Page 72 of The Roommate Problem
Chapter Twenty-One
“Mo!” Pru gasped. “What happened, sweetie?”
Mo looked up as she entered the Mile High Happiness office. She blinked, her eyes puffy and heavy from all the crying she’d done this weekend. She knew she should have called her friends over right away after her argument with August—argument? Try epic breakup fight—but she’d just wanted to crawl into bed and lick her wounds.
“Why do you think something is wrong?”
Lilly stood, moving around her desk to Mo’s side and reaching out a tentative hand. “Your hair…”
Pru also hurried to her side, her friends surrounding her, staring with horror and concern.
“What?” She shrugged, not even attempting to try for a smile. “I dye my hair all the time. You guys know that.”
“Yes, but honey.” Pru snuck a quick glance at Lilly before pointing out the obvious. “It’s black.”
Not all of it. She’d simply replaced the orange streaks with black. Her hair always matched their current wedding or her mood, and since they had no wedding at the moment, mood it was.
“So? Black is a color.” Technically, it was more like all the colors combined. Which was exactly what she felt right now. All the emotions fighting for dominance in her soul, blocking out any light that tried to get through. It sucked.
“Pru,” Lilly said softly, leading Mo to the large, plush chairs in front of her desk they usually reserved for clients. “Go grab the leftover cheesecake from the mini fridge.”
Pru rushed off to do their friend’s bidding, but Mo knew no amount of cheesecake was going to help her. She’d tried an entire bottle of wine last night and nothing. No rich, creamy dessert or fuzzy-headed alcohol high could erase the fact that she’d lied to August, broken his trust and her own heart, all because she thought she was doing the right thing. She felt the need to reiterate the suckage of this whole situation.
“Here.” Pru set down the four slices of strawberry cheesecake they’d taken home after lunch at the Cheesecake Factory Friday afternoon. They always bought a full cake in order to have emergency leftovers. “We don’t have any plates.”
Lilly grabbed three spoons from the tin by the small coffee maker that they used to stir in cream and sugar. “It’s fine. We can eat from the box.”
That got Mo to perk up from her pity party. She raised a brow. “Wow. I must look like crap if you’re forgoing the propriety of a plate, Lil.”
“You don’t look like crap,” Lilly responded, handing her a spoon. “But you do look like you’re in need of sugar, carbs, and the loving ears of your best friends immediately. So we can forgo plates. This one time.”
“Now, come on,” Pru insisted, nudging the box of dessert closer. “Why the new emo look? I didn’t even know you owned black clothing. And why is that sweater so huge?”
She glanced down. Technically, she was wearing dark navy blue pants and a dark gray sweater. Okay, fine. It was August’s sweater, and the thing swam on her. Totally not work appropriate, but she found it in the dryer this morning when she’d been searching for something to wear that wasn’t so bright—all her colorful clothing had been hurting her eyes and mocking her pain with their cheery vibrant hues—and she just slipped it on.
Big mistake.
His scent still clung to the garment, wrapping around her, making her miss him more than she’d ever missed anyone or anything. She hadn’t been able to take it off. But it wasn’t comforting—if anything, it was making her feel worse. Even though she didn’t think it was possible to cry any more tears, she felt the warm drop of one sliding down her cheek.
Lilly knelt by her side, her brow pinched with worry. “Moira?”
She glanced at her friend, shaking her head, her lips trembling as she opened her mouth to confess. “I screwed it all up, Lil.”
“Screwed what up, sweetie?”
“Everything. The plan, our relationship, my chance at a soul mate.”
“Whoa, hold on a second.” Pru scooted in closer, grabbing Mo’s hand in hers. “What plan? What relationship? I think you should go back to the beginning.”
She started to explain but only got two words in before the dam broke and she was heaving out giant sobs of misery. Lilly grabbed the box of tissues she kept on her desk for emotional couples and pushed them toward Mo. With a grateful glance, she accepted and mopped up her mess of a face, trying to get herself under control so she could explain everything to her friends.
Two more people she’d lied to and kept things from. Wow. No wonder August stormed out. She was a crappy friend. She felt lower than dirt right now and just as trampled on.
Once the tears subsided, she took a deep, shuddering breath. “Okay, so I have something to confess to you both.”
She launched into the events of the past two months. Taking August out to the Botanic Gardens, getting closer to him. She glossed over their bedroom activities, implying, but not describing in detail as she normally would. For some reason it felt too private, too much of a betrayal to share her stories of intimacy with August with her friends like she would have with any other guy.
No. Not some reason. She knew the reason. It was because she loved him. Completely. With every bit of her soul. He wasn’t just a wild night out or a steady boyfriend she was having fun with. He was the real deal.
