by Jessica Kile
It was simple. Just because she unwilling to give him a chance, didn't mean she was unwilling to look at him.
It was a shame she had sworn off all men. Before Shawn, Lana would've given Drew a chance. Now she was ruined. Just his handshake almost sent her running straight into a panic attack. How could she even consider getting close to him, if she couldn’t be close to him?
The girl, who took her application at the coffee shop happened to be Ricky's friend. Tracie was tall, very thin with a caramel complexion. She was what all male dreams were made of. “I’m not supposed to say this. Candice is kind of desperate to find someone before she has the baby.”
“Are you saying it’s a sure thing?” Lana really needed a job. She had quit the job at the movie theater after the ticket guy kept trying to put his arm around her. He had caused instant flashbacks of Shawn.
“Girl, I’m so sure of it. I would start you today if I could.” Tracie handed her a chocolate chip cookie. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you get the phone call before you ever get home tonight.”
Lana sighed in relief. Maybe she would actually be able to pay her part of the rent this month. She had instantly regretted quitting her job. No job meant she had left herself with no way to pay her way through life. No way was she going to rely on Ricky to keep up both sides of the rent and utilities. He had been a good friend this summer but a person had to draw the line somewhere.
She handed Tracie a bill for the cookie. “Well, I have to head to class.”
After her last class Lana headed straight to the gym. About a week after the graduation party she had decided she needed an outlet for all of the pent up anger. Deep in the back of her mind was the thought if she had been a size or two smaller she would've had more confidence. Maybe she wouldn't have fallen under Shawn’s spell as fast. So, every day she hauled her ass to the gym. Even on days that her body felt like it was being drug through fire. It was her only escape.
Tonight she settled for running a couple of miles on the treadmill. Music blasted through from her headphones. She ran like the devil was chasing after her. In her mind the devil was Shawn. No matter how fast she ran she'd never be able to escape the damage he had done.
****************
Drew sat on a weight bench watching Lana run on the treadmill. Just watching her confirmed that the chick had demons. She practically screamed as much in class by refusing to have coffee with him. Hell, it was just coffee. Yet, she acted as if he proposed he take her back to his place and they have wild, passionate sex. Hell, watching the way her ass moved as she ran, he knew he would be unable to refuse if she proposed just that. However, the fact she just assumed he was only after that irked him.
“Don’t even go there,” Chris, his roommate and current spotter, warned. “That girl has issues.”
Drew laid back under the barbell and lifted it up. “What kind of issues?”
Chris stood with his arms outstretched prepared to catch the bar, if Drew decided to get clumsy and drop it. “Hell if I know.”
“Maybe, she's just shy,” Drew grunted, raising the bar back up.
“I think it runs a little deeper than that,” Chris stated. “A week ago, I followed her outside heading to my bike; she freaked out and ran to her car.”
Drew was beginning to feel the burn down his arms and shoulders from the weights. “Yeah, I gathered she could be the flighty type.”
“You know her?”
Muscles straining, from exertion, Drew raised the bar back to its holder. “She’s in my terms class.”
“I would keep it at that,” Chris said. “She would take a lot of work.”
Drew sat up to take a drink from his water bottle. “Nothing good is ever easy.”
Chris laughed. “I don’t see her going to all of the bars you play at.”
Drew shrugged, watching as Lana pressed a button. A second later, she was running faster. She reminded him a lot of his sister.
********************
“So, what do you think?” Ricky asked, coming out of his room. He was wearing black leather pants, a purple buttoned down shirt, with a black leather cowboy hat.
Lana laughed. “You look like you’re going to a gay club.”
“Well, you look like you’re staying home, stuffing your face with popcorn, and watching some sappy movie on lifetime,” Ricky commented. “At least we both look the parts that we are playing.”
Lana eyed the huge bowl of popcorn sitting beside her on the couch, and promptly stuck her tongue out at Ricky.
He laughed. “Are you sure, you don’t want to come? I can wait for you to get dressed in something besides that,” he said with a sneer and raised eyebrow.
She eyed her baggy sweatpants and over-sized Twilight shirt. “Hey, back off of the clothes.”
“Okay, well, don’t wait up,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, walking out the door.
Lana rolled her eyes. He was ridiculous sometimes. Okay, maybe all of the time. However, he was truly her best friend. Just not the type of person she would divulge her darkest secret to. He was the type you watched Who Wore It Best with and trash talked the clothes. Nothing about Ricky screamed serious. It was the quality she most loved about him.
Her phone buzzed with a message.
What the..
It was Drew. ‘Coffee?’
She rolled her eyes, typing out a response. ‘No.’
‘What are you doing?’
Lana looked up at the TV and smirked. ‘Dancing’
‘Where? I’ll come.’
Lana stared at her phone. What the heck? This guy was impossible.
‘Lux’ She tossed out the first local club she could think of. No need to tell him she was actually watching Dancing with the Stars.
‘I’m already there. What floor are you on?’
Shit!
Chapter 2
Lana stared at the mirror, on the back of her bedroom door, in disbelief. She had gotten trapped into going to a party during a weak moment. That same weak moment led to her agreeing to allow Ricky and Tracie to do a makeover. Now she wasn't so sure she'd made the right decision. When she'd refused to wear a skirt, they stuck her into a pair of tight jeans partnered with a low cut. It looked like she might pop out if she moved in the wrong direction.
“Why can’t I stay home?” Lana whined to anybody willing to listen.
Tracie flopped down on the bed. “Because I told Monica that I would go.”
Ricky followed up with, “And I need a wing-woman.”
Lana shot the mirror another nasty look. “Then go with Tracie.”
“No way.” He ducked to avoid the pillow Tracie tossed at his head. “What? You know your gaydar is broken.”
Tracie sighed. “He’s right. I hit on him when he first came into the coffee shop.”
Ricky turned from the vanity where he was trying on different sunglasses. “True story! I still haven’t recovered from that one by the way.”
Lana rolled her eyes listening to their banter. The two had known each other for the last year and were besties.
Lana, on the other hand, was just getting to know Tracie. Opening herself to a new friend was hard. Friends want to do more than sit and watch TV, especially, when they lived in a college town known for wild parties.
She eyed the mirror again and immediately marched to her closet. No way, was she going to wear this shirt.
“What are you doing?” Tracie asked.
“Changing this shirt,” Lana said, digging in her closet for something more appropriate.
“Oh, hell no, sugar,” Ricky said. He pulled her away from the closet by her shoulders. “We worked hard to get you to look this good.”
“This isn’t me,” she said.
“That was the whole point of the makeover,” Tracie reminded her.
“It’s time to show off what all that time spent in the gym got you.” Ricky stole the sweater out of her ha
nd, tossing it back in the closet.
Why she was let her friends drag her out the apartment building was beyond her.
“For the record you guys suck,” Lana told her friends, ten minutes later standing outside of the party house.
Ricky hooked his arm through hers pulling her to the steps. “But you love us!”
At the moment she was feeling a love, hate relationship with them.
A cover band was set up against the wall of the main room. It wasn't loud and obnoxious. Some people were dancing but mostly people were standing around listening to the music.
The band was currently playing a Green Day song.
“Now that is some eye candy,” Ricky said, referring to the lead singer of the band.
Lana, distractedly, murmured her approval. A certain blonde headed drummer had caught her attention.
Drew's hair was down tonight. As the band went into a Nirvana song his hair was being tossed back and forth with the fast beat of the song. He had a talent; there was no denying it.
“I think Lana has found her own eye candy,” Tracie volunteered from her other side.
“Have not,” Lana argued.
Just then, Drew looked out into the crowd and grinned at her. Despite all of the warning bells going off in her head she felt herself smile back.
“Aw,” Ricky joked, “our little girl has her first crush.”
Lana elbowed him.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“I don’t have a crush.”
“Liar, you’re blushing.”
“And you’re being annoying.” She shook her head doing her best to ignore her friend's words.
“Do I need to separate you two?” Tracie asked.
“You guys having fun tonight?” the lead singer hollered before either one of them could answer Tracie.
“Yeah!” shouted the crowd.
“Well, we’re getting kind of hot up here.” The singer exaggeratedly fanned himself. “What do you guys think about Rush stepping in for us for about an hour?”
Drew didn't give the audience a chance to respond before he stepped away from the drum set. He was headed in her direction.
“Oh.” Ricky latched onto Lana's arm.“He’s headed this way.”
Lana tore her arm away from her friend. She was choosing to ignore the way her heart sped up at the sight of Drew.
“Hey,” Drew said. He stood at a safe distance in front of her. “I finally caught you outside of class.”
“Here I am.”
Wow that sounded lame even to her ears.
“I’m Ricky.” Ricky nodded his head in Lana’s direction. “This one doesn’t have any manners. I think she was raised by pigs.”
“What the…” Lana began. “You didn’t even give me a chance.”
“Don’t mind these two,” Tracie stated. “They fight like siblings.”
“I’m gonna grab a beer,” Drew stated, seeming to ignore Ricky and Tracie. “You want one, Lana?”
Lana went to refuse but Ricky jumped in. “She never drinks.”
Just to spite Ricky, Lana said, “Actually, a beer does sound good.”
The look she shot Ricky was childish but he deserved it. What made him think he could speak for her?
“Corona it is then.” Drew waited for her approval before heading off to the make-shift bar.
“Where have you been hiding him?” Ricky asked.
“I haven’t been hiding him,” she said. “We have criminal terminology together.”
“Girl,” Tracie broke in, “if you push that boy away I’m going to have you committed.”
Lana rolled her eyes. “It’s not like that. We barely know each other.”
“He just went to get you a beer,” Ricky pointed out, “and it wasn’t too long after he saw you were here that he wanted to take a break.”
Lana rolled her eyes at her enthusiastic friend. “He took a break because it was time for them to let the other band play. It had nothing to do with me.”
“OK, but he still didn’t waste any time getting to you.”
“Hush,” Tracie warned, “he’s coming back.”
Drew walked up behind her and handed her a cold Corona over her shoulder. Lana jumped when he took her free hand in his own. “Let’s go sit on the couch.”
Before she could reply, Drew was pulling her over to the couch not too far from the band. Ricky and Tracie were left staring with matching goofy looks.
“You just pulled me away from my friends,” she said irritably.
Drew pulled her down beside him. “I only have a few minutes before I have to go talk to the band.”
“OK,” she said slowly. “I still don’t get why you just made me abandon my friends.”
Drew took a drink of his beer. “Ricky wouldn’t let you get a word in.”
“That’s just Ricky,” she said. “He does it without knowing.”
He squeezed the hand he was still holding. “But I wanted to talk to you.”
Lana counted to ten to keep calm. This was the first time that she had allowed herself to be this close to a guy since Shawn. The only reason she was not running away was because they were surrounded by other people.
“So,” he prodded, “are you having fun?”
“We just got here,” she informed him, “we’ve heard maybe three songs.”
“What’s your favorite song?” he asked.
“Far away by Nickleback,” she responded without having to think about it.
“Second favorite?”
“Enter Sandman, or, Mama, I’m coming home. It’s a tie between those two.”
“Old school,” he responded with a grin.
Lana shrugged. “Older brothers will do that.”
Drew made a show of looking around nervously. “They’re not here are they?”
“Who?”
“Your brothers,” he responded. “I don’t have to worry about getting my ass kicked for talking to you do I?”
She smiled. “They’re all in Charleston.”
“This is new,” he said. “I found out your favorite songs and where you’re from in just a few minutes. You know, we could have done this over coffee.”
“Coffee is boring,” she said.
He laughed. “Yeah, I forgot you’re more into Lux.”
“What about Lux?,” Ricky asked, coming up to them.
“I was just asking Lana how she liked Lux,” Drew said.
Ricky snorted. “The only Lux, she has knowledge of, the book series.”
Lana blushed at Drew’s questioning look. Damn Ricky and his big mouth.
“So, you weren’t at Lux on Friday night?” Drew looked rather amused. “No wonder I couldn't find you.”
Just shoot her now.
Ricky laughed. “Our good girl was at home watching Dancing with the stars.”
Forget shooting her. Just shoot the big mouth.
“I was only there because I had to be,” Drew said. “No need to give her a hard time.”
“We give each other shit,” Ricky replied, “It’s our thing.”
“Drew, it’s okay,” she whispered. “Be nice.”
Drew sighed. “I am being nice.” He looked down at his watch. “My break is up. If you leave before I get done with our set, text me to let me know you made it home safe.”
“Okay,” she agreed, surprising herself.
“Uptight much,” Ricky said to Drew’s retreating back, taking the spot Drew had just vacated.
Lana rolled her eyes. “You’re just pissed that he put you in your place.”
“Please,” Ricky said. “He didn’t even come close to putting me in my place.”
Lana scanned the room. “Where’s Tracie?”
Ricky rolled his eyes. “She took off with Monica.”
“What’s your problem?”
“I came here with two chicks,” Ricky stated, “and both of you bailed on me.”
�
��I was only gone for a few minutes,” Lana defended herself. “Besides, we just hold you back anyway.”
“This is true,” Ricky joked, putting his arm around her shoulders. “So, dish, Sugar. Are you in like?”
She rested her head on his bony shoulder. “I already told you; it's not like that.”
“Make me a promise.”
Oh no! He sounded way too serious.
“What?”
“Don’t shove him away,” he demanded. “We’ve lived together all summer, and you haven’t given any guy the time of day.”
“Not true,” she argued. “I spend time with you all the time.”
Ricky rolled his eyes. “That’s not the same thing and you know it.”
Just then she heard the music to Enter Sandman begin.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered.
“What?”
“He asked for my top three favorite songs.”
“So?” Ricky clearly was not following.
“This song was my second favorite.”
“If you still doubt that he is interested in you then you're dumber than I thought.”
*****************
Drew spent the remainder of his set watching Lana. She seemed shocked that he chose her favorite songs as his picks for the set. He was just thankful she had listed songs the band actually knew how to play.
Around midnight he noticed she was headed to the exit by herself. All of the bad things that could happen to a girl walking alone at night popped into his head. He silently cursed at being stuck behind his drum set. The protectiveness he already felt towards her caught him off guard.
Not being able to fight the protective instinct he motioned the bass player over.
“What’s up,” Danny whispered, as his fingers mindlessly played the right notes.
“I need to take her home,” he replied. “Her friends just let her leave by herself.”
Danny gave an understanding nod and moved up to tell Ryan, the lead singer.
“OK, guys, it’s been a good one tonight,” Ryan said into the microphone after they finished the song. “That being said, we gotta get packed up. It’s past our drummer’s bedtime.”
