by Audrey Harte
In the end, it appeared that he had learned to say all the right things to get what he wanted and that was it…end of story. He obviously felt no obligation to give her a verbal excuse or explanation before just leaving her there.
If she kept thinking about it too much longer, her head was going to explode with all of the possibilities of why he had done what he had done and whether he was eventually going to explain himself or not. Exhausted, she finally turned the shower off and dried herself off before pulling on her bathrobe.
She collapsed on her bed, pulling the covers over her head. She tried to make herself relax and go to sleep, but she kept seeing him in her head. One moment, he was staring deeply into her eyes through their shared reflections on that bathroom mirror. The next, he was answering his cell phone, not even looking up at her as he stood and walked out of the bar.
Maybe he had a wife or girlfriend out of town and she had returned early, calling him to come home, so he had had no choice but to leave. It would just be her luck to be something like that. Maybe he had been disappointed in their bathroom encounter and didn’t know a polite, decent way to tell her she was disgusting and he never wanted to touch her again. But he hadn’t acted disgusted by her; he had acted like he was seriously turned on by her. So what was it? What had made him run?
The questions continued to run over and over through her mind until she finally gave up and went to the living room to get some weed, a lighter and a pipe out of her box. Packing a small bowl, she went back into the bedroom and climbed back into bed, sitting back against the headboard as she lit the edge of the weed and inhaled deeply, holding her breath for several seconds. Letting out a stream of smoke, she repeated the process twice more before she set the lighter and pipe down on her night stand and slid back down under the covers, snuggling deeper into her pillows.
Thankfully, exhaustion claimed her minutes later as she fell into a deep, but troubled sleep.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Waking up for work the next morning was rough, but she managed to go through the motions, barely making it into the shower before she started whimpering and tearing up again. Mentally, she shook herself and told herself to get a grip — the asshole wasn’t worth her tears. She didn’t bother drying her hair, slicking it back into a bun and slathering on some make-up so no one could tell she’d been crying most of the night.
She got to work early and headed straight to her desk, not stopping to talk to anyone on her way there. She didn’t trust herself to not burst into tears if anyone from last night mentioned Nate to her. Determined to keep focused while at work, she stuck her iPod earbuds in and listened to music all morning as she worked, at times stabbing at the keyboard like she was attacking it.
When lunch time rolled around, she headed straight outside to the parking lot where she unlocked and got into her car, rolling down the windows for some fresh air. Reluctantly, she looked at her cell phone, but there were no new messages waiting for her. She checked her email inbox, but there was nothing waiting for her except Groupon promotions and an ad for happy hour at her favorite Japanese BBQ restaurant.
Sighing and sniffling, she wiped her tears away and leaned back against the headrest, closing her eyes. Blindly, she felt down the side for the lever so she could lower her seat back.
“Hey, I don’t mean to intrude or anything, but are you okay?”
Her eyes flew open as she sat forward, blinking and looking around for the source of the unwanted interruption. As her head swung to the left, she saw a vaguely familiar face staring down at her through her car window.
She almost groaned out loud as she realized that it was that guy…the one who had seen her dancing in her car seat after Gabe had asked her out on their first date. She had secretly dubbed him Lips, since he had picked up her lip gloss and brought it back to her...plus he had really full, sexy lips. If she remembered correctly, she’d been kind of rude to him.
Grimacing, she shook her head at him. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no, not really. I’m kind of having a really shitty day…well, year, really.”
“Sorry to hear that,” he said. “Well look, like you said, it’s not any of my business, but I hate to see a pretty girl cry.”
Narrowing her eyes, she glared at him. “Really? You stopped to ask how I’m doing so you could hit on me?”
He laughed and raised his free hand in protest, the other holding onto the strap of a black duffel bag. “Hey, not at all. You’ve got the wrong idea. You know, I was just looking out. I hate seeing any girl sad, really.”
Feeling guilty for snapping his head off, she looked down at her hands and took a deep breath. “Sorry, I’m usually not this bitchy, I swear. And I usually don’t take it out on other people.”
“Wrong time, wrong place?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, look. I’ve got rehearsal right now and I’d better get going if I’m going to make it there on time, but how about grabbing a cup of coffee with me after you get off work? I’m a sensitive guy and I listen really well. If you’ve got some shit you need to get off your chest, I’d be happy to listen and take some bashing in place of whomever you’re currently pissed at. But you’re buying the coffee.”
Snorting, she looked at him skeptically. “So you’ll listen to me rant and complain if I buy you coffee in exchange?”
He nodded seriously and looked at her expectantly.
“Well, somehow, I think I’m getting the better end of the bargain, but…okay. I guess I could use a guy’s perspective and it’d be nice to have someone unbiased to talk to.”
“Cool. I usually get out of rehearsal around five-thirty or six. What time do you get off work?”
“Six.”
“Alright, meet you at the Starbucks that’s right between my dance studio and the movie theater?”
“You’re a dancer?”
“Yeah,” he grinned at her. “Not the exotic kind, though.”
Annie couldn’t stop the unwanted smile his response brought to her lips.
“Oh look, see? I just made you smile.” He smirked, as he shook his finger at her. “That’s more like it. You should definitely smile more often.”
Of course, that just brought the frown back to her face. “I smile all the time.”
“Well, in the two times I’ve seen you, you were smiling once. So I guess that’s fifty percent of the time. But I think everyone should smile much more than fifty percent of the time. The world would be a much happier place.”
“You’re probably right. Okay, Mr. Smiley Fred Astaire. I’ll meet you at Starbucks a little after six.”
“Haha, cool deal.” He started to walk away and paused, swinging back around. “Wait, I just realized I don’t even know your name, yet.”
“Annie.”
“Casey,” he said, walking back to her car and reaching through the window to shake her hand.
“Nice to meet you, Casey.”
“Likewise. Well, I’ll see you later,” he said, nodding at her before he walked away. She watched him walk out of the parking lot and around the corner before she mentally shook herself and got out of her car, thinking it should be a crime for guys that cute to be so charming.
The first time she’d seen him, she didn’t really get a good look at him, but this time, she realized he was pretty tall, had a nice tan and very toned arms. Both times, he wore a backwards red baseball cap, so she still wasn’t quite sure what his hair looked like.
When he’d come over to shake her hand, she’d noticed that he had amazing green eyes and didn’t appear to have any piercings…that she could see anyway. He also smelled ridiculously good. Heaven help her.
~ . ~ . ~ . ~
When she looked at the clock and saw that it was six, Annie shut down her computer and gathered her things, stopping at her car to drop off her work bag. It was getting a little chilly, so she pulled on a sweater she found in her backseat, fished her wallet out of her bag and then locked the car door.
/> She walked up to Starbucks a few minutes later, immediately spotting Casey sitting at a table outside. He appeared to be texting someone as she walked up and pulled out the chair across from him. Glancing up and noticing her, he flashed an easy grin and slipped the phone into his pocket.
“You made it,” he said, pushing a coffee cup towards her.
“What’s this?”
“I took a chance and got you a White Chocolate Mocha with whipped cream. I know girls usually love that drink.”
Annie just stared at him for a moment before speaking. “Um, thanks. It’s my favorite.”
He grinned and leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, I’m good like that.”
“Interesting…but, I thought I was buying the coffee? You know, in exchange for listening to me vent?”
“You can get the coffee next time.”
There was going to be a next time? She certainly hoped there would be. “Deal.”
“So…you’re here now. Tell me what’s got you so down today.”
Taking a deep breath, Annie sighed and took a sip of her coffee. “Mmm…that’s good.” Casey just sat there looking at her, waiting for her to start talking. “Ah, okay…where to start? Well, I guess it kind of goes all the way back to when I was dating this actor who had just moved out to L.A. I was like nineteen and he took advantage of me, stayed with me rent free for several months. I was paying all the bills and he was getting a free ride. He would turn me down every time I tried to like, you know, instigate sex — sorry if this is TMI.”
Casey laughed. “Nah, keep going.”
“Okay, so he would turn me down every time and I didn’t understand what the hell was going on. I was young, in great shape, thought I was pretty attractive. I couldn’t undersand why he never wanted to sleep with me. Anyhow, he finally was able to get his own place and I saw him even less.
“Eventually, I got frustrated and one night at this New Year’s party, I ended up bringing this guy home with me. One thing led to another and yeah, you can guess what happened…and then Mark, the guy I was seeing, walks in on us. I felt like the worst person in the world — I never thought I would be a cheater.
“So Mark put me through the ringer, making me feel guilty and terrible for hurting him. Then I found out that he was talking on the phone to this other girl he knew every day when I would go to work, so he was actually cheating on me first the whole time!” Annie sighed, taking another drink of her coffee.
“Damn. That was a pretty dick move on his part.”
“Yeah, you think? Anyway, so fast forward several years later, I’ve understandably got trust issues and I tried to date here and there, but nothing ever lasted longer than maybe six months or so. Then I finally broke down and decided to try online dating. I’ve got a couple girlfriends who have met people that way and one of them is in a serious relationship now, so I figured it couldn’t hurt to try.”
Casey chuckled and nodded at her. “Yeah, I’ve tried that a few times myself.”
“Any success?”
“Heh, well, not really. But keep going with your story.”
“Well, I wasn’t really looking to spend a lot of money on this until I kind of tried it out, so I figured I’d just check out the Craigslist ads first and see if I had any luck with a free service.”
“Ha! Craigslist, huh? How’d that go?”
“Not so great. I mean, I met a couple of guys and they both seemed great at first. I fell pretty hard for the first guy. He was totally my type and our first meeting was everything I could have wished for and more. We were totally inseparable for the first few weeks. He even flew me out to stay with him for the weekend at this gorgeous resort in Phoenix.”
“Wow. Seriously?”
“Yep. It was amazing. He really pulled out all the stops. But after giving me like the most perfect weekend of my life, I get back to L.A. and he says we need to talk.”
“Oh no! The dreaded final words.”
“Ugh, I know, right? But I was really hoping that ‘the talk’ wasn’t coming, even then.”
“So what was his problem?”
“Pregnant ex-girlfriend.”
“Oh shit.” Casey winced.
“Yep.”
“So what’d you do?”
Annie laughed. “The only thing I could do to retain any dignity I had left. I told him to leave.”
“That’s it? You didn’t go crazy psycho on him and like throw some shit at his head or something?”
“Ha, no, but maybe I should have.”
“Some girls I know would have, but I guess most of the girls I know are pretty crazy.”
“He wasn’t worth breaking anything over.”
“There you go.” Smiling, Annie finished the rest of her coffee and Casey got up to throw their empty cups away in the trash. Walking back to the table, he offered her his hand. “Wanna get out of here and take a walk?”
“Sure,” she agreed, letting him help her up. He grabbed his duffel bag and gestured for her to lead the way. They started a lazy stroll around the plaza, pausing as a group of teenagers almost plowed them over, racing each other to the movie theater. Annie actually tripped backwards as they pushed past her, sending her flying into a big potted plant. Laughing, Casey grabbed her hands, helping her stand back up. Embarrassed as she was, she laughed it off and silently cursed the rambunctious teenagers for making her look like a klutz in front of him.
Helping her dust off, he prompted her to continue their conversation. “So you’ve gotten your heart broken twice and now you hate the world.”
“Oh no, three times, actually. The latest was really my own damn fault, though. I met this guy in the Casual Encounters section.”
“Really?”
“I know. I know!” Annie was baffled at herself. She couldn’t believe she was telling this guy everything with absolutely no filter. It was terrifying and kind of liberating at the same time. She was being one hundred percent, completely honest with a guy and he wasn’t running for the hills…yet.
“What happened?”
“So we had some good email banter going on and we were exchanging stories of some of the craziest sexual encounters we’ve had.”
“This just keeps getting more and more interesting.”
“You have no idea.”
He chuckled. “Well, don’t keep me in suspense. Keep going.”
“So we both admitted to having a few somewhat public encounters, which we both thought was pretty hot.”
“Nice.”
“So I told him that one of my unfulfilled fantasies was to do it in a public restroom.”
“Uh oh, is this going where I think this is going? Are you going to tell me you did it with him in a public restroom and you got arrested?”
Annie snorted and shook her head, unable to keep herself from laughing. “Come on, this is serious,” she complained.
“Sorry, sorry,” he said, holding up his hands and smiling at her.
“Anyways, we ended up meeting for coffee, which was really nice. We were getting along really well, so then he asked me to go to Third Street Promenade with him.”
“You did not do it at Third Street.”
“No,” she said, dragging out the word. “Who’s telling this story?”
“Sorry, I won’t interrupt again. Promise.”
“Ha, somehow I don’t believe you. Anyhow, I’m almost done. So we walked around the Promenade and he introduced me to my first gelato.”
“That sounds really dirty somehow.”
“I thought you weren’t going to interrupt again?”
Casey didn’t say another word and she giggled before continuing on.
“To me, gelato is basically the same as ice cream. Only not as good.”
“Oh thank God. I thought I was the only one.”
“Right? It’s just a fancy name! I mean, maybe it’s different if you get it fresh in Italy, but here, I’m sure they’ve just Americanized the shit out of it anyway.”
“True sto
ry.”
So we walked around the Promenade for a while and then we went down to the pier and rode the Ferris Wheel.”
“How romantic.”
“But I’m scared of heights.”
“How…tragic.”
Laughing, Annie punched his arm and he winced in mock pain. “We both went home after that, but he texted me right after I got home and said he wanted to come over for dinner with me and my gay BFF who lives in the same apartment complex as me. So he came over, they hit it off, everything’s going really well, I couldn’t be happier, then he ended up going home right after Alex left. And he could have totally had me that night, but he kept saying that he wanted to be true friends with benefits and get to know me better first.”
“Horseshit,” Casey said as he coughed.
“Ha, yeah exactly. So the next night, I went out to karaoke with some friends from work to celebrate my friend’s birthday and I invited him along. He came to watch me, but he doesn’t drink or do karaoke. I had like three double Kamikazes and was feeling pretty damn good. I sang my first song, he seemed impressed — the night appeared to be going very well. Then I had to use the bathroom and when I opened the door, he was standing there, so he came in and shut the door.”
“Ohhh, you did it at the karaoke bar!” he crowed, making several people turn around to look at them.
“Shh!” Annie shushed him, slapping his arm hard.
“Ow, has anyone ever told you that you’re kind of violent?”
“Ha, my friend Alex has, but I think you’re both pussies.”
“Hey now.”
“I’m kidding, sort of, but could you please keep your voice down?” Annie pleaded.
“Sorry,” he apologized, looking immediately contrite.
“Apology accepted. Anyhow, I’m almost done with my story. So yeah, we did it in the bathroom at the karaoke bar and someone knocked on the door just as he got his rocks off, but I was robbed of my orgasm. I can’t believe I’m telling you all of this.”
“My female friends say I’m easy to talk to,” he said with a smirk.
“Yeah well…so, we straightened our clothes and left the bathroom. Thankfully, whoever was waiting for the bathroom gave up and left the hallway, so no one saw us come out of the bathroom together. We sat back down and I got called up to sing my next song, and while I was on stage, someone called his cell. So he answered the phone and then all of a sudden, he stood up and walked out of the bar. I just thought he needed to go outside to talk on the patio because it was pretty noisy inside.”
