A Convenient Ex-cuse is Found

Once Selene was back inside her house, she kicked off her shoes, threw her suit jacket and bag on the couch, and made a beeline to her bedroom. There, she took the hairband out of her ponytail, flopped on the bed (face first), and started kicking her legs as if she was a toddler. She began yelling, "Ahhhhhh! What is my problem?!"

After flipping herself back and forth a couple times in agitation, she sat herself up, and moved the hair away from her face. Then she put her palms over her face and thought, "They're going to kill me when they find out. Ugh. Ok, so maybe I don't tell them. But how can I not tell them? They're my best friends. They'll know I'm hiding something. I have no poker face. Why did I let him talk me into dinner in the first place? Why did I let him kiss me? Why did I kiss him back? Why did I wear the ring today of all days? Why am I so stupid? Why, why, why?!"

Suddenly, Selene's stomach dropped. She looked at the alarm clock and said, "Shit!" It was already 8:11pm.

She quickly got up and changed into more of a "going out" attire. For her, this consisted of an A-line, burgundy skirt that went down just above her knees, and a black fitted blouse with a mock turtleneck. She had to hide the signs Ben had left on her neck. The blouse was a little see-through, but it came with a black camisole underneath that did not reveal any cleavage. The sleeves came below the elbows and had small black lace ruffles. For shoes, she was wearing strappy black sandals that were comfortable but still high enough heels to be, as she would put it, "for nights out." She kept the same jewelry she had worn that day except she exchanged the ring for one that had garnets instead.

Even though she was running late, Selene took a few moments to touch up her make-up. She went over her face with her pressed power and put a dark pink lipstick on. Next, she lightly put on some mascara over what she already had. "Oh well," she thought, as she quickly brushed her hair. That was the extent of the effort she was willing to put in for tonight.

She quickly rushed out the door to her car. She ended up being 30 minutes late to her own birthday get-together, but she sent a quick text to let them know before hand.

When she arrived, Peter and Lucy were already there at The Bar Who. No one knew why it was called that and the owner wouldn't spill the beans. She spotted them at a table right away and when they saw her, they both shook their heads.

She noticed that Peter was wearing the same outfit as this morning and thought, "This does not bode well for the kind of day he must have had." Lucy, on the other hand, was out of the scrubs she was wearing in the morning and was now in a white dress with spaghetti straps and tiny silver polka dots. The dress was form fitting but not too clingy. The top part went straight across her chest so it did not reveal any cleavage. "Kyle must have been adamant about that part," Selene thought. The whole outfit went very well with her cute pink tipped hair and it made Selene smile.

When Selene got to the table, Peter gave her a hug and said, "What took you so long?"

Selene replied, "It is a *long* story."

"Those are the best kind!," said Lucy, smiling widely, with twinkling eyes, as she gave her friend a hug.

Peter gave her a look and said, "Says you." He turned to Selene and said, "Just tell us the gist."

When they all settled in their seats, Selene was about to tell them what happened, but the server came up and said, "What can I get started for you?"

Peter and Lucy were audibly disappointed.

Selene responded with, "Um, can I get a lager please? Whatever you have."

"Sure, no problem," said the young woman, with a smile, and walked away.

Lucy said, "You look tired. Are you ok?"

Selene responded, "You have no idea," but then she became quiet.

"Well?," said Peter.

"I don't know where to start," said Selene as she groaned and laid her head down on her arms that were crossed over the table.

Peter said, "Is it the presentation? Did it not go as well as you thought? It's ok. I'm sure you did better than you think. You always think you did worse than you actually do. All through school you would always think you failed every exam and then you'd get all As. Remember?"

Selene lifted her head and said, "It's not that. The presentation went very well. I think we have a great shot. They'd be idiots not to give us the money."

"Then what is it?," asked Lucy.

Selene looked at Peter, then she looked at Lucy. She looked back at Peter, then back at Lucy.

"Come on! You're killing us over here," said Peter.

Selene looked down and said, "Ok, but please don't judge me."

Lucy said, "We would never do that."

Peter nodded and said, "How long have we known each other? We've sort of seen each other at our worst right? How bad could this be?"

Selene looked up and said very quickly, "Ben was at the presentation. He is the CEO of UniTech. He asked me out to dinner after the presentation. I said yes. He got us a private room at a fancy schmancy restaurant. He remembered it was my birthday. He kissed me. I kissed him. We made out. I stopped it before it went too far, but now I have no idea what it all means."

Peter and Lucy looked stunned. They stopped blinking and moving for a moment. Then they started to slowly blink. Peter put his hand to his chest as he leaned back in his chair. Lucy leaned forward to grab Selene's hand.

"That's a lot of information to take in," said Peter.

"Yah it is. But, um, are you okay, Selene?," asked Lucy.

Selene replied, "I don't know. I don't know how this all happened. One minute I'm about to present my life's work and then the next minute my ex-boyfriend is kissing me. This is like the craziest day of my life and that's saying something, you know?"

"But, sweetie," said Lucy, "Do you know why you kissed him? I mean, I'm totally not judging. I just mean, you know, it was so hard on you when you guys broke up. We were both there, you know?" Lucy turned to point at Peter and then at herself, before continuing, "And now, he shows up out of nowhere. I guess, maybe you were in shock?"

Selene thought for a second and said, "Maybe that's what it was. I was just in shock. I did tell him afterward that it was probably because we were just caught up with old times, you know. I mean, I see him, and it's in this weird work setting where I don't have any guards up, and all these feelings just come rushing back." She looked at Lucy and then at Peter, nodding as if to make it true. "That must be it, right?," she asked her friends, hoping they would assure her that that was indeed the only explanation.

"I hope so," said Peter with fury in his eyes, "Because if I see that asshole around you again, I swear I'm going to beat him to within an inch of his life."

Selene gave a short laugh, trying to lighten the mood, and said, "What are you? In an old timey movie? 'Within an inch of his life'?"

But Peter wasn't having any of it. "I mean it, Selene," he said. "You better stay away from him. Don't forget what he did to you. Who knows why he's back? What does he want with you after all these years? It must be to use you for some purpose. I've seen guys like him before. Don't let him fool you."

Selene looked down and said, "I know. You're right. And anyway, it's not like I'll ever see him again. I mean, even if we get the funding…that is, *when* we get the funding, it's not like I'll see him. He's the freakin' CEO after all. It's not like he has any direct connection to the workings of every one of their projects on a day-to-day basis. I'll mainly be working with other programmers and tech people."

"That's right," said Lucy. "Let's just forget this happened and move on to celebrating your birthday!"

As if on cue, Selene's beer arrived. After the server left, the three friends lifted their drinks in a toast. Peter grinned mischievously and said, "To Selene. Another year older, but not any wiser!" His wink was not enough to spare him a punch in the arm from Selene. "Kidding! Kidding!," he said. "Geeze Louise, you need to learn to take a joke."

"Any-waaay," said Selene, "How was your guys' day?"

"Mine was alright," said Lucy. "My shift ended right before I headed to your place this morning so when I got home, I slept until about three. Then Kyle came over around four and we hung out until I had to leave to come here. Ugh, but I'm so happy to have tomorrow off! I just wish he didn't have to work."

Selene teased, "Oh, so you got to see Kyle huh? Couldn't just let one day go by huh?" She enjoyed seeing Lucy blush.

"It just sort of happened to work out that way," said Lucy, fake-pretending to be innocent. Then both girls started laughing, while Peter smiled at their antics.

"What about you, Peter?," asked Selene. "I noticed you're still in your work clothes, although it's just like you that you still fit in with the vibe of this place!"

"What can I say? I was born this cool," he replied, while he made a motion as if he was brushing off dust from his shoulders. They all laughed. Then he continued, "I already told this to Lucy, so, sorry Lucy, you're going to have to hear it again."

Selene cut him off and said, "Sorry again guys that I was late."

"Oh no worries," said Lucy. "Go on Peter."

"So, you know that case I was given recently by the DA?," asked Peter. Selene nodded, and he continued, "The one with the drunk driver who killed the guy on the motorcycle?" Selene nodded again. Peter motioned for the women to get closer to him so he could whisper the next part: "Well, it turns out that it wasn't just a DUI fatality. It was a hit!"

"WHAT?!," whisper exclaimed Selene.

"I know, right?!," said Peter. "From a DUI fatality to murder. I can't say more at this point, but isn't that crazy?"

"Totally," said Selene.

They all leaned back against their seats and Peter continued, "And that took up pretty much my whole day until I left to come here, which is why, my dear Selene, I am still wearing the same clothes as this morning. I'd probably still be in the office if I didn't have your lovely birthday to celebrate." He reached over to Selene and pinched one of her cheeks.

Selene swatted his hand away, clicked her tongue, and said, "Anyway, I'm glad I was able to get you out of the office. You can't spend all your time at work, you know?"

"Ha!," exclaimed Peter and Lucy in unison, and then they both burst out laughing at that.

"Yah, that's something coming from you," said Peter.

Lucy finished his thought and said, "You invented the whole throwing yourself into work 24/7 thing!"

"Okay, Okay. I'm not one to talk. I get that," conceded Selene, "But still."

Lucy said, "Both of you are workaholics. You both need to take a lesson from me. It's called work life balance." She carefully enunciated the last word.

"Is that why you have a boyfriend and we don't?," asked Selene, once again in a teasing manner.

Lucy laughed and said, "Maybe. Maybe not. Speaking of which…" Her voice trailed off as she saw a handsome man with blonde hair and blue eyes approaching their table from behind Selene.

He stopped next to Peter and asked him, "Sorry to interrupt, but I was just wondering if I could buy you a drink at the bar and talk for a little while?"

Selene and Lucy looked at each other with smiles that indicated they were very pleased at this turn of events.

Peter smiled brightly at the man and said, "Thank you so much. Any other day I would have said yes, but today is my friend's birthday so I have to say no. Sorry."

"I get it. No problem. Maybe we can exchange numbers and get together another time?," asked the man.

Peter responded, "I'm so sorry, but it's just this thing I have where I don't give out my number unless I get to know a person first, but, umm, we come here fairly regularly so maybe I'll see you around here another time, ok?"

The man smiled, said, "Sounds good. See you around then," and walked away.

When the man was out of earshot, Lucy said, "Why didn't you get his number?"

"Oh you know, the usual. It's just not worth it. I can already tell he's not the one," replied Peter.

Lucy and Selene looked at each other but neither said another word about it. Instead, they both took a drink. They knew there was no point in saying anything. Instead, Lucy said, "Ok, present time!"

Selene said, "You guys! You didn't have to do that."

"Yah right," said Peter. "Like we're going to celebrate a birthday without presents, " he scoffed.

After Selene opened her presents, they continued to enjoy each other's company. It was well passed midnight when Peter said it was time to go since he was the only one of them who had to actually go into work early the next day.

Selene drank only a couple of beers early on in the evening, so she was sober enough to drive herself home. She was a little too tired, however, to notice the car that was following her home. After she parked in her driveway and went inside her house, the other car kept on going and didn't stop or go back.

Once inside her house, Selene took a quick shower and climbed into bed. Her last thought before she drifted off to sleep was, "They're right. It was shock. I'm sure I won't ever see him again."