On Paper

by Shae Scott

  "Actually, I was going to talk to you about that," she said. She was using that sweet, sugary voice that she pulled out when she wanted to convince me to do something she was pretty sure I wouldn't want to do. I braced myself.

  "What?" I asked throwing her a stern look. I had known Lily since the first grade and I knew how she worked. She was up to something and the moment I declined any part of it she would poke and prod and guilt me until she got her way. She was such a bully.

  "Well, you know that guy I met last night, Miles? He asked me out to dinner," she said. Oh. Well, that wasn't what I expected. I briefly wondered if I was brave enough to explore the city on my own or if I should wait.

  "Oh, he seemed nice," I smiled as I threw some lip balm into my goody bag.

  "He is. And he's not bad on the eyes either," she arched a knowing eyebrow making me laugh. "Anyway, so I told him we'd have dinner with him and his brother tonight," she said quickly.

  "Whoa. Hold up. You told him what?" I asked. She shrugged and grabbed up a penis shaped sucker to examine.

  "He has a meeting with his brother and asked if I wanted to meet him for dinner. I told him while I would love to go to dinner with him that I was here with my best friend in the whole wide world and I couldn't possibly think of deserting her on our vacation," she said eyeing me with a sweet innocent pout. I scowled at her. "And since he had that meeting I suggested that we could all go together. That way everyone was happy."

  "I'm not happy," I pointed out. She waved her hand dismissively.

  "It'll be fun, Quinny. I mean, you've seen Miles. You know his brother has to be good looking too. And what's the worst that could happen? You get a free dinner and look at handsome men. There are worse things, friend," she said matter-of-factly.

  "And I assume this has all been confirmed?" I asked.

  "We're meeting them at the restaurant at seven," she smiled sweetly.

  "I hate you," I growled.

  "You love me," she challenged.

  "That's up for debate." She was my best friend and I did love her, but sometimes her whimsy was like living on a merry-go-round at top speed and never knowing how to jump off. I usually just held on and tried not to get sick. God love her.

  "Trust me, Quinn. We're on vacation. Let's go out and make the most of it. It'll be fun."

  Famous last words.

  "I CANNOT BELIEVE that you are dragging me on a blind double date in a strange city. Only you would do this," I grimaced as we made our way down the crowded street.

  "Quinn, you gotta trust me. This Miles guy is hot. And he seems really nice. If I had to guess his brother is going to be hot too," she said.

  "I don't care if he is or not. I'm not here to meet guys. This is supposed to be our girls’ week," I pointed out.

  "Seriously? What is wrong with you? Where is your sense of fun and adventure? It's just dinner. Two hours of the night. If it goes badly you can go back to the hotel and read or something. But for now, you are going to flash that sexy smile of yours and pretend to have fun," she ordered.

  "I do have fun. I have a lot of fun actually. I just don't see the appeal of you dragging me along on your date," I said.

  "I'm not dragging you along. I already explained this. Miles wanted to take me to dinner, but he had a meeting with his brother. So I suggested we all go together, that way you could come too. Besides, you have to eat. And you did say you wanted to get out and see the city. It’s a win-win really." She seemed so proud of herself. I hated blind dates. Actually, I hated dating in general. There was so much effort involved and nine times out of ten the guy ended up being a jerk.

  "You owe me for this," I muttered as we reached the restaurant.

  "Oh you poor thing," she mocked. I gave her my best glare and followed her inside. She was laughing at me, so apparently the glare wasn't effective.

  I glanced around the room while Lily gave the hostess our name and nearly choked when my eyes locked on a man at the bar. He was tall, intense and far too familiar. He was also walking this way. Was he coming towards us? I looked away pretending I didn't recognize him.

  "Lily! You made it." My eyes whipped to the voice making the introduction. He kissed Lily on the cheek and then turned his attention to me. "You must be Quinn," he smiled. I held out my hand and shook it. A feeling of uneasiness swept through me as the tall man from the bar stepped forward taking a spot beside him. Keaton Harris. This was not happening. Miles' brother was Keaton Harris? My blind date was Keaton Harris? I wondered if I could turn and run without being noticed.

  "Hi. It's nice to meet you," I managed. I couldn't help but glance back over my shoulder at the door wistfully.

  "You aren't thinking about leaving are you?" Keaton's smooth voice asked quietly. I swallowed hard as a wave of acute awareness invaded me. There was something about this man that made me feel all prickly.

  "Quinn, this is my brother, Keaton," Miles said good-naturedly. I couldn't help but notice how he kept smiling down at Lily. He was good looking; a softer looking Keaton. Where his brother was intense, Miles was more approachable.

  "We've met," Keaton smiled offering me his hand. I took it reluctantly, avoiding his eyes. I couldn't help it. I didn't want to see him. I didn't want to have dinner with him either. This was going to be awful. Lily owed me so much more than she realized.

  "Oh. Well, great," Miles smiled. I managed to return it, while avoiding Keaton all together. Maybe I could make it through the meal doing just that.

  "Shall we get our table?" Lily asked. I elbowed her in the side, warning her that she owed me an explanation as to why she'd failed to mention that the brother was Keaton Harris. She'd seemed anything but surprised when he'd walked up and that little detail told me she was being devious.

  The hostess led us to a big round booth in the back of the restaurant where we were shielded from all of the other patrons. I slid in beside Lily who was busy chatting Miles up. Keaton slid in beside me, a little too close. I could feel the heat from his body and it left me uncomfortable.

  A waiter appeared at our table and filled our water glasses. I took a drink immediately, wishing I could figure out a way to escape this dinner without looking like a coward.

  "You looked surprised to see me. I'm guessing Lily didn't mention it," Keaton said just for me to hear. I don't know that Lily and Miles would have noticed anyway.

  "She told me that we were meeting Miles’ brother," I said.

  He chuckled under his breath, "Miles’ brother."

  "Is that funny? Is it surprising that someone would refer to you as his brother instead of the other way around? Does that bruise your fragile ego? Is it hard not being the center of everyone's attention?"

  I saw surprise hit his eyes. "Wow. That was harsh. I might be a little slow on the uptake, but I'm starting to think you don't like me much, Quinn," he mused.

  I huffed and took another sip of water. I shouldn't have let him get to me.

  "Why is that anyway?" he asked

  "What?"

  "Why is it that you don't like me?"

  I leveled my gaze at him, questioning whether or not I should really have this conversation. I didn't want to make this dinner any more awkward than it was already going to be.

  "It's not that I don't like you," I said finally. He tilted his head, giving me a look that said he didn't believe me. "I think you might be a little arrogant," I admitted. "It's probably not all your fault. You do get a lot of attention, but I don't really find it to be an attractive quality in a person," I said.

  "Please, go on," he encouraged. He leaned back into the booth and crossed his arms across his chest managing to make it look relaxed instead of defensive.

  "You get everything you want. I've seen how people react to you around here. All you have to do is snap your fingers or flash that smirky smile and they all line up for a chance to be the next to take a ride on the Keaton Harris Express." I said.

  "First off, it's definitely not an express ride," he said. I rolled my eyes
. "And, second, I haven't seen you line up for anything, so apparently I don't get everything that I want."

  "See? You are so full of yourself," I said.

  "Maybe if you got to know me you would change your mind," he suggested.

  "It's not important. We're here. Let's just have dinner," I said. I didn't want to get into it further.

  "I like you Quinn," he said softly.

  "You don't know me," I said and I immediately wanted to take it back. Hadn't he just used that same argument on me? I saw his smile widen.

  "Exactly."

  The waiter showed up then with a bottle of wine that I'd never even noticed Miles order. Why did I keep letting him get to me? Maybe it was that he made me nervous. I hated that he did.

  "Are we ready to order?" The waiter asked. I hadn't even looked at my menu.

  "Yes," Lily announced happily. I grabbed up the menu and frantically looked over the selections.

  Keaton leaned in, his voice velvet in my ear, "The salmon is quite good here." I felt the shiver drift across my skin and I squared my shoulders in defense of the reaction.

  "And for you miss?" the waiter asked.

  "Um, the salmon," I squeaked. I swear I felt his satisfied smile beside me.

  "I'll have the same," Keaton said handing over the menus.

  Luckily, Miles and Lily decided to include us in their conversation so I didn't have to worry about keeping our side one going. I didn't think I could have even if I had to. But as a foursome it wasn't that bad. In fact, I even started to enjoy myself. I hated to admit it, but the banter between Keaton and Miles was funny. They were relaxed with each other and it brought out a different side of Keaton. But then again, like we'd both pointed out, we didn't really know each other.

  It wasn't until dessert that my mouth showed up again.

  "So, Keaton, tell us how a dude ends up writing romance novels?" Lily asked.

  He smiled and I could tell from his expression that he got this question a lot. Miles chuckled under his breath.

  "I actually started out as a news journalist," he said. I saw Miles' eyes shoot up in surprise. So I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth.

  "Oh, so he's going to tell the real story," Miles smiled, sipping his wine.

  Keaton shrugged and continued his story. "I have a thing for news. I got my degree and started running all over trying to get my big break. I had plans to travel the world and make a difference. You know, bring home the stories that nobody else wanted to tell. But it was a slow climb to get there. I didn't mind working for it, but fate stepped in and I ended up here instead," he said.

  "But how did you go from hard news to throbbing members?" Miles and Keaton laughed out loud and I nearly spit wine across the table, as I choked on Lily’s words.

  "Well, it was kind of accidental. I saw how my cousin was so engrossed in a book and I thought I'd try my hand at it. I've always enjoyed writing. Fiction is challenging, you have to come up with an entire world, but I liked that. So I wrote my first book and released it. It took off and I decided I liked doing it."

  "But why Romance?" Lily pressed.

  "So he can get laid," I said. I looked up to surprised faces and realized I'd said that out loud. I felt my cheeks warm.

  "Is she always this feisty?" Keaton asked Lily, still smiling. He didn't seem offended at all. Probably because it was true.

  "Never," Lily laughed.

  I jumped when I felt the weight of his hand on my thigh. He patted it twice and then gave it the smallest of caresses before removing it.

  "Interesting," he said. I could feel his stare, but I refused to look at him. "Actually, I chose romance because I loved the way readers really connect to it. Love is the thing that nearly everyone covets. It's universal," he said.

  "That's nice. I'm glad you decided to give it a go. I kind of love Jack and Elisa," Lily said. Keaton smiled and took the compliment in stride. I guess I had expected his chest to puff up with the adoration.

  "What do you say we take a walk down to the wharf?" Keaton asked as he quietly took the bill from the edge of table, slipped in his card and set it back down to be picked up.

  "Oh, I want to go and see the seals," Lily said as she hopped in her seat with childlike excitement.

  "They really stink, you know?" Miles teased her, but his eyes were dancing with amusement and I could tell that he liked her excitement.

  "I don't care. They’re fun. Let's go," she said.

  "What about you? Are you up for a stroll?" Keaton asked me softly. He did that a lot, spoke quietly, directly to me. Each time that he did it caused a strange feeling to dance across my skin. It was a little bit like electricity and as much as I tried to ignore it, it wasn't working.

  We filed out of the restaurant and I pulled my sweater on as the breeze coming off of the bay was really cooling off. I was quickly falling in love with San Francisco. It was perfect. I loved everything about it from the clouds that clung to the bay, to the cool, crisp air that left a chill on the breeze. I loved the hills and the way you could visit every country in the world just by exploring the city. I inhaled a deep breath of cool, salty air and smiled, knowing that I’d found a new favorite city.

  Lily and Miles walked ahead of us chatting about who knows what. I admired her ability to be easy and carefree. She took life as it came and she didn't get caught up in over-thinking things the way that I did. I’d never been able to figure out how to do that.

  "Are you cold?" Keaton asked, bringing me out of my self examination.

  "No, I'm okay, thank you. Thank you for dinner as well. It was delicious," I said as we began to walk following behind Lily and Miles.

  "Aside from the company you mean?" he asked giving me a sidelined, teasing glance. I really had been awful to him. I didn't mean to be that way and I'm not sure why he ruffled my feathers so badly. Sometimes, when he was just laid back and natural he was legitimately charming. It was the persona, the cocky guy who always seemed to be on for his audience that annoyed me.

  "I'm sorry," I admitted. "I don't mean to be such a bitch. I enjoyed the company as well," I offered. That earned me a big smile and he bumped my shoulder with his own.

  "Yeah? I might win you over yet," he teased.

  "Doubtful," I said, but I was laughing. I felt my guard starting to slip a little.

  "I know you think I'm just a playboy asshole," he said.

  "But you're not?" I asked.

  "No, I am," he said matter-of-factly.

  I couldn't help but laugh at that nugget of honesty.

  "At least I have been at times. But it doesn't make me a bad guy. I've just been a single guy having fun," he said.

  I didn't say anything. He was right really. I was being judgmental.

  "I'm guessing you always go for the good guy?" he asked curiously.

  I shrugged, "Maybe. I've never given much thought to what my type is," I admitted.

  "Do you have a boyfriend now?”

  "No. I just graduated and I'm in that limbo area trying to figure out what I'm going to do next."

  "What do you want to do?" he asked.

  "I'm considering a move to New York," I said. I felt the nerves flutter in my stomach the way they did anytime I said the words out loud.

  "I live in New York," he said suddenly. I glanced over at him. "Just saying," he mumbled.

  We walked a little further without speaking before Keaton asked, "What will you do in New York? What did you go to school for?"

  "I'd love to get into publishing. I've always been the girl with her nose in a book. I don’t know, I just want to do something that I love with my life. My mom always said if you love what you do then you will never work a day in your life," I said.

  "Smart lady," he smiled.

  We made it to the pier and I could hear the sound of the seals barking and the sound of Lily's laughter as she leaned over the rails. I moved in beside her as she called out to them, carrying on a conversation like they were talking back to her. Who knows, mayb
e they were.

  "Aren't they fun, Quinny? I should go work at Sea World or something. Then I could hang out with seals and Otters all day." She winked at me. She was constantly coming up with some new career that she was destined for.

  "That would be otterly fabulous," I agreed.

  I heard Keaton chuckle behind me, standing just close enough that I could feel the heat from his body fill the air around me.

  "Hey, Lily, you want to ride the carousel?" Miles asked. Her eyes lit up as she jumped down from the railing she was perched on and skipped to his side.

  "Yes. Let's go."

  "You guys want to come?" Miles asked. They were already walking away.

  "Nah, we're fine. We'll catch up in a bit," Keaton answered for us. I glanced at him curiously. I was a little torn. On one hand, there was safety in numbers, but honestly it felt like we were crashing Miles and Lily's date.

  "Is that okay?" he asked in that quiet way of his. I was really starting to like the way he did that.

  "Of course."

  "Let's find a bench or something. I think there is one up a little further where we can look out over the water,” he suggested.

  I followed him down the busy sidewalk of tourists. Sure enough there was an opening ahead with a bench. We sat, and I tried to ignore the jitters that were suddenly attacking deep in the pit of my stomach. Maybe it was the cover of darkness or the way the moon hung low in the sky casting a glow across the bay, maybe it was his cologne or the electricity that seemed to hum across his skin, but I was intoxicated. I felt myself being pulled under, and I did my best to shake the fog that settled over me.

  "So, I assume you've been to San Francisco before?" I asked him.

  "A few times. I love this city. It's so different than back home. I love the hustle of New York, it's always exciting. But, it feels laid back here. It's a nice change."

  "I think I could live here," I said confidently.

  "I thought you were going to migrate east," he questioned with an easy smile.

  "I am. Well, probably. But this is the kind of place I always saw myself. I love the water, but I love the way it's cool and misty," I said, taking in the salt in the air.