Road To Me

by Erica Andrews

  I saw them eyeing their steak so, I suggested,

  “Everything smells and looks delicious. Why don’t we eat and pick up on the conversation a little after?

  The guys happily agreed, instantly cutting their steak and started eating. Guess they were hungry. I took my time eating going over what we’d been talking about. Both Kasper and Dean had quickly said that they wanted to date me, but wouldn’t they care when I decided to go further with one and not the other? I didn’t think the guys had thought this through all the way. I meant, I would be furious if I was dating Dean, and he was dating another girl. Especially if he was sleeping with her but not me. Well, I’d probably be mad if he was dating anyone besides me period. Forget the sleeping around part. I would’ve become white trash woman in five seconds flat, with hair pulling and face scratching, and that’d be just with the girl. Dean would’ve had to run very far to get away from my wrath if that happened. So how could they be so calm?

  Chewing the last bit of my food, I wiped my face with my napkin to make sure I didn’t leave any sauce on me. You couldn’t have a conversation about dating if you had a bunch of white sauce on your face. Wait. Did that sound dirty? Well, I didn’t mean to sound dirty. I looked up and shook the dirty thought from my head. Bad girl. Seeing the guys were polishing the last bit of their steaks, I waited. One last drink of lemonade to bolster my courage, I straighten my back and got ready to hear what Damon had to say.

  “Hello, boys”

  No. Not her. Anyone but the Snow White Bitch.

  Turning around, a sick feeling settled in the bottom of my stomach that I wished would turn sour. If only so I could vomit over onto Mrs. Snow Bitchy White. Of course, on today of all days, she would be standing there in a dress almost the exact shade as mine, but shorter, tighter, and see through? Wow. I wondered how much she charged. Leaving nothing to the imagination, she finished her walk, or dared I say strut, to my table. Not even acknowledging me, she went behind the boys one by one, laying her arm across their shoulders. I watched the boys’ faces as her ams slid across them. They were blank. I couldn’t tell if they were as repulsed as I was or if they were just use to this type of behavior. Cringing inside, I kept my inner white trash on a leash, and smiled the sickening sweet smile that every young Southern woman was taught. The smile you used while you cut them to ribbons with your words.

  “Camille, fancy meeting you here, can I help you with something?”

  Smiling back, she finally acknowledged my presence. “Well, nothing you can help me with, but maybe one of these three gentlemen can?”

  Silence. Oh, how I loved that silence. Eat that and sit on it, bitch. She waited a little longer to see if someone would take her up on her offer. When the silence bordered on pathetic and then went to painful, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Winking at me she made her way back to Damon and Dean. I knew this would not be good. Putting a hand on each of their shoulders, she squeezed. I waited to see if the guys would say something or if she was going to keep pushing. She kept pushing.

  “Boys, did we not use to have so much fun? We could go back to that.”

  Clearing my throat, I glanced back at the hostess table where she had left her date. “And what about your date? I don’t think he’d like to be just left alone why you sit here and dine with us?”

  Her crunched-up face showed her irritation at me reminding her about her date. Relaxing her shoulders, she took a breath and smoothed away the lines to reveal flawless skin once again. Which shouldn’t be possible. Did I mention that I hated her?

  “Thank you, Melly, you are absolutely right. Why don’t you be a dear and go give Geoffrey company? I was sure the hostess would be there any moment to show you two to a table. You don’t mind, do you, hun?”

  I gritted my teeth. “It’s Kelly, you trollop.”

  At the same time, I heard Kasper whisper, “Did you just say trollop?” Damon scooted his chair back.

  “Camille, enough, I’ll walk you back to your date.”

  Hurt, but madder than anything that Damon hadn’t put her in her place, I stood right along with him. “You know what? I think I’m ready to leave.” I looked at Dean and Kasper, “Are you two ready to leave? I think were done here.”

  Getting ready to turn to head toward the door, Damon stopped me by grabbing my arm and whispering, “Don’t we have more to talk about?”

  Did we? Not with the way I was feeling right now. Which was, about two seconds from letting the little red devil on my shoulder out and have free reign. And he didn’t seem to have a clue. “Not tonight we don’t.”

  Jerking my arm out of his grasp, I marched past Damon, knowing the others would catch up. I headed for the Jeep and flung open the backseat door, knowing there was no way I was sitting beside Damon on the way home. I was mad that I couldn’t tell if I was madder at him more for not telling her off or the fact that he dated the trollop to begin with. And her, don’t even get me started on her. Not paying attention, I jumped slightly when Kasper jumped in beside me. “I still can’t believe you called her a trollop. Who says that anymore?”

  Embarrassed more that I couldn’t think of a better word but glad that his embarrassment took a bit of my anger, I defended my word. “It was the first word I could think of. If I had had time I could’ve come up with tons of better ones.”

  Intrigued, Kasper asked, “Like what?”

  Blowing out a raspberry I looked up at the ceiling so I could think. “Off the top of my head, let’s see there’s cunny twat, twatwaffle, deflated whoopees, cuntasaur, stinkavag, fish lips, douche pleaser, just off the top of my head. But I was flustered.”

  Before Kasper could say anything to my creative insults, Dean and Damon got in and shut the door.

  Twisting around, Damon not surprisingly had something to say. “What was that about? We weren’t done with our discussion.”

  Did he really not get what just happened? I meant I was slightly miffed at the other guys for letting her touch them, but it was his ex. And he’d done nothing. And after walking her back to her date, he just wanted to pick up where we left off? No.

  The embarrassment fled from my weird names, and the anger came rushing back. “I was done with the discussion for tonight!” Reining myself in, I said in a much quieter voice, “I’ve got a lot to think about, and I didn’t like how things were done earlier. I think you boys need to take a step back and make sure of what you want, because once we start dating, things like your exes touching you and other things like that can’t happen. At least not if you’re with me.”

  Sighing, I was done, so I settled back into my seat, thankful the boys left me alone to my thoughts on the awkward car ride home.

  Twenty

  Kelly

  1. I didn’t like Camille.

  2. Damon was a big stupid jerk.

  3. Boys were stupid.

  The week following the date or outing or whatever you wanted to call it, I didn’t text the boys at all. I got messages from all of them, but I for some reason held back. In this ride of a rollercoaster that had been going on in my life, I knew I still had to find me and not so much a relationship. But I knew what I wanted. At least I thought I did. What I knew I didn’t want was extra baggage and complications. Which was Camille. So I let my thoughts and the boys stew for the week. Not caring if it was right or wrong. And got back to me.

  That week alone, I ran around naked in my house, not always a good idea. Especially if you had neighbors or pets. I ate the spiciest food I could, which I found I was not a fan of and neither was my stomach. I read the Walking Dead graphic novels, and not because of Damon. I was just curious and found they were pretty good.

  Now at the end of the week, there I sat, contemplating the meaning of life and how to solve world hunger. I drunk my coffee out of my doughnut coffee mug at my bubblegum pink table and thought.

  Granted nothing was as serious as solving peace on earth, but my thoughts were serious to me. Leaving Trevor was probably one of the hardes
t and best things I’d ever done. In the two months I’d been here, I had learned more about myself than the years I was married to Trevor.

  Surprisingly enough, the guys had been great at giving me my space these weeks. Not pushing for something more, but also still letting me know they were there if I needed. I didn’t know if I would have been able to wait while waiting on them to get their stuff together. And I knew that sounded unfair, but I guessed I was an unfair kinda girl. After Trevor cheated, I knew I needed to find myself. But at the same time, if I was gonna be in a relationship, I knew I needed someone devoted to me. Not a guy with random strings of girlfriends.

  Uh, sometimes I was too deep even for me. Finishing off my coffee, I got up and put my deep thoughts on the back burner for another day. Stretching, I looked for Duchess where I found her somehow lying half on and half way off the couch. With her mouth hanging open and doggy snores filling the air.

  “Duchess!”

  Falling off the couch at the sound of her name, she pounced back up at a rate that I wished I could roll out of my own bed. Fully awake now, she pranced around my feet, wondering why her nap was suddenly interrupted. I bent down and scratched her on the head. “Wanna go for a walk, uh, wanna go for a walk?”

  At the mention of the magic word walk her ears perked up, completely forgetting me, running to the door.

  “All right, let’s go.”

  Arriving back at the house from our walk, well I walked, Duchess, ran, skipped, jumped, rolled whatever she could do she did. Including jumping into a giant mud puddle from where it had rained the night before. Coming into the house, I locked the door behind me and Duchess. Immediately the sound of buzzing assaulted my ears, and I had only so many guesses to what it was. I had forgotten that I had left my phone here before the walk. Since me and Duchess were absolutely filthy, I decided to check who could have been texting me before hopping in the shower. And yes, I said both of us. Duchess had felt the need to share the love of mud with me, so not only was she dirty, but so was I. And those baths were going to take a while.

  Going over to my kitchen table, I picked up my phone, already guessing who it was. Damon. That was not who I was expecting. I hadn’t heard much from him this week, since the dinner fiasco. That was not the case with Dean and Kasper. I still got a little hi or funny meme from them every day. I knew where I stood with Dean and Kasper. We were okay, I thought. They’d already admitted they had wanted to date before the person who shall not be named entered. I meant I wasn’t really sure how it’d work, but I didn’t think they’d mind taking it slow. Damon, on the other hand ,was a wild card. I never knew what he was thinking, let alone felt. I had thought we were friends but then he held my hand. I thought he didn’t like me, but then he’d kissed me. And those dance moves. But then when I needed him to have my back with Camille or would have liked to have had anything from him this week, I didn’t get anything.

  I held the phone in my hand, not looking down. Did I want to know? I did. So I looked down.

  “Miss you, can we talk? Garage in about an hour?

  Relief. I felt relief. That he was wanting to talk things out. Though his admitting that he missed me was odd. His being so opened with his feeling was not how I pegged Damon. But maybe he could be. Who knew?

  I took a look and saw I had already lost five minutes of time to get ready. Yelling for Duchess, I ran to the bathroom and let her chase me. We both needed baths, or in my case showers, before we went to see Damon.

  With Duchess bathed and settled on the rug, I hopped in to get the mud and now wet dog smell off of me. Since time was of the essence because a certain dog wanted to play in the water and not get out. Not wasting any second available, I scrubbed myself pink after rushing through washing my hair.

  Jumping out, I ran to the closet and found my blue skirt and paired it with a white off the shoulder top. Finding my white sandals, I ran to the living room and shoved them on. Duchess, who was already at the door, actually allowed me to slip her collar on easily. I swore that dog wanted Damon more then she wanted me. Holding on to the leash at least until we got to town, I asked Duchess, “All right, Duchess you ready? Okay, let’s go see Damon.”

  Helping Duchess in the car, I went around and got in the other side. I put the car in drive and drove out of the driveway when inspiration hit. Why not stop by and pick Damon something up? A peace offering of sorts. I smiled, “Duchess, you want to stop by and pick Damon up a treat?”

  “Arrrgh.”

  Laughing I tried to placate her, “Fine we’ll stop and get you one, too.”

  Twenty-One

  Kelly

  After I grabbed the box of doughnuts from the diner, walking to my car I thought about what had happened in the last two months. Two months ago, I never would have thought that I would be buying doughnuts for a guy named Damon who owned a garage.

  Someone who I may or may not be friends with. Someone who I also quite possibly could have had a relationship with. I knew I couldn’t think too much on it though. It was too much for my brain to process the ifs or what nots. Especially the what nots. I was hoping with our talk that he would shed some light on what the future held. I could admit that going to the garage with it just being me and Damon made me slightly nervous. I had stupidly assumed that him saying I missed you would mean good things for us.

  Now I wasn’t so sure, and I was starting to second guess everything. And with reason. Damon was the definition of difficult. If there was one person who could say one thing and mean another, then it would be Damon Timber. I got in the car, setting the box of doughnuts in the passenger seat, and turned the radio on. I suddenly felt like listening to music that I knew only Damon and I could appreciate. Singing along as I pulled out of the parking lot, I made my way to the garage. The garage I had found out wasn’t that far from the diner, which was why I guessed the boys had breakfast there every Sunday.

  It only took me about ten minutes to get there. Or the equivalent of about two songs. Pulling in to the parking lot, I parked beside the only other car there. A little red thing that said hybrid on the side. Putting the car in park, I checked the time on my dashboard and saw that I was right on time. Good. I’d admit that I had a tendency to run late. I reached down for the box of doughnuts that I got Damon, secretly hoping that he liked them. Damon had brought me doughnuts every Monday after I had won an argument, so I thought why not return the favor. And bring them to him for once. Still holding the box, I shook my head to try get rid of the last bit of nerves. Turning around, I looked at Duchess in the back seat and saw that she was still gnawing on her bone that I had got at the pet store earlier. Which was the biggest I could find. But I had a feeling it still wouldn’t last that long. At least not the way she was eating.

  Grabbing her leash, I held it up to show her. “Duchess, you ready to go, you wanna see Damon?”

  I swore, at the sound of Damon’s name, my dog’s ears perked up and she dropped the bone. Still holding the box, I placed it on the top of the car, and opened the passenger car door to put the leash on Duchess. Hooking on her leash, I let her out of the car and grabbed my surprise dessert from the top of the car.

  The gravel crunched under my shoes as I walked across the parking lot. As I walked, I took in the exterior of the building. Even though the guys had taken my car here to check it out, I personally had never been before. Not surprisingly, it was an older building, built with dark red bricks with color that had faded through the years.

  They had three stations set up for cars, and another that looked maybe for some kind of bigger vehicle. The front had what looked to have been professionally landscaped, and it looked beautiful, with multi colored tulips and dark black mulch setting up the entry way. It was inviting. Turning slightly, I looked to the side of the garage, taking in Damon’s motorcycle, but Dean’s truck seemed to be missing. I figured Dean had gone to go get lunch. Which would have given me and Damon a chance to talk. The closer I got to the door, the more I got excited. I couldn’t wait t
o see the look on his face when he tried the type of doughnuts I got him. Bacon doughnuts. I knew he usually didn’t like sweets so I kind of planned on introducing him to the wonderful creation of savory pastries.

  I stopped to readjust my hold on Duchess’s leash, and smiled as I made my way up to the front door. As I turned to open the door, I happened to turn toward the window and stopped. The smile fell from my face as my stomach instantly soured and threaten to regurgitate the doughnut I had eaten earlier. There sitting in Damon’s lap was none other than Snow Bitchy White. The same Camille who he didn’t tell off at The Chalet last week. The same Camille that was his ex and basically said he hated. The same bitch that was holding his arms and rubbing against him like a bitch in heat. Which I guessed she was.

  Hearing a loud plop, I realized in my shock that I had let go of the box of doughnuts. Splattering all across the surface of the pavement walkway. Which caused Duchess to bark and lunge after them in hopes of gaining a little snack. Looking back up, I knew Damon must have heard Duchess’s barking because he quickly pushed Camille to the floor and was staring out the window. At me.

  Making eye contact with him, I watched as he moved toward the door. And that was all the motivation I needed to start moving. Tugging on Duchess’s leash, I left the doughnuts behind scattered across the dirty gravel ridden pavement. Fast as my legs could carry, I took Duchess and started running for the car. Once at the car, I jerked the door open, getting Duchess in on my side and hopping in after her. Slamming the car door hard, I took a deep breath in hopes of quelling the shaking of my body. I cranked up the car as fast as I could, trying in vain to stop the shaking of my hands. I couldn’t un-see what I had just seen, but I could get away from it. Pulling out, I took a chance and glanced out my review mirror. Standing there with the bright blue sky as his background was Damon Timbers.