I tell him no and I hang up. I'm a student on a budget. There's no way I can afford another phone right now. The worst part is I can't even work. I lay flat on my bed. I should have stuck with my ice cream last night. Every time I go somewhere with Dayna nothing good ever comes from it. The house phone rings. I pick it up right away.
"Hello!"
"Hi, Ava?"
"Yeah."
"Hey, it's Noah. I came home to change and your phone rang. Sorry I didn't answer it. With this mess, I couldn't find it. But anyways, you left it at my house along with your purse."
For some reason, I'm unable to speak. The embarrassment from this morning washes over me. I thought I would never have to see him again. I wish I left my purse at the bar instead of his house.
"So I can drop it off to you in two hours
if you want. I have to pass by work first for a bit."
"Uh, sure," I say.
"Okay see you soon." He hangs up the phone.
I feel nervous. I should get dressed. Maybe I should put makeup on. Not too much though. I go for my makeup bag and it drops on the floor. I struggle to pick it up, but the crutches make it difficult. I drop right after it, struggling to get up.
"Dayna!" I call out. She comes after a few minutes. She starts laughing at the site of me on the floor.
"It's not funny, just help me up."
She does. I try to explain to her that I was trying to put on makeup. She offers to put it for me. She finishes after about thirty minutes.
"You look great. It'll distract him from your broken foot." She jokes. I look in the mirror. The eyeliner she puts on me emphasizes my hazel eyes and the dark lipstick looks very nice against my light brown skin. She's better at putting on makeup for me than I am. She helps with my hair too.
"You really like this guy huh?" She asks me.
"Like him? I barely know him." I blush. "Besides, I don't know anything about him. I don't even remember being with him."
"So then why the makeup?" She crosses her arms.
"Aren't you always telling me to always be prepared and never get caught looking like a hobo," I say to her.
"Yeah but since when do I ever take my advice?" She's got a point. It's not that I don't like to take her advice, it's just that she says crazy things all the time and we are so different. I don't think her advice is always appropriate and it hardly applies to me. When me and Dayna met, I wasn't her biggest fan. That is because she got me in trouble at a young age. Then I'm high school, she was the loud disturber in our English lit class and I was the teacher's pet. We were and still are polar opposites. But then when Amy Kindler started to go after me because I was dating her ex, now my ex, Chris, Maddie stood up for me and we've been friends ever since. She was the loud, brave and confident one and I was the quiet, put-together and reserved one. We just clicked. Is she a lot sometimes? Oh yes, definitely.
Several minutes go by before the doorbell rings. He's on time.
"Quick, Dayna. Pass me my crutches." She passes them to me and goes to open the door. I limp behind her. Dayna opens the door and Noah stands there holding my stuff in his hands.
"Hi, Ava." He approaches me. "How are you feeling?" I blush.
"I'm fine."
"How's the leg?"
"It's annoying. It's very hard to scratch," I admit. He lets out a small laugh. God, he has such a beautiful smile. And the dimple on his left cheek makes me want to melt. He hands me my purse and cell phone and that's when I see the ring on his finger.
"You're married!?" I burst out.
"Well, I'm just going to leave you two alone," Dayna says before she goes into her room.
He looks at his finger and then at me. "No," he pauses. "I'm just engaged. She wanted me to wear the ring."
"Oh my God, I'm such an idiot!" I say. "Of course, I sleep with a guy who is practically married."
"Oh come on, we were both really drunk. It's not your fault." He says.
"Get out!" I yell. I'm enraged. Yelling is something that does not come naturally to me. I even surprised myself with my response.
He throws his hands in the air. "Ava!"
"Get out!"
"Alright, fine. I'll go," he says before he leaves.
I can't believe this. What was I thinking? I only knew the guy for a few hours. Did I really think this was going to go anywhere? And he's a cheater. I go to the bathroom and wash the makeup off my face. I should just give up on men. Chris cheated on me with his best friend Nalani. Nine years. I gave nine years to that jerk and he cheats on me. We all used to be friends, Dayna, Nalani and me. We were inseparable until Dayna caught them together and told me. I didn't believe her and when he finally admitted it to me I still took him back. He blamed all of it on Nalani. I believed him. We stopped being friends with her and Dayna hated Chris and the fact that I stayed with him. They fought all the time. In fact when Chris dumped me, one of the reasons he gave was the way Dayna used to treat him. He used all types of excuses but the truth is he was seeing someone else. The girl he's with now.
I spent weeks after we broke up stalking his Instagram. Her name was Selena. She was beautiful and she was an influencer and model. I couldn't even compete with that if I wanted to. Dayna made a fake account and commented on her pictures. At first, it made me feel better but then I just felt guilty and told her to delete them. The account was blocked and suspended anyways. Dayna is always standing out for me even if it isn't always in the sanest and most rational ways. She's like my sister.
I grab an ice cream from the freezer and head to my room. Cookie dough, my go-to stress-eating food and I curl up in my bed and eat my ice cream. A wave of depression consumes me. I can't work. I have no boyfriend. I'm handicapped. And I slept with a married man, with who I actually started to develop feelings. Stupid me. I take off his sweater and throw it in my room garbage can. I sit on my bed and look at the sweater. Maybe I shouldn't throw it out. I take it out of the garbage and throw it on the floor instead. I wrap myself in my blanket dreading the next six weeks I'll be stuck with this cast.