Tell Me Something (The Something Series Book 1)

by Bondurant, Aubrey

  “Sasha. I figured maybe you would want her there, too. I know she’ll be thrilled for you.”

  “I texted her earlier but haven’t heard back.”

  “I think she’s probably at the gym; she leaves early on Fridays.”

  “So where are we going?”

  “Piano bar uptown. You’ll like it, and it’s perfect for celebrating.”

  “Brian, you don’t have to do this. I feel like I totally crashed your Friday night with my pity party.”

  “You’re kidding, right? Come on, Haylee, this is huge news. Did you let Mark know?”

  “Uh, no, not yet.”

  “He told me how impressed he was with your essay, and he could make the trip down, so we should call him.”

  “He told you he was impressed?”

  Brian nodded and dialed his phone, putting it again on speaker. “Mark, I have Haylee here and we have some news.” He gestured for me to take the phone.

  “I got into all of the schools.”

  “All of them?” he questioned, sounding astonished.

  “Yep. Stanford, Harvard, Cornell, Yale, Columbia, and NYU.”

  “Haylee, that’s awesome. I’ve never known anyone to get into all of them. I told you your personal statement was incredible.”

  “Well, thank you for critiquing it and looking over my application. It meant a lot.”

  “Of course. Are you celebrating?”

  “That’s the plan,” Brian replied, taking him off of speaker. “Meet us. I’m bagging on Josh for dinner, and I think you should come down. Yeah, so who cares?” Brian winked again.

  I figured Josh was going to be plenty pissed off when he found out that all of his friends knew my news, but he didn’t—and they were taking me out.

  “All right, prepare for a long night. Mark will meet us there in a couple of hours.”

  Once we arrived at the piano bar, he got us a great table within minutes.

  “Brian, I can’t thank you enough for this, but Josh is going to flip that both his best friends are out celebrating with me, and he doesn’t even know what for.”

  “Well, then, he should have asked,” he quipped back but then relented a little. “All right, I’ll text him the place right now. If he shows up, then good, but if not, you’re going to have a great time anyhow, all right?”

  Sounded good to me.

  ***

  I was pretty much drunk. It was after ten o’clock which meant a firm four hours of drinking. Mark and Brian had been thrilled that I loved the beer that was on draft, and we had done a chugging contest at which I’d lost, big time.

  Sasha sat beside me and handed me the glass of water that Will had been kind enough to order from the waitress. Catherine had unfortunately been out of town. Brian and Mark were recalling a story from college when I glanced up and saw Josh walking towards us.

  “Hey, look who decided to join the party,” Brian drawled.

  Surprised, Josh looked towards Mark, “I didn’t know you were coming, too.”

  “Well, Brian called to come out for the celebration.”

  If Josh found this odd, he didn’t say so.

  Brian pulled out a chair. “Take a seat. Let’s get you a drink.”

  “So what is the celebration exactly?” Josh queried, looking at me.

  My face heated at the fact that he was the only one still in the dark. “I got into all of the law schools I applied to.”

  I couldn’t read his expression, but at least his words were sincere. “That’s terrific. When did you find out?”

  “Well, I started receiving letters Tuesday, and the last one from Harvard came today.”

  Josh held up his glass. “Cheers, then. Congratulations.” His eyes flicked over mine and then he turned towards Mark in conversation.

  “You feeling all right?” Sasha asked me, and I faked a smile.

  “Yes, a little bit tipsy. Excuse me. I’m going to make my way to the ladies’ room and make sure my balance is still intact.” Will helped me out and I gave him a smile. I needed to get myself together as seeing Josh again after a week of radio silence had me off balance. The drinks didn’t help either.

  In the restroom, I took a deep breath and glanced in the mirror. At least I didn’t look too bad for working a full day and now having been out drinking for a few hours. And my stomach was cooperating thanks to the carb fest Brian had insisted on ordering before starting on the beer. As I came out of the restroom, I came face to face with Josh. I hadn’t expected him to follow me, but he appeared to have been waiting for me in the hall.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” he questioned, searching my eyes.

  “I just did.” I didn’t mean to be flip, but I was a little drunk and a lot annoyed with the man.

  “I meant before you told everyone else. Why didn’t you tell me earlier this week?”

  “It must of slipped my mind with all of the phone conversations we shared,” I retorted sarcastically, considering he hadn’t once contacted me.

  “I didn’t get a chance this week. I had the funeral and some things to take care of. How did Brian get involved?” His tone was light even if his question wasn’t.

  “Brian came by the office tonight, and I showed him the letters. It snowballed from there.”

  “He does have that effect,” Josh noted wryly.

  “I’d better get back. Thanks for coming.”

  “Haylee, look, I was busy, and I didn’t want to burden you with stuff. And I knew it was that time of the month, so I figured spending the week away would be good.”

  My temper snapped. “You went from not being able to spend a night away to completely frigid. And if you’re going to imply your silence was because I was on my period, well that makes me think that all you want me for is sex.”

  He balked. “You know that’s not true, and I apologize if it came out that way.”

  “Why the distance this week? What happened after Vegas?”

  “What? Nothing, I just…”

  “Just what?”

  “Look, I don’t want to talk about it. It’s nothing to do with you, all right? It’s been a bad week all the way around.”

  “Are you going to tell me why it was such a bad week?”

  His eyes already told me the answer before he did. “No, you’re going to have to accept that I’m a private man. I’m not going to tell you everything.”

  “Right. Because I’m just the temporary secret girlfriend with an expiration date. Why bother to confide in me?” There, I said it, and immediately I saw his anger.

  “Is that what you really think?” he questioned.

  I gave a half shrug, turned around, and headed back to the table. It took all of my willpower not to cry but instead to plaster a smile on my face for the next thirty minutes.

  I did my best to ignore Josh once he appeared back at the table. He also must have realized it would look awkward if he took off right then, so we both went through the motions.

  It was past my bedtime and I could feel myself fading. “You guys are the best, but I should get home. At this rate I think I’m going to be good and hung over, Brian.” I gave him a pointed look.

  He held up his hands, and we all laughed.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You accepted the beer chugging challenge and I have to say gave me and Mark a run for our money. Plus you’re in your early twenties and should have twice the stamina we do,” he teased.

  Hugging Sasha first, I promised to meet her for lunch soon. Will embraced me next and told me he’d call when he got back in town since he was flying out the next morning for a modeling gig. Next was Mark, which was kind of awkward. He’d seemed uncomfortable ever since Josh had showed up. Brian, of course, lifted me off my feet with exaggerated exuberance and kissed me on the cheek.

  “Congratulations again,” Brian said.

  “Thank you.” I faced Mark. “And thanks again, Mark, for looking over my application and statement.”

  Blushing slightly, he
nodded and then gave me a thoughtful look. “Wait, you never said: which school are you going to choose?”

  Oh, that. “I honestly have no idea. I feel like I should play roulette with the letters and let fate decide. Although I talked to my father’s former partner today, and he said that he could find me affordable housing near Stanford. I guess I need to map it all out.”

  “Mark could probably find you affordable housing near Yale, too,” Josh offered.

  “Well, I vote Columbia or NYU, so you can stay in the city,” Sasha remarked.

  “Me, too. Stay in New York, Haylee girl,” Will said.

  I had to hold my tears back by biting my lip. I felt like the friends I had made here would miss me when I left. That feeling hadn’t been with me when I’d left high school, college, or LA. Looking at their faces, I tried not to get too emotional about the fact that each of them had taken time out of their busy schedules to be with me tonight. “Well, I’m going to try to figure it out by next week, and I’ll let you know.”

  Just as I was about to walk outside, Josh stood up. “I’ll make sure you get a cab. Anyway, I need to get home myself.”

  We walked out in silence while I tried to get a handle on my emotions over having real friends for the very first time.

  “My car is over here.”

  “It’s all right. I don’t want for people to see. I’ll take a cab.”

  “I don’t give a fuck if someone sees us. Get in my car, Haylee.”

  My feet thankfully decided to follow the direction of my brain screaming that he was being a complete jerk at the moment. I didn’t budge.

  We were in a standoff in the middle of the sidewalk. Finally, his eyes softened.

  “Please get in the car,” he relented.

  That was better and I knew we shouldn’t do this publicly. After Josh opened the door, I scooted into the back seat and stared out the window.

  We stayed silent during the entire ride and up until we arrived at our floor in the building.

  “Get your bags packed. We’re leaving for Charlotte, please,” Josh requested.

  “Right now?”

  “Remember, we have plans for a weekend in Charlotte. We’re going early.”

  “I haven’t heard from you all week long, and suddenly we have plans for tomorrow?”

  “It’s not sudden, we discussed it in Vegas. Look, it’s been a lousy week, and I thought I’d be worthless company.” He paused and then closed the distance between us. “I didn’t realize I was making you have a shitty week, too, when you should be nothing but smiles.”

  “You’re making the wrong excuses Josh. You shut me out completely, I want you to tell me why.”

  He sighed and hugged me closer. “I know I did. Can we talk about it tomorrow? We can fly down tonight, and we will have the whole weekend, just the two of us, okay?”

  I thought about insisting on hashing it out here. But between my drinking and the lateness of the hour, I agreed to wait. “All right. But we’ll talk about it tonight, when we get there,” I compromised.

  He looked instantly relieved and kissed my forehead. “We’ll leave in fifteen minutes. Do you need help, or are you all right to pack?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay.” I went inside my apartment, and got ready for the trip.

  ***

  The car ride to the airport was quiet, but I was grateful when Josh handed me a large bottle of water. His hand curled around mine and I let my mind let go of my anger for now. The flight gave me the opportunity for a couple hours of sleep. I barely registered when we left the plane for the drive to the house, but woke as the driver pulled up to Josh’s beautiful mansion.

  “Home sweet home. Come on, sleepyhead.”

  He led me into his spacious foyer and then straight up the spiral staircase to what must be the master bedroom. “Let’s get you in bed. It’s really late. I’ll give you a tour in the morning.” He undressed me slowly and then crawled in beside me.

  I sighed, loving the feel of him naked beside me.

  “You seemed emotional when we were leaving the bar. What were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking about the fact that Brian went out of his way to ensure I had a good night. That Sasha, Will, and Mark all dropped their plans because of me. I’ve never had that before,” I whispered, feeling his arms come around me.

  “They all adore you, Haylee. I just wish I would have checked in this week. You should get some sleep, baby. We’ll talk more in the morning.”

  “I’m not tired yet,” I whispered.

  “Hmm, I’m sure I can think of something to pass the time.”

  I felt his hips cradle my back side and the start of his erection.

  “You promised we could discuss your week tonight,” I insisted.

  “Not what I had in mind,” he protested, kissing my neck.

  “I can’t keep sharing with you, Josh, and get nothing in return.” I turned and faced him.

  “I didn’t want to pile my shit on top of yours. You have enough on your plate without dealing with my crap,” he muttered, unprepared for me to scramble out of the bed.

  I stood there just outside of his reach. “Try again Josh. Was it what I said to you that first night?”

  “Haylee, it wasn’t that.” He ran a hand through his hair sitting up in the bed. I tried not to let the fact that he had an erection distract me.

  “Was it telling your brother about us? You wondered why I was awkward about that whole scene and I’ll tell you it’s because I knew it was going to affect us going forward. That you’d get weird.”

  “Would you please get back into bed? Just let me hold you and I’ll figure out how to say this.”

  I reluctantly got back into bed and let him snuggle me into his arms, my back to his chest, and waited him out.

  Finally, he sighed. “I’ll just start with my week since that is easier. I received the call on Sunday night while we were in Vegas that my driver from when I was a kid had passed away. He was with me up until three years ago when he retired. I left for the Keys on Monday night. The viewing was Tuesday and the funeral on Wednesday. My mom and Colby came, too. It was expected, but still rough. And then my ex showed up. That was unforeseen.”

  I had to bite my tongue and measure my response carefully. “When was the last time you’d seen her?”

  “Three years ago, and I hadn’t expected her there at all.”

  I had a million questions I wanted to ask, starting with why she would have been there in the first place. I could only handle one issue at a time however so I chose to leave that alone for now. “Tell me about your friend.”

  He spent the next few minutes telling me about his family driver of many years and then was quiet. “I wish he’d had more time to enjoy his retirement.”

  “Sounds like an amazing guy. So after the funeral you went back up to Virginia with your mom?”

  “Yeah, where I met her new boyfriend.”

  “That must of have been tough.” I kept my comment simple, letting him choose what he wanted to tell me.

  “He was all right. My brother had met him before. It’s strange to see her with someone. I mean he’s the first guy she has dated and it’s been ten years, so I don’t know why I let it bother me.”

  “It would be hard at any point of time to see your parent with someone new. You’re entitled to your feelings.” I yawned and felt his kiss on my hairline.

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “Not asking questions about my ex.”

  “Mm, you know that I really want to ask why she was there.”

  He sighed. “She once told me that she spent more time with him than me during our marriage. I think she had a fondness for him. I really couldn’t say and I didn’t ask her.”

  I was grateful that he shared this fact with me. Flipping around to face him, I kissed his neck. “Sounds like a rough week,” I commented lightly, waiting for more.

  He reached out, stroking my face. “It was and I feel terr
ible that I was the last to know that you got into all of the Ivy League schools you applied to.”

  “I would have told you had you called.”

  “I thought about it multiple times,” he said lamely.

  “It hurt my feelings that you would go from not being able to spend a night away from me to going to a funeral for someone you cared about and not even tell me. I know this is short term Josh, I’ve accepted that, but the 180 degree turn was really abrupt and I’d like to know why.”

  “I’ll admit that it was weird after Colby found out. Maybe I panicked a little. The rest really comes down to self-preservation. I know this is short term too which is why not being able to be away from you for a night isn’t the direction we should be taking things. I’m not looking forward to ending things Haylee,” he admitted.

  I let out a breath. “Okay, I can understand that.” And I did. We both didn’t want to change one another or our long term goals and yet the thought of breaking things off in just a few months hurt like hell. “So you needed some distance to put things back into perspective?”

  “Yeah and now that you’ve received your letters, it’s sinking in that you’re really leaving soon.”

  I hugged him tightly and realized that he may be developing feelings he hadn’t planned on either.

  ***

  I was twenty three years old today and had assumed that Josh had forgotten my birthday. Actually, I wasn’t sure he even knew when it was. I had told him it was in March but had never revealed the actual day. I stretched out like a cat in his massive king sized bed, enjoying the fact that we had nothing on the agenda for the day but each other. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my birthday than having sex and enjoying some downtime with my man, even if he didn’t know what day it was.

  We had slept in after our late talk last night and Josh had been overly attentive with our lovemaking first thing this morning. He had brought me breakfast in bed and now I was contemplating a shower while he insisted on doing the dishes. I was pretty sure all this attention was his way of making up for the last week.

  Padding into the adjoining master bathroom, I marveled at the size of it. Marble tile was everywhere, and the sunken Jacuzzi tub looked like something I would definitely need to try later on. For now I was going to enjoy his oversized glass shower with jet sprays from all angles. It dawned on me that I’d really only seen just the bedroom and bathroom and I looked forward to a tour of his home later.