After spending Saturday with my Dad and Baba, having lunch and dinner together and showing off the city to celebrate my birthday, I wake up this Sunday morning ready to take the day on. It won't exactly be the most fun day but I'm going to try and make the most of it and look at it through a more optimistic perspective.

I had decided sometime yesterday, between when Theo left very early in the hours of Saturday and my time out with my Dad and Baba, that I needed to meet up with Damon. So, last night I took a chance knowing that it was late notice and messaged to see if he could catch up with me for lunch. He replied that he was available and it was booked into both of our schedules.

Now I'm adding the final touches to my appearance, throwing my hair up into a high bun and adding some mascara to my eyelashes. Satisfied with my simple hair and makeup, I quickly scan over my casual outfit of jeans and a jumper in the mirror before grabbing my handbag from where it hangs on my door handle and heading out of my bedroom.

I find Jess sitting cross legged on the couch with her laptop in her lap as she divides her attention between it and a show on the television. She lifts her head as she hears me walk closer, grabbing my phone off of the kitchen bench.

"Where are you off to?" she asks, quirking her head to the side with curiosity. I realise now that I had forgotten to mention anything to her about my plans, having made them so last minute.

"I'm meeting up with Damon,"I tell her. She slightly raises her eyebrows with surprise, probably confused that I didn't mention anything to her or that I'm even going out with him still. "I need to end anything romantic between us today." I add to clarify matters.

"Oooo. Is this because of the kiss with lover boy?" she enquires, wiggling her eyebrows at me as she teases.

I roll my eyes, hitting her arm with a pillow as she smiles.

"Yes and no," I answer truthfully. "I don't know what's going on with Theo. For all I know it's just a physical attraction because, let's face it, he's certainly not bad on the eyes. But I do know it's not fair of me to be going around kissing other people when he's pursuing me romantically. And I just don't see it going anywhere between us. I don't think either of us can move past the whole dodged kiss situation."

"Dodged kiss situation?" she asks, confused. That's when I realise I forgot to tell her about another thing.

"Yeah, Damon tried to kiss me." I explain.

"Damon tried to kiss you!?"
"Yeah."

"When? And why didn't I hear about this?" she quizzes me curiously, tossing her laptop aside and lifting herself up onto her knees to look at me where I stand behind the couch.

"Honestly - this is going to sound horrible - but I just forgot about it. Or at least forgot to tell you." I explain.

"And how did it play out? Was it awkward?"

I sit against the edge of the couch now as I prepare to elaborate.

"We went out to watch a movie together and he dropped me off back here after. When he was saying goodbye I realised he was leaning in for a kiss and so I dodged it and went in for a hug instead. He ended up kissing the side of my head." I reveal, grimacing with embarrassment.

"Oh god, I'm sorry. I'm really trying not to laugh," she says as she hides her face behind a pillow to conceal the laughter, but I can still hear the muffled sounds. "Okay, so the whole ending things with him thing is making even more sense now if that's the case."

"Yeah, I can't drag this on any longer. I need to end things now before I end up with Derek 2.0." I tell her, lifting myself up once I check the time on my watch and see that I should really be heading off. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck!" she shouts out as I make my way to leave and she turns back to the television.

I end up walking to the cafe where I'm meeting up with Damon, having agreed upon a place nearby. I make sure to have my earphones in blasting music so as to prevent my overthinking from invading my mind. It works and I'm doing okay until I reach the cafe and spot Damon sitting in a corner booth through the windows.

Taking out my earphones and putting them back into my bag, I left out a deep breath and mentally tell myself you can do this Ella. I make my way through the entrance and Damon spots me when the bell attached to the door rings. He waves me over and I try to replicate the smile he is sending my way.

"Hey, how are you Ella?" he asks as he lifts himself up to greet me with a hug and kiss on the cheek. I reciprocate the gesture and settle in to the chair across from him.

"I'm good, thanks. How are you?"

"I can't complain." he responds.

I nod, him not really giving me much to work with there. So I suggest we order something, wanting to get right into things. The way I see it, the sooner we can eat means the sooner I can get to the discussion I had planned for today. I don't want to drag this on any more than necessary.

And so we put our orders through and the waiting game begins. We waste some time making small talk and Damon soon gets so caught up talking about some project he has coming up at work that he saves me from having to say much more than "oh yeah?" and "that sounds great".

Finally our order arrives and I let us finish the meal before I decide to get to the point of today's meet up. I'm struggling to find a way to lead in to the conversation I need to have when Damon gives me a starting point.

"I was pretty surprised to hear from you on such short notice," the comments, "I thought you had plans with your family this weekend?"

I have a small sigh in relief as I know I can work with this.

"Oh that was just yesterday. Sorry for the lack of notice. I just needed to talk to you about something." I tell him.

"Okay, shoot."

"It's about the time we've been spending together." I begin.

I wait for him to say anything back but Damon just continues sipping on his drink, nodding along nonchalantly.

"Um... so I don't know how to put this the right way. I've really enjoyed all the time we've spent together. It's been so much and it's been great. You're such a great guy-" oh god, could I say great any more times "-and you've been an amazing friend, but.. but it's just that. I don't think what's between us will be anything more than a friendship." I finish, going for the final knockout statement.

He has stopped sipping on his drink, placing the cup on the table and holding on to it with both hands as he looks down at it.

"Wow, okay," he drawls out, "I gotta be honest, I didn't see this coming. I thought everything was going great. We've had a great couple of dates." he says, finally looking back up to me.

"It was Damon. You've been amazing and I've had a blast on our dates, but I just don't see this going anywhere further romantically and I also just don't think I'm in a place to stick it out for the chance that it might." I try to explain in the must delicate way possible.

He begins nodding again, taking his bottom lip between his teeth as his eyebrows furrow.

"Okay then. I didn't see this coming but if that's how you feel." he tells me.

"It is."

As the silence creeps in I honestly don't know where this conversation is supposed to go now. Are we supposed to keep talking like nothing happened? Or can we part our ways like I'm secretly hoping for so I can return home to relax and do nothing for the rest of my Sunday?

Damon has kept nodding until he suddenly stops.

"Okay, but can I say something?" he says, breaking the short silence.

"Sure." I answer hesitantly because I have a feeling I'm not going to like whatever defensive Damon has to say.

He lays his palms down flat against the table now, as though he has to give me some sort of lecture, leaning slightly forward.

"Be careful with Theo."

I almost groan but I find a way to suppress it. Instead, I shake my head at his words, having guessed this might have been what he'd say. Nevertheless, I had hoped for better from him. This rivalry between the two of them, whether one or two sided, seems to consume him and I don't have the time or patience for it.

"Damon, it's not about Theo." I assure him.

"Okay, if you say so," he says, putting his hands up in defence. "But either way, I just think I should tell you that Theo is not the guy you think he is if you're going to be having him around. He may seem perfect and all but he's just a spoiled guy who's used to getting everything he wants. He'll do whatever he can to get something and then as soon as he gets it he's over it. Just like with everything in his life, like this project at work. Why do you think he's never been in a serious relationship?"

I know I shouldn't be listening to a begrudged Damon for commentary on Theo, even if the rational part of me is screaming out that I should listen to him and be cautioned by what he is saying. The idea that Theo might be non-committal or slightly entitled wouldn't be too surprising, but I'd like to have more faith in him than that. I know I wouldn't want to be judged purely based on what someone else has to say about me.

That's what I'm gonna tell myself to keep myself from letting Damon's comments seep into my brain. Or at least I'll try. Doesn't hurt to be a little cautious, does it?

"Look, as I said, this isn't about Theo. But if you're worried about him being my friend then don't worry. I'm a big girl. I can take of my self," I assure him. I notice he's about to open his mouth to most likely rebut on so I quickly add on "But thank you for worrying about me", hoping to soften the blow and prevent whatever remark he would make next.

"That's okay. I just want what's best for you." he tells me with a soft smile.

When he's looking at me like that I get a glimpse of the real Damon and what appealed me to him. Unfortunately that couldn't be what I solely based my attraction to a guy on. And maybe it was what was best for both of us. I don't think either of us could proceed with a relationship with the uncertainty of whether this was all a way to compete against Theo hanging over our heads.

Having finished my meal and discussed what I planned this meet up for, I allow us to make small talk a little more before we can finally part ways. I didn't want to just let him down and then bail after all. This small talk does consist of me awkwardly bringing up the bracelet he had given me two nights ago and asking if he wanted it back now. He assures me that I should keep it, especially if we were to stay friends like I had told him we could be.

Once that is settled and I think a sufficient amount of obligatory chit chat has passed, I begin gathering my belongings and tell him that I should probably be heading home to do a few more things I needed to do before the end of the weekend. As I finish paying my part of the bill and prepare to stand up, Damon brings my attention back to him as he calls out "oh!".

"I forgot to ask, are you still good to go with me to the gala then?"

"Uh.. the gala?" I question.

I was going to conceal my confusion but I can't hide that I have no idea what he is talking about at that moment.

"Yeah, the charity gala. The one the company is co-sponsoring. I asked you about it a week or two ago and bought the tickets for us. We'd be going as friends now, of course, but I'd still love for you to come if you can make it." he reminds me.

Well now that he put it like that there's no way I can say no.
"Right, the gala. Of course," I nod along, pretending like I totally remember what he's talking about. To be honest, sometimes I would space out when we'd meet up after a long day at work and he would start talking about work. His commitment to his job was truly next level and that's great but he never really knew when to stop. Nevertheless I tell him "I'll be there."

I don't really want to go to some fancy corporate event, especially after he decided to make this whole thing about Theo, who will likely be at this event. However, I'm all too aware that I've just let the guy down and he hasn't actually done anything wrong other than be a little too obsessed with his dislike of Theo and not being someone I have a romantic interest in. Also, I had supposedly already promised to go to this thing with him so it'd be pretty crap of me to back out of this too now.

"Great. I'm looking forward to it." he tells me with an eager smile back onto his face.

Having settled that, we say goodbye to each other and I head back home. I was being honest when I said I had some errands to do. A load of dirty clothes needing to be washed, a dirty apartment, groceries needing to purchased, meal prep for the week waiting for me and a dog eager for a long walk all await me.

It turns out to be a good distraction from letting me overthink about everything that happened today. I really need the time to not think about anything except the lyrics which blast in my ears as I move from room to room completing tasks. It manages to tire me out too, so that when night comes I barely get through one or two episodes of Outlander before I find my bed calling out for me; let alone leaving enough time for thinking.

I let myself have a hot shower and put on a face mask before I retreat to bed, wanting to get a good nights sleep so I can be as revitalised for work tomorrow as possible. I would need all the energy possible to prove even more than usual to Monique that I deserved a shot at a promotion at the magazine.

As I prepare to turn off my bedside lamp and settle in to sleep, I hear a sound come from my phone which had already been plugged in to charge and was sitting on my bedside table. Sure enough, an Instagram notification is awaiting me on my lock screen in front of the background picture of Charlie.

'Theo_Harrington has sent you a follow request.'

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Finally got another chapter out. Sorry for the lag- didn't have much inspo for this chapter but some exciting stuff to come. Hope you enjoyed.

Would love to hear your predictions. Also, if you have any songs you listen to or feel like would work with anything throughout the story I'd love to hear them. 

Vote/comment/share

TheFictionDreamer

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