Ace of Hearts - All We Are Series [NaNoWriMo 2014] [#JustWriteIt]

Chapter Twenty One [Edited]

I gulped, staring at the phone.

‘Come on, Anaya, you can do this,’ I gave myself a pep-talk. It had been a week since Shelly and I talked, and I hadn’t been able to pick up the phone at all. I tried, and I got as far as finding his contact, but my finger never pressed the “send call” button.

Suddenly, my phone rang, making my heart race like a pack of wild horses.

“Hello?” I answered without looking at the caller ID.

“Hey, Anaya,” Margaret said into the phone, sounding guilty.

“Ah, hey Margaret,” I said cautiously. We hadn’t spoken since she stormed out of my apartment, and quite frankly, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to deal with her drama.

“I’m sorry,” Margaret blurted out.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I was just dealing with some… issues. And I took it out on you. So I’m sorry.”

“Issues? Boyfriend trouble?”

“Something like that.”

“I didn’t realize you were dating someone?” I questioned, wincing when it came out a bit accusingly.

“Not exactly…” Margaret trailed off, and I sensed that she probably wanted me to stop questioning her now.

“Let’s hang out at the bar sometime. We haven’t gone in a while,” I suggested.

“Great!” Margaret cheered, sounding a lot happier. I grinned, pleased with myself.

“See you at work tomorrow.”

“See ya!”

I hung up, grinning like an idiot, when I realized that I hadn’t really accomplished much. I made amends with Margaret, but I still had a harder task in front of me: apologizing to Daniel.

“One down, an even harder one to go,” I sighed to myself.

“Well, I need to do laundry, so I guess it can wait a few more minutes. I’ll do laundry and then I’ll call him,” I decided. “Yes, that sounds satisfactory. Anaya, stop talking to yourself like a crazy person,” I muttered.

I collected my laundry and some quarters and walked towards the laundry room. Glancing down at my phone, I noted the time.

‘Shelly didn’t collect me yesterday for yoga… that’s weird,’ I thought just as I bumped into someone. Well, my basket hit someone, as I carried it in front of me.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry,” I exclaimed, looking up immediately. “Are you-” I froze. “Daniel?”

“Hello, Anaya,” he said, smiling wearily, scooting past me. “Don’t worry; I’ll get out of your way.”

“No!” I half yelled, making Daniel freeze and turn around to look at me questioningly.

“No?”

“Um. Yeah. We need to talk.” I stiffened at his words.

“Okay…”

“Not right now, I need to do laundry,” I stated, wincing internally when I realized I was just pushing this conversation off even longer. Daniel raised an eyebrow, and his handsome face just made me feel even worse.

“Sure. Well you know where to find me, just down the hall.”

“Okay,” I said, biting my lip. Daniel nodded once before turning and walking back to his apartment.