Purposefully Accidental

Chapter Five

"Did you win the lottery or something?" Tammy asks from the front door, almost as soon as she catches sight of me smiling at my phone.

I blink innocently up at her. "Hm?"

She tilts her head to the side as she allows Freddie to walk past her through the door. "You're... grinning. I've never seen that."

At that, I frown. "I smile all the time!"

"Not like that, you don't. Your teeth are showing. Who are you texting?" Tammy inquires. "No—wrong question. You disappeared after the presentation, and never showed up for lunch. Where'd you go?"

I bite my lip, trying to hold in my grin. "So, um. I saw my ex today."

Freddie, who's already sticking his face in the fridge, pops out to point at himself. "You mean me? You see me all the time."

I roll my eyes at him. "I have other exes, you know. And we only dated for, like, two weeks."

"Best two weeks of your life," he sing-songs, grabbing orange juice before closing the fridge with his elbow.

Tammy joins me on the couch, propping her feet on the coffee table. She ignores Freddie. "You don't mean... the ex? That one?"

I grin with my teeth. "My ex from high school. Yes. That one."

"The one I was a rebound for?" Freddie interjects from next to Tammy. We're all snuggled together in the small couch, now, with her in the middle. I glare at Freddie over Tammy's head.

"Anyways. Yes, Tammy. That one."

"Didn't he, like, completely break your heart? Like, shattered it to pieces. Why are you grinning now?" Tammy asks.

I sigh. "'Cause none of that matters. I still love him, I think. No, I'm sure. I never really moved on. None of these other guys I've been with have ever made me feel the same way. No offense, Freddie."

Tammy makes a face at me. Freddie shrugs. "None taken."

I shift around on the couch, pulling my knees up to my chest. "I took one look at him and it's like... like I've been punched in the face—"

Tammy grimaces, "Ouch?"

"—and my heart, it's like—I can't describe it." I touch my palm to my chest. "I asked him to be my date for my brother's wedding."

Freddie's mouth gapes open. "I thought I was your date."

I wave him away. "You were always my back-up plan."

He sniffs indignantly. "Rude."

I continue, "I mean, I was never planning to call my ex out of the blue to be my plus-one to the wedding, after all these months of not speaking to each other. But, you know, he magically showed up. Might as well ask him, right? And that was almost the first thing I blurted out. Will you be my date to the wedding? Like, what the hell. I bet I sounded insane."

Tammy's openly laughing at me now. "You really haven't talked to him at all since you broke up?"

"No. I wanted to, but you know we broke up on bad terms. It never felt right. We were so far away from each other, too. I didn't see the point."

"But he said yes to the invite, right?" she asks.

"Yes. I still can't believe he said yes. Oh my god. What was I thinking?"

Tammy stretches, then gets up from the couch after patting my head comfortingly. "My two cents? Just chill about it. He said yes. He's probably still head over heels for you. Just go with it. Second chances don't come a second time. Wow, that was kinda poetic." She shakes her head in wonder. "Alright, I'm gonna shower now. There better be dinner when I come out."