Only With You

by Alexander, Monica

  “What’s there to say,” I said, shrugging. “I know this is it. I’ve known her more than half my life, and I love her. She’s the girl for me. End of story.”

  “Yeah, but you’ve been dating for like five minutes,” Jake rationalized. “What if it doesn’t work out?”

  “It will,” I said confidently, because I knew it would. We were both willing to fight like hell to overcome any adversity that came our way.

  “I hope it does, man,” Jake said seriously. “But you’ve got to be realistic. Transferring schools might end up being a huge mistake.”

  “Well, then, it’s a good thing I’m not transferring then.”

  I looked around for our waitress again, but I didn’t see her anywhere. I did, however, see Kirsten and Kyla and immediately swiveled back around and slunk down in my seat. It’s not like Jake and I weren’t completely conspicuous or anything sitting outside, visible for anyone to see us, especially annoying ex-girlfriends who were entering the fenced-in outside area of the restaurant at that moment. I just hoped Kirsten wouldn’t see me if I ducked down and hid behind my menu.

  “Kirsten and Kyla are here,” I said out of the side of my mouth, lest they hear me from fifteen feet away.

  “Ah, fuck,” Jake grumbled, cupping his hand over his eyes in an ‘If I can’t see you, so you obviously can’t see me’ gesture.

  We were apparently masters of stealth. But I knew he wasn’t in the mood to see Kyla since things with her had blown up in his face the week before. And knowing the story, I reasoned to believe that hiding was probably in his best interest. He’d essentially dated, or rather screwed, her for about eight days before he blew her off. Rumor was that while I’d been gone, she’d shown up at the house and lost her shit on Jake, crying and blubbering and begging him to be her boyfriend in front of a decent amount of people. Then when Trey and Alec had finally convinced her to go home, after Jake barricaded himself in our room, she’d stormed out with tears streaming down her face, screaming obscenities, cursing Jake to the high heavens and flipping the bird over her shoulder. Then she’d called his cell phone several times, screaming in his ear each time he answered. Why he kept answering was beyond me, but Jake was sometimes a mystery wrapped in a riddle coated in idiot sauce, so I didn’t always question his behavior. I just accepted what he told me and went with it.

  “Do they see us?” he asked, still hiding behind his hand.

  “Yup.” I peeked over my shoulder. “They’re coming over here,” I sing-songed when I saw Kirsten point at me and wave.

  Being the polite guy I was, I smiled back. I never should have done that.

  “Hi boys,” Kirsten said as she plunked down in the chair next to me.

  “Hey Kirsten. Hey Kyla,” I mumbled, wishing I would have suggested leaving when I’d thought about it five minutes earlier.

  “I’m going to the bar,” Jake grumbled, getting up without saying a word to either girl as he left me alone with them. Chicken-shit jerk.

  I glanced at Kyla who was trying to look like she didn’t care, but it wasn’t really working for her.

  “So how have you been, Ryder Thompson?” Kirsten asked, her hand resting on my shoulder in a playful, borderline flirty way.

  I fought the urge to shrug it off. I found it equally annoying that she was touching me, but I also wasn’t a fan of the fact that she liked to call me by my first and last name. It was oddly formal and intimate at the same time.

  “Great. How are you?” I asked tightly.

  I took a long swig of my beer as she removed her hand from my shoulder and moved it to toss her long blond hair over her shoulder.

  “Just okay, I guess. My boyfriend and I broke up. He was a senior, and he moved to Chicago for a job, so there really wasn’t any point in staying together. Long distance never works out.”

  Sometimes it does.

  “That’s too bad,” I said, aiming for friendly indifference.

  My phone chose that moment to ding, alerting me of a text message. It was the time of the night that Syd was in between her meet-and-greet and her show. We’d been texting earlier – just mindless conversation that helped ease the ache of not being able to see each other – and she let me know she’d text again when she was done meeting her fans. And after her show we had a Face Time date planned.

  Hey baby!

  I smile spread across my face as I picked up my phone. Hey you. How were the fans?

  “It’s actually kind of a good thing,” Kirsten said, and I looked up at her in confusion after I sent my text.

  “What’s a good thing?” I asked.

  I saw Kyla roll her eyes, so I shot her a questioning look that she didn’t answer. Instead she plucked the last beer from the bucket on the table and started to drink it. That wouldn’t make Jake very happy since it was his beer. She probably knew that though. I sincerely hoped she wouldn’t make a scene. I wasn’t in the mood for girl drama that night.

  “That I’m single,” Kirsten answered.

  “Great,” I said unenthusiastically.

  My phone beeped again, and I looked down to read what Sydney had written.

  The fans were awesome, as usual. Hang on a sec, will you? I have tell you something, but Chris needs to talk to me.

  Sure.

  “Are you dating Sydney Chase?” Kyla asked then, and my eyes darted up to her.

  Where the hell had that come from? No way she knew who I was talking to, even if she’d seen my phone. I’d purposefully filed Syndey under ‘Syd’ so no one would be able to tell who she was when she was calling or texting me.

  “No. Why would you ask that?” And no, I wasn’t just texting her.

  Realization suddenly dawned on me. After the pictures of Syd and me had been all over the Internet a few weeks earlier, I’d been asked by a few people I knew if I’d hooked up with her. But that had been when I’d first gotten back to school. Things had calmed down since then.

  “I saw the pictures of you two online,” she confirmed. “You were holding hands.”

  “She’s my best friend.”

  “Shut up?!” Kirsten said, and Kyla looked at me with wide eyes. “Are you serious?”

  I nodded my head. “Yeah, we grew up together. I’ve known her since I was eight.”

  And she’s my girlfriend. And I love her. And she’s amazing.

  “Wow, that is sooo cool! You have to introduce us!” Kirsten screeched.

  Nope, not gonna happen.

  “I don’t think she’ll be visiting me here anytime soon,” I told them and fought the urge to say, ‘and for good reason’. Crazy girls like Kirsten and Kyla would be exactly who Sydney would want to avoid if she stepped foot on campus.

  “She’s so beautiful and talented,” Kyla commented.

  I couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, she’s pretty incredible.”

  I noticed that made Kirsten pout. “But you’re single?” she prompted.

  “Yeah, sure,” I said noncommittally, as my phone beeped again. I looked down at it, and my eyes went wide when I read what Syd had written.

  I’m officially single!

  You are?!!!

  Holy shit!

  :) Yup. Laurie released a statement tonight that due to our busy schedules, Dillon and I have decided to just be friends. The world will know soon if they don’t know already.

  I felt like punching the air with my fist. Best. News. Ever!

  “Ryder, are you listening to me?” Kirsten asked.

  I looked up, having definitely not been listening to a word she was saying as she rambled on. I was too wrapped up in just getting the news I’d wanted to hear for six weeks. Not that we were going to tell anyone that we were together, but the option was there if we wanted to take it.

  “No, I’m not listening. I’m sorry,” I told Kirsten honestly.

  She crossed her arms in front of her chest and huffed, her eyes drifting away from me.

  “I’m sorry,” I told her, because I was probably acting like a jerk. “Just
let me finish this conversation, and I’ll be all yours.”

  Her eyes lit up at that declaration, and I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t have time to worry about it though since I had to get a response text back to my now single, well, not really since she was dating me, girlfriend.

  Babe, that just made my night.

  :) I figured it would.

  I’d told Syd earlier that I was having a shitty day, but I hadn’t told her why. I’d fill her in when we talked later and I could explain everything in detail. But that news just made all the crap from earlier not seem so bad.

  What are you doing now? she texted.

  Still at The Swamp with Jake.

  Are you drunk?

  Um, yes.

  I fought the urge to ask if she was cool with that since I didn’t want to know if she wasn’t, and I really didn’t want her to be the kind of girlfriend who cared if I drank too much once and a while.

  Oh, the things I would do to you if I was there. I would so take advantage of you. I liked drunk Ryder.

  Her response had me laughing out loud, since she was no doubt thinking back to the night we’d first hooked up. Kirsten and Kyla stared at me in confusion. But I couldn’t worry about them at that moment, as I was imagining all the things Syd would do to me, and my dick was starting to let me know how much it had been missing the attention of a certain brunette it had gotten quite used to.

  And I like adventurous Sydney. Then I went out on a limb. Tell me what you would do.

  I can think of a few things, but licking you like a lollipop comes to mind.

  How many licks does it take to get to the cream-filled center?

  I felt myself blush, not believing I’d sent that.

  I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out.

  Shit that’s hot. Later on, can we have Sex Time instead of Face Time?

  When I felt eyes on me, I tilted my phone away just in case either of the girls could see the screen. And then I waited for Syd to respond, hoping she wouldn’t think I was a pervert. We’d never discussed having phone sex, and I’d never done it before. I wasn’t sure what her thoughts on the subject were either.

  Instead of responding, my phone played Syd’s ringtone, and I answered it before the girls could see her picture on the screen.

  “Hey,” I said to her, my voice purposefully low.

  “Were you joking, or were you being serious just now?” Sydney asked, her voice all breathy and sexy, succeeding in officially making me all the way hard. I shifted in my seat, hoping no one could tell since it was relatively dark outside.

  “Uh, serious,” I said, hoping it was the right answer.

  “Good,” she breathed out, and my heart rate started to speed up. Then she made this sexy little growl noise, and I about lost it right there. When she spoke again, her voice sounded like a phone-sex operator. “Ry, I miss you soooo much.”

  Holy shit. That was so hot.

  And she hadn’t even said anything dirty. Later on, it was going to be game-over very quickly if I wasn’t careful.

  “Are you alone?” I asked, afraid all of her team was standing around in her dressing room while she turned me on to the max.

  “Yes,” she breathed out.

  I swallowed hard. Why did her saying that make me suddenly picture her sprawled out on the couch in her dressing room naked and touching herself? I knew that wasn’t happening since she was due on stage in ten minutes, but a guy could dream.

  “I’m not,” I told her, feeling like I was letting her down.

  “Seriously?” she asked, her voice back to normal.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “But I wanted you to tell me something sexy,” she said, her voice back in phone-sex mode. “You know, let me have something to think about for later. Tell me what you want to do to me.”

  Dammit. She was killing me.

  “I can’t,” I said, hating to let her down.

  “Just step away,” she encouraged.

  “I can’t do that either,” I said honestly, because the raging hard-on I was sporting was going to be very obvious if I stood up.

  “Why not?”

  Shit. She wasn’t going to get it. She wasn’t a guy. I had to think about how I could creatively tell her without giving myself away. Kyla and Kirsten were talking to each other now, but I was fairly certain they, or at least Kirsten, were still listening to my conversation with one ear.

  “Um, if you were here, you would be able to tell – physically speaking – why that’s not in my best interest.”

  “What does– Oh! Oh, no! Are you serious?”

  “Uh, yeah. Totally. And it’s all your fault.”

  Instead of laughing, she let out a breathy sigh that did nothing for my current state. “That’s ridiculously hot. No need to say anything. I’ll take that image on stage with me tonight.”

  Damn, that was an image I could carry with me.

  “Good,” I said, aiming to regain some of the cool points I felt like I’d lost by having the self-control of a fourteen year-old.

  Sydney chuckled. “Okay, I have go to. Love you.”

  “Love you too,” I told her. “Talk to you later.”

  “Can’t wait,” she said as she hung up the phone.

  I set mine back on the table just as Jake was returning with a new bucket of beers. He shot a glance at Kirsten and Kyla that I was able to read very clearly as, ‘Great, you’re still here’.

  “How’s the hottie?” he asked me.

  “Mine,” I told him, and he laughed and handed me a beer. “Did you find the waitress?”

  I was really hungry, and I figured I probably needed some fuel for later, although phone sex wouldn’t be nearly as rigorous as real sex, unfortunately.

  “Yeah, she’s on her way out,” he told me.

  “Hi Jake,” Kyla said softly.

  “Uh, hey Kyla,” he said as Kirsten turned to me.

  “So anyway,” she said, seeming annoyed.

  I raised an eyebrow at her as I took a long swig of my beer. “Yes.”

  “Who was on the phone?”

  “No one.”

  She wasn’t getting shit from me. Kirsten was the last girl I was telling about Sydney, as my friend or my girlfriend.

  She rolled her eyes. “You were talking to her, weren’t you? The stripper.”

  “What stripper?” Jake asked suddenly, his ears tuned in to any word that might mean sex or naked girls.

  “She’s not a stripper!” I shouted, throwing my hands up and realizing that my voice was really loud. People all around us had turned to stare. I lowered my voice. “She’s not a stripper.”

  “Who’s not a stripper?” Jake asked.

  “The girl he’s in love with,” Kirsten said, jerking her thumb toward me.

  That made Jake roar with laughter. “She’s talking about,” he widened his eyes in gesture so he didn’t have to say Sydney’s name, “right?”

  I nodded in amusement. “Yeah, she is.”

  “That is fucking hilarious! She’s not a stripper,” he confirmed.

  Kirsten looked annoyed, and then she shook her head. “Look, here’s the deal,” she said, turning to me. “I’m single, and since you’re single, I think we should give it another go. I’ll overlook the fact that you’re in love with stripper girl.”

  And before I could stop her, she leaned forward and kissed me, her hands braced on either side of my face. After a few seconds, I reached up and ripped her hands away and pushing her back.

  “What the hell?” I asked, wiping at my mouth with the back of my hand, fairly sure fire was about to shoot out of my eyes.

  “I just–” she started to say, but I realized I didn’t actually care.

  What she’d done had pissed me off.

  “Okay, first of all, don’t ever fucking do that again. Second, you and me are not going to happen, not in a million years. Third, she’s not a fucking stripper! Don’t ever talk about her like that again. And fourth, and this is the most im
portant one, so pay real close attention.” I leaned in closer to her, and her eyes showed how intimidating I must have looked in that moment. “I have a girlfriend, so back the fuck off.”

  “Whoa, calm down, bro,” I heard Jake say as Kirsten’s eyes got wide.

  I wasn’t usually a guy who went all ballistic, but I’d completely lost my cool when Kristen had kissed me. Not acceptable.

  “You do?” she asked quietly. “But you said you were single.”

  Shit. The way she sounded when she said that made me realize that I was scaring her. I immediately softened my tone.

  “I lied.” I said firmly, keeping my raging emotions at bay. I couldn’t believe she’d fucking kissed me. “But yeah, I do. Her name’s Elisa, and she’s on Sydney’s publicity team. It’s new, so we’re not really telling people.”

  I was surprised at how easy the lie just rolled off my tongue. But the girls already thought I was seeing Syd, so it was better to completely throw them off than risk them realizing the truth.

  “Oh,” Kirsten said, looking down. “I’m sorry I kissed you. I just thought . . .”

  She didn’t finish her thought, and I thought she might cry, but when she looked back up at me, her eyes started to narrow until her face settled into a glare. And then I was firmly in Jake’s camp. I just wanted the girls to leave.

  I started to get up from the table. “I’m going to the bathroom,” I told Jake, needing to just walk away so I could calm down all the way. I didn’t think I’d be able to do that with Kirsten sitting in front of me, the reminder of her kiss still lingering on my lips and that glare fixed on her face as if I’d done something wrong. “If the waitress comes by, order me a cheeseburger and fries.”

  “Yeah, you got it,” Jake said, hopefully getting my silent message. I hoped by the time I came back, Kirsten and Kyla would be gone.

  “He’s mad at me, isn’t he,” I heard Kirsten say as I walked away.

  Well, no shit.

  I fought to keep walking and not give into my urge to turn around and lay into her.

  “Yeah, probably,” Jake said, and I just shook my head.

  I took my time in the bathroom, leaning against the sink and taking deep breaths. I reached into my back pocket for my phone so I could look at a picture I had saved of Syd making a kissing face at the camera. It always made me smile, and in that moment, I needed to calm down. I knew she’d be the one to do it. But I realized I’d left my phone on the table, so I took a few deep breaths and figured I’d head back outside.