Continued:

"Who's this?" Taylor asked looking at Kelsey.

"Um." Kelsey was confused.

"So. Okay. I'm gonna be honest here…so remember that." He told them both.

"Kelsey this is Taylor. We went out like 2 weeks ago, she never called or texted me back-"

"Yeah because you had her number written on your arm failing to even mention anything about seeing other people." Taylor defended.

"Wait so you guys are a thing?" Kelsey asked taken back.

"No! No. Just getting to know each other, only went out once."

"Wow I didn't know sleeping together was the equivalent to getting to know each other." Taylor called him out, Joes heart was racing. This is not how he ever expected any of this to go. He thought Taylor wanted nothing to do with him, so he moved on.

"I thought you respected the idea of not hooking up on the first date?" Kelsey questioned, all of a sudden it was like 2 against 1 now.

"Ohhh that's real cute." Taylor said and got up to leave.

"Huh." Joe was stressing, he rubbed his face. One wrong thing he says he's done for.

"Taylor wait. Please just give me a chance to explain more." He grabbed her wrist and stopped her. She was hesitant but stopped and agreed she'd listen. Joe was relieved.

"I don't know what you want from me. I've texted you, called you, multiple times, you weren't getting back to me. Which tells me you want nothing to do with me…I mean is that fair?" He asked her.

"I was mad! And had other things going on!" She yelled back.

"For 2 weeks?! You couldn't send a quick text or call me?" He argued.

"Nope." She was stubborn. Joe was irritated and turned to Kelsey wanting her approval of his actions.

"Do you understand the situation here?" He asked her.

"That I was a rebound?" Kelsey wondered.

"Fuck. No. God damn it." He said frustrated.

"Everything alright here? Do I need to call the cops?" A neighbor poked out and asked.

"I am a damn cop so no. Thank you Barbra." Joe said waving her away.

"You're a cop!?" Kelsey was shocked.

"Detective. Yeah." He told her.

"Good to know…" Kelsey mumbled sarcastically.

"Ha! Wow he even told me that on our first date!" Taylor said rubbing it in with a fake laugh.

"I planned on telling you, inside. But we didn't get there yet…think the reason here on why is obvious." He said glaring at Taylor.

"Yeah. Well I don't wanna do this right now anymore. I'm gonna go home. Hopefully you guys work this out or something…call me if you do." Kelsey said and left.

"Wait…Kelsey." Joe tried to get her to stop but she didn't.

"Thanks for ruining that." He said. Taylor shrugged. Neither of them said anything, Joe was pissed.

"I came to talk to you."

"Well you could've texted or called! 2 weeks of radio silence, 2 weeks!" He started to unlock his apartment door.

"Okay I'm honestly sorry. I got really busy with work and-" she started to say, but Joe cut her off once he entered his place.

"And then you just show up unannounced the ONE time I go out with another girl!? How!? Like what are the damn odds?!" He tossed his keys on the table and took his jacket off.

"I can explain. If you let me come in." Taylor seemed sincere. Joe pondered it, and then stepped aside for her to enter, shutting the door behind her. He was still attracted to her, thought she was beautiful, and was interested in dating even, but this whole act of hers threw a wrench in it a little.

"I was hesitant on reaching back out because I was scared." She said.

"Scared of what?"

"I really like you. Like a lot, and it's scaring me that I feel the way I do, so soon." She confessed. Joe was so confused, he made his way to the couch. She followed and sat down with him. She just changed the whole mood of the conversation.

"So this explains the jealousy."

"Yeah. When I saw you had Kelsey's number, after we had such a good night together, I got upset. And when I'm upset it comes out mad, or even jealous sometimes. So I just shut down completely, out of fear I'll scare away the person because I've done that." She told him.

"Okay well-"

"And I felt like I couldn't tell you I felt that way because you would think I was crazy but the truth is I just don't date around I take every relationship I pursue seriously, because it's my future I'm looking for. And stupid me always thinks that other guys are doing the same but I'm always wrong and they're not they just want to hook up and call it a day." She added.

"Like I said in the first voicemail to you, she gave it to me, I was leaving the bar after I thought you stood me up. I continued on home and no sooner, you called me and came over. That's it." He reminded.

"Yeah. Well I'm sorry. I hope you're not freaked out now by me." She said.

"I mean, a little. But piece of advice?" He offered.

"Sure."

"Maybe don't pounce on the guy, begging for sex if you want to keep him interested." Joe told her.

"I usually don't…drink that much…but I know. It's a weakness of mine, I'm very sex driven." she blushed a little and couldn't look at him.

"I doubt anyone complains about that." He said laughing, all of sudden the anger he felt sorta simmered and went away. He liked her a lot too, but he also had feelings for Kelsey now.

"Well it's getting late, can I call you an Uber or something?" He asked her and got up taking his phone out of his pocket. He didn't want to act on any feelings tonight, he'd somehow mess something up again.

"Oh…yeah I guess." She was caught of guard he was having her leave. But Joe ignored it and was just going to let fate work all this out. He walked to the door to show her out.

"So…what is this?" She asked standing in the doorway.

"I don't know. I'm not ready to make any sort of commitment. So we can still go out and have fun with each other and or other people, no strings attached." He said.

"And if that's not okay with me?" She wondered. Joe shrugged.

"Then I guess we won't be going out again." He told her blatantly.

"Okay…" she was unsure. Joe glanced at his phone.

"Balls in your court and your Uber is here." He told her, she didn't say anything else, she simply just walked down the hall and left. Joe closed the door and spend the rest of the night thinking about everything. He had no idea what he wanted to do or even what his next move was.

——

That was a lotttttt of drama. What should Joe do next!? What would you do in his position! Poor Kelsey got the short end of the stick tonight!