Getting him Back (8 page)

‘I hope you
don’t turn into a cow when you get Mia’s job,’ Doreen said with a
giggle.

‘You know me,
Dor.’

‘Yeah. You’ll
be ok. You’ll ‘ave to come out ‘ere and share cakes with me at
break, though.’

‘
Even
better, you can come into my office!’

She giggled.
‘We can have discos and everything! No-one will know!’

I was going to
miss sitting next to Doreen. Being alone in that huge office was
one thing I wasn’t looking forward to. I enjoyed working with
people, having a chat and a gossip. I was looking forward to
meeting Mark tonight though. I would finally get the chance to hear
how he realizes his mistake and wants us to get back together. I
would play it cool, at first, but then I would throw my arms around
him and we would kiss passionately and then we would end up in bed
together at his apartment and that would be it – we would be an
official couple again only this time I’d make more of an effort so
that he’d have no reason to look elsewhere ever again. I still
missed freckly Mark a little bit. I cried myself to sleep for a few
nights but then I just stopped thinking about him and started
thinking about my Mark again and our reunion.

***

Catherine had
excelled herself this time. Feeling full of confidence I made my
way downstairs and out of the front door. It was weird walking to
Mark’s apartment again after all this time. He lived further away
than Freckly Mark but too near to make it worthwhile getting a bus
or a taxi – it was quicker and cheaper to walk there. I wished I’d
worn comfier shoes, but I was deliberately making an effort – no
more trainers for me. These high heels would have Mark drooling,
hopefully.

My stomach was
full of butterflies dive-bombing wildly as I knocked on the door.
Mark answered and it was like looking at a stranger. I wasn’t
expecting to feel like this. I thought he would be familiar and it
would be like we’d never been apart, but it wasn’t like I’d
expected. Mark appeared to be nervous too. ‘Come in,’ he said with
an air of formality. ‘Would you like a drink?’

‘
A lager
would be nice,’ I replied. In the past I would have sat down on the
settee after getting my own lager, but this time I hesitated. It
was strange being here after all this time.

‘Sit down,’ he
said; pointing to the settee we’d sat on so many times
together.

I sat and felt
uneasy when he sat down next to me. He passed me my lager and I
felt nothing as our hands touched. I put this thought out of my
mind as I looked into his blue eyes. He looked tanned and
well-groomed, as usual, but I didn’t feel any spark.

‘So, why did
you want to see me?’ I asked.

He placed his
lager onto the floor. ‘We can talk about that later. First tell me
what you’ve been up to.’

I didn’t feel
comfortable with the way he’d changed the subject so I asked again.
‘I’d rather just get straight to the point.’

He sat
back and stretched his arms. ‘I don’t know where to start, really.
I thought we could have a catch up first. I’ve missed you, you
know.’

My heart
started to beat quicker. He’s missed me. I knew it. ‘Have you? I’ve
missed you too.’

He smiled and
bent down to get his lager. He took a sip. ‘When you’ve seen
somebody every day for nine years it’s weird when you suddenly stop
seeing them, you know?’

‘Yeah. It was
your idea, though.’ I sipped my lager and stared at my feet. I was
starting to like my new shoes.

‘You look great
by the way,’ he said.

‘Thanks. You do
too.’

There was a
distinctly awkward atmosphere. It wasn’t how it used to be at all.
Things had changed. Maybe people were right about him; I shouldn’t
get back with him.

‘I saw you on
Facebook with her,’ I said.

He looked
confused. ‘Who?’

‘Your new
girlfriend.’

He placed his
lager down again. ‘My new girlfriend isn’t on my Facebook
page.’

‘What?’

‘I can’t put
her on there.’

‘Why not?’

‘
I just
can’t.’

‘So who’s the
slutty brunette in your main photo?’

He laughed.
‘That’s Monica.’

‘And who’s
she?’

‘
She’s
just this girl who keeps flirting with me. She keeps messaging me
telling me where she’ll be and to be honest she’s a bit of a
stalker. I had a fall out with my girlfriend a few weeks ago and I
sort of copped off with Monica at a club and ever since then she
keeps trying it on. She’s got a fella though and I’ve got a
girlfriend so nothing’s happened since.’

‘So what does
your girlfriend think about you having Monica splashed all over
your Facebook page?’

‘She knows all
about it. She’s glad. People don’t suspect anything if they see me
with Monica.’

‘What do you
mean?’

He took a deep
breath in. ‘My girlfriend’s not my PA. She’s a married woman,
ok?’

I was shocked.
‘What? How could you!’

‘She’s not
married any more, they’re separated.’

‘
Because
of you, right?’

‘We didn’t mean
for it to happen – it just did!’

‘So why did you
ask me over tonight? You don’t want to get back together with me do
you?’

He laughed
sarcastically. ‘What gave you that idea?’

‘I don’t know.
I guess I just thought you’d realize what a mistake you made that’s
all.’

‘But I didn’t
make a mistake, Tez. We grew apart. I grew up and you didn’t.’

I got
angry. ‘What do you mean by that?’

‘
Come on
Te
z, look at yourself. I
left school, went to Uni got an entry level accounts job and now
I’m a partner in my firm. I have ambition and I need a woman who’s
got ambition too. All you wanted to do was stay local, get yourself
a dead-end job and have an easy life. You need to get out of your
comfort zone and do something different!’

‘For your
information I’m a marketing assistant now!’

‘I know but
that’s only because Mia’s leaving!’

I paused to
digest what he’d just said. How did he know about it? I hadn’t told
him. Then it hit me. I looked at him. He was avoiding eye contact,
gulping his lager.

‘Oh my god –
it’s her isn’t it? You’re Mia’s bit on the side!’

I felt
like I’d been hit by a truck. I sat back down and started to gulp
my lager down- fast.
‘So, when did it happen, then? When did you first meet
her?’

‘
It was
at your Christmas party.’

I walked
to the fridge and got some more lager. Now that there was no chance
of a reunion I could relax
a bit more. ‘How could you do this to me? With my own boss
as well! I always thought she was a cow but all this time she was
telling me to get over my problems when she was the cause of them
all! What a total bitch! It’s a good job she’s leaving otherwise
I’d have to kill the cow!’

‘
For your
information she feels terrible about the whole thing! She’s
dreading Monday when you go to her for your training.’

‘
I bet
she only gave me her job because of her guilt! Well you know what?
I think I’ll take a lesson from you – on Monday I’m gonna step
right out of my comfort zone! If she thinks she can take my fiancé
from me without a fight she’s more of an idiot than I
thought!’

‘
Tez,
calm down. Don’t lose your new job whatever you do.’

‘So now you’re
saying I should stay in my comfort zone? You’re full of shit, Mark!
I don’t know what I ever saw in you in the first place!’

He looked hurt.
‘You don’t mean that.’

‘
I do,
though. Right now I don’t know why I ever wanted to marry you.
You’re right; you did me a huge favour cancelling the wedding. And
you know what else? If you had asked me to get back with you
tonight I wouldn’t have – I love somebody else now, not you.’ I
don’t know whether it was the drink talking or not but the words
came out of my mouth before they’d registered in my brain. Now that
I’d said them I knew they were true. I didn’t love Mark, not ex
Mark anyway – I loved Freckly Mark.

‘So is this
Monica’s brother you’re talking about, then?’ Mark stood up and
walked towards the fridge. He took out a sausage roll and started
to eat it, dropping crumbs all over his carpet.

‘How do you
know about Mark? It seems you know everything I do, lately.’

‘
Monica
saw a picture of you on Facebook; the one from Paul’s wedding. Paul
put it on there; anyway Monica recognized you and told me you were
seeing her brother. It’s no big deal.’

‘And that’s
when you told her we’d been engaged.’

‘Well what was
I supposed to tell her?’

‘You do realize
that you’ve ruined things between me and Mark. I hadn’t told him
I’d been engaged and I didn’t tell him I knew you were seeing his
sister, either.’

‘So, that’s not
my fault. You should have been honest with him right from the
start.’

‘Like you know
anything about honesty you cheating pig!’

‘Now there’s no
need for that!’

Obviously not a
student of body-language himself, he came over to me, attempting to
give me a hug. I took the opportunity to hit him hard across his
face.

‘Ow!’ he
screamed, ‘what did you do that for you psycho!’

I’d drank
too much and I’d had a shock finding out about Mark and Mia. It all
became too much for me; I burst into tears and collapsed onto the
settee. Mark came and put his arms around me again and this time I
didn’t have the energy or the inclination to push him away. ‘If you
want, I’ll get in touch with Monica and sort things out for you,’
he said.

‘Don’t bother;
you’ll only make it worse.’ I looked at him and felt glad that I
finally had closure. I could let him go now. His blue eyes were
watery and I knew we’d always have the past but that it could no
longer ruin our futures. ‘So you’re going to New York then?’ I
asked.

He nodded and
brushed my hair away from my eyes. ‘It’s probably for the best now,
isn’t it? A clean break?’

‘Yeah. Is that
why you asked me round here? To say goodbye.’

‘Yeah. I’m
starting to think it was a bad idea now though!’ He laughed, which
eased the tension and I laughed too.

‘No. It was a
great idea and I’m glad you thought of me.’

His eyes
watered again. ‘Of course I thought of you. Like you said, we were
together nine years and almost married! You’ve been a big part of
my life.’

I hugged him.
‘Thanks. I’m so glad we had this talk. I know what I have to do
now.’

‘I hope that
doesn’t mean killing Mia!’ He laughed again.

‘I’m over that
now and I think I’m finally over us too.’

He smiled. ‘We
were just kids weren’t we? Maybe if we were just meeting up now
things would be different?’

‘I guess.’

We sat there
for a while longer just holding each other. I felt a sense of peace
wash over me, that I hadn’t felt for a long time. I could move on
now. Once I’d seen Mia for the last time I could say goodbye to my
past and look to the future – hopefully a future with Freckly Mark
in it.

Mia
looked nervous as I took my place next to her. I could see why Mark
was attracted to her; not only was she beautiful but she was
ambitious
too. She was
also a cow but maybe she didn’t show Mark that side of
her.

‘Terri,’ she
said, ‘I’m glad you decided to come into the room so amicably.’

‘You know if
I’d found out about you and Mark straight away I would probably
have killed you but now that I’ve realized I’m finally over him I
actually pity you.’

Her eyes
widened, ‘Why would you pity me?’

‘Because you’re
giving up everything and taking a chance on a cheating pig, that’s
why. For your sake I hope he can keep it in his pants.’

She shook
her head. ‘I think we’d better crack on with this, don’t you?’ She
opened the publishing package our company used for designing
letterheads.

We sat in
silence for the rest of the training, only speaking about work;
once we’d done I went back to my own desk and told Doreen the
gossip.

‘What a cow!’
she said, ‘Well, we knew she was a cow, anyway but this is even
worse than ever! Do you want me to kill her for you, love, because
I’m too old to go to prison,’ she giggled as she continued to
type.

‘Oh, Dor,
you’re so funny! You cheer me up.’

‘No, but
seriously though, someone needs to put the bitch in her place!’

‘I’m over it
now, Dor. She’s done me a favour in a weird sort of way.’

‘
Yeah,
you’re better off without him, love. So does that mean you are
going to start getting serious with your new man then?’

‘I can’t, Dor.
He doesn’t want to know. He said he’ll never trust me again. No, I
think I’ll concentrate on my new job for a while – men are too much
of a distraction. At least I won’t have any personal problems to
bring in to work, will I?’

Doreen laughed
and opened her desk drawer. She took out two chocolate bars and
handed me one. ‘They say a chocolate bar is a substitute for love
so get that down you.’

I bit
into the creamy chocolate as I thought about Freckly Mark. The
chocolate reminded me of his eyes. It was so ironic that when I was
with him all I could think about was my ex Mark and getting him
back when now all I could think about was getting Freckly Mark
back, yet at the same time I didn’t want to risk getting my heart
broken all over again. It was hurting me already and we’d only been
dating less than six months – imagine how I’d feel if he dumped me
in nine years time? I continued to eat the rest of the chocolate as
I finished sending emails telling my customers about my
promotion.