An Unplanned Lesson

by Beth Rinyu

  Wow, was that a genuine compliment without any sarcastic edge from Dailan O’Maley?

  The children began to cheer at the sight of Santa’s arrival. They looked up at him in awe, making me miss those days when Christmas was still magical and Santa still existed. Within seconds, the enormous Christmas tree was shining brightly as Bing Crosby’s White Christmas blared throughout town square.

  Santa began to hand out goody bags to each of the children. I watched as Ryan waited patiently for his. Santa finally made his way to Ryan. He said something that made Ryan nod in response before handing him the goody bag. Ryan came running over with a bag filled with candy in his hand.

  “Look what I got from Santa,” he said proudly as he waved the bag in the air. “You want some Miss Morgan?” he asked sweetly.

  “Oh, no thanks, sweetie, and I think it’s a little late for you to be eating that too,” I said, directing my comment to Dailan, who probably would have let him eat the whole bag before going to bed.

  “Why don’t you let me hold that,” Dailan said as he took the bag and shoved it in his coat pocket.

  “Can we get some hot chocolate?” Ryan asked excitedly.

  “Well, that depends. Miss Morgan may have to get home before she turns into a pumpkin,” Dailan said with a smile.

  “I would love to have hot chocolate with you, Ryan.” I said happily.

  “Cool!” Ryan exclaimed as he looked up at me, placing his hand in mine, taking me a little off guard.

  We drank our hot chocolate as we walked around the town. I never got sick of looking at the old beautiful houses that were so lovingly maintained decked out in Christmas lights. The clippity clop of horse hooves hitting the pavement and the sleigh bells ringing from the carriage full of people they were pulling made me feel like I was in a different place in time. I found it hard to believe, but I was actually enjoying myself with Ryan and Dailan.

  “Uncle D, can we please go to the arcade at the end of the street?” Ryan begged.

  “For what? So I can crush you in Death Race again?” Dailan asked as he placed his hand on Ryan’s head, messing up his hair.

  “That’s because you cheated last time,” Ryan said as looked up at Dailan with an adorable toothless grin.

  “I cheated? You’re just a sore loser,” Dailan joked as he effortlessly picked Ryan up and flung him over his shoulder.

  “Ahhh, help!” Ryan screamed, unable to control his laughter.

  I smiled at the way the two of them were interacting. A very small part of me caught a glimpse into why Ryan’s parents may have chosen Dailan in their will, after all.

  The dinging of machines filled the air as we walked into the arcade. My brother and I would spend hours here when we younger. Ryan immediately jumped on the Death Race game and anxiously waited for Dailan to put the coins in to start it up. Dailan hovered over Ryan the whole time, teasing him every time he would make a mistake.

  “Be quiet!” Ryan yelled, clearly growing agitated with the game and Dailan.

  By the time the game ended, Ryan’s frustration had doubled and Dailan’s relentless teasing was only adding to it. “I don’t like you,” Ryan pouted as he punched Dailan in the arm.

  “Oh, stop being such a baby,” Dailan said.

  “I’m not being a baby; you made me mess up!”

  Dailan began to laugh. “How did I make you mess up?”

  “I don’t know. You just did!” Ryan looked like he was trying to hold back tears as he stood with his arms crossed, looking up in annoyance at his uncle.

  “You know what, Ryan? Why don’t you play this with me?” I said, turning around to the air hockey table that was right behind me. I smiled inside, remembering all of the times I had crushed my brother in this game.

  Ryan’s frown immediately disappeared as he whisked past Dailan. “Hmm…” Ryan said as he punched Dailan lightly on the arm again.

  Dailan playfully got Ryan in a headlock, making a fist and rubbing his knuckles into Ryan’s scalp. “Noogie!” he yelled.

  “Stop.” Ryan laughed.

  “Not until you say ‘my Uncle Dailan is the best and it’s not his fault that I stink at Death Race.’”

  “No,” Ryan said as he tried his best to break free.

  “Say it,” Dailan demanded as he continued his assault on Ryan’s head.

  “My Uncle Dailan is the best.” Ryan’s words were almost inaudible, being masked by laughter.

  “And?” Dailan was persistent.

  “It’s not his fault that I stink at Death Race,” Ryan said reluctantly as Dailan finally released him from his grip. Ryan was out of breath and his dirty blond hair was sticking up all over the place.

  “I didn’t mean it,” Ryan said once he had gotten far enough from Dailan.

  Dailan took a step toward Ryan, acting as if he was going to grab him again.

  “Ahh,” Ryan yelled, exposing his adorable dimples. “I’m kidding,” he said in defeat.

  “How do you play this?” Ryan asked.

  “It’s easy,” I said.

  “I’ll show you first, Ryan,” Dailan said as he moved closer to Ryan.

  “Okay, Ryan, prepare to watch your Uncle get beat!” I said.

  Dailan rolled his eyes at me as if I had just said something ridiculous.

  “Oh, please, I will kill you.” I said.

  “Okay, care to make a friendly wager?” Dailan asked.

  I bit my lip to think about his proposition for a minute. “What are you proposing?” I asked.

  “If I win, you have to come to my company Christmas party with me next weekend,” Dailan said.

  I rolled my eyes at the thought. “And if I win, you will stop with your off-color comments that you’re constantly making and act like the adult that you are when you’re in my company.”

  “Deal,” he said as he held out his hand and we shook on it.

  Chapter 10

  “I’ll pick you up at seven on Saturday,” Dailan said with a mischievous grin as we pulled up to my apartment.

  “Whatever,” I said. I still couldn’t believe I had lost. I killed my brother so many times in air hockey; what the heck went wrong tonight?

  I got out of the car and looked in the back seat, “Good night, Ryan. See you Monday.”

  “Good night, Miss Morgan,” he said sweetly.

  I looked over at Dailan, who was still smiling in triumph and just shook my head. I couldn’t help but give him a quick smile back as I shut the car door and headed up the stairs to my apartment.

  I fumbled in the darkness for my keys, finally locating them in the bottom of my purse. I walked into my apartment, hearing the sound of Dailan’s car pulling away once I was safely inside.

  Another mess you’ve gotten yourself into, Nicole. I had to admit that I actually enjoyed myself tonight. But I was not looking forward to going out on a one-on-one date with Dailan O’Maley at all. I wondered if it would look too obvious if I suddenly came down with a rare twenty-four hour sickness on Saturday.

  I took my phone from my purse to find three text messages from Donna. I wanted to change quickly into my pajamas before I answered her back. I took my phone into my room with me as it began to vibrate with another text. Geez, give me a minute, Donna. I looked down to see what she had to say and realized that it wasn’t from her. I didn’t recognize the number at all. I opened it up to read it.

  You really should keep your front porch light turned on, especially when you’re coming home late at night by yourself. Good night, Miss Morgan. P.S. I promise I will be the perfect gentleman next weekend.

  I instantly thought back to the day I had called Dailan from my cell phone to let him know that he had forgotten to pick up Ryan. He must have saved my number in his phone. Great, not only have you agreed to go on a date with him; now he has your cell phone number, stupid!

  I quickly changed and responded back to Donna’s text message.

  Sorry for just getting back to you. I agreed to go out with Ryan and his unc
le tonight and although it pains me to admit – Dailan O’Maley is totally sexy. I could definitely see him in my bed, if only he weren’t so obnoxious. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow; we’re meeting up at 10, right?

  I hit the send button and took my phone out in the living room with me waiting for Donna’s reply. A few minutes into my Sex and the City re-run, my house phone began to ring. I answered it immediately upon seeing that it was Donna.

  “Where the heck have you been?” she asked frantically. “I’ve been calling and texting you all night.”

  “I texted you back a few minutes ago,” I said.

  “I don’t have any texts from you. That’s why I called you on your home phone. I thought maybe something was wrong with your cell.”

  I looked down at my cell phone to see if the message I had sent her went through. My stomach dropped and I instantly broke out in a sweat when I saw that I had accidentally replied to Dailan O’Maley instead of Donna.

  “Oh my God, oh my God,” I shouted as I instantly turned off my cell phone in hopes that it would somehow erase the message I had just sent.

  “Nicole, what’s wrong?” Donna asked.

  “I sent a person to the wrong message,” I said in complete hysteria.

  “Okay, slow down and breathe, that made no sense,” Donna said.

  “Donna, I sent a text that was meant for you to Dailan O’Maley.” I went on to explain the content of the text to her.

  After her laughter subsided, she finally responded. “Oh my God, Nicole, you kill me with some of the things you do. Did he respond back?”

  “I don’t know. I turned off my phone. I don’t want to see.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to turn it back on eventually and what is it with you and this smut talk. First, you want to have a one-night stand with him and then you’re sexting me about him. What happened to the sweet innocent girl I used to know who never talked about sex?” she teased.

  “What am I going to do, Donna? He’s never going to let me live this down,” I said, completely ignoring her last question.

  “I don’t know, crazy girl, but I have to run. Michael and I are heading out to a late movie. I just wanted to make sure you were still alive. I’ll see you tomorrow at ten and I look forward to hearing his response,” she said, laughing as she hung up the phone.

  I tried my best to forget about what I had just done, but it was of no use. I finally got the nerve to power up my phone. I anxiously waited for it to boot up. I couldn’t look as I placed it upside down. Even though I couldn’t see if there was a text message there, I could still feel it as my phone began to vibrate in my hand. “Shit, shit, shit!” I turned it around and read it with trembling hands.

  That could easily be arranged.

  I covered my eyes and shook my head. I could almost see him reading the message with that sly grin of his on his face. I waited until my hands were done trembling before I replied.

  Sorry, that was sent to the wrong person.

  I hit the send button, displeased with that response, but it was the best one I could think of at that particular moment.

  My phone began to vibrate once again.

  Obviously, but I’m glad to see you didn’t need alcohol in you this time to admit your true feelings.

  I shook my head in disgust and threw my phone on the couch. I thought about how he had relentlessly teased Ryan tonight in the arcade. He surely wasn’t going to let this go easily with me. I picked my phone back up and began to type away.

  Actually, I’m taking cold medication that impairs my judgment far worse than alcohol. I probably won’t even remember this conversation in the morning.

  I knew that he wasn’t going to fall for it, but I remained hopeful that it would put an end to this texting debacle.

  I looked down at the vibrating cell phone gripped tightly in my hand.

  Right…..Well, I’ll just have to make sure I remind you the next time I see you. Sweet dreams, Miss Morgan.

  “I’m sure you will,” I said out loud. “Stupid, stupid girl!” I shouted as I threw my phone on the chair across from where I was sitting. I had just added more fuel to his obnoxious fire. How in the world did I keep getting myself into one mess after another when it came to him? I couldn’t think anymore; my head was starting to pound. I took two Tylenols and headed off to bed, hoping that I would wake up to find that this was all just a bad dream!

  Chapter 11

  I felt like I had tried on every single bridesmaid dress in the store before Donna and I finally agreed upon the very last one. At this point, I was willing to wear a paper bag. We had been looking for the perfect dress for the past three months. We finally decided on a strapless chiffon cocktail dress with a soft sweetheart neckline in a light green color called “clover.” I placed the order for the dress, glad finally to put my bridesmaid dress shopping days behind me.

  We headed to lunch and were just digging into our salads when Donna bought the subject up, the one that I was trying to forget and thought I had avoided because we were both so absorbed in dress shopping all morning long.

  “Well, what happened with the text?” she asked.

  “Just what I thought; he made a wise-ass comment and will probably never let me live it down,” I said as I took a sip of water. “Now I have to go to this stupid Christmas party next weekend, with him thinking I want to sleep with him the entire night.”

  “Wait a minute, what Christmas party?” Donna asked.

  I filled Donna in on the events that transpired last night. She looked at me and shook her head.

  “What?” I asked unable to read the expression on her face.

  “I don’t get you, Nicole; you obviously are attracted to him. So why are you fighting it?”

  “Because he is the legal guardian of one of my students and is clearly a womanizer.”

  Donna shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know; he seems to only have one woman on his mind, the way he’s pursuing you.”

  “Oh, I seriously doubt that. Besides, even if that were true, which it is not, the last thing I want right now is a relationship.”

  “Why not?” she asked.

  “Do I need to remind you about the mess I made with Drew?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at her.

  She looked at me sadly at the mention of Drew’s name. “Well, then maybe you should just have fun with him. If you don’t want a relationship and he doesn’t, then what would it hurt?”

  I couldn’t believe the words that were coming from my hopeless-romantic best friend’s mouth. She was actually telling me to sleep with someone – no strings attached.

  “Can we please stop talking about this before I lose my appetite?” I asked.

  Donna nodded as she took another mouthful of salad.

  “Donna, one last thing, and then there will be no more Dailan O’Maley talk for the rest of this lunch.”

  Donna looked at me anxiously, waiting what I had to say.

  “Would you mind helping me pick out a dress for this Christmas party?”

  “Absolutely,” she said with a mile wide grin.

  We finished up our lunch and headed to the mall. We hit several different stores without any success and I decided that Macy’s would be our last stop; if I didn’t find anything there, I would just have to dig deep within my closet for something.

  I was quickly losing my steam as I half-heartedly scanned the racks of dresses. I was just about to call it quits when Donna pulled out a little black velvet dress. It looked a little plain and not at all what I had in mind, but I decided to try it on anyway.

  We went into the fitting room. I pulled the dress up over my body, and Donna zipped me up in the back. I looked in the full-length mirror at the bodice style dress with elbow length sleeves. It was a little shorter than I would have liked, but it was a perfect fit, looking like it was tailor made for me, molding perfectly to my body.

  “Wow!” Donna exclaimed as she backed up to look at me.

  I turned to try and get
a glimpse of the back of it in the mirror and I couldn’t help but notice how perfectly shaped my butt looked in it. I was feeling totally sexy. Then it dawned on me, there was no way in hell that I could wear this dress. That would be just asking for trouble with Dailan.

  “Yeah, I don’t like it,” I said to Donna.

  “Are you kidding me? That dress is perfect!” Donna said.

  “Perfect if I was going out with someone I was actually trying to impress. Not with a grown man who has the maturity level and hormones of a teenager,” I said.

  “Nicole, you have to get this dress. I will not let you leave here without it,” Donna protested.

  “Did you not just hear a word I just said, Donna?”

  “Yeah, I did and so what if it drives him crazy? Pay him back for his obnoxious behavior by letting him see you in this dress, knowing that he can’t have what’s under it,” Donna said with a devious grin.

  I quickly began to smile back, liking her way of thinking. I looked down at the price tag, knowing that I couldn’t really afford it. I would just have to put it on my credit card. It would be worth it, if it meant beating Dailan O’Maley at his own game.

  “Sold,” I said with a huge smile as I lifted the dress over my head and hung it back up.

  Our next stop was the lingerie store to find a bra to enhance my breasts, as Donna put it, or, in other words, to find a bra that would give the illusion that I had breasts. As we walked in, Donna began to fumble through the bras.

  “Can I help you ladies?” A good-looking, well-dressed Spanish man asked. I looked at him, thinking that it was kind of odd to see a man working in a lady’s lingerie store.

  “My friend just bought this beautiful curve-hugging dress and needs a bra to make her little a little bigger,” Donna explained.

  “Do you have the dress with you, hon?” he asked.

  I lifted the plastic that was covering the dress on the hanger.

  “Gorgeous!” he said.

  He led us over to another section of the store that looked like it had more of the risqué undergarments.