Chapter 4

Later that afternoon Carrie was back in her comfort zone. Yes, it was lunch with the girls in Regis, their favourite restaurant. As she recounted her last twenty-four hours to her friends, well, what she could remember of it, she looked around at their reactions. Charlotte was sat looking concernedly at Carrie, unable to touch her food. Miranda was looking a little scary. Carrie knew that she'd be upset with her for once again going back to Big. There was a second of silence from her friends at the end of her story, which was soon broken by an outburst of laughter from Samantha. Carrie laughed too suddenly seeing light of the situation.

"Samantha!" scolded Charlotte. "That's awful Carrie, so you really can't remember a thing?" Carrie shook her head.

"Why is it so awful? It's happened to all of us once in a while." Samantha laughed again. "It can't have been that memorable an event."

Carrie shook her head and giggled. "No trust me, a night with Mr Big is always memorable! I was just that drunk. What do I do now? He couldn't get out of my apartment faster. He said he had to leave the city early to get back to business."

"Honey," Charlotte rubbed Carrie's arm. "Maybe, he was just hung over. Maybe, he really did have to leave work early for business."

Carrie looked up. She was happy Charlotte was trying to reassure her but something just didn't feel right. There was something she wasn't remembering.

"I know Char, it is possible. But, I don't know, there was just a funny atmosphere, you know? It wasn't the way it usually is between us. And now, what do I do? How do I behave when I see him again? God, what if I told him I loved him or something nasty like that" Carrie was horrified. That would explain why he had acted so strange!

Until this point Miranda had sat in silence, but she felt it was time to speak up." Carrie, you have to stop this."

Carrie looked at Miranda, it was clear she was trying to broach this subject delicately. "You're repeating history all over again. You have to stop letting Big get to you like this."

"I'm not letting him get to me. It's just, I realise that I had sexual relations with him and now I can't remember a thing."

The waiter interrupted as he brought them another bottle of wine. He topped up Samantha's glass looking at her alluringly.

"Okay, so why should it bother you if you're over him?" Miranda exclaimed, too far into her rant to even notice a sexy waiter.

"It's not that it's bothering me all that much. We were friends before and I would like to know where I stand now. I don't want to lose a friend. Yes, he was a good friend."

"Carrie," Miranda said in a warning tone. "Don't you be falling for Big again?"

Carrie shook her head and laughed as if this was a stupid suggestion, but it wasn't. She had realised sitting at the table that she had never really got over Big. She would never say this to Miranda, too scared of the lecture she would get.

She decided to lighten the tone of the conversation. "No, I'm just bothered because if that was our, you know, final sex reunion after breaking up, I would like to have remembered it."

Miranda rolled her eyes and sighed. "Don't think I don't know what's going on in your head." She wiped her mouth with her napkin and began to collect her things. "Well, I've got to head off, meeting at four. See you girls later."

Carrie was slightly relieved she was gone. She was acting like her mother. She knew that now she could have a good chat with Charlotte and Samantha, and get some proper advice.

"Hmmm, I think you should phone him right now, tell him you're coming to visit him this weekend and make sure you remember the sex this time!" Yip, a girl could always count on Samantha for some useful advice. The three of them giggled.

"Samantha's right, well sort of, you should phone him and ask him what's going on." Suggested Charlotte. This seemed like a scary idea. He hadn't been in the best of moods this morning and she felt it would be better to leave it a day or two. Maybe Miranda was even right.

"Anyway, listen to me! I have been rattling on about all my problems for the past hour. Lunch is over and I haven't heard what is going on with you guys."

Samantha smiled coyly. "There's not much to tell, but just let me say that our waiter is getting a big tip today." She winked at him as he walked past. The three of them knew what Samantha would be doing that night.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The next day Carrie walked down the street alone on route to the dry cleaners. She looked around her. She realised there were so many attractive males just walking along the streets of Manhattan. You could tell they were successful too with their posh suits on. So why was it, when she was surrounded by so many eligible men was she walking down this street single at her age? Why was it that surrounded by all of these handsome males, she could only think of one? A man who was currently living in another city. A man who had always been unwilling to commit. He was out of her reach in more ways than one. It wasn't only miles that kept them apart.

She snapped out of her daydreaming at the sight of one male who from behind looked similar to Mr Big. Confused she walked a little faster. "It couldn't be him" she thought "he left the city early yesterday." The man was walking briskly and she ran slightly to catch up with him. She knew the second she was behind the man that he was no stranger to her. She could smell his cologne. So, Mr Big had lied to her. She felt slightly hurt and was unsure whether to tap his shoulder or turn around and forget about him. She could always wait to see if he called her. That would have been the sensible option but something else always compelled Carrie to hold on to him. She tapped his shoulder. She couldn't let him walk away.

Does anyone else find that writing stories is much more difficult the further you get into them. I always think that the first chapter is the easiest! Anyway, think this story only has a couple of chapters left til the end, so keep reading and reviewing!