A Time for Hope (Lexi, #3)(40)
“Well firstly to ask if you are ok ‘cause you are obviously out of sorts this morning and secondly to ask where you went yesterday. When I called Alex looking for you he almost lost his mind. It worried me that you snuck off.” Matt leaned back in his chair, his brow furrowed with concern.
“Matt, I’m fine. Alex and I just had one of usual discussions. It’s nothing. As for yesterday, I’ll admit it wasn’t my wisest move but something I needed to take care of, nonetheless.” I dismissed not really wanting to rehash yesterday’s ordeal yet again.
“Lexi, we are still friends. You can still talk to me. What’s going on?” Matt’s impassioned plea made me feel a little guilty. Matt had been one of my best friends and yet over the last few weeks our contact had been minimal. It hadn’t been just Alex I had shut out when my world came crumbling down, it had spilled into my other relationships too. The old habit of me against the world, dying hard as it was.
“I’ll agree to a run down if you tell me what is going on with you and Anna. Why has she been moody? What’s going on between the two of you?” I offered, thinking I would feel better about unloading if there was a mutual exchange of problems. I hated feeling like I took more from Matt’s friendship that I gave.
“Between me and Anna?” Matt paused, “I just don’t know. She’s acting a little strange. I don’t know exactly why, I mean nothing has happened other than your return back to work but she’s been kind of insecure lately, clingy. I don’t know, I mean it’s not like she isn’t spending every second of every day with me. We live together and we work together, I don’t get where it’s all coming from.” He ran his hands though his hair, clearly confused as to why his once bubbly girlfriend was now moody and insecure.
“Anna’s far from home Matt, all she has is you really. It’s normal for her to feel a little overwhelmed. This was a big step for her, leaving her family, her home and her job to come be with you.” I tried to reassure him. If anyone knew the stress of moving across the globe, it was me. It was scary at the best of times but Anna was close to her family and had never been away from home for an extended amount of time. It would be natural that she would be hesitant or even nervous and latching on to the one constant in her life, Matt.
“I know and I get that and I don’t want to seem ungrateful but by the same token, I haven’t done anything to warrant her mistrust. I mean, I am doing everything I can to reassure her but… I don’t know. I think there is more to it than being homesick.” He pushed back in his seat, frustrated and perhaps a little overwhelmed. Matt had such a good heart and he would never do anything to hurt Anna. I couldn’t understand why she might be feeling this way if it wasn’t the obvious issue of being away from home or family. What could possibly be causing her outbursts?
“Have you tried talking about it? With her? Just flat out asking her?” I suggested, knowing that our little “think tank” was probably not going to come up with any solutions given the limited information we had.
“Of course I have, she shuts me down. Look I don’t want you to worry about it, we were both going to try and keep a lid on it here at work, but in the last couple days shit has escalated. Maybe it’s the stress of the upcoming tour?” Matt shrugged as he tried to come to grips with Anna’s actions of late and took a deep breath before continuing. “Anyway, I know she gets over sensitive when I want to talk to you alone but I was worried.”
“Matt, this is your friend speaking, not your boss. You two need to work it out. Find out why she is acting like this. There has to be a reason. Maybe take her out tonight, go have a nice dinner and spoil her.” I suggested before playfully trying to lighten the mood, “I can give you some pointers if you like?”
“Please no. Save all your pointers for Rock Star.” Matt laughed, relaxing slightly. “So I’ve given you my run down, what’s yours? Where did you go yesterday? Why the cloak and dagger routine?”
I sighed, moving from my perch on the edge of my desk to my more comfortable desk chair. This wasn’t going to be a five-minute conversation. I launched into the long and detailed story from my first interaction with Nick to his “offer” to make the man who brutalized me swim with the fishes.
Matt sat, wide eyed as I finished, his mouth agape. “Lexi, f*ck! Have you called the cops?”
“No and I’m not going to. I’m going to sound like a lunatic. I have no proof that the conversation took place and the last thing I need is to draw more media attention to me or to this situation. He hasn’t threatened me. In fact he has offered the opposite. Crazy, I know but there really isn’t any reason to believe he wants to hurt me. He would have done that by now.” It didn’t get any easier explaining it a second time although it was somewhat liberating to be sharing the information with Matt. He knew more about me than most people and he had always been so easy to talk to.
“Well I can understand why Alex was losing his shit. Jesus Lexi, you can’t keep doing this solo action hero shit. It’s not about you not being capable, it’s about minimizing the risks.” He rose out of his seat and walked around to my chair. His concern was not diminished despite my reassurance I wasn’t in danger.
“Not you too, Matt. I got enough of this shit from Alex and DarNell. You wanted to know so I told you but don’t f*cking start judging me. I just can’t take any more lectures.” I faced him not wanting to disappoint yet another person I cared about.