Just Between Us: A Friend's to Lover's Romance

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Just Between Us: A Friend's to Lover's Romance Page 18

by Bri Stone


  I entered through the back door. I wasn’t even sure if mom would be here. I went up to my bedroom to take a piss and freshen up. When I exited my bathroom, I was attacked.

  “Dillon!” You didn’t tell me you were coming home.” Mom caught me in a suffocating hug. Her familiar brown sugar and Chanel scent filled me immediately. When I was no longer surprised I relaxed into the comfort of her hug.

  “Yeah, last minute decision. Can I breathe now?” She released me and held me at arms distance, looking me over.

  “Honey, you look awful. You’ve got bags.” She pointed to my eyes.

  “They’re designer.” I smirked. She cupped my face in her hands and squeezed, her eyes glistening. She really missed me. I should call her more.

  “Why don’t you settle in; I’ll make you a quick lunch.”

  “As long as it’s a big one.” She smiled over her shoulder on the way out the door.

  I smiled to myself, somehow, I already felt better. I changed into my jeans to feel like less of a bum and met her in the kitchen. She was whipping up an omelet. I noticed her outfit. She was in brown boots and a blue shift dress.

  “Are you going out?” I asked her.

  “I’m meeting with a client in an hour, nothing serious. Just a follow up.” I sat at the island.

  “I’ll go with you. Like I used to.” She gave me a look.

  “I’m all for it…are you sure you’re okay?” I nodded. She didn’t believe me but she didn’t press any further.

  She set the finished omelet in front of me with a glass of orange juice. She watched me eat, it was kind of her thing. But I also knew she wanted to pry answers out of me.

  “How were your midterms?” she asked me.

  “Good.” I finished my last bite. “I should have my grades by Monday.”

  “I’m sure you did excellent…I got a letter from your advisor about your graduation info.”

  “Yeah. I finished all my paperwork and everything.”

  “I also got letters from USC and NYU.” I nearly spat my juice out. “You’re lucky I saw it before your father did.” I sighed in frustration.

  “I forgot to change the address.”

  “They both seem to want you…USC is offering you eighteen thousand a year. Not that we need the money but…they were pulling out all the stops. NYU is stingy but isn’t this the second letter since your acceptance?” I nodded once. She gave me a sad look.

  “Do you know where you want to go?”

  “I’m leaning towards USC. But NYU is still good. I have to make a decision soon but…I was hoping to have dad on board before I did.” I admitted. Much as I like to pretend, his blessing is important to me.

  “I know. You should talk to him.” I sighed. “But he’s away on business. Won’t be back until Monday.”

  “He’s been leaving for ‘business’ a lot.” She glowered. I blame it on the lack of sleep. That was an asshole thing to imply.’

  “Your father is a lot of things but a cheater is not one of them. He’s working on the new firm in North Carolina. It’s taking a lot more leg work than he thought.”

  “Yeah, I’m sorry I’m just…I don’t know.” She nodded and squeezed my arm.

  “Is that why you came? Because I know you didn’t just want to drop in.” I gave her an easy smile.

  “Don’t we have to leave soon?” I stood up. She shook her head with a heavy sigh. I knew she wasn’t giving up.

  I wanted to tell her everything about Lori but I wanted it to be at the right time. When she didn’t have any weapons to throw at me. I changed into a button up shirt, so I could at least look like a respectable son.

  “So, who is this guy?” I asked her on the drive over. She was in a new Bentley, must be new because I have never seen it before.

  “He is renovating his house and I’m just working on the design. Nothing serious.”

  “Is he old?” She shot me a look.

  “Not really. maybe your dad’s age.”

  “I don’t like you hanging around men too much.” I said. She laughed, even though I was completely serious. Well, maybe mostly joking.

  “You are so goofy Dillon.” She laughed.

  We pulled into a community I had never been in before. The houses were all the same size, two floors with a balcony. We reached the end of the lane and she pulled into the driveway of a more modern home.

  “This is it.” She got out and I followed her.

  She rang the doorbell of the door, glass barred by wrought iron.

  “I already think he’s weird.” She pinched my arm.

  “Behave, Dillon.” She brought out the motherly tone.

  Said weirdo answered the door. He was about dad’s age. With silver hair and a tanned body, complete with brown linen pants and an ugly white polo. Well, it wasn’t ugly per say.

  “Natalie, good afternoon.” They shook hands.

  “Hey Patrick.” He glanced at me. “Oh, this is my son, Dillon. He’s visiting from Clemson.” His brows raised.

  “Oh, I knew I recognized you. I watch all Clemson’s games, you’re quite the WR.” I couldn’t help but grin.

  “Thank you.”

  He ushered us inside. I drowned out their conversation. It was all boring design talk. His house was fairly large, but I wasn’t paying much attention. I just didn’t want to be home alone twiddling my thumbs, thinking about Lori.

  I followed mom around like I was twelve years old again. Fun fact, I always liked drawing and design stuff. Going to work with her was fun back then. I stopped around high school when dad tied me down to football. It got me in touch with my childhood again, the simpler side of life. Where I was just excited to hang out with my best friend. Falling in love with Lori was the best mistake I ever made. I knew then, that when I got back, I had to tell her.

  “Let’s go, Dillon.”

  “Done already?” I came to.

  “Yeah.” Patrick walked us out.

  “Nice meeting you.” He shook my hand firmly and then we were on our way.

  “I have to go to the studio and file these.”

  I settled into the seat as she drove downtown to her office. halfway there, her phone rang on Bluetooth.

  “Hello?” she called out.

  “Hey sexy lady.” I threw up in my mouth. Yep, threw up in my mouth.

  “Aw, dad!” Mom turned a bright red color and dad just laughed.

  “Oh, hey son…what are you doing there?”

  “Visiting mom.” My voice was still laced with disgust.

  “Oh.”

  “You’re on Bluetooth in the car.” Ma explained.

  “Oh, you took the new car out?” I heard the smirk in his voice.

  “Yeah, I had to see a client today.”

  “It drives nice, doesn’t it?” I assumed it was a gift…shit, their anniversary did come up. I didn’t say anything about it. It was February third.

  “Mmhm, very nice.” She smiled again.

  “Maybe because we had a chance to break it in.” It took me a second to figure out what that meant. I wanted to hurl again.

  “Matthew, stop torturing him.” Dad laughed with a boom and I shuddered again.

  I drowned out the rest of their conversation.

  “I’ll be back Monday morning—I miss you, honey.” Dad says. Mom smiled brightly.

  “I miss you too, I love you.”

  “I love you too—talk to you later…bye Dillon, I love you.” Was he dying? I haven’t heard that in a long time.

  “You too dad…” I replied. The call dropped in two beeps.

  Mom ran a few errands before we got back home. She gave me some time to myself, but after dinner—her delicious meatloaf and twice baked potatoes, she confronted me.

  “Something is bothering you.” She sat on the couch next to me. She paused the movie I was watching—Deadpool.

  “I’m fine, ma.” She turned to face me, her expression stern. Even in pink, silk nightwear she commanded attention.

  “Is
it about Lori? Is it getting too hard living with her?” I shook my head. I hadn’t told her the final outcome of the conversation we had about her earlier—about my proposition.

  I took a shaky breath and twisted to face her. Her expression was motherly and scary at the same time. Here goes nothing.

  “I had sex with Lorraine…a couple of times.”

  “How many times?” She didn’t take a beat.

  “Four I think…well twice at the same time—two times.” If that made any sense at all. She nodded slowly and thought for a second.

  “Because of her blog. Only because of that. I didn’t do it because of how I feel about her—mostly.” I added.

  “And you still haven’t told her?” I shook my head. She gave me a ‘what is wrong with you?’ look.

  “I can’t. Not now. She will never believe that I’m genuine.”

  “Not if you tell her the truth…wait, if it was because of the blog why did you do it more than once?” Shit.

  “I…it’s complicated?” Her face said, ‘nice try.’

  “I told her she could use me to…take charge of her sexuality if she wanted. Women should be able to do it just as much as men do.” She pursed her lips.

  “I guess I should be glad I did something right with you.” I smiled softly.

  “I’m not that bad.”

  “But she told me just before I left that we weren’t going to do it anymore. I’m totally fine with that—it was getting to be too hard anyway.” she nodded.

  “So why did you run away?” My brows arched.

  “I didn’t. I just missed you, ma. Honest. I needed a break. I’ve been wanting to tell you about what happened with Lori anyway.”

  “Okay,” she sighed, “I missed you too.” She looked at me like she never wanted me to go, I’m pretty sure I looked at her like I didn’t want to go either. Mom just makes me feel so much better. Lori makes me feel that way too, but a different kind of ‘better.’

  She pulled me into a tight hug that lasted just as long as I needed it to, then she went off to bed. I finished the movie and went back to my bedroom. I tossed and turned for a good while before I could go to sleep. I was worried about Lori, thinking about her date. I wanted to ask her how it went but I was supposed to be playing it cool.

  I woke up to the smell of breakfast. It was probably my favorite part of being home, big as our house is I still smell it from the kitchen. I washed up and trekked downstairs.

  “Oh good, you’re up. I just finished.”

  I ate the best batch of pancakes and bacon I’ve ever had.

  “Do you need me to get you anything before you go back?” Mom asked me.

  “No, I think I’m okay. Did you finalize everything for graduation?” She nodded.

  “I did. We’ll be there the day before. You’re sure you don’t want to keep the apartment?” I nodded.

  “I won’t be anywhere near here after graduation.” I regretted what I said when I saw the sadness cover her face.

  “I didn’t mean it like that, Ma.” I said softly. She held my hand in hers, shaking her head.

  “No, it’s fine. I’ll go ahead and list it then.” She smiled at me.

  “You can visit me all the time. I won’t object.” I laughed.

  “I definitely will.”

  Ma insisted on cooking me some food to take back. I left around five after a very long hug and a few tears—from mom, not me. She had gotten better at watching me go since Freshman year. Much better.

  I pulled into the apartment complex just after eight. I had to admit, I was excited to see Lori. Two days had me missing her. I entered the apartment, expecting to see her in the living room or something. She wasn’t.

  I unpacked the food mom made in the fridge. And looked for her in her room.

  “Lori? I’m back.” I swung the door open with a smile, expecting a nice welcoming hug. I did not get that at all.

  “You asshole!” She stood from her desk and glared at me.

  I stared back in shock for a good second, my mouth dropped open in surprise. First, I saw her barely there shorts and think tank top. Lucky for me her angry face killed my hard on.

  “What?” I finally said. She crossed her arms and shook her head.

  “I know what you did.”

  Twenty-Four:

  A thousand scenarios ran through my head but I knew it was only one that she was referring to.

  “Lorraine, wait…”

  “How dare you?” She screamed louder than I have ever heard before. So loud my head jutted back.

  My hands came out in front of me in defense.

  “Just let me explain.” I took one cautious step towards her.

  “Stop! How could you do that to me? How could you lie to me and—and go behind my back like that?” She looked at me like I was disgusting her, and it killed me.

  “It wasn’t like that at all.” My voice strained.

  She shook her head, her face tight with anger. Her chest heaved with her heavy breaths. She was raving mad. I honestly had never seen this, and I’m so pissed it was me that had her at her worst.

  “Then what the hell was it like, Dillon?” She spat. “I thought this internship was the one thing I finally did on my own. That I deserved it.”

  My face twisted with shock.

  “You do deserve it, that’s why I had to…wait, how did you find out?” She laughed with no humor at all.

  “My boss came by my desk today to congratulate me on my work so far…he said he was glad he reconsidered my application—that Natalie Becker had a lot of good things to say about me. At first, I didn’t get it—why the hell would your mom say anything to him? How would she even know about the internship? The only thing that made sense was you, I hoped it wasn’t true because then that would mean you thought I couldn’t do it on my own. But you did, didn’t you? That’s why you had your mom talk to him?”

  “God no, that’s not true. I mean—I did get my mom to do that but it wasn’t because I thought you couldn’t get it…I just wanted you to get it, I had to make sure you did.” I pleaded.

  Her defensive stance didn’t soften at all.

  “How did your mom even manage to get him to hire me?”

  “Because you deserve the internship. It wasn’t that hard.” Her strong frown told me she didn’t like that answer at all, so I elaborated. “My mom knew him in college, she did the interior design for the firm and they’re friends…he’s a little in love with her though, that’s why it worked.” I laughed once, hoping it would lighten the mood.

  It didn’t.

  “I can’t believe you would do that to me, Dillon. You…made me feel so small.” My chest clutched at the hurt in her voice.

  She wrapped her arms around her small frame, like she had to hold herself together. God, what had I done...

  “Oh Lori, that is not what I wanted at all.” I crossed the space between us and grabbed her shoulders before she could move.

  She tried to wiggle out of my grasp, but I was just stronger.

  “I did not want to make you feel small—or anything else for that matter. I knew that if I didn’t do it, you would be so upset and I didn’t want that for you. I had the chance to do something to make you happy and I took it.” I searched for her eyes but she would never look right at me. Just stare right past me like I didn't exist to her anymore.

  “You don’t get to decide those things, Dillon. You’re my best friend, not my fucking keeper—making decisions for me. What the hell possessed you to do that and why?”

  Love.

  Shit. This was it, wasn’t it? Whether or not it was the right time, it came out anyway.

  “Because I’m in love with you. And people do crazy things for love—stupid things, don’t they?”

  Finally, her eyes met mine. I don’t know what I expected but she didn’t seem changed at all.

  “What the fuck?”

  Okay. I wasn’t expecting that.

  “I said that I’m in love with you, Lori
. You’ve been more than just my best friend for a long time.” I smiled a bit.

  The world came apart. Telling her was like repopulating an entire village—it was so powerful to me. It was everything I’ve held in for almost a decade.

  “You just think that, because we’ve had sex. You’re confused.” She shook her head. At least she wasn’t yelling anymore.

  “No, I love you Lori. Me, Dillon Becker. I have since we were fifteen. I could never bring myself to tell you because I didn’t want to lose you. I still don’t, but I need you to understand why I did what I did. Why your happiness is so important to me. It’s all I care for. You’re all I care for.” I hoped something I say would get through to her. Anything.

  “Is that why you wanted to have sex with me?” I should have seen that coming.

  “Yes and no…I’ve thought of you like that a million times but it was more about you being safe and not regretting it…you don’t regret it now, do you?” I panicked.

  “No, no I don’t.” I sighed with relief.

  “You should have told me before.”

  “You would have never let me…and you needed this. you deserved it. I had to be sure. Please don’t think that you didn’t earn this on your own, because you did. My mom may have said something but you got this on your own because you’re brilliant and it shows. If this was some favor to your boss he would never have valued your opinion like he does, did you think about that?” I bent to the side to find her eyes.

  She glanced at me and then looked away, her lips pursing.

  “No.”

  “Well it’s the truth. I am so sorry I lied, but I am not sorry that I did it.” It took a while but when she nodded slowly I relaxed a bit.

  Her shoulders loosened under my grip and her breathing slowed.

  “Are you still mad?” I whispered.

  “Not as much.” She murmured. “But I think you’re just confused.” I furrowed my brow.

  “What?”

  She sighed and shook her head.

  “About being in love with me.”

  I laughed like she had told a joke. She stared back at me.

  “God, no. It’s all I know. All I have known for all of these years. It happened way back in high school. After you were mad at me for about two years. When we were fifteen and started high school together I was so happy to have my best friend back. After a while I started to see you—really see you…all of a sudden you were so beautiful to me. So perfect. And I just knew that you were more to me than a friend. I denied it for a long time but one day I finally accepted it—I fell in love with you back then and I have never stopped.”

 

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