Chapter 26

Ruby and MJ were lying on the bed with you a few days later. All staring at the ceiling. All eating red vines and helping you talk smack about your joke of a life.

"I'm just saying, right," MJ said as she chewed. "Sure, he didn't get your text. But dating the next girl you see? Pfft. Rookie mistake. Clearly he was only thinking with one thing."

You and Ruby chuckled.

"It's the fact that as soon as he saw you, what, you meant nothing? She's not even prettier than you." Ruby added.

"She's gorgeous, and it's not her fault." You said. Taking another vine out of the pack between you, you bit off a piece and sighed. "It's my fault. It's my fault for taking too long to break up with Adam."

"Well that I won't disagree with." Ruby scoffed, making MJ laugh.

"Me either. You and Peter could have been making sweet babies this whole time!" MJ added, making you squeal and lean over to shove her shoulder. "Seriously, I have been listening to him go on and on about you for far too long."

"And it feels like we are no closer." You muttered. Shoving the rest of the red vine in your mouth, you closed your eyes as you felt your body start to wallow along with your brain. "Finally realised how I felt about him, and I'm literally in a worse position. At least 2 months ago I had TWO men! Now I have zero."

"Yeah but one was an asshole." Ruby pointed out.

"True. But at least he bought me food. Now I have no one buying me food." You fake pouted.

"Hey, who bought the candy over?" MJ scoffed. "Me. Now hush."

You continued pouting, then felt the girls shift either side of you. You craned your head back to look at them now sitting on their sides, resting on their elbows, staring at you.

"What?" You asked.

"What are you gonna do then?" MJ replied.

"You said you got zero men. You know you want one of them. How you gonna get him back?" Ruby added. You huffed and pushed yourself to sit up, turning to face them and crossing your legs.

"I can't really do anything." You shrugged. "He's with Jenny. At least now he has all the facts. I'm not about to be a homewrecker or-"

Ruby shook her hair out of her eyes and faced you. This always meant she was about to drop a truth bomb, so you stopped talking and readied yourself for it as she grabbed your hands.

"You love Peter. Don't even try and argue with me." She snapped as you opened your mouth. "So yeah, he has a girlfriend. But if Peter could make you fall for him while you were in a relationship, and then made you get to a point that you dumped your boyfriend for him, you can fucking do the same. Especially seeing as Peter is already in love with you, you're basically halfway there."

You breathed in.

"You gotta go and try." MJ said, a soft undertone coming through her words that you had noticed she used sparingly, but had become more frequent in the recent weeks around you.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do." You whispered.

"Go to his place. Demand to talk to him. Tell him how you feel."

"I know. I should." You agreed. Then you saw them just staring at you. "Right now?!"

"Right now." MJ confirmed.

"Oh, do that thing from Grey's Anatomy where she's all 'pick me, love me!'" Ruby grinned.

"I am not doing that." You retorted.

"Yeah, that was uncomfortable to watch, she's not that cringe." MJ laughed. "Just tell him you want him. See what happens."

"I said I don't want to be a homewrecker." You said as you rolled your eyes.

"You won't be, it's just talking!"

"Yeah...until it isn't." You muttered, feeling your cheeks going warm. The two girls grinned at you. "Stop it! We don't really have the best track record for boundaries. I'm just saying...every time we talk about things...things happen. Or almost happen."

"Then make sure it's only an almost, until he agrees to dump her." Ruby said pointedly. "Now, get dressed. We're going."

"Wait, she should shower." MJ added.

"I don't need to shower if I'm only going for a chat." You said in an exasperated tone as you got off the bed, grabbing your jeans and a jumper to replace the PJs you'd been lazing around in.

"But you might not be chatting!" MJ sang as they watched you from the bed. You didn't even give her the satisfaction of a look, or a response, you just ignored her as you pulled your clothes on and held your hands out to the side. They nodded. Then you felt anxious.

"What am I even supposed to say?" You asked.

"Tell him you love him. Tell him you want him to dump his girlfriend. No need to sugarcoat it." MJ shrugged as she got off the bed and grabbed her keys. "I'll drive you, let's go." You rolled your eyes, yet again as she ushered you out the door, with Ruby just flopping back on your bed and unlocking her phone. She'd most likely stay, seeing as she had a stash of work clothes here in case of impromptu sleepovers, so you called out that you'd see her in a few hours.

The drive to Peter's with MJ was silent, but it wasn't awkward. You two had gotten close enough lately for these silences to not be uncomfortable. You were glad she didn't try and make conversation, like Ruby would have, because you needed the silence to run over what you were going to say to him. You tried to play out each admission with how you thought he would react, but the truth is, you felt like you didn't know anything anymore.

Part of what MJ said earlier stuck to you. Why did he date the next girl he saw? Yeah, he said that he was heartbroken or something, but it wasn't like it had been a year. It was only a few weeks between him leaving and when he would have met Jenny. Surely he wasn't ready to jump into bed with someone else after he spent almost the whole of the last year liking you? Maybe he was just thinking of a way to dull the pain. Just like you wanted to, after realising the other day that he and Jenny must have slept together by this point. The thought made you nauseous. It's what prompted you to call the girls over on the next day they were both available, because you needed to unload your thoughts to someone.

MJ tapped you on the shoulder to say that you were there. You must have zoned out. Muttering a small thanks as you unbuckled, you got out the car, and spent a couple of seconds just staring at the door to the building.

Well, if you didn't do this now, then you probably never would. You walked slowly up to the door, opened them, and walked up the stairs. You heard MJ's car hum to life and drive away just before the doors shut behind you.

On your own. Here it goes.

You got to his door, not even paying attention to Adam's anymore, and knocked.

After a few seconds, you knocked again when he didn't answer. Chewing your lip, you knocked a third time, waiting another few seconds before getting your phone out of your pocket. You texted him, asking if he was home, then stared at the screen. The ticks didn't change to indicate he had read it. After 30 seconds, there was still no change. You didn't really want to call him, feeling as though it would make him ask what you wanted, and you did not want to start this conversation over the phone.

You texted him again saying that you were at his, and you would wait until he was home. Then you texted the girls to say what you were doing. Sitting down on the floor, you leant against his door, and waited.

"Luka?"

You were startled awake by someone shaking your shoulder and saying your name. You inhaled sharply as your eyes shot open, taking a few seconds to process the person in front of you.

"Peter." You croaked, taking in the man crouched in front of you, and clearing your throat before you spoke again. "Hi." You rubbed your eyes, and pushed yourself off the floor where you'd apparently fallen asleep. He held his hand out to you, and you took it, letting him pull you up.

"Why were you sleeping outside my door?" He asked, getting his keys out of his pocket and stepping around you to unlock the door.

"I..I texted you. You weren't in. I said I'd wait." You replied, while he pushed open the door and gestured for you to go in first. As you walked into his apartment, you started chewing your lip again, rubbing your eyes again because they still felt exhausted, and turned round to him.

"You texted me four hours ago." He said, and only then did you fully take in his appearance. He looked tired. Really tired.

"Oh...sorry."

You didn't know why you were apologising, what you were apologising for. Peter just stared at you, his keys still in his hand, which was tensed into a fist.

Come on Luka, remember why you're here.

"Look..." You started to say. "I just came to talk. Um.." You glanced at the floor briefly, closing your eyes as you tried to remember what the girls told you to say.

"Talk about what?" He asked, and you looked back up at him when you heard him walking closer to you.

The words rang out loudly in your head. Tell him you love him.

You breathed in, his gorgeously brown eyes boring into yours as your mouth wouldn't open to say what you were thinking.

"Luka, this isn't much of a conversation." He said, urging you to speak. You nodded. And opened your mouth.

"I'm in love with you."