It was a go-to outfit that she happened to know would work for anything a little fancier. She dressed and seated herself in front of her mirror. She needed to put on makeup to cover her four days of crying before she left.
After doing her hair and forcing her face to look normal, she headed out to leave. She froze at the door as she grabbed her phone.
Casey glanced at her messages, a long list of hers with nothing in response from Jake.
She wasn't waiting anymore. She'd waited long enough, more than enough. She was done holding out for someone that clearly didn't care.
She clicked on his number and hovered her finger over the delete. She waited for a second before she clicked it, swiping him from her contact list.
“Now.” She smiled. “I'm ready.”
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
JAKE
Jake's phone hadn't stopped dinging. For several days, he got dings, and each one was from Casey. His entire body ached, wanting to go to her. He didn't know before that he could be in such physical pain over someone, but he knew now.
He glanced at his phone, seeing it had been several hours now since her last message. She had messaged him that morning, but that was it. He could scroll through and see each message she had left him. It was clear that Casey was confused, and she was clearly worried. She was also angry and then suddenly apologized at times. She was a mess.
He flipped his phone over, needing to not look at it. It would be better for him anyway. He should have left his phone at home, but he brought it with him each day. He wanted, needed, to see her messages to him.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, stopping himself from calling her. He couldn't. Not after what happened at the restaurant. Not after listening to what she said about him. He couldn't go this long with no connection then suddenly call her.
Casey didn't think their relationship was worth the time and that she was just having fun. That's all he was. A fun time. That wasn't how he had felt, but apparently, it was how she felt.
He didn't know what to do. How was it they were incompatible? After everything, after all the signs pointed to them being perfect? Where was the confusion? Where did he misread the signs?
Jake glanced at his work, needing to focus. He hadn't gotten any work done since leaving her at the restaurant. He'd tried, but most of the time, he found himself desperately wanting to talk to Casey.
The sudden knock on the door forced his head up. He froze, seeing it was Gerri, and she didn't look happy. He swallowed, suddenly nervous.
“Gerri, what a nice surprise.” His voice came out weird, almost high-pitched.
She narrowed her eyes slightly. “What dumb, dumb thing did you do?”
Jake snapped his mouth shut. So, she had talked to Casey, it seemed. He wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. “Are you mad?” he asked.
“Slightly.” She walked across the office after kicking the door shut. She threw herself into the chair across from his desk and crossed her arms. “Are you going to tell me what you did so I can tell you what you did wrong? I can't believe you are thinking of ruining my perfect record.”
He frowned. “I'm confused. Are you more upset about Casey and I breaking up or about your perfect record being ruined?”
Gerri laughed now, snorting at him. “I didn't say that. I just want to know what you did. What did you do to screw this up?”
He scoffed. “Why is it me that did something?”
She tilted her head, resting her head in her palm. “Fine, maybe it was Casey. Are you going to tell me what happened?”
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He wasn't sure he wanted to. After almost five days of feeling shitty, he wanted to start feeling normal. Maybe talking would help.
“I was supposed to meet her friends. She'd been avoiding it, and finally, I was going to meet them. I went to the restaurant to meet up with her and her roommates.”
She shook her head. “No, Casey said you didn't go.”
Jake shook his head, correcting her. “I went. I got inside and was just about to head to the table when I heard them laughing. I didn't want to interrupt, and before I knew it, Casey was saying that she didn't think we had a future. That she was just along for the ride.”
Gerri's eyebrows went up. “Well, that's news to me.”
He sighed. “I didn't think she saw me, so I turned around and left. If she didn't think there was a future, why stick around? What was the point?”