Marissa and I sat on my couch eating ice cream. I knew I had watched Dear John with Jack and probably should have put on a different movie that didn’t remind me of him. I couldn’t help it, though. That was my safe space movie. It calmed me down when nothing else could calm me down. Even with Marissa there, things were hard to get my head straight. All I wanted to do was escape. I just didn’t want to think of Jack. Of course, with a movie like that, it was impossible. To sum things up, I was a mess
“It’s crazy that no matter how many times I watch this movie with you, it still makes me emotional,” Marissa said while spooning some rocky road into her mouth.
“Yeah. It’s just one of those movies you can keep watching over and over and over. Don’t they say how you can tell when you have anxiety or something? That we watch the same things over and over and over because we know what’s going to happen, and it’s like our safe space?”
Marissa looked at me, dropping her spoon into her carton of ice cream. “You’re really not doing okay. And I wish I could help you.”
“I know. I just miss Jack. I know that I should hate him or resent him. It’s the fact that I know him, though. I know his reasoning for how he behaves sometimes. I know a little bit of his backstory. So I understand why he’d be pushing me away in a moment like this. If only I could prove that it wasn’t me that I would be in good standing with him.”
“Oliver. Prove that it’s Oliver.”
“What?”
“He’s the only one that would leak something like that. Everything happened in his office, right?”
Bingo. Marissa had pointed to something that I hadn’t realized. “You’re right; it did happen in his office. That makes a lot more sense.” I sat up on the couch, and my ice cream fell over. “This could change everything. We need to confront that fool. Or I need to confront that fool.”
Marissa picked my ice cream up for me and put hers on the coffee table. “As good of an idea as this sounds, I don’t want you doing something that will get you in more trouble. I mean that emotionally. Do you know what I’m saying? You’re already at this heightened state of emotion; confronting Oliver could be quite the task for you.”
I thought about Marissa’s words. And she was right. Confronting him could cause a lot of emotional distress for me. But I also didn’t care. I had nothing to lose at that point. I only had everything to gain. “Thank you for looking out for me. But Oliver is going to get what’s coming to him. It’s clear in my head that no one else was responsible for what happened. I don’t know how he planned that. But I’m going to find out. And then I’m going to get my man back.”
“Just be careful, Isabella.”
It was a bold move. But I went to Oliver’s office and closed the door with him behind his desk. It was probably his third day back. And I was going to make it a living hell for him.
“What the hell are you doing locking my door?” He asked with wide eyes.
“We need to talk.”
“Nothing to say to you. I broke up with you. We may work in the same building, but that’s it.”
“Why are you so mean?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your stepsister Piper, she can’t stand you. And I never understood that. She always used to pretend with me that you were this good guy. But I always got the hint that she didn’t like you. And I couldn’t understand that. Because when we dated, you were great. And then your true colors came out of nowhere. You dumped me for no reason.”
“I had my reasons.”
“Okay, well, I think I deserve to know.”
“Why do you even care.” He looked at his computer in an attempt to dismiss me.
I let out a sigh. “Because our relationship wasn’t necessarily bad. So what the hell happened? Just be honest with me. I won’t hold anything against you.”
There was frustration on his face. He finally looked at me. “You want to know why I broke up with you? Because I saw the way that you looked at Jack one day. And I’ve seen the way that he looks at you. One day I even saw your Facebook open on this computer. You think I forgot that you called me Jack one time?”
I swallowed. I thought that he hadn’t heard me say that. “I had a crush on him. But I was in a relationship with you.”
“That didn’t matter. I knew what was going to happen. Because my sister Piper threw it in my face, she told me that it would all blow up and that her dad would steal my girlfriend and what happened?”
“She said all that?”
“Yes, she did. She’s like a prophet. I never asked for a stepsister, but I got one who ruined my life.”
“And so, you recorded Jack and me in your office, right Mr. Whistledown?”
“You were my secretary, and I put a microphone here just in case things ever happened, and look what happened.” It looks like he regretted saying that the second that he said it.
This was when I held my phone up. “I appreciate the honesty, Oliver Whistledown. But you’ve been recorded.”
He stood up with a red face. “Great. Show your stupid boyfriend. I hope you’re recording that too. He’s a jackass that stole my love. I don’t care if he’s my stepdad or not. He crossed the line. And so did you. You wanted this to happen all along.”
I shook my head almost vigorously. “No, Oliver. I actually loved you. I loved you with all my heart until you broke up with me and made me cry. You made me cry as I had never cried before. Sure, I had a crush on your stepdad. But I would have never acted on such a thing. I have crushes on people like Leonardo DiCaprio and Channing Tatum. But the crush is far different than love. And I loved you. You took my heart, and you stepped all over it. So you can live with that. And I’ll live with this. Maybe you should listen to people like your stepsister. She’s family. You can learn a thing or two from her and maybe how other people perceive you.”
“I don’t need to take lessons from anyone Isabella. I’ve learned everything and needed to learn about people through you. I loved you as well. You were my life at one point. But when you have eyes for my stepdad, that all changes. Now get out of my office Bella. Enjoy your stupid recording.
How would I enjoy the conversation I had just had with him? But I would enjoy the recording because it could get Jack back. And that was all that mattered. It was time to stop looking at the past and finally start looking and believing in the future.
Would it work, though? Could I actually get Jack back on my side? Or once he was completely done with me and wouldn’t want to hear anything I had to say? That was yet to be found out. But for once, I was going to try to stay positive.