Sweet afternoons

Chapter nine

It took me a few days to accept what I had read in the newspaper. I had so badly wanted Andres to be a good person that my mind refused to accept that he had another side to him.

As with any bad news, I went through a tiresome stage of denial. However it was extremely long and exhausting to try to keep believing something that wasn't true. Eventually I just gave up and saw things for what they really were.

No one else seemed to know about the article, at least no one had mentioned it. Nate continued to show his concern for me while cursing out Andres. I wasn't sure if Andres did deserve all the hostility from Nate; although he had been dishonest he had not directly done anything evil.

But the lies still hurt like serious betrayal and
since the day we'd discovered it, I had been completely avoiding Andres. It was difficult, considering he lived right next door to where I worked, but it definitely didn't stop me from trying.

Every day, I took the back entrance into the bakery and spent as much time as I possibly could in the kitchen. I made sure to be as far away from the prying eyes of customers as I could get and ignored every single text message he sent to me. Ignoring him became increasingly more difficult the more I did it, considering he'd become more desperate with his messages.

He'd recently started to call my cellphone more often as well, leaving voicemails that said things like "I miss you" and "I want to see you".

However, there was no way I was going to willingly face him after what I had heard.
Maybe I was being too harsh, and maybe it wasn't quite as big a deal as I was making it out to be. However to me, what he had done was use me.

To me, there was no other motive he could have had. It was a shame that what I had fallen for was only lies, because with him I had grown in confidence as well as happiness. I couldn't think of another time in my life where I had been able to smile so brightly.

And now to have it all crumble down like this was both hurtful and humiliating.

All he wanted was to gain profit from the bakery, he wasn't doing this because he wanted me at all. Why would he want me anyway?

"For goodness sakes Lena!" Alex's fiery voice seemed to shake some sense into me and I looked up at her from the magazine that was crumbled in my hands that had balled unconsciously.

Eyeing her questioningly, I asked her, in a shy and quiet voice, what was wrong. "What is going on with you? You haven't said a single word to me since I got here."

As usual Alex had come to work straight from school, along with Nadine, as well as her overly affectionate boyfriend who decided to hang around for a while before finally leaving.

We had been working all day, me still hiding myself away in the back of the kitchen, and it was clear that she had noticed my quiet attitude. It actually surprised me that she had waited so long to mention it.

The bakery had just closed and Alex and I were the only ones still there, cleaning up the tables. My mind hadn't seemed to stop spinning since I had gotten up that morning and eventually I decided to take a break, sitting down in a newly cleaned booth with a glass of water.

I couldn't bring myself to answer Alex's question.
I didn't really think it would be appropriate to talk to her about my issues with her boyfriend's cousin.

Truthfully, I felt a small bit of resentment for Alex; she was, after all, the one to introduce me to Andres in the first place. Of course, I could never bring myself to hate her and I knew in my heart that it wasn't her fault.

She was simply another pawn in his game of wizards chess, a game I had already lost. Quite cruelly I might add.

Without me noticing, Alex had crept her way over to where I was and knelt down in front of where I was sitting, taking my magazine sneakily from my hands. My hands were balled into pale fists and I stared aimlessly at my chubby fingers. I was so vulnerable to her eyes with my paper shield gone and I felt my defenses crumbling.