shane called me.
out of the blue.
he asked me to meet him for coffee.
i’d been avoiding him since damon and i got together.
i had a legit reason.
i just didn’t want to bother with him.
he literally broke my heart more than he did when he left bristol years ago.
so i met him for coffee on sunday afternoon.
his busty girlfriend had gone back to her cave.
he wanted the chance to explain what happened with tatiana
i let him – but i didn’t really listen.
the fact that he was engaged to her but made no mention of it to me until the day after a night out with the girls and boys – well that was enough to make me want to kick him in the head.
i sipped on my hot chocolate and nodded here and there, making a small noise encouraging the idea that i actually gave a fuck.
probably wasn’t the best idea – it might have given him hope that i still cared.
did i?
no.
he really fucked up our relationship, he had fucked it up long before he came back to nyc.
the problem was, i just never knew about it.
and it just hurt that he was again trying to weave his way into my life like he did around this time last year.
i wasn’t going to let it happen again.
on the way home, i swung by layla’s apartment.
i’d received an sos text from her while i was with shane and saw it as my way out of the awkward and unnecessary conversation.
she opened the door and burst into tears.
flo: omg layla what’s wrong?
layla: florence i hate him! i hate him with everything in me.
flo: who?
layla: tommy.
flo: oh… what happened.
layla: oh you wouldn’t believe the effort he is going to, to make sure i am miserable.
flo: ok ok, from the start, what’s happened?
i sat her down on the sofa and handed her the box of tissues.
she wiped the tears away from her beautiful italian brown eyes.
i gave her a minute to gather her words.
of course, she sobbed inbetween each sentence making it difficult to understand what was wrong.
layla and tommy were engaged last year while she was in chicago.
she broke it off with him after finding her flatmate with her fiance.
since then she moved to new york city and had tried her hardest to move on.
she wanted to be rid of tommy, but given the circumstances – it was proving to be quite difficult.
she’d met 3 guys over that last 6 months, each one was somehow linked to tommy.
and each of these guys had basically stopped talking to her once they knew who she was.
the last guy she’d started seeing secretly even though he knew she was once engaged to tommy, but just a few hours ago he said that he couldn’t see her anymore because of his friend.
layla: tommy knows so many people in new york there is no way i’ll be able to hook up with anyone without tommy telling them to back off.
flo: wait, tommy told them that directly?
layla: yup. the first one – adam, he told him that i was pyscho and that he broke off the engagement because i was a real drama queen.
flo: whoa…
layla: and then the second one – steve, tommy told him that i was a serial cheater. steve wouldn’t even let me get the story straight!
flo: and the last one?
layla: oh, tommy was nicer to dave. he said “we were together, we were engaged, but you can do what you want. you know that you’re my mate right…” as if to say “you better fucking stay away from her!?”
flo: what the hell is tommy’s problem?
layla: i don’t fucking know. dave and i were secretly seeing each other, we just didn’t tell tommy or anyone really.
flo: so what happened then?
layla: he said tommy’s suspicious and out of respect for him, he can’t do it.
flo: aww layla!
layla: i hate my life!
she burst into tears again.
i felt so bad for her.
it didn’t feel like i had so much of an issue with shane after hearing her dilema.
i needed to take her out.
and i needed her to take time off too.
so i told her not to come in to work on monday, and have the day off to recoup.
i got home around dinner time and was hoping to have a quiet night in.
alas – madz and keeley were both over.
both had shocked looks on their faces.
madz & keeley: omg where have you been?
flo: hi guys! how are you? i’m good! it’s a nice surprise to see you both!
madz: hi, good thanks – we have a problem.
keeley: a huge one.
flo: can i get to the door first?
they both stepped aside and let me unlock the door.
what was all the commotion?
madz & keeley: louise is pregnant!
my jaw dropped.
i was in shock that lou, the total opposite of kandi, was turning into kandi.
flo: wha?
keeley: she’s preggers.
madz: fully knocked up.
then i froze.
but i’m pretty sure i was frozen anyway, so if i was – then i was frozen even more.
flo: who’s the father?
keeley and madz looked at each other, and then back at me.
flo: who the fuck is the father?
by this stage my face was burning.
burning from anger that there was a slight possibility that shane was the father.
but how was that possible.
they only slept together around christmas.
it’s now march.
the only way she’d be pregnant with his child is if they were still sleeping together.
madz: we don’t know who the father is, she didn’t say.
flo: when did you speak to her?
madz: we saw her today at the supermarket.
keeley: she wasn’t too thrilled.
flo: how far along is she?
keeley: a few weeks only.
flo: shane can’t be the father right?
madz: i don’t think so… they haven’t been together long.
flo: what?
madz: i mean, they…
flo: they’re dating? they’re actually together?
keeley: uh, i think she means, they only slept together that one time.
flo: don’t lie to me – are they together?
madz: she made it sound like they were but you can’t really take her word as gospel can you.
flo: i just saw shane before, he said there was nothing going on between them and it was just a one time thing.
keeley: then i think you have nothing to worry about.
flo: wait, i don’t care – i’m not with shane.
madz: you care.
flo: that’s not the point.
keeley: anyway – the actual problem is, she won’t say who the father is.
flo: how is that a problem? do we actually care?
madz: if it was shane, would you care?
flo: maybe…not.
keeley: the problem is, since christmas she’s been fucking a whole heap of guys in nyc.
flo: like who?
keeley: she slept with paul, and darcy.
flo: what???
madz: yup, some of darcy’s friends, and paul’s friends.
flo: and she’s still standing?
keeley: yeah i wondered that too.
flo: how do you feel about her and paul.
keeley: not as mad as i felt when kandi slept with paul.
flo: i don’t know to be honest, i think it’s all bullshit.
madz: did shane say anything when you saw him today?
flo: no. nothing about lou. he was babbling on about how sorry he was he didn’t say anything about his engagement to whatever her name was.
keeley: i am determined to find out who the poor sucker is.
i had to admit – i was curious.
but not curious enough to pick up the phone and ask.
in due time, i’m sure we’ll find out.
- love flo.
