HOW TO BE SINGLE | SIDEMEN

TEN

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" he let her go "
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"Pour me more wine, I need it," Alice grumbled, holding out her empty glass, the remnants swirling. Adela laughed and filled the glass, then filled her own.

It felt good to be sat there with Alice, drinking red wine and talking about everything and anything that came to mind. They'd been at it for a while now, if not hours, and Adela was beginning to get drowsy.

Just as her eyes were closing while the conversation dipped, Alice sat up and put her glass on her coffee table. Adela frowned at her, but it was clear that she was about to make some kind of a demand or ask a question that she wasn't sure she could answer. It always happened like this. When Alice got some wine in her, she asked all the questions she wouldn't normally have the guts to ask, even to her best friend.

"Will you answer me honestly if I ask you a question?" She asked, her eyes soft and as warm as the alcohol in her belly.

Adela hated it when she looked at her like that because it meant she couldn't say no without guilt.

"Sure," She replied, resting her glass on the side just in case.

"Promise you'll answer honestly?"

"I promise."

"Ok." Alice scooted right up next to her, looped their arms together and just that was comforting in itself. "Do you think you'll ever be fully over Simon?"

Adela swallowed, hiding the hurt on her face well at the mention of him. "It's only been a week. It's hard to tell, but," She turned to her friend with a gentle smile pressed onto her wine-stained lips. It was a good sign. "I think I will, you know. Not immediately. It'll definitely take me some time to get over him and I'll always love him."

"Of course you'll always love him, he was your first love!" Alice poked her in the side, grinning. She must have seen the tears brewing.

"Exactly, which is why it was so hard to let him go and do his own thing," She said, looking down at her hand. Alice rest her head on her shoulder, rubbing her arm softly.

"This gives you a chance to do your own thing, too. You should try something new, or several things new." Alice bit her lip before she suggested, "Maybe you could even get a new job and your own apartment?"

"What's wrong with working at the book store?" Adela's face creased into a frown.

"It's just that you've worked there since you were fourteen, Ads, maybe it's time for a change. You could get that job at the publishing house like you've always wanted. I've heard they're hiring right now."

"You think I should give it a shot?"

"If that's the only good thing that comes out of this break up then it'll be worth it."

"Tomorrow morning, will you help me email them about it?"

"Of course, of course." Alice squeezed her arm. "But only if you promise we can look for apartments too."

"Fine," Adela said, rolling her eyes, but her stomach fluttered with the prospect of a new chapter of her life and it was all thanks to Simon Minter.

She'd always thought he would be her forever, but now they were taking their own pathways. A fork in the road for them. Adela hadn't cried over it as much as she thought she would. Shed had a little cry about it earlier, but Alice had told her that it wasn't worth it and she'd realised that she was right.

If he let her go, it wasn't worth holding on.

Alice jabbed her fingers into Adela's ribs. "Stop thinking about him!" She told her with a joking smile. "It's not going to help you."

"I know, I know."

"No, you don't. If you knew, you wouldn't have turned Lewis down for a simple coffee, which by the way he didn't even intend as a date."

"It felt wrong."

"I'm sure Simon doesn't feel like it's wrong when he's got some other girl warming his bed."

"Alice..."

"Sorry, that was too much, but you need to hear it how it is. Realistically, is he going to be crying over you? No. He's not. So, tomorrow, after we've sent that email and looked at apartments, you're going to call him back and ask him whether he wants to go for lunch, ok?"

Adela sighed, looking away. Alice nestled her head into her shoulder as if to force the answer from her. "Fine," Adela responded in a mutter. "But if it's awkward that's on you."

"If it's awkward, it'll be a funny story at least."

"You're impossible. That's not comforting at all!"

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