Chapter 42: Missed Calls

“Are you sure about this?” he asked, taking another sip from his drink. “You won’t have another chance like this in your life ever again. Is this because of Finn?”
His posture caught Gwen’s attention. It was like an entire different person had taken his place. She had never seen Clyde so serious and bitter. His jaw was clenched, his eyes were avoiding Gwen, and his knuckles were white from gripping the glass so hard.
“I'm sorry, Clyde,” she repeated. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I really thought we could make this work, but I can’t. I’m a mess right no-”
“Fine,” he interrupted her. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me. You can do whatever you want. It’s your life anyway.”
Gwen was left open-mouthed, speechless. She would never imagine he would react that way. He was always so kind and warm to her. Was he really going to treat her that way just because she didn’t accept his job offer? Or reciprocate his feelings?
But when she was about to say something back, he simply finished the liquid in his glass, turned around and went inside, leaving Gwen out there by herself.
She felt terribly sorry for doing that to Clyde, but now, besides guilty, she was also feeling sadness. She never wanted to hurt anyone’s feelings and that was exactly what she did.
Wrapping her arms around herself to warm her body and protect it from the cold wind, Gwen called a cab. The night had ended badly, and there was no point in staying there anymore.
As soon as she entered her apartment, Stephanie bombarded her with questions, and even though Gwen didn’t want to recall the events of that night, she didn’t think it was fair to keep it from her friend who did everything to help her.
Stephanie was shocked once she heard about their kiss, but got even more astonished when Gwen reported Clyde’s bitterness towards her.
“He did what?” Stephanie yelled, receiving a punch on her arm from Gwen.
“Shhhh! You’re going to wake Cody.” Gwen complained.
“Sorry,” Stephanie whispered, shrugging her shoulders out of guilty. “I can’t believe he did that. He was such a gentleman before.”
“I know, right?”
“Well, at least that’s one less problem for you to solve now. With Clyde out of the picture, you can focus on other things.” Stephanie remarked.
“I don’t see how that’s a good thing. His job offer was going to take me away from Finn, and consequently, his mother. Now, I don’t have another place to work and I have to deal with all the feelings Finn ripped from my Pandora's box.” Gwen explained.
“I still can’t believe he said he loves you, that’s so sweet.” Stephanie daydreamed, looking at the ceiling as if she was picturing the actual scene in front of her eyes.
“Me neither. I was completely surprised. Maybe he was just too drunk,” Gwen considered, wanting to hear her friend agree with her. She didn’t want to deal with the weight of that confession now.
“Yeah, don’t we say things we really think when we are drunk?” Stephanie teased her with a sneer on her face.
“Shut up. I’m going to bed now. Thank you so much for staying with Cody tonight.”
“Anytime, baby.”
Gwen had no idea what it would become of her if she didn’t have Stephanie in her life. She always had that thought in mind, and she made sure to never forget how important her friend was.
The next day, Gwen had to beg a favor from her friend one more time. Good thing Stephanie always had so much willingness to help her, or else, Gwen’s life would be much harder than it already was.
When she was about to get off work to pick Cody at school, the board members called a last minute meeting with all managers and important people from the company; including Finn, of course.
Gwen had to ask Stephanie to pick the little boy up, otherwise he would have to wait for God knows how long. Cursing everyone from the board, Gwen called Stephanie and asked her for another favor, which she gladly agreed.
Gwen walked inside the room with everyone already there, trying hard not to glance at Finn. They hadn’t spoken since the previous night, and since she had no idea how to act in front of him for the time being, it would be better to keep it that way.
The meeting took more than an hour, and Gwen was already exhausted to hear so much about goals, and profits, and all those annoying things.
When they were finally released, she grabbed her purse to leave the building, but something on her phone made her freeze.
It had more than 50 missed calls from Stephanie, and a dozen messages. Instantly, her whole body weakened, her legs felt like jelly and she felt chills all over it.
Concentrating on staying upright, Gwen dialed her number and waited for long seconds until the woman answered it.
“Gwen! Oh, my God! I couldn’t reach you or Finn. I was going to the company right now to talk to you. I don’t know how this-”
“Steph, what happened?” Gwen interrupted her, feeling her heart stop beating. Stephanie never stuttered, unless she was extremely nervous.
“I went to pick Cody at school, but his teacher said someone else had already taken him.”