1
"El, what is going on?" Blair asked when she entered the office of Elvira. She closed the door behind her and took a seat in the comfortable stool while clamping her laptop and documents against her chest.
The look in Elvira's eyes was not amused, her face, in general, was not amused; Blair interrupted her concentration. She looked at Blair and faked a smile. "Nothing, just work stress." She started to write an email and focused on the French words what flowed over the screen.
Blair placed her package on the desk and watched her working in silence. She noticed Elvira was wearing more makeup like she used to do. Like she wanted to cover up the red, irritated cheeks. Her eyes were tired, even though Elvira was trying to cover it up by smiling. Even her smile was looking fake. The clothes she was wearing were telling a dark story. Normally Elvira whore colours and a happy top, but for the last few weeks, everything she wore was black.
"Nope, we are not gonna do it this way," Blair broke the silence. "Elvira." The tone in her voice was cold, but it almost sounded worried.
Elvira was stubborn enough to ignore Blair and shut her out.
"Elvira." Blair stared annoyedly at her colleague. "Come on, don't ignore me, Elvira."
Elvira lowered her eyebrows and looked at Blair. "What?" She snarled and let her hands rest above the keyboard.
"Talk to me. What is going on? I am worried."
Elvira parted her lips and relaxed her face. Her shoulders lowered, and she placed her hands on her lap. "Everything sucks. Samuel is shitting on me for his ideas, he denies everything I bring on the table. And he just sits there, on his lazy ass, watching porn!" She ranted. "And Marcel is a fucking dick. He is engaged, for fuck's sake. He went behind his fiancee's back on dates with me. Can you believe that? I am the one who could destroy someone's life. It's his fault and he acts like it's mine." She deeply inhaled. "And there is Daniel. I screwed it up again. I don't think we will be friends ever again. I was stupid enough to not believe him; meanwhile, I knew bloody good he was right every time. This is feeling more worse than a breakup." Her head was pounding from the tears she was trying to hide and not let them roll over her cheek. "I am one big mistake. And the fact my computer is dead, and I need to call Marcel is making everything worse."
Blair widened her eyes, she did not expect this overload of negativity. Her eyes were laid on Elvira's face; the corners of her mouth were curled down, the pain was shown in her eyes. "Merde, Elvira," Blair mumbled. "For how long is this going on?"
"A few weeks."
Blair sighed and shook her head. "Merde, Elvira, merde. Why haven't you told me this earlier?" Elvira parted her lips to say something, but Blair cut her off by saying: "it's four o'clock and you are not gonna sit here and tell me everything. We are leaving. The last hour is nonsense. Come on."
2
Elvira pored hot water in two cups and walked to the living room of her flat. She placed the cups on the coasters and lift her arm to let the boxes of tea fall on the table she was holding under her arm.
"Fine, so what happened?" Blair asked. Elvira took a seat in the corner of the sofa and placed her left foot under her right leg. "What is going on?"
"Gosh, I don't want to tell it again," Elvira mumbled and looked down.
"For how long is this going on?"
"Since Shanghai."
Blair widened her eyes. "Woman, that was four weeks ago. I know we both have been busy, but why did you not tell me anything?"
Elvira pressed her lips into a thin line after she licked it. "I know."
"I know you for almost eight years, and I know you are not a good speaker when it comes to feelings, I know that. But something is breaking you, and you are gonna tell me what it is," Blair commanded her strictly and pointed at her.
"As I told you, Marcel was engaged all the time when he had a thing with me. I am pretty sure he was using me for the sex or whatever he wanted," Elvira blurted and swallowed hard. "And Daniel and I are no longer friends anymore. What else do you want to know?"
"Don't do that." Blair parted her lips and flipped her hair over her shoulder.
"Do what?"
"Acting like nothing is going on."
"It's nothing huge."
"Elvira!" Blair raised her voice what Elvira made look up at her. "'Daniel and I are no longer friends anymore'. What happened? What have you been hiding for so long?"
"It happened, and I can't go back. Too bad," Elvira droned. Blair stared, annoyed at her and shook her head. "I have been stupid..."
"You have been stupid and...?" Blair raised her eyebrows and waited for a reaction.
"Daniel and I have both been stupid." Elvira's soft voice was filling the room. Even though she didn't want to talk about Daniel, she needed to share her thoughts. "We had a fight about Marcel, Daniel said he was a dick and whatever he told me and I was stupid enough to not believe it. At the end of the road, he was right all along. I was dragging him down, he went on top of that and dragged me even more down. It led to a fight with harsh words." Retelling the story made her realise how stupid this was, it didn't make any sense at all. "And we haven't talked since then." She shrugged and plucked the cuticles of her nails. They both have been stupid enough to let this lead to a breakup, but they both didn't feel like contacting each other.
"Why haven't you tell me?"
"I am telling you now, aren't I?" The words left her mouth without thinking about it. Elvira squeezed her eyebrows together. "I'm sorry." The tone was way too harsh and bitchily. "I wanted to sort it out before dragging people down in wrong conclusions."
Blair snorted and shook her head. "Well, that didn't end up well. You have been acting like a heartless bitch for days."
Elvira bit on the inside of her lip and nodded slowly.
"Then what happened what is making this so bad?"
"As I said, it started all by Marcel - what doesn't matter anymore. But Daniel got annoyed because I was texting Marcel, I got more annoyed by his reaction and on top of that Daniel got even more annoyed. It was leading to a fight about all the negative sides of our friendship. I made him feel guilty by saying he never should have left me behind in Perth when he moved to Europe. He got mad and brought in the part why he knew why my family in Sweden doesn't have contact with me. All by all, we got mad about things we did in the past, things we already talked about like having a long-distance friendship - we both made mistakes with it. I don't know, it's stupid. I think something was bothering us for a long time. Maybe it is good we ended everything."
"Alright, if that is what you think, sure," Blair said and snorted in disbelief. She deeply inhaled and pointed at Elvira. "But talk to him, he is your best friend and doesn't let a small discussion you stop of being friends." She gave in. "I wish I could say 'fuck him, you did the right thing, and I support you', but I can't."
Elvira's eyebrows lowered.
"I can imagine you feel betrayed because he used something that is your weakness and you did the same, but I am sure you both were irritated and said things that you regret. I think you both were stupid."
Elvira rolled her eyes and swallowed hard. "And I guess I could call him to say he is right and I am wrong, but I can't do that."
"See! You have reached the part you know you were wrong! Now, call him," Blair enthusiastically said. "Talk to him. Please don't this friendship die because of something stupid. And after all, Daniel was right. He was only trying to protect you."
"He could have done that differently."
Blair groaned. "You are so stubborn!"
"I thought you already knew that," Elvira smirked sarcastically and smiled at Blair.
"My goodness," Blair laughed and grabbed a pillow she placed on her lap. "But what happened with Marcel? Why haven't you told me in the first place?"
"I don't know. I didn't really want to talk about it and shove it away," Elvira made up. If she was honest, she forgot to tell because of the work stress, and they haven't seen each other much. Blair rolled her eyes. "But you know I told you about the date night. The next day I was going to a restaurant because I had ordered food for lunch. And suddenly he there too. At first, I didn't recognise him, but he was sitting with a gorgeous woman and laughing and all. They kissed, and I realised it was Marcel."
Blair's jaw dropped. "What an arse."
"And he saw me too. I walked away, but he was faster and talked to me. He was acting really normal like he didn't care, really casual. He told me she was his fiancee and we had something behind her back. Long story short, he cheated on her with me." She tightened her jaw. "I was easy to play with. Thanks, mate," she mentioned sarcastically and held her thumbs up.
Blair started to laugh. "What awful. I have never liked that man. But this is something that is not done. What the hell."
"And when I am looking back, I see all the hints on an affaire. I went to his place once or twice, he never held my hand or kissed me in public, he never introduced me as girlfriend to people he knew, he always ignored me in the evenings, he hates Daniel, Andy and Lukas - probably because he knew they saw what kind of dick he is."
"Signs he is cheating on you, or he is cheating with you."
Elvira slowly nodded and sighed. It felt pleasant to share her story, and she should have done it way earlier.
"It's making sense now why you weren't in Monaco last week. Hugo mentioned Daniel's win, and I was surprised you didn't tell me or send me a photo."
"Yup."
"Have you watched the race?"
"I have watched every single race. I tried not to, but I was curious, and I needed to see it."
Blair grinned. "Cute."
It was silent for a moment. They both threw a tea bag in hot water, which was warm by now instead of hot.
Elvira took a sip of the tea and looked at the water. "The funny thing is that I cried more about this friend breakup and I barely cried or have been down about the split I had with Marcel. At least, that is what I think. It was at the same time, so I don't know."
"And that is why you are going to Monaco," Blair smiled widely.
"What? No," Elvira blurted and widened her eyes.
"Yes."
"Maybe he is in LA since the last race was in Canada."
"He is in Monaco," Blair secured her and nodded trustfully. "He posted a story on his Instagram he was in Monaco again," she answered the confused look of Elvira. "Try it. Show you are willing to fight for him. If he doesn't want it, it is his loss. You have tried it. I can see you miss him."
"Blair..."
"Go, El. You need to see him and share your story. Book a flight for tomorrow, it's Friday anyway. We won't do much on Fridays." Blair's dark chocolate brown colour eyes looked in Elvira's eyes with a sparkle of hope in it. A small smile was on her lips.
"Fine."