"It's been two weeks Jules, I am going insane. What if she found out?"
I was whispering harshly into my cubicle phone at Julia, wishing I could reach through it and smack her for laughing at my paranoia.
"Will you calm down Ella? He told you he would contact you when he could, don't go crazy."
"I know, I know. But I haven't heard a word, absolutely nothing. I can't take this not knowing anymore."
"And I can't take you talking my ear off every damn day, don't you have work to do?"
As I went to answer Julia, my phone console began to flash red. The receptionist was trying to reach me.
"I suppose I do. Bye Jules."
"Bye Crazy."
I chuckled as I hung up with Julia and clicked over to the receptionist's line. "Hey Danielle, what's up? Please don't tell me I have to go interview for the opening of that senior citizen center?"
"God no. But there is a ridiculously gorgeous man waiting for you in the lobby."
My heart leapt into my throat. Eric. I hung up the phone and sprang out of my chair. It was hard for me not to sprint. I pulled my hair out of my ponytail and combed my fingers through my curls. I pulled on my green sweater and smoothed my brown skirt. I was thrilled to see Eric again, and he had surprised me too. We hadn't seen each other in two weeks, we hadn't even spoken. It was becoming hard for me to trust what he said to me since we hadn't talked at all. But now he was here and I could let go of my stress.
I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw that it wasn't Eric at all. It was Charlie. His back was to me and I didn't think he heard me coming. I looked to Danielle, the receptionist for the The Portland Tribune, and she raised her eyebrows in approval. I took one deep breath and tapped Charlie on the shoulder.
"Hey Ella." Charlie breathed.
He wrapped his arm around me tightly and I patted his back.
"Well this is a surprise."
I couldn't decide what else I should say. While I had been waiting to see Eric, Charlie had been waiting to hear from me. In my efforts to be fair to him I had ended up hurting him anyways.
"I was hoping to take you to coffee? If you have time?"
I paused before answering, Charlie seemed so sad. But he couldn't be sad over me? I looked back at Danielle who was practically drooling and she shooed me out the door. I walked silently beside Charlie as we exited the building. I knew exactly what he was thinking. We had an amazing date at his restaurant two weeks ago and he hadn't heard from me since then. At the time I thought I could really care for Charlie but Eric had persuaded me to continue our complicated relationship instead. Charlie hadn't tried to contact me since that last text and I assumed that he had just moved on, clearly he hadn't.
We walked silently to the coffee shop on the corner, I was really at a loss for words. My stomach was turning as we ordered our coffee. Why hadn't Charlie said anything? As we stood and waited for our coffee, words were bubbling at the tip of my tongue but I couldn't say them. I didn't want to hurt Charlie. He deserved so much better than an adulterer.
"I'm sorry Charlie. I'm a jerk."
Charlie furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. "You're not. Why would you say that?"
"Because we had this incredible date, you were so sweet and I just blew you off. I'm so sorry."
Before Charlie could respond the barista was calling his name with our coffees, which he had insisted on paying for. I was horrible. Charlie nodded to an open table towards the back of the room and he followed me there. My hands still shook as I sat down. Charlie sipped his drink while I just held onto mine to keep my hands steady.
