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Ten years later, I had my bakery, Sweet Treats, and Micah had his studio, Foster’s Photography & Studio. Both of us were thriving in our careers and our friendship had never been stronger.
***
After I got off the train, I took an uber back to my apartment. I still hadn’t heard from Theo but he wouldn't have his phone nearby if he was in the middle of a movie anyway.
He told me they kept their phones in the other room. Theo said on time, "I want to be totally lost in the movie. I don't want any distractions."
I wasn't a fan of that little rule of theirs. We fought about it once. "What if it was an emergency and I couldn't reach you."
"What kind of emergency Harp? A movie is what ninety minutes long. You can't wait ninety minutes?"
We went back and forth for a solid fifteen minutes until I decided it wasn't worth the fight.
My apartment was only about a thirty-minute ride from the train station, so before I knew it, I was back home trudging up the four flights of stairs. Luckily, I had little to lug up, just my weekend bag.
The apartment building had two apartments on each floor with six floors total. Before it became our apartment, it was Theo's. Out of the two of us, he had the bigger apartment. It made sense for me to move in here instead of looking for a new place together, especially since trying to find an apartment in downtown Boston within walking distance of both our jobs would be ridiculously hard.
Since Theo's apartment was already furnished, I sold most of my furniture and stored my old bedroom set at Micah and his roommate Asher’s apartment. They had a spare room that they use for storage.
When I finally reached my floor, I heard the faint sound of music playing. Being that our neighbor was an elderly man who didn't own a TV or a radio, I assumed it was coming from my apartment. The closer I got to the door the louder the music, and it sounded kind of like romance music. Confused, I put in my key in the lock and said, "What kind of movie are they watching?"
I opened the door and the loud music hit me full-on. Our apartment was a completely open concept. The living room was to the right and the kitchen and dining was to the left. There was a hallway off the dining area which led to a bathroom and two bedrooms.
Maybe Theo saw my text and was setting up a romantic homecoming. That would be the only logical explanation, right? He knew my favorite movies were rom-coms or any romantic movies really.
I was a lover of romance. I had been since I was sixteen, which turned out to be a blessing and a curse. A blessing because romance novels are easily the best genre of books, simple as that. You could get transported into any time period, space or place with the story and of course you had all the spice on top of that. The only downer was I had such high expectation from all the books I had read over the years that I was now a twenty-eight-year-old virgin.
Yup. I was a virgin. I never had a boyfriend in high school, due to my awkward stage, which seemed to last from freshman year all the way through senior year. I felt uncomfortable in my own skin until I went to college.
And while at college, I focused on my studies and my friendship with Micah to even date much. The older I got, the more embarrassing it was for me to talk about it. Plus, I didn't want to lose it to anyone. I wanted it to be memorable and special.
Right before Theo and I started dating, he decided to not have sex again until he was married. We mostly made out and felt each other up. I would occasionally give him blow job and he'd finger me but I'd never came. Not super romantic but I thought maybe over time we would fall into sync with one another and it would turn explosive. We'd been in a good place lately, maybe this was him wanting to take the next step. "Oh my god, what if he is going to propose!" I whispered to myself.
I walked into my bedroom, expecting to see candles lit, rose petals on our bed, and maybe some chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne on the dresser. You know the works.
Not only did I see all of those things but I also saw my boyfriend on all fours taking Peter's dick in his ass.
My jaw met the fucking ground. It took about thirty whole seconds for my brain to kick back online before I yelled, "Are you fucking kidding me?" My words cut through the room.
Both guys looked over at me and paled. Theo shoved Peter off of him, which caused him to stumble against MY pillow. Peter's sweaty, naked ass was now on my pillow.Gross.
Theo covered himself as he got off the bed. He reached for me and said, "Harper, what are you doing back so soon?"
I flinched away from his touch and said, "Seriously?! That's the first thing you want to say to me when I just walked in on Peter railing you from behind?" Theo and Peter dropped their heads in shame.
Theo lifted his head, saying softly, "I'm so sorry, Harper. Please just…please let me explain." He went to reach for me again, but I pulled away.
I couldn't be here. I would not be in the right headspace to listen. "Theo, I can't talk to you right now. I can't even look at you." I glanced away from him; my gaze landed on the wall near the bedroom door. It had a photo of us from our day trip to New York two months ago. In the picture we were cuddling up on a park bench in central park.
Tears stung the back of my eyes before I blinked them away. I cleared my throat and said, "Clearly, we are over. I will move my stuff out tomorrow. Please don't be here." His head fell, but he nodded.
My gaze met Peter's and then back to Theo's. "You know…I loved you, which meant you could have told me. I would have understood. It sure would have hurt a hell of a lot less than this."
I turned on my heels and left the bedroom not sparing a backwards glance. I had nothing else to say to them right now. I grabbed my weekend bag off the dining table and slammed the front door on my way out.
I pulled out my phone and dialed Micah's number with shaking fingers.
He picked up on the second ring. "Hey, Harps, are you heading over? I told Asher about your parents. He's already downstairs in the bar. He said to knock on the door and he'll let you in. He also said you need to eat before you drink yourself to death because he isn't taking you to the hospital if you get alcohol poisoning again.
