at the bench as Em turns the coffee machine on for me.
"Ooh everyone's scared of Miss Bontempelli." My brother says and I smile.
"As they should be."
"Won't be Miss Bontempelli for too much longer now, might change your last name to Worpel soon." Em says with a wink and I freeze.
"Uh... what?" I ask looking at Em who laughs.
"Oh Ariana didn't tell you she told me you got a text from Worps?"
"No.. she didn't tell me." I say sighing and Marcus looks at me.
"What did he want?"
"He wanted to see if I wanted to catch up."
"And what did you say?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Yeah, I don't have enough courage to reply."
"Tahls." Marcus says looking at me and sighing. "You know you have to eventually get back out there in the dating world, I know you have a hard time of trusting people, guys especially but Worps is a good guy."
"I know Marcus, I know. But we don't even know what his intentions are. He could just want to catch up."
"He could. But you'll never know if you don't reply." Marcus says and I nod.
"I know."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Nothing.. yet." I say and Marcus sighs, shaking his head. "I need more time to think about it."
"Time to think? Tahls, the more you think about it the more you'll stress, just take a chance and if it fucks up, try again. You can't hide away from love forever." My brother says and I nod.
He's right. I know I have trust issues, especially when it comes to guys but James has been nothing but nice to me, he's been there for me and helped me forget about things. I think I just need a little bit more time.
If Worpel really wants to see me, he will not have an issue with how long I take to respond. Obviously when I see him I will explain everything to him, but for now, I need time, time to think.
I take a sip of my coffee, tuning into Marcus and Em's conversation....
***
Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Poor Tahlia is unsure of what she wants to do with this message. I don't blame her, not after what happened with Steele, and then Josh.
But anyways, remember to vote and comment!
Next update out soon!!