Just One of the Guys 3 My Someday...

by Kristi Pelton

  Ali and I were sitting in lawn chairs with a couple of others when Tanner came over.

  “Emma Hendrick.” Tanner slurred a bit.

  After rolling my eyes at Ali I said, “Hi Tanner.”

  “Do you know how much I liked you Emma?”

  I chuckled. “How many beers you drank there sport?” It had been a year now since we went out.

  “Not enough to keep me from having regrets,” he said stumbling over a lawn chair.

  Not really wanting to go there with him, I waved off his drunken chatter. Unfortunately, he continued. “I wanted to kiss you. Touch you.”

  A redness flushed my cheeks. This conversation needed to end quickly. “Tanner,” I said softly. “It’s totally cool. No harm done. But for the record, my brother was done being my bodyguard. I know his legend lives on but it would have been fine.”

  Mentioning my brother around Ali still hurt her a bit I think but she had been dating someone else for a while now.

  “Your brother?” he asked his eyes trying to focus on me.

  I nodded. “Ryan. My brother.”

  The beer he tipped to his lips, he certainly didn’t need. But, even drunk, it was obvious he was confused. “I didn’t not kiss you because of your brother. I didn’t kiss you because he paid me not to.”

  Ali and I both spun around and glared at him.

  “My brother paid you not to kiss me??” I clarified.

  He did his best to shake his head side to side. “No. That other guy.”

  I rose to my feet. “Who? What guy?”

  Tanner shrugged. “The rish guy…rich guy.”

  Confusion settled over me. What was he talking about? Austin was the only wealthy guy I knew. I grabbed Tanner’s shoulders. “Tanner, listen to me. Someone paid you to what…not touch me?”

  “Yes, he paid me too, Em,” Hunter said from behind us. “We were paid to take you out, show you a good time, but the stipulation was no touching. No kiss and certainly nothing more.”

  “Preston too?”

  Hunter nodded.

  A couple of girls who I didn’t even know giggled. These boys were paid to date me! Everyone, including Ali stared at me.

  “Austin?” Ali asked, but she shook her head like it couldn’t be.

  “Austin! That was his name!” Tanner snapped.

  Hunter grabbed my elbow. “It was Austin. The family friend of yours.”

  “And you took the money?” I asked quietly.

  “It was a lot of money.”

  “How much?”

  “Three thousand dollars. What’s his deal with you anyway? Why would he do that?” Hunter asked as I turned and ran to my car.

  Ali yelled, “You’re driving to Eugene?”

  “Yep. I’m telling my parents I’m staying with you.”

  Our eyes met as I slammed the car door.

  The two-hour drive to Eugene seemed as if it took much longer. Austin had actually texted once to ask if I was home from the party and I didn’t respond. Going straight to the fraternity was taking a risk. The rule of no girls in the house stood strong. Tonight, I was going to the front door. I didn’t know what Austin had told them about me. Still being a senior in high school… My guess was he hadn’t. Tonight, they would meet me.

  It was 11:15 on a Friday night and the entire house was lit up. Considering the rule of no girls, I parked a little bit down the street but walked right up the drive. The inexplicable feeling inside of me seemed a bundle of confusion. Why would Austin pay them? He wanted to me to date but didn’t think I could get a date? None of this made sense.

  I knocked on the massive door and it only took seconds for some sexy guy to open it.

  “Well, hello,” he said leaning on the doorframe.

  “I’m here to see Austin, please.”

  “Which Austin, beautiful?”

  “Falsone,” I said shifting my weight onto my other hip.

  The guy snickered. “Uh-huh isn’t every girl.”

  What did that mean? I suddenly felt sick. Were there that many girls coming to see Austin?

  “I’m serious. I need to speak with him.”

  “Call him,” he said shutting the door but I stuck my foot in the door and barreled in.

  “Austin!” I yelled I’m sure I looked quite ridiculous. But this dipshit wouldn’t let me in and I was tired of haggling.

  About fifteen guys rushed into the room drawn by the commotion. Each and every stinking guy was freaking hot! Where did they grow these fellas?

  “Gavin, what’s going on?” a tall skinny guy asked.

  “This girl wants to talk to Falsone.”

  Several of the guys chuckled out loud and that pissed me off.

  “My name is Jay. How do you know Austin?” he asked respectfully.

  Here goes. “I’m his girlfriend,” I said with confidence.

  Another round of chuckles fanned around the room then the front door opened. Danny! I remembered him from almost two years ago when I was drunk at Ryan’s.

  “Emma?”

  “Danny!”

  “Emma?” Austin’s voice echoed over the room and I spun around to see him at the top of the stairs.

  “You know her?” Jay asked Austin.

  He slowly made his way down the stairs. “Yes, what’s going on?”

  “I needed to see you. This guy…” I pointed to Gavin, “wouldn’t let me talk to you. He said all the girls want to talk to you and he shut the door in my face.”

  Gavin turned white where he stood as Austin’s jaw clenched. He made his way over to me and slid an arm around my waist then brushed a kiss over my forehead. “Where are your keys?”

  I held them up.

  “I have no idea why any one of you is still standing here,” Austin said calmly and everyone scattered. “Gavin?”

  Gavin was scurrying away and he hung his head when Austin said his name.

  “Yes, sir?”

  Sir? My keys were suddenly in the air flying toward Gavin who caught them.

  “It’s parked outside. Wash it, vacuum it, park it out back next to mine and put a permit in it.”

  “Yes, sir”

  “Austin! No!” I objected. “It’s almost midnight.”

  Gavin was out the door, Austin’s hand slid to the small of my back and we were heading up a very large staircase. Poor Gavin.

  The first door on the right was his room. One bed. An involuntary shudder rippled through my body. He looked at me.

  “You ok?

  “A little cold,” I said and he turned and pulled me in for a hug. I released a deep breath, allowing the closeness though the anger inside festered.

  “What’s wrong? Why are you here?”

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I know I just outed you, sir. Why do they call you that?”

  His lips were warm to my nose when he pecked it. “Because I deserve it and you should start.” He winked.

  “That will never happen. Seriously, what will they say?”

  “I’ll handle it.”

  A loud cackle came from the hallway and he kissed my forehead again. “Excuse me,” he said and opened the door.

  “Chris? What are you doing?”

  “I’m sorry, Austin. She was leaving. She only stopped by for a second.”

  I saw Chris and he glanced at me sitting on Austin’s bed.

  “How about you stop by the sleeping dorm tonight and stay there for the weekend.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Austin shut the door and shook his head seemingly exasperated.

  “What’s the sleeping dorm?” I asked.

  “It’s a room with a lot of beds. Dark. Cold. A place for people to rest…and think about the stupid things they’ve done and rules they’ve broken.”

  He took his watch off and tossed it onto his desk then popped his neck.

  “Why are you here Em? Talk to me,” he asked with a longing look in his eyes.

  I didn’t know why I was afraid to say it. Maybe because I knew what h
eartbreak felt like, I mean true heartbreak and I never wanted to feel that again. And I didn’t know if telling him and finding out the truth would make me run or not.

  “Did you pay $3,000 to Hunter, Tanner and Preston to date me?” The long slow premeditated blink of his eyes sickened me. “Please say you didn’t.” For the first time in a long while—tears pooled in my eyes.

  “I paid $3,000 to Hunter and Tanner and $4,000 to Preston.”

  When I closed my eyes at hearing the truth, the tears spilled over. The need to flee overwhelmed me, and I bolted for the door; outside the door I ran smack into Gavin who held my keys.

  “I’m sorry, Emma,” he said shocked to find me running from the room. “I washed your car but the vacuum was broken. I’ll find a place in the morning to do that,” he explained. When I looked up at him, his face went blank when he saw the tears. “Are you ok?”

  “She’s fine and it’s certainly no concern of yours,” Austin said behind me and took my keys.

  “Sir, she also got this parking violation. I’ll pay it given that I held her up at the door.”

  Austin took the ticket too. “That won’t be necessary, Gavin. I’ll take care of it.”

  Immaturely, I snatched the ticket from his hand. “You’ve spent ten grand on me. I’ll catch that…how much is a ticket Gavin?”

  “I think $12 ma’am.”

  “Thank you. I can catch this $12, sir,” I spat out sarcastically toward Austin.

  Gavin stared at the floor.

  “That will be all, Gavin. Thank you.”

  “Wait Gavin. I’m sure my face is puffy and swollen at the moment. But before, when I was at the door, would you have been willing to go out with me?”

  He shook is head. “No ma’am,” he said with conviction. Then after looking behind me at Austin, he said, “Yes, ma’am.”

  Anger swelled inside of me, and in a huff I barreled back through the door into Austin’s room and sat on the bed. I heard Gavin say, “I’m sorry sir.” And I somehow missed what Austin had said.

  The mattress dipped and I felt his body next to mine.

  “You, baby girl, just got Gavin so flustered, he didn’t know what to say,” he said with laughter rumbling inside him.

  I rolled over to look up at him. “Why? Why’d you do it?”

  He wiped my tears with the backs of his knuckles. “Because I didn’t want anyone else touching you.”

  “Wasn’t that the point though? I was supposed to date others.”

  “Date others.”

  Unintentionally, my chin quivered. I don’t think he could possibly understand how badly this hurt my feelings.

  “That was my decision, Austin,” I said, sitting erect in bed. His hand gripped my wrist as if he was preventing me from bolting again.

  “I agree with that.”

  “They didn’t even really want to be there…with me…you paid them to be there. And you know what, that entire time, no one else even asked me out!! So the three guys I did go out with, I was a job to them.”

  The deep breath he inhaled didn’t change the grimace on his face.

  “Emma. You were young. That was almost two years ago. You needed to date but dammit I didn’t want you to date. It was a hard place for a twenty year old to be. I made a stupid decision. It was cold and low. I’m sorry.” He buried his nose in my hair from behind me. “Forgive me,” he whispered.

  “Austin…” I whispered. “You can’t buy everything. That was set up. A year and a half I thought I was flying solo and it turns out you planned and paid for it.”

  He buried his face in his palms. “It was wrong. But I wish you understood. I don’t want to lose you over this. I…did this…to keep you. And now it’s backfiring.” The grimace on his face was almost more than I could bear. This serious stuff wasn’t us. “Which one of them told you?”

  “Tanner and Hunter. At a party. In front of 20 people who were laughing. $3,000? Really? Did you think it would require that much for them to say yes? Couldn’t you have offered like $500?”

  “I offered $3,000 because you were worth way more than that. I thought the money would keep them quiet. It was cruel. I’m sorry Emma. I’m so fucking sorry.”

  “I know,” I nodded.

  With his index finger, he lifted my chin. His serious eyes bore into mine. “I never want you hurting. And never because of me. Say you’ll stay and we can work through this.”

  The look in his eyes. The smile that wasn’t there. I didn’t like it, in fact, I hated it. But, I wouldn’t…couldn’t answer yet…

  The amount of patience he extended me was endless. He knew I was struggling but he didn’t push. He texted me on and off and sent me a dress to wear to his fraternity auction. That was the first time I saw him since finding out he paid people to date me. My dress was black and lacy and my mom called it a cocktail dress that seemed ‘too old for me’…I called it perfect.

  The auction was definitely the most glamorous event I’d ever been to. White tablecloths, candles, live music, and lots of girls…women. I felt young, almost too young, to be there. The programs listed the guys who were auctioned off and the conditions of the auction. A credit card had to be swiped at admission if you planned to bid, then you were given a number for the bidding.

  Oddly, Gavin was waiting to escort me to a table, directly at the foot of the stage and after introductions to Mandy, Abby and Ruby, I giggled realizing I was sitting with several of the girlfriends. All of us had a number in front of us for bidding.

  A speaker took the stage first, then an induction of some honorary members of the fraternity; next a welcoming of new members then it was time. The first guy made his appearance…I found this whole concept comical but fun.

  Oumar was the first guy…starting bid had to be $1,000. Interesting, I’d gone for $3,000 to three different guys! Let it go, Emma…

  Oumar went for $2,500.

  Caleb went for $3,000 to Mandy.

  Kyle went for $3,000.

  Danny was up and I smiled at him. He motioned his hand for me to bid and I shook my head. Some girl threw out an opening bid of $2,000…he could go higher, so I countered at $2,500. She immediately went to three and didn’t even glance my way, though the other three girlfriends at my table did.

  “I know him,” I threw out there to cover myself.

  “Do I hear $3,500?” the auctioneer asked and I nodded. “WE have $3,500. Do I hear $4,000?” he echoed through the mic and turned his attention back to the blonde with her hair swept up and what did she do? She laid her freaking number down, that’s what she did! Shit!!

  “Sold to number 23!” the auctioneer yelled, “for the night high of $3,500!”

  Danny pointed down at me then motioned as if he was slitting his neck. I wasn’t sure if he was saying his neck was going to be slashed or mine…but someone had some ‘splaining to do.

  “Sorry,” I mouthed back and he left the stage with a wink, which relaxed me a bit.

  Todd was up next and he only went for $2,500. I didn’t touch my number on the table.

  Tyler went for $3,500 to Ruby and she wasn’t too happy that someone bid against her.

  Abby started bidding next on someone I feared wouldn’t get many bids, but he went for $2,500.

  Nathan was next and he only scored $2,000.

  Noah followed and I had no doubt he would score some money, though I safely kept my number on the table.

  And score he did. Three girls went back and forth until he sold for $7000! Wow…

  “Ladies and gents, last but not least, we have our three year in a row, top bid up for grabs.”

  The whoops and catcalls from such pristine women were surprising. Was this Austin?

  At that moment, the spotlight shown on him. His beautiful brown skin and heart- warming smile made me melt; I could only imagine what it did to every girl in that room. Then with hands in his tux pockets, he swayed toward the front of the stage. If a hashtag could flash below him, it would say #sexyswag. Damn he was
hot…and he was mine. Ruby nudged me. It was as if he was a celebrity to these women. To me, he was Austin from down the street that had recently severely fucked up as far as I was concerned.

  His eyes located me and his smile only grew which caused the obnoxious roar in the room to grow too. Chewing on my cheek, I watched him work the crowd.

  “Alright ladies. We will start the bidding at $5000!”

  Immediately, numbers started flashing and before I even had a chance to stick up my number the auctioneer approached ten grand.

  “Emma, bid!” Mandy said with a southern drawl.

  My hand shot up sans number.

  “We have a bid for $10,000, but young lady we need your number.”

  Ruby slid it in my hand. Clearly, I was unable to even put my thoughts together. Ten thousand dollars for a date??? I chanced looking up at Austin whose eyes were laughing.

  “Ten thousand ladies. Do I hear a 10,500?”

  Austin’s eyes rotated around the room.

  “Twelve thousand,” a woman shouted.

  Our entire table shifted in our seats to see who was now bidding against me. A stunning, longhaired brunette in an ivory, off the shoulder dress held up her number.

  Austin glanced down at me and offered a simple nod.

  “$12,500,” I shouted making him smile again.

  “$15,000,” she countered.

  This bitch was pissing me off.

  “Who is she?” I said to the girls.

  “Do I hear 15,500?” the auctioneer asked.

  Both Ruby and Mandy shrugged but Abby leaned in. “Her name is Henley. She dated Austin on and off last year. She wanted something serious. He didn’t. She still has a boner for him.”

  The other girls giggled.

  “$15,500 going once.”

  Austin glared at me wide-eyed. He had dated last year?

  “$15,500 going twice.”

  His smile now became forced.

  “$25,000!” I whispered raising my hand.

  “$15,500 over here to #23,” he said mishearing me.

  I stood. “I said $25,000.”

  The room went completely silent. I mean everything. The music. The women. The auctioneer. EVERYTHING…silent. I spun around to ‘ho bag Henley. She looked me up and down as if I was stripping on a strip pole, threw her number into the center of her table and walked out.