He read over it once to make sure it sounded okay and that he hadn’t made any big typos. Little typos tended to be endearing, so he left those. He hit send and waited. Through this messaging system, he could see when the message was read. A few minutes later, the little icon changed from “sent” to “read.” He smiled and waited.
After waiting for several minutes, he didn’t see the little icon showing that she was typing. Maybe she was just processing it all, or maybe she’d respond by texting or calling him. He kept his phone by his side as he went about his night. By the time he went to bed, he still hadn’t heard from her.
Was she really not going to answer at all to a long message like that? He’d poured his heart out for this chick. She had to at least say something. She owed him that much. She couldn’t just blow him off like this.
After a day of waiting, he got impatient. He sent another message. “Saw that you read my message. I hope I came across the right way and showed you who I really am. I’d love to hear from you.”
This time, he got a response in a few minutes.
“I got your message. And yes, it shows exactly who you are. You’re exactly who I always thought you were—an entitled, sexiest, asshole who thinks women are on this earth to meet his every demand. This will be the only message you receive from me as a response. There will be no future texting, calling, or meeting. And don’t contact any of my ladies either. I will pass your messages onto your coach.”
He slammed his hands on the table and let out a few curse words. What was her problem?! This chick was in-freaking-sane. She was going to tell his coach? Well, at least Coach Kent would see that he tried to make things right. That might end up being to his benefit, actually. He could play it up as him trying to make amends and her flipping out. He just hoped she waited a little bit. The next round of cuts and new list would be posted tomorrow. He had been 34 in rank on the list last week, which was enough to keep him plenty safe from being cut, but he wanted to be into the teens at the very least.
Chapter 18
When he got to practice the next day, he felt the anxiety in his stomach. Not just about the final rankings, but also about Brooklyn. Would her telling the coach about their contest pull down his ranking? And had she really forwarded his last message as well?
Dustin tried to make eye contact with Coach Kent as he started the morning meeting. He didn’t look right at him much, but that was fine. Afterward, he waited to be pulled aside but wasn’t. He started to relax a bit throughout the day, and by the end of it all, he was confident that she hadn’t followed through on her threat.
Coach posted the list, and the guys at the bottom ran to it first. This would mean either being part of a semi-pro team or being put back into the general work force as an ex-athlete cast off. Luckily, he didn’t have to worry about that, but he wanted to make sure his rank was nice and high. That would earn him more negotiating power when it came time to discussing contracts.
When he made his way up there, he started at the top, as always, and the names he’d come to expect were there. But as he got through the tens and twenties, and still didn’t see his name, he started to panic. But there, finally, at number 32 was his name. He was a good distance from the cut line at number 50, but still. He’d only moved up two spots? He wanted to ask Coach about it, demand to know how in the world he’d come up with that, but given all that had happened, he thought maybe this wasn’t the best time. He let it go and went on with his evening.
His plan for now was to do what she asked and not contact her directly. Instead, he ordered a huge bouquet of flowers and had them sent to the training facility. He put on the card, “To the fabulous Polar Princesses. Good job on all your hard work! Best wishes, Dustin.” He hoped that wouldn’t just get him points with Brooklyn but with the whole squad. They all needed to see that he wasn’t someone to be hated.
If the flowers had any effect, no one was saying so. Or they weren’t allowed to say. He messaged her just to ask if she’d gotten them and to tell her that he hoped she enjoyed them. Short and sweet. No response. He needed a next step.
He thought maybe sending her a fancy gift would win her over. He went to the mall over the weekend and picked out some moderately expensive jewelry. It was stuff he’d never buy normally, but his reputation was on the line, and he needed to win this contest, to be the one to get through to her. He thought carefully of what he would say then wrote a note to go with it, “I can’t stop thinking about you. These earrings don’t come close to matching your beauty, but I hope you like them anyway. I’d really love to hear from you. Please give me a chance to prove myself—Dustin.”
He shipped them off and waited but still got no response. What could he possibly do next? After he knew for sure she’d gotten the package, he messaged her to ask if she had. No answer. He was starting to get frustrated. Finally, he decided to just take a chance.
He didn’t want to approach her at the training facility. Too much opportunity for someone to see or jump in to get in the way. So, he followed her home, being very careful not to be seen. She had to be going out tonight. It was the weekend.
He sat in a place he could see her house and car and waited. Hours later, she finally came out and got in her car, and he followed her again. She pulled up to a giant superstore. This would be perfect. Though he couldn’t believe that was all she had to do on a Friday night and she was going out in her workout clothes, this would lend itself perfectly to his plan.
He kept his distance, staying out of sight. This would never work if she had any clue he was there. He waited until she left the makeup aisle—where he had no reason to be—but when she went to get vitamins, he made his move.
“Oh, wow,” he said, turning to her. “I can’t believe of all the people to run into, I find the most beautiful woman in the world, right in the vitamin aisle.”
She rolled her eyes and turned away, back to the vitamin D. “Save it for someone who cares.”
“Vitamin D? Good stuff. You’re not feeling down, are you? A lot of doctors recommend that when you’re feeling down.”
She gave him an incredulous look. “What part of ‘don’t contact me’ and ‘stay away’ do you not understand?”
“I’m just concerned about your well-being. If you’re feeling down, I’d love to try to cheer you up.”
She crossed her arms and glared. “I’m not feeling down. It’s good for bones and the immune system. Now go away.”
“Brooklyn, please. Come on.” He followed her as she walked into the tampon aisle. She had to have done that on purpose, hoping he wouldn’t go there. “I’m trying my best to make it up to you. I feel terrible about what I did. I know someone like you can help me be a better man. Sometimes we just don’t get it. We can’t figure you women out. We don’t know what you want, and we mess up.”
“Why don’t you try asking what we want? It’s pretty simple.”
“Well, what do you want then? What can I do to make it up to you?”
“You can leave me alone. Don’t message me or contact me in any way, including sending flowers or showing up in the vitamin aisle. If I could get a restraining order on you, I would.”
“See, now what’s a guy supposed to do? I’m trying to fix this, and you won’t even let me.”
She growled and balled her hands into fists then turned to face him. “That’s what you don’t get. This is why you don’t understand women. You don’t listen to them. I want nothing to do with you. The only way you can prove yourself and fix this is by doing what I’m asking.”
“Okay, okay, I get it. You hate me. Fine. I’ve tried really hard to not be that guy you think I am, and all my efforts come off like I’m same crazy stalker guy. I’m not trying to be that. I only wanted the pleasure of getting to know you in hopes that maybe I could actually learn about women and see where I go wrong. I don’t want to be this way anymore, but I don’t know how to change. You’re the first person who’s been honest enough with me to tell me the truth about my
self. I’m genuinely asking you for help, here. I don’t want to be that guy, but I don’t know how to be a better man. Please, Brooklyn. I’m not asking you to date me or anything. I get that that will never happen for us, as much as I wish it could. I’m only asking you to sit down and talk to me for a little while. A few hours of your time, over coffee, dinner, whatever you want. I want your advice, and I want you to show me what I need to do differently. But if you still want me to leave you alone, I will. I just thought maybe you were the one person who could actually help me.”
He turned and slowly walked away. If this didn’t work, he had no idea what he’d do. He kept walking, turning out of the aisle. She hadn’t stopped him or called after him. There was a slight chance she’d message him later after thinking it over, but that was a long shot. He looked over all the protein shakes, acting like he was genuinely interested in them, when he felt someone’s presence behind him. He didn’t want to assume, but he was hopeful. He kept doing what he’d been doing.
“Are you being honest?”
He turned to face her. “One-hundred percent.”
She narrowed her eyes at him and looked him up and down. “I will have coffee with you. I will give you one hour, and in that hour, I will tell you everything that’s wrong about you and men like you. I don’t know if I’ll be much help, but I can at least point out the problems I see.” She crossed her arms and waited.
“Really?” He softened his face to a surprised expression. “You’d seriously do that for me?”
“But the second you try to hit on me at all, I’m out of there. Got it? This is not a date.”
“No, no, I know that. I wouldn’t want it to be.”
“Fine.”
“So, tomorrow? At four? That’s a very non-date time.”
“Make it five. I have a class in the early afternoon.”
“Five it is. The coffee shop on Fourth?”
She nodded and turned to walk away.
When she was out of sight, he waited another minute, then pumped his fist in the air. He’d done it. Step one. Get her to go out with him. And she was. He didn’t care what she said. This was a date, and he would treat it as such. He didn’t need to hit on her because she was already out with him. Perfect.
Chapter 19
He showed up right on time to the coffee shop and wasn’t surprised at all that she was a few minutes late, trying to show her dominance or whatever. He snapped a pic of her walking in and texted it to Alex and Hayden.
“Don’t get too excited just yet, but here’s Brooklyn, walking in to meet me for coffee! Boo ya! Got her to go out with me. #Winning.”
He hit send and grinned then put away his phone before she saw him and reached the table. She slid into place across from him.
“Can I get you a coffee or something?” he asked.
“Sure.” She slid her sunglasses up on her head and sat back in the chair. “Double skinny latte with sugar free chocolate.”
He nodded and went to the front to order. When he had their drinks, he returned, ready to start the date off right.
“So, how has your day been?” he asked.
“Just fine. You?”
“Better now.” He smiled.
“Right, so that. Here’s the main thing you need to know. Women are not your property and don’t owe you anything. Guys tend to think if they take a woman to dinner, they’re owed sex. Or if they bring her flowers, she should go out with him. You can make your romantic gestures if you want, but that in no way obligates us to do anything for you.”
“Okay, I get that. But don’t you think it’s nice to go out with someone who goes out of their way to bring you flowers?”
She gave him a dumbfounded look. “Only if they’re interested. If I have no interest in you and have given you no indication at all that I want to go out with you, it’s not my fault if you decide to spend your money on a gift for me. I didn’t ask you to do that, and we’re not connected in a way that would normally lend itself to that sort of thing. If my grandma sends me flowers, I’m obligated to send a thank you, because she’s my grandma and it’s a gift with no strings attached. That’s the problem. You don’t buy flowers as a gift, you only do it to get someone to go out with you. Your motives are all wrong.”
He held up his hands. “Hey, hey, why are you pointing fingers? I didn’t buy you flowers and expect you to go out with me.”
“You, as in all men.”
“Way to stereotype. I don’t think you’d appreciate me doing that to you.”
She sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. That’s a common thing men do, and I was using it as an example. You specifically bought flowers to try to make my squad not hate you.”
“No, I sent flowers to show my remorse. I wanted to do something nice. You can’t assume I had impure motives. That’s not fair either.”
“Well, you usually do. After the way you hit on several of us, after you slept with two of us then refused to call again, after you set up a contest to sleep with as many of us as you could, I’m sorry if your flowers didn’t seem to come from a pure motive.”
“Okay.” He sat back. “So, let me ask you about this. Claire and Annabelle. What should I have done there?”
Her mouth popped open, and she gawked at him. “Are you kidding me? You should have—”
“Now first, let me explain. I went out with them, and with both of them, I felt a connection. We had a good time, and yes, we ended up sleeping together. I texted them both afterward, but in the days that followed it was clear that there wasn’t a lasting connection. Sometimes, it seems like something is there, then when you get to know someone, it fades. And sadly, that happened with them both. But if I would have kept texting them when I didn’t have feelings for them, that would have been leading them on. And I know that was wrong, so I didn’t. What should I have done differently?”
“You could try at least telling them that you didn’t have feelings. That would be one thing.”
“Well, I thought it would be better to let it die off slowly. I know I’ve had situations where I went out with someone and then after a great night got a text saying it wasn’t going to work, and I had no idea what I’d done wrong. It was abrupt and very hurtful. But other times, I’d go out with someone and the texting slowed over the week after, and it became clear that we weren’t connecting. In those cases, it wasn’t as painful because I lost interest as it became clearer that they weren’t interested. I didn’t want to hurt them. I thought I did the better thing.”
She leaned forward, taking a long sip of her coffee then setting it down. “Don’t you see that taking someone out once, sleeping with them, then suddenly losing interest is the hurtful thing?”
“Why? I can’t control if I lose interest in someone.”
“But it conveniently didn’t happen until after you slept with them.”
He shrugged. “I can’t help the timing of it. You get to know someone real fast when you have that intimate connection. It’s a quick way to see if there’s anything lasting. Like I said, I want to find someone who I can spend my life with. I don’t want to waste time dating the wrong person. That’s not fair to either of us. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“I agree that you shouldn’t lead someone on when you don’t have feelings, but doing it all so fast is hurtful and really looks like the only reason you dated them was to sleep with them.”
“They had a say, you know. I didn’t force anyone. They both wanted to sleep with me. Why does that make me the bad guy for wanting them back?”
“Because you let them each believe you had real feelings for them.”
“That’s because I did.” He crossed his arms. “There’s so many double standards here. No wonder men are confused. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
She shook her head and glared. “I should have known coming here with you was a mistake. You just don’t get it. It’s your whole attitude toward women that’s the problem. You think we owe you something.”
&nbs
p; “I don’t know where you got that. I didn’t tell Claire or Annabelle that they owed me sex for dinner. Nothing of the sort. I simply felt a connection and wanted to move onto the next stage. I long for that deep intimate connection you get with someone you date for a while. So, we slept together, and maybe it was fast, but again, they were feeling the same connection and decided to sleep with me. But I’m not here whining about them leading me on. They both led me to think they had feelings, too. And they both stopped texting me over the week following.”
“After you had stopped texted them.”
“You see, texting works both ways. If they had kept the conversation going, maybe the interest would have grown instead of faded.”
“So, now it’s their fault?”
He shook his head. “Stop twisting around everything I say. In both cases, I was attracted to them, and they were attracted to me. I made known the feelings I was having toward them, and those feelings were reciprocated. We went out and seemed to be connecting. Things heated up, and each of them decided to move to the next level as I did. Then, the interest started to fade. Both sides texted less and less until it dropped off. The way I see it, both sides did mostly the same thing. I was the one to make the first move, but I don’t think you can hold the entire relationship and whatever happens in it against the person who happened to make the first move. Both of us are responsible for our own actions. Honestly, I’ve thought many times about what happened with them. Why did they both stop texting? What did I do to make them lose interest?”
“Maybe it’s because your goal from the start was to get them to sleep with you. You can lie all you want and say you felt something and you wanted to see if more was there, but that whole time, you were in a contest whose sole purpose was to sleep with the most cheerleaders.”
“Exactly,” he said. “And I explained that. It’s the guys way of saying the first one to find love. In order to do that, we have to sort of interview all the cheerleaders to see if she’s the one or not. How else can you find someone compatible except to get to know them a little to see if they are? The things you say just don’t make sense. It’s like I’m supposed to be a mind reader and know who is the perfect one for me before I even talk to her so that I can make sure I only approach the one woman. I’m no superhero.”
Dustin (Shifter Football League Book 3) Page 9
