Chapter 211

After learning about Andrew and Princess Aurora at the welcome banquet, I could not just sit around and mope anymore. No, what I needed was a distraction. With Lily back in town for a few days, I decided that it was time for us and Terri to go out for a drink…or more.

We sat at a table in the back of the Half Moon, where Jeffrey could watch the entire bar for threats. Despite Bianchi’s death, Lily refused to return to The Tipsy Stool after what she experienced there. Honestly, I was just glad that she agreed to go out at all.

We settled into our seats and ordered a round of slippery nipples and some hot wings.

“So, what’s going on?” Lily asked as she dangled her purse over the side of her chair. She watched Jeffrey anxiously, as though expecting a sign of danger at any moment.

“Yeah. You’re usually so busy with Andrew that we hardly get any time with you anymore,” Terri added, leaning her elbows against the table.

I cast my eyes down at my lap. I interlaced my fingers and twiddled my thumbs.

“Andrew and I had a fight…well, we had a couple of fights,” I said. “Pretty big ones, actually.”

“Oh, you mean that one that you had at Lisa’s wedding?” Terri asked.

I blushed. When the waiter came by with our drinks and food, I took the moment as a distraction and collected myself.

“Thank you,” I told the waiter after he set down the wings and slippery nipples.

“No problem. Let me know if you need anything else,” he said, then took off.

“So,” Terri said as I sipped at my drink, “am I right?”

I reluctantly nodded.

“That was the first fight, yes.”

“What happened?” Lily asked.

I sighed and said, “I got Bob arrested at Lisa’s wedding, and Andrew and I got into it right there at the venue.”

Lily’s mouth formed an “o”.

“What was he arrested for?” she asked.

“Murder!” Terri said, leaning in towards Lily. “Apparently, he murdered this accountant and set Crystal up to take the fall—”

“Terri!” I hissed.

“Sorry, Crystal,” she said sheepishly, drinking her liquor.

I shook my head.

“Anyway, that wasn’t even the worst fight,” I said. “He…well…he caught me with Noah.”

Lily arched her brow at me.

“What do you mean, he caught you with Noah?”

I shook my head and waved my hands insistently.

“It’s not what you think. I let him stay over after we spent the night drinking to celebrate Bob’s arrest. He got too hot and took off his shirt—”

“Woah!” Terri exclaimed. “So, he seriously took his shirt off right there in your apartment?”

My cheeks reddened more deeply.

“He asked for permission, and we were pretty drunk at the time…”

“So, what else did you do?” Terri asked, her tone conspiratorial.

“‘Do’? We didn’t ‘do’ anything! We had drinks, and he slept over, that was it.”

Terri tilted her head curiously.

“Then what was the fight that you and Andrew had?”

“He caught Noah coming out of my bedroom hungover without a shirt on, and he jumped to conclusions. He didn’t trust me and got mad, and I got mad that he didn’t trust me.”

Terri and Lily nodded in understanding.

For a few minutes, we all sat in silence, lost in our own thoughts. We sipped at our drinks and nibbled on our wings. Lily appeared about to say something a couple of times, but she closed her mouth and returned to her food or drink instead.

Finally, Terri set down her empty glass and looked at me.

“Have you talked to him since?” she asked.

I put down my empty glass as well and shook my head.

“No, I haven’t.”

“Why not?” Lily asked. Upon noticing that all of our glasses were empty, she motioned for the waiter to bring us three more.

I shrugged, but my hand curled into a fist.

“He didn’t trust me. He should have to apologize to me, not the other way around.”

I could feel the tears started to pour down my face. When neither Lily nor Terri said anything, I wiped my face off with my fist and continued.

“And then I heard that he was hanging out with some princess at a banquet,” I said, my tone bitter.

The waiter came by with our drinks and offered me some extra napkins to wipe my tears. I thanked him, and he nodded his head in acknowledgement before moving on to his next table.

“You know,” Lily said, “it does seem like a pretty easy mistake for Andrew to make.”

I narrowed my eyes at her.

“What do you mean? Do I look like a two-timer to you?”

Lily shook her head.

“No, of course not. I just think that anyone could have come to the same conclusions that he did if they had come upon the same scene that he did.”

My hand gripped my glass tightly as I threw back my alcohol. I cringed as the liquid stung my esophagus.

“But he should know better than that by now,” I said, “and he should have trusted me once I told him that it was nothing.”

“What would you have done?” Terri asked. “I mean, when you found out that he was hanging out with this princess, didn’t you jump to conclusions? Isn’t that why you still haven’t gone to him?”

I huffed out a sigh. I was not going to admit that they were right. They didn’t need to know what my initial reaction was.

“I didn’t go to him after I heard about that because I wanted to show him that I trusted him,” I said.

“And how has that worked out?” Lily asked.

I looked around for the waiter, desperate for another drink. As I caught his eye, I motioned for him to bring me another slippery nipple. After he nodded, I turned back to our table and grabbed the nearest wing, anything to avoid talking.

Lily sighed and shook her head. She reached out her hand and put it on mine, effectively stopping my wing-eating.

“We’re not saying that he was right to not trust you,” she said. “He should have, especially after you explained the situation. The thing is…”

“You’re no saint either, Crystal,” Terri finished with a laugh.

I cracked a slight smile.

“We love you, Crystal, and so does Andrew,” Lily continued. “That’s why we want you to talk to him. Is this relationship really worth losing over a misunderstanding?”

I stared at my empty glass for a few moments, a million thoughts running through my mind but none of them landing. At last, only one image stuck in my head: Andrew.

“You’re right,” I said. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

Terri grinned and patted me on the back.

“Atta girl,” she said. “Now, let’s make this a real girls’ night out and have some fun!”

“Hear, hear!” Lily exclaimed, lifting her glass in the air.

I laughed alongside my friends, glad to have their support.

Deep inside, though, I was worried. I ran through all the possibilities of what Andrew might say when he saw me the next day—if he would see me at all. I just hoped that it wasn’t too late to restore what we once had.