LOVEHATE

3

Two weeks later, I came home from work to an apartment full of people. Our apartment was small. It consisted of a large open area with a tiny kitchen, a dining area, and a living room. We each had a tiny bedroom down a short hall, and shared a bathroom. Because of the size, we rarely entertained. Plus, when you compared it to a place like Mendes owned, it was kind of a dump. Our furniture was all previously owned, and our landlord had never upgraded anything.

Lil ran over to me as I walked in the door, obviously drunk. She was always extra perky after a few drinks.

"Sadie! Did you get my texts? I invited a few people over!"

"My phone died halfway through my shift, so nope, I had no idea I'd be coming home to a dozen people drinking in my apartment."

"You need a new phone," she said. "Come get a drink. You look like you could use one!"

I could, actually. I'd had a large group of obnoxious moms in tonight. Two of them didn't like how their paintings had turned out and wanted a refund. I had to explain that it didn't work that way. They got nasty and I ended up giving them all 50% off coupons for their next visit. Hopefully they didn't read the fine print that said the coupons expired in 2 days.

I followed Lil over to our kitchen where there was a makeshift bar set up on the yellow Formica counter. She poured me a blue drink from a pitcher. It tasted like pineapple. Not bad. I then went out to the living room and scanned the crowd. I knew almost everyone and greeted those who looked my way.

Thank god Mendes wasn't among the people Lil had invited.

I wanted to get out of my paint-splattered work clothes, so I went down the hall to my bedroom. As I was approaching my room, the bathroom door opened. Out stepped Shawn.

"Hey," he said as he stepped into the hall, blocking my path because his shoulders were so stinking broad and our hallway was narrow.

His expression was hard to read. He didn't look happy to see me, but he didn't have the annoyed look I'd seen the week before. He knew I lived here, so presumedly he expected me to be here.

"I was just going to my room," I said dryly, pointing to my door.

He put his hands up in the air in mock surrender and moved to the side. God, he was an ass.

Once I was in my room I locked the door. Instead of changing into something decent, I threw on my pajamas and crawled into bed with my stupid blue drink. Of course Lil banged on my door a bit later and of course she was was irritated that I was hiding out in my room. I didn't give a fuck. I wasn't dealing with that asshole tonight. I'd made it clear to her that I didn't want to see him. Knowing her, she had created some cute scenario in her mind where she'd orchestrate a mediation between me and Mendes and we'd end up friends.

I spent the rest of the night watching The Wire and sulking.

~~~~~~

Lillian informed me a few days after the party that Shawn would be on tour for most of July into September, so it would be 'safe' for me to go out again. I'd told her in no uncertain terms that I didn't want to be manipulated into being his friend. She thought I was being ridiculous, but she knew me well enough to back off.

We had a great time for the remainder of summer. We went to our favorite bars and even hosted a couple more parties at our apartment. I insisted on serving that blue drink again because even if it looked like Windex, it was delish.

I went home to Ottawa for a week in August, mainly to spend time with my little brother. I missed him a lot when I was in Toronto and hated that he was growing up without me there to watch him. Of course I missed my parents, too. Just not as much.