that night, and the next morning I had to deal with the consequences of my previous day of freedom. It hadn’t been free, that was for sure. I had a bunch of emails waiting on me, and I spent an hour answering them before I had to go to class. Fin’s email had worked to get me out of class scot free, but I had notes to catch up on and two meetings worth of minutes to look over.
By the time I started to sort things out, I was nearly late for class.
“Shit,” I said, and rushed to grab my bag, dashing out the door. So much for relaxing yesterday. I wasn’t going to get much of that today.
I found a spare moment to call my parents, but no one picked up so I left a message saying I was helping with another fundraising group and wanted to know if they’d donate. They had so many times before, so it wasn’t an unusual thing to call them about. I kept the message casual, but I was really just checking up on them.
The uneasy feeling I had about Fin last night continued to nag me. There was still so much I didn’t know about him, and he was the kind of person who could bury secrets if he wanted.
God, I was just being paranoid. I really was. I had to stop.
I pushed the thoughts aside and went on with my day. I had to. I couldn’t let my head go off on a crazy tangent that would lead to nowhere good. Shut up, brain.
Rory texted me asking if I wanted to meet up with Sloane and Chloe at the bar for open mic night. We usually went every Friday night, but I’d been skipping a lot lately.
I’d enjoyed emergency girls’ night (even though I got completely drunk), and I knew I needed to get out of my own head and back into the world more. Watching drunk people try and cover bad pop songs was just what the doctor ordered. I would probably miss talking with Fin that day, but he’d understand.
I wrote her back that I was totally in. At least I had that to look forward to tomorrow night.
Right after Rory messaged me back saying she was excited, Sloane called.
“Hey, what’s up?” I said as I walked back to my apartment from a café where I’d picked up a latte with an extra shot so I could stay awake and do some homework (and stay up so I could talk to Fin).
“Not a whole lot. Just busy with work. Things are really coming together. I might have something else ready for you. Just wanted to see if you had any developments in your own love life. Rory is disgustingly happy, and I’m just wondering if you’re in the same boat.”
Well, what did I say to that? Sure, I was happy, but I bet Rory’s relationship was far less complicated than mine. Sure, she ran the risk of getting caught banging her assistant, but her father was the boss. He’d definitely let her get away with it. No way Mr. Clarke would fire his own daughter.
I’d met him more than a few times, and he was everything I wished my own father would be. Yes, he gave his daughter a high-ranking job at his company (which some might consider too high on the nepotism scale), but only because she wanted it and had worked for it. She loved her job (even before her sexy assistant started working there), and they had such a sweet relationship. I loved seeing them together, but it still made me jealous.
“Um, hello? Did I lose you?” I realized Sloane was waiting for an answer from me. I’d gone off on a thought tangent and hadn’t answered her.
“No, sorry. I was just thinking about something else. Anyway, no, I’m not in Lovey Land like Rory. Fin and I are taking things slow. We haven’t even defined anything yet. He’s not really a relationship kind of guy.” Yeah, I had to cut myself off there before I said too much.
“Sounds like he’s trying to string you along, if you ask me, if you haven’t had a conversation about if you’re his girlfriend or not by now.”
Sure, I knew where she was coming from, but this was definitely a different situation. I asked Fin if we could remain exclusive when he traveled, and he agreed. So that was a