Floodgates

(SKYLAR)

"Emily is in town?" Alec sounded a bit shocked.

"For now," Jordan said.

Zooming out of the conversation between them, I reached for my phone.

*Call me back. ASAP.*

*Crisis.*

I punched in two texts and pressed send.

"But what does this have to do with you?" Alec asked and I jerked my eyes up from my phone to his face.

What was he saying?

I needed to get out of here. I needed to think. With Jordan pestering me each second, I could barely listen to my thoughts.

I looked at him blankly for a few seconds. "I would love to stay here and chat, but I have to go," I said.

Suddenly, I felt fingers encircling my arm and I was turned by force to face Jordan, "I never said we were done for today. Besides we have a lot of things to discuss now that you've made such a colossal mess," his green eyes were ablaze with fury.

I furrowed my brows and shot him an equally furious look as I pulled my arm out of his grip. "That is postponed to tomorrow," I said. "I have to get out of here."

With no time to spare, I swirled on my heels and gathered my belongings before stalking out of that room.

Jordan made my blood boil.

His 'me-king-you-peasant' attitude only made me want to punch him in the face again. If I could get away with one murder, I'd reserve that glorious opportunity for Jordan.

No one would miss the pompous, haughty rich bastard anyway.

With everything that had taken place today, I needed to talk to someone about it. Someone that I could trust because it sure as hell wasn't me. With the kind of decisions that I had been making lately, I wasn't sure my judgment was the best.

I made my way towards the elevator away from the critical stares of the people on that floor. I could feel their heavy gazes set upon me as their lips moved in a hushed manner. The long corridor which was abuzz with chatter abruptly went quiet.

I might have just made a laughing stock out of myself in front of so many people.

Two men, dressed in black and grey suits each, slowed down as they passed by me. I noticed as their eyes slowly ran up and down my form before the one in the black suit turned his head to hush something in the ear of his friend. Something derogatory I presumed because the wicked smirk on the other guy's face made my insides wrench with disgust.

A cackle erupted from their throats and I worked my feet faster. I had to get out of here. Tucking a lock of my hair behind my ear, I kept my eyes glued to the floor and reached the elevator.

My heart was pounding wildly against my chest. The voices around me were all but whispers but I knew what they were talking about. The picture of me and Jordan kissing had gone viral on the office chat groups.

The heavy stares, the whispers. At least it kept me from thinking about a certain blue-eyed blast from the past. My mind was too preoccupied with the present that I could barely bring myself to think about the past.

I dared not to look around. I was too embarrassed by what I had done.

I knew that it was my fault. Even though I hadn't bowed down in front of Jordan and had led him to believe that the kiss was just to aid his cause, I knew what the real reason behind it was. It wasn't for Jordan.

It was my fault that I was in this situation.

I had the perfect opportunity to escape Jordan's wicked plans but I ruined it. I ruined it because I was still too weak in the face of my past.

I tapped my feet nervously on the ground as I waited for the elevator doors to open.

I pushed the button on the elevator aggressively and repeatedly hoping that'll make it come up faster.

Each second felt longer than an eternity while I waited in that hallway surrounded by the deprecating stares of strangers. Blood rushed to my cheeks.

I wondered if they thought of me as just another girl in Jordan's life. I was sure they had seen many girls traipsing in and out of this office. Jordan had that reputation for a reason. But, I hate to think that in the eyes of all these people I was just another one of those poor, desperate, and naïve girls.

"Fuck this," I mumbled to myself unable to withstand the burning eyes on my back and moved away from the elevator. I made my way towards the fire exit.

I would rather kill my legs walking down 20 flights of stairs than be the center of attention in a hall full of judgmental eyes and accusatory whispers of people I don't even know!

I pushed open the heavy doors that led to the stairs and entered the fire-exit area. As the doors closed behind me the voices died down, too. There was now silence around me but my head still felt crowded and heavy. I could always escape and shut out the outside noise but I couldn't run from what was going inside my head.

The uneasy feeling that I had coursing through me in the hallway was replaced by an even more uncomfortable silence. I peeked down the staircase from the topmost step. There must be at least a million stairs to descend but I would rather kill my legs walking down a million stairs than go back into that office full of people.

So, without another second's thought, I began moving down the stairs.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

I descended five flights of stairs before my legs gave out. High heels aren't exactly athletic. The laptop bag hanging from my shoulder was an added disadvantage.

Resting my back on the wall at my left, I crouched down on the steps. What was I thinking? Granted climbing down the stairs is easier than going up but with these stupid heels and this stupid laptop, I felt like I would have collapsed had I not stopped to breathe.

I undid the strap on my heels and removed them from my feet as I stretched my toes, putting them out of their misery.

Apart from the faint noises that could be heard coming out of the exit door on the floor, it was dauntingly quiet around me. The hustle-bustle of the people on the other side of the door wasn't enough to keep the thoughts of today from creeping into my head.

What a disastrous day today had proven to be.

Max was back.

I thought I had buried that part of my past deep into the coast of the Pacific when I had left Cali but, I was wrong.

One look at him and I made a series of bad decisions.

But, what was Max doing here?

This question had been burning a hole in my mind ever since I snapped out of whatever trance I was in which made me voluntarily seal the deal with the devil with a kiss!

The sound of my phone ringing interrupted my thoughts.

Taking it out of my pocket, I brought the device to my ear. "Hello?"

"This better be life or death," Maddy spoke with annoyance.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Oh, now you care?" she cackled. "After a bajillion texts—"

"Maddy—"

"Let me ask you this, why did you pull a Usain Bolt on me earlier this morning?" her loud voice pierced through my ears and I pulled the phone away from me.

"Maddy, I have something important—"

"You are hiding something from me. Whatever happened between you and that gorgeous man-sult you are hiding it. That's why you dodged me in the morning and left without having breakfast. You know you can't keep secrets from me so cut to the chase—"

"Max is here," I interrupted her incessant rambling.

"What?" she screeched after a minute-long silence. I could hear the shock in her voice reverberate in my ear.

"I'll explain it when I see you," I said.

"Explain it when you— NO! You can't leave me on a cliffhanger. Max is back? What is that even supposed to mean? Where did you see him?" she fired at me.

"Here," I breathed.

"Here as in? Where? On earth? In Manhattan? In your office?"

"In my office, Maddy. He was right there in the lobby." The incident replayed itself in my mind and my eyes immediately went to the brown blotch of a coffee stain on my shirt.

"Okay, what is happening? Are you okay?" any sign of mockery vanished from her voice and was replaced by concern.

I stared long and hard at the off-white wall in front of me. Fixating at a point on the wall helped me align the rampant thoughts in my head. It was as though a floodgate had opened and everything that I had been trying to keep at bay, every single memory, came flooding in like an enormous tidal wave.

At first, it was a color.

Blue and dark like the ocean.

And then came the overwhelming flood of memories.

Flashes, pictures.

Smiles, tears.

Then came the associated feelings.

Pain, anger, and more pain.

"Sky?" Maddy's voice tore through the deafening silence.

I couldn't let myself drown in the memories from the past. I couldn't even bring myself to peek a glance into that window.

"I'm not... Okay," I spoke through the painful stiffness in my throat. I swallowed back the aching lump, "I don't understand. Maddy, I don't understand any of this."

I brought my knees to my chest hugged them close with one arm while the other one held the phone up.

Here I was, moments away from shattering into pieces in the fire exit of an office building, still deeply affected by the demons I thought I had long gotten rid of.

"What did he do? What did he say? What happened Sky??" Maddy asked.

"What possible reason could he have to show up here?" I breathed into the phone. My chest felt like it wanted to explode. I wanted to cry but my cheeks were dry as the Sahara.

"Did he say something to you? Huh?" she asked again.

"He just... I didn't... I didn't let him. Before he could say anything before I could think... I just—" I paused as the words that were about to come out of my mouth echoed in my head.

I kissed Jordan. In front of everyone.

And then it hit me.

How do I say those words out loud? How could I possibly explain this to anyone? How do you tell someone that, 'Hey, saw my ex, lost my fucking mind, and then kissed the guy I wholesomely loathe, and oh, I am also to be his fake girlfriend.'?

It sounded absurd in my own mind.

I hadn't yet told Maddy about everything that had happened last night at the dinner with Jordan and to top all of that I had another drama on my plate?

When did my life go from 'broke and pathetic' to 'still broke and pathetic but with an added dramatic flair'?

"Skylar? Your silence isn't helping matters right now. Did Max say something to you? What exactly happened? Tell me something other than 'Max is here'!" she screeched into the phone.

"I'll tell you everything once you come home," I disconnected the call and pulled myself up on my feet. I picked my belongings from the stairs and slung the strap of my heels from my fingers before beginning my descent.

Almost half an hour later, I finally reached home.

I got out of the cab and paid the fare. My wallet was almost empty and I barely had any money left in the bank. These cab rides were a big drain on my wallet but I couldn't have spent an hour on the train with my mind occupied with all that had happened today. I was eager to get home.

Pushing the doors wide open, I entered the building lobby and mindlessly started to climb the stairs. The elevator in this building had been out of service for almost a year now. No amount of complaints made any progress. Thankfully, I lived on the second floor so I didn't need to walk that much.

As I reached my floor, I dived into the purse hanging from my shoulder to look for the keys.

"Sky." A familiar voice called out.

Startled by the voice, my heart skipped a beat and I jumped on my spot, dropping the keys on the carpeted floor. I turned in the direction of the voice, much to my better judgment, and found Max standing a few steps down the hallway.