The next day ended up not counting as well. And the next. And the next.
Rose and Tyler fell into a weird routine of having sex (making love?) wherever, whenever, without ever talking about it. Afterward, they pretended nothing had happened. Rose knew she was playing a dangerous game, one impossible to win. She knew Tyler wasn’t ready for a serious relationship with her, but she couldn’t help herself. Even if having an affair with Tyler was so wrong, for so many reasons.
For one, it put their friendship, the most important thing in her life, at stake. Then there was the obvious moral issue: Tyler still had a girlfriend. He hadn’t broken up with Georgiana. And even if he didn’t bring her to the house anymore, he was still with her. Was he sleeping with her too? On the odd nights when he didn’t come home and stayed at her place, Rose cried herself to sleep in her room. For the next few days, she would pout and ignore Tyler, but eventually, she’d break. Then she would jump right back into his arms, and their unhealthy routine started all over.
Another week like this—another day—and she’d go crazy. The right thing to do would be to stop. But Rose didn’t know how to be strong, not anymore. She’d wanted Tyler for too long to be able to keep saying no. Rose told herself she preferred to be the one he was cheating with, instead of the one he was cheating on. After a month, however, even this excuse was running thin.
True, Rose had told him he didn’t have to leave Georgiana for her, but that had been ages ago! After a month of sleeping together, everything was different. How could Tyler not see it? She refused to beg him—what if he said no? What if he said yes? They’d get together, and then he’d cheat on her. Nothing terrified Rose more. On one hand, she wanted Tyler to leave Georgiana and be with her officially. On the other, it scared her to death. Unsure of everything else, the only thing Rose knew for a fact was that her life couldn’t keep going like this.
Something had to change, soon, but Rose didn’t know what, or how.
For the first time in his life, Tyler didn’t understand his best friend. How to read her, how to translate what she said as opposed to what went on inside her head. Rose had been adamant they shouldn’t be together. Not unless he proposed right then and there, and he wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment. At twenty-four and still in school, who the hell would be? He didn’t want to be tied down already. But Rose had become a drug for him. He couldn’t go back to being just her friend, and he couldn’t be with her, either—not in the way she wanted.
Screwed, he was so screwed.
Georgiana was driving him mad, too. His girlfriend wasn’t stupid, and she must have sensed his emotional distance. The few nights she forced him to stay at her apartment, he pretended to be tired to avoid sleeping with her, and he never invited her to the house anymore. They were arguing more often than not, and he was getting tired. And school hadn’t even started yet. His love life was proving more stressful than Harvard Law. To survive one was hard, but the two combined? Impossible. How would he handle the pressure in less than a month when the academic year started? What would happen when he’d have to spend all his days in class squeezed between the two women in his life? It would be a disaster, no doubt. He should dump Georgiana, but the idea scared him. If he became single, what would happen with Rose? Wedding bells? And what would happen if he kept a girlfriend on the side to avoid commitment?
If he didn’t do something, the situation with Rose and Georgiana was going to explode in his face. But what could he do? Tyler was stuck, strangled in a situation of his own making, with no escape in sight. He wished girls came with an instruction manual. The only thing he knew was that his life couldn’t keep going like this.
Something had to change, soon, but Tyler didn’t know what, or how.
Something was up with Tyler. No sex since the night of their fight about Rose moving out of his apartment. That was a month ago. A month. Whenever Georgiana tried initiating, Tyler mumbled some lame excuse about being tired. Usually, he couldn’t keep his hands off her, and now nothing for a month. Thirty. Freaking. Days. He also made it clear she wasn’t welcome at his apartment anymore. Why? What did he have to hide?
If not with her, he was sleeping with someone else. Rose? It must be that bitch. Why keep his girlfriend away from the house otherwise?
Georgiana was almost certain something had happened between them. When she finally admitted to herself that her boyfriend was cheating on her, Georgiana went to a dark place. She shut herself in her apartment without eating and without getting out of bed for two days. Tyler didn’t check on her once. His conspicuous absence and indifference transformed the numbing pain in a rampaging fury. The blind rage manifested in a strong desire to burn Tyler’s expensive car to the ground. She’d also been tempted to dump him without ever looking back. But then her pride took over. She discovered she didn’t care if he’d cheated on her—she was in love with Tyler. He was hers, and she was ready to fight for him. She wasn’t going to let that ho snatch him away from her. No matter what it took, Georgiana was determined to keep Tyler. But their relationship couldn’t keep going like this.
Something had to change, soon, and Georgiana knew exactly what, and how.