Chapter 4: The Email
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The next morning, Torrie was the first one up and she decided to see if Trish was home safe and sound like she does every morning. Cracking the door open, she popped her head in and saw the petite blonde sleeping with her back facing the door. She softly smiled just knowing she was home safe. Closing the door, she then felt two huge hands grab her sides, causing her to squeal and jump. Turning around, she saw it was her boyfriend, AJ. "Don't do that!" she repeatedly smacked him across his chest as he playfully chuckled. She turned around and quickly checked in on Trish again, seeing if it woke her or not. Luckily, she was still sleeping. "Don't sneak up on me like that again!" she hit him again.
"Ow," he placed his hand where she had hit him, still quietly laughing. Torrie then pulled themselves away from the hallway and into the living room.
"What are you doing out of bed?" she asked, plopping down on one of the couches.
AJ was rubbing his chest where she had hit him. "I'm was just gonna go down to my car and get something real quick. I'll be back," he said, leaning down and kissed her on the lips. She then grabbed a magazine that was on the coffee table while he went to the door. Uncaringly flipping through the pages, she then heard AJ calling her name. "Uh, Torrie…"
"What?" she said, tossing the magazine back onto the table. She got up and walked over to where he was at. Standing at the doorway, she looked over his shoulder. "Where did those come from?"
AJ turned around. "I don't know, they were just sitting out here," he said, looking at the bouquet of roses he had in his hand. They were the same exact roses that Trish had saw when she came home from work. Torrie looked around, seeing if there was a card with it. Roaming her hands through it, she finally found it. "Who's it from?"
Torrie quickly read the card and looked up at him. "They're for Trish… from Chris," she said.
"What does it say?"
"It just says, 'I'm sorry and I miss you,'" she looked at him.
"That's it?" he said. "Well, I don't think she would mind if we just throw them back out." He tried to grab for the card, but Torrie pulled it away from his reach.
"Wait I don't know," Torrie hesitantly said. AJ just looked at her confusingly. "I mean, yeah we can, but I just don't feel right just throwing them out without letting her know."
"Babe…" he slightly chuckled, "You kidding me right?"
"Well yeah, I don't like the idea that he's trying to get back with her but… still, I think she should know. I don't like keeping things from her," Torrie tried to explain. "Even if we are helping her get over him by just throwing away whatever Chris sends her."
"The note doesn't even sound important! And we're just saving her the energy by throwing them out for her," AJ try to point out. Torrie just folded her arms and sigh. "Fine, we can do this… we'll just throw them out and then tell her later…" he said, "that's if we remember." Torrie rolled her eyes.
"What are you two bickering about?" someone then said. AJ and Torrie turned their heads to see it was Amy standing in the living room.
"Trish got roses from Chris and we're trying to agree on what to do with it," AJ filled her in.
"Oh, simple…" Amy shrugged a shoulder, "toss 'em out."
AJ smirked at the platinum blonde, "Two against one, Tor."
Amy then sat on one of the couches. "Those roses are gonna rot and stink up her rooms anyways so we're just saving her the time by taking 'em out first."
AJ just quietly laughed to himself, only to receive another smack by Torrie. "Ow! Okay I'm sorry!" he raised his hands up defensively. He then grabbed the card and read it. "Come on, 'I'm sorry and I miss you'? Don't you think Trish is smart enough not to fall for that?"
"Well, she easily falls for the simple things so you never know," said Torrie. Just then, AJ felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see it was a delivery man.
"Hey good morning! Can you sign this?" he said loudly with AJ just nodding his head. After he signed it, the delivery man then handed him a huge heavy vase of flowers.
"The hell…" he mumbled. He then shut the door and set the vase on the table.
"What did he get her? A bush?" Amy stared at the flowers on the table.
"Is there a card?" Torrie asked as she tried to look for it.
Amy looked with her and then found it. Opening it, she read, "When you get this, give me a call, please." She looked at the couple standing next to her. "Okay, this guy must be really desperate now. Is it too late to return it?"
"Well we can just drop 'em off in front of someone's doorstep," AJ suggest.
"We can do that and she'll never know," Amy agreed. AJ then went to grab the vase.
"Are you guys serious?" Torrie exclaimed. "I don't want Trish to get mad."
"Babe, we got this," said AJ. "Don't worry, she's not gonna get mad. We're just helping her out." He then carried the vase to the door but then stopped when he heard someone walking in on them.
"Wow, who got a bush?" They all turned to see it was Trish, who had just barely woke up.
"Uh…" AJ began, looking at the other two girls, "Wrong address, just gonna go take it to the dumpster," he replied.
"The dumpster?" Trish looked at him questioningly. "Why throw it away when you can just give it to the right address? I mean, they look too pretty to be sitting in the dump," she said as she stepped closer to look at the flowers.
"Uh, yeah…" AJ looked at the other two again.
"Well, they got some insects crawling all over them, so that's why we gotta throw it away. I mean, who wants bugs inside the house?" said Amy. Trish eyed the two suspiciously and then looked at Torrie who seemed to be the quiet one of the three.
Torrie felt the stare she was getting from Trish and couldn't take it anymore. "They're from Chris," she finally admitted.
Trish jerked her head back a little in shock. "Oh," she said, averting her eyes away from them for a bit. She noticed they were just standing there, waiting for her to tell them what to do with the flowers. "Um, yeah, you can just throw them away," she said, sitting down on the couch. AJ nodded his head as he then left the apartment.
"You okay?" Amy asked, sitting down next to her.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine," Trish replied.
"You sure? You seem pretty out of it," said Torrie. "Those flowers wouldn't have anything to do with it, would it?"
"I'm totally fine guys," ignoring the concern stares she was getting. "Anyways, got a day off today so I think I'm gonna go to the gym."
"By yourself?" Torrie worriedly questioned.
"Tor, relax. I'm perfectly capable of going to the gym by myself," she assured.
"Pfft, we don't care," Amy protested. "I'll go to the gym with you, I need to go anyways."
"Amy, you have work today," Trish pointed out.
"Later at 3," the redhead replied. "And right now, it's only like 8 something, so got plenty of time to come back and get ready."
Trish just sighed. "Alright," she said, not bothering to argue as it would be hopeless against the redhead anyways.
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At
the gym…
Trish and Amy entered the building with both putting their gym bags in a locker. They did a quick stretch before they both headed over to the treadmill area. "Trish… you're not talking to him behind our backs are you?" Amy hesitantly asked, eyeing her.
Trish shook her head. "No. What makes you think that?"
"I don't know, the roses, flowers… I just wanna make sure you're not falling for him again," she said.
The blonde shook her head again. "Well, no, I'm not talking to him behind your backs. The last time I saw him was on my birthday and that was it," she said. "Look, I just wanna try not to think about him. So please don't get on my case again like last time, I just wanna workout in peace."
Amy nodded. "I just wanna make sure your head is in the right place," she assured, giving her a warm smile. "Oh hey, I'm gonna go get us some bottles of water. I'll be back real quick," said Amy. Trish nodded her head as she setup her ipod. The redhead then rushed off to another room, leaving the blonde to herself. She wasn't entirely by herself as there were a couple of people there scattered around. Starting up her machine, she began jogging at a slow pace, eyes closed and letting the run and music clear her mind. For the moment, she felt herself at peace… until she was interrupted.
Trish didn't have her music on loud so she clearly heard someone trying to get her attention. Opening her eyes, she saw someone on the treadmill next to her. "Uh hi," he nervously said. She just sent him a small smile in a nice gesture in response and continued with her run. "Uh, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but can you help me out real quick?" he asked. "My friends have been bugging me to try going to a gym for once, so I'm sort of new to this," he said, embarrassed to even admit the last part.
Trish furrowed her brows at him, looking at him weirdly, but not in an entirely rude way. She didn't know if it was him getting warmed up to use a pick-up line next or if he was actually telling the truth. But she decided to be helpful anyways. "Um… you just push that green button on the side to turn it on, set the speed you want, and push the green button again," she said.
He nodded his head, doing as told. "Thanks," he said, giving her a thankful smile.
"No problem," she simply said, focusing back on her run. She mostly kept to herself and would discreetly eye him a couple of times and saw he would timidly glance back every now and then.
After a couple of minutes, he then spoke again. "I'm sorry, I didn't really want to do this," he admitted as he ran next to her. Trish just stared at him questioningly. "You see, my friends back there," he nod his head to the back corner of the room with Trish's eyes following to where he nodded at. Almost across the room, she saw a couple of guys discreetly cheering him on, giving him thumbs up and gesturing for him to continue on. "Yeah, they basically forced me to come over here and try to ask you out. I didn't want to, but I had to shut them up somehow so… now I'm here."
Trish slowly turned away, stopping her machine and got off. "I'm sorry… I'm not looking right now," she quietly said. He nodded his head and then tried to stop his machine, but he didn't know what button to push. Trish saw and couldn't help but crack a small smile. "The red button," she simply said.
He nodded his head again and pushed it as the machine then came to a slow stop. "Thanks," he embarrassingly said. "Oh and I'm not looking either, it's just…" he began, "you know how guys can be, pushing their friend to get a girl's number who they don't even know."
Trish nodded her head understandingly. "Yeah well… I guess you can just tell them I wasn't interested," she said in a nice way. She was about to walk away when he stopped her.
"I'm sorry, how stupid of me, I forgot to introduce myself," he said, slapping his forehead. "My name is Eric by the way… Eric Young."
Trish gave a slight quick smile and nodded. "Trish," she just replied.
He nodded his head too. "Well, thanks again Trish."
She smiled again and then walked away. She was then finally reunited with the redhead. "Sorry, stupid vending machine wouldn't take my money. Had to dig for some coins," Amy grumbled as she handed her a cold bottle.
"It's okay," she said, taking the bottle from her hand and taking a sip. She then turned slightly around, seeing the blonde man she had talked to earlier now with his friends. Eric too turned slightly around, catching the petite blonde looking his way. When Trish noticed, she sent him a small friendly smile before turning back to Amy. Eric just stood there with his friends, a smirk appearing on his face.
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Later
that day…
Trish had taken a short nap after she had gotten home from the gym with Amy and it was now noon. She was just sitting around in her room and then decided to check her email. Walking over to her desk, she flipped her laptop open and signed on. Still in effect from her nap, she rubbed her eyes to fully wake herself up and set them back onto the screen. She went through the list of new emails. 'Sister, sister, junk, cousin…' she continued browsing through the list until she then froze. One of the emails stood specifically out to her; it was an email from him. She stared at it for a while, biting down on her lip, not knowing whether to read it or not. She then looked over at the door, wondering if Amy or Maria would walk in. Contemplating for bit with her finger on the mouse button, she shut her eyes closed and finally clicked on it. She then opened her eyes and saw it was about a medium length email, not too long, but quite enough for her to take her time to read.
Hey
Trish…
How
are you? Hope everything is going well for you. I'm at work right
now and I decided to email you since this is probably the only way to
get a hold of you, whether you decide to read this or not. I also
decided to email you since you haven't been picking up any of my
calls, which I don't blame you for… Anyways, what I really wanted
to say was that I'm truly sorry. I'm sorry for everything I've
done to you, all the pain, the stress, the frustrations… everything
that wasn't putting a smile on your beautiful face. Yesterday, I
did a lot of thinking and I realized how wrong I was. When I saw that
look in your eyes on Monday, the pain, the fear that I caused, it's
just what I didn't want to see anymore. I know I haven't been a
good boyfriend to you and I'll admit to you right now that, yes I
was in the wrongs. I shouldn't have treated you badly, I shouldn't
have kissed that girl, but for the most, I shouldn't have hurt you. I don't know
what I was thinking that night. All I remember was that I had too
much to drink and then one thing led to another… that happened. I
seriously don't want it to be over between us. You mean everything
to me and I'll do anything to just be with you again, or at least
hear your voice. If it's changes you want, then I'll change every
flaws I have, anything to just be with you again. I know you probably
don't want anything to deal with me, but just please, give it a
good second thought. If you don't want anything with me anymore,
then I'll understand and try to deal with it. But all I want is for
you to give it a second thought. Take all the time you want, I'll
wait no matter how long it takes. I guess… email me back if you do
read this since I know that I probably won't be getting a phone
call from you. 'Til then, take care.
Chris
Trish sat back in her seat as she finished reading the email. She had to admit, parts of it seemed sincere, but did she really want to believe him? Did she really want to go through all that again with him? She didn't know what was going on in her head. It's like one minute she was trying to get over him, but when she hears from him, she's back to being where she was before, being weak. As she was just sitting there, she then heard someone walk in. "Hey Trish!"
She suddenly pushed a button and quickly flipped her laptop closed. "Uh hey…" she then turned her head towards the door, "John? What are you doing here?" And immediately, whatever she was feeling or thinking about right before was pushed aside, replaced by the joy of seeing her best friend who knew how to put a smile on her face whenever she's at her worse. At this point, especially after reading the email, she needed all the help she can get to get her mind off of him.
"I got a day off today," he replied, jumping onto her bed and laid down. "I knew you had Wednesdays off so I… being a good friend," he goofily grinned, "decided to drop by and chill with you. I figured you'd be home alone when Amy goes to work."
Trish smiled at him. "You just had nothing to do 'cause AJ is at work."
"Hey, it's not my fault my roommate decides to spend most of his time here, comes home just to change and leave for work," he said. "Gets lonely sometime back at my place…" he quietly drifted off.
Trish let out a small laugh. "Well, you didn't have to drop by; Maria is on her 2 week vacation," she replied jokingly.
"Jeez Trish," rolling his eyes, "you didn't have to sugarcoat the 'I don't want you here, John.' I would've got the message either way," he said, getting up from the bed.
Trish laughed and quickly grabbed John by the sleeve. "I'm kidding. No need to be gay about it," she joked again.
"Hey," he glared at her. "I'm far from that," he said and lied back down on her bed as she then sat next to him.
They were then joined by Amy and Maria as they casually strolled in the room. "Doesn't anybody know how to knock?" Trish sighed.
"Hey, your door was left open. It was an open invitation," Amy smirked while Trish just shook her head. "Anyways, came by just to give you something before I head off to work. You can think of it as an early Christmas present from me to you." Trish looked up at her to see what it was. "I got you a new cell phone and number!"
"What? When? Why?" questioned the blonde.
"Yesterday. Your other phone had some problems," said Amy, stressfully emphasizing the word 'problems'.
Trish shook her head. "Why didn't you just change the number?" she questioned again.
"Well, you see…" Amy looked up as if to hiding something, "the problem was so bad that it got to the point where I… accidentally dropped, stepped, and broke it," she quickly mumbled the last part. Trish just stared at her while John and Maria tried to hold in their laugh. "But ironically," the redhead continued, "right before it broke, I happened to saved all the important numbers. So no need to go through all that trouble 'cause I already put all the numbers in there for you. Family, friends, you know those important numbers," she smiled, handing her the new phone she got her.
"You got me the new Sidekick?"
"Well I figured, you know, when you wanna text us, it be much easier for you with the little keyboard," she replied. Trish opened her mouth to say something, but she ended up being cut off. "Welp, I gotta get going now," Amy said, looking at the time. "Talk to you guys later. Or… I'll text you on your new Sidekick," she grinned at the blonde before shutting the door. John and Maria let out a chuckle and were then joined along by Trish.
"So you here to tell me you broke something of mine too?" Trish looked at the brunette.
"No," Maria shook her head, "Wanted to see what you guys were doing. So you guys doing anything right now?"
Trish and John looked at one another and shook their heads no. "No, why? What's up?" John asked.
"Well, since you two aren't really doing anything right now, you guys wanna come with me to the mall?" asked Maria.
"Why do you need to go to the mall?" asked John.
"I just need to browse around for some last-minute presents," she replied.
Trish stared at her. "You insane? Christmas shopping? 5 days before Christmas! It's gonna be hell!"
"Aw come on Trish. It won't be that bad… as long as we're together," John said. "We'll fight through the crowd together. Push an old lady down if we have to!"
Trish's mouth hung open and she lightly shoved him on the arm. "You're so mean."
Maria stood there and laughed at John's comment. "So Trish…?" she looked at her, pouting and giving her the best puppy dog eyes she can give her, knowing Trish won't be able resist. "It'll help you get your mind off of you know who," she brought up.
Trish's face softens. "But shopping…" shaking her head, trying to resist until she tilted her head back and sigh, "Alright, fine."
Maria smiled widely. "Okay, hurry up and get ready! 'Cause you know we gotta look for parking and that's gonna be a pain. But that's why we have John here to be the driver! And plus, we got many many shops that I need to check out," she said.
"Wait, how did I-" John was then cut off by Maria
"I'll be in my room waiting." And with that, she then left the room.
John stared at the doorway Maria had just passed. "How did I become the driver in all this?" he then finished his question.
"By coming over," Trish replied, smiling down at him. John had a confused look on his face. "But it's okay 'cause it won't be that bad… as long as we're together, right?" she mocked him, patting him on his head. John just groaned in response. "I'm gonna go see if Maria has my brown sweater," she said then made her way to the door.
"Hey Trish, can I go online real quick?" John called out.
"Uh, yeah," she replied from the hallway.
John then got up out of the bed and walked over to her desk. Once he flipped the laptop open, something immediately popped up right in front of him, it was the email from Chris. Apparently, when John came in, Trish panicked and had thought she closed the email when she clicked on the mouse button. But unfortunately, she didn't pay attention and just shut the laptop from there. John sat there, he knew he shouldn't go through her personal things, but seeing Chris's name right in front of him, he couldn't turn his head away.
R&R Please…