She laughed, “hold on.” I heard a bunch of rustling and frowned.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Getting undressed, hold on.”
“Fuck.” I held my forehead in my hand and massaged my temple.
She laughed again, the little siren. “Sorry.”
“I don’t think you are. You told me you had feelings then started stripping, that’s…” I blew out air, “that’s not a repentant move.”
“When I’m not a damaged mess, I’ll make all this waiting up to you. I promise.”
I felt hot at the thought, “you already make it up.”
She went on, “I think we’ll be good together. Like…”
“Like natural?” I assumed.
“Yeah.” She mused on that with me in silence. “I should let you go, so you can sleep.”
“Okay, but call me in the morning.” I needed to go now anyway, I’m somewhere between horny and asleep.
“I will. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Sunshine.”
Days Later
“So, now tell me what’s new with you?” I asked as I drove Chloe to the hotel. Her event is in several cities over so we booked a room at a ritzy place as my treat and my apology. “How’s Brandon?”
She shifted in her seat and looked out the window. “I don’t know. Haven’t seen him in a week.”
I feel like the world’s biggest asshole now. As the acting Best Friend, I should’ve been a phone call away. Week old news that’s this big is an epic fail on the bff’s side.
I brought my tone down. “I’m sorry Chloe.”
She shrugged and continued to watch the passing traffic. She’s in this burgundy romper, with long belled sleeves, that’s cut in a low V and her hair is up on her head but her tendrils in front are held back by a matching bandana. She doesn’t even have to try to be hot.
“No, you aren’t. You didn’t like him.” She said.
“Doesn’t mean I want you hurt.”
“I’m fine Moses, it’s not like I didn’t see it coming.”
“I know you don’t cry by nature but, it’s alright to be disappointed and sad.”
“I’m not.”
She’s really fighting this and that tells me it really did hurt. My absence though has probably made it worse. Aside from me all she has is Brianna. No family and not enough trust to have too many friends.
“What happened?” I asked.
She reclined and tucked her feet up. “You texted me, he got jealous, threw the dancing in my face, told me I was a whore, and I made him leave. Not till after Goliath bit him.”
My head snapped around, “what?!” I don’t even know what I’m asking, that’s too much info. “He called you a what?” I ripped the car off the road and got honked at.
She sat forward, held the bar overhead and stared at me. “Moses! Are you trying to kill us? What the hell?”
“He called you a what?”
“Moses, you can’t just stop on the side of a main highway.”
“Answer me, or I’ll call the fucker myself.”
“Oh, no you won’t. It’s over, let it go.”
I unbuckled and faced her in my seat, “why did Goliath bite him?” She rolled her eyes and turned to look out her window but I grabbed her jaw and made her look at me, “Chloe, so help me, I’ll call him right now if you don’t answer me.”
“He tossed his shirt at me and got Goliath riled up. He only started walking my way and for some reason Goliath got-.”
“How?”
“What?” She frowned.
“He had to be walking a certain way for Goliath to bite.”
“Aggressively okay!” I snatched her phone from off her door holder and she fought to get it from me. “Moses, don’t!”
“Don’t tell me what to do. I’m going to tell that little fuck to-.”
“Oh my God will you stop! He didn’t touch me.”
I’m busy scrolling through her phone for Brandon’s number and trying to fight her off. She’s unbuckled now and trying to pull my arm back.
“Moses!” she snaps, “don’t you dare! Give me my phone! Stop!”
“No! I tell you all the time to look for red flags! You can’t be that lonely that you don’t see when these men are dicks! I’m not letting this go; none of them were ever stupid enough to physically threaten you.”
She’s basically on me trying to stop me, “I kicked him out! It’s over so, please! Just-.”
“He called you a whore!”
“I know okay-.”
I stopped to look out in disbelief, “then you tell me he got jealous about me? He doesn’t need to be jealous, he needs to be wetting himself.”
I found his name but she fucked with the touch screen so I’d have to find it again all while struggling with her. “This isn’t your business!” she announced.
“Like hell you say!”
“My life goes on when you date Moses. Even if you forget I exist during those points. Now give me the damn phone.”
Ugh. I paused and she snatched it. While she buckled I felt the meaning of her words. I drop out on her when I date steady and I’m not sure why. I think I feel too close to her, and if she’s there occupying my heart how is the girl I’m seeing supposed to have a chance?
But what if something had happened? What if she didn’t have Goliath and I was busy not being there? My text started their fight. What kind of friend was I to her?
“I’m sorry,” I said.
She sat back and threw her phone in her purse, “you can’t just take my phone-.”
“No, I mean about disappearing. I’m all you have and skipping out is…wrong.”
She won’t look at me and I feel even worse. Then an idea came to me. I pulled my necklace from under my shirt; the friendship charm, and poked her knee, “hey…”
“What?”
She still won’t look so I poked her again, “hey…”
“What?!” she turned and saw me holding it up. She rolls her eyes and I groaned before getting out of the car and coming around. I opened her door and crouched down to her level. I held out the charm, still around my neck and looked at her expectantly.
She laughed and that made me breathe better. She held up hers from around her neck and leaned so we could connect the broken pieces.
We’re so close I can see the swirls of green in her eyes. “I’ll be a better friend, I swear. Forgive me?” I asked.
“Will you go Cabana Man again if I don’t?”
“That wasn’t Cabana Man, that was Pre-Cabana Man. If I ever see Brandon again I’m going to set lose a hell demon on his face.”
She laughed and looked at the connection of our charms, fitting each other in all the broken places. Like us.
“Okay.” She kissed my nose.
Chapter Eleven
CHLOE
We got to the hotel in a couple hours and unpacked before snooping around the hotel. I feel weird without Goliath around but I know Brianna is loving him up and spoiling him.
Moses took me to dinner at a really nice place near the hotel called, The Saffron Petal. While we waited on menus I breached a topic I knew I had to as the friend. Seeing the charm I’d bought him, hang from his neck was a good reminder.
“How are things with Jenzy?” I began.
He looked up over his menu and his eyes were melted happiness then transparent sadness. “It’s great.”
“That’s not even vague, that’s too vague to even be vague.”
“It’s the night before your big night, let’s talk about you.”
I karate chopped the menu out of his hand and he sat back and glared. We did the silent argument with our eyes for a good minute. He almost won with the eyebrow arch but then I did the shoulder and added, “out with it.”
He sat forward again and slowly opened up. “Things between us are…they’re perfect Chloe. I love spending time with her. She’s literally everything I was looking for. I never had to wait for a girl before,
and yeah, it’s painful but I’m happy. She makes me happy. We even admitted it feels like something is happening.”
Every word is crushing me harder but the more he talks the easier it is to swallow. The way he talks about her tells me she could be the one and that’s scary.
“Then,” I picked up my wine, “congrats handsome, you found her.”
“It’s not simple, though. Her husband is still trying really hard to get her back.”
“I think she knows what she wants,” I assured him.
He looked deep in thought with his eyes trained on some dot behind me, “he uh…took her away.”
I frowned, “what do you mean?”
“He kidnapped her a couple days ago and took her to Disneyland.” He looked at me communicating a silent. ‘I’m kidding myself right?’
I need to kick into true friend mode. His happiness means more to me than my issues. “Good!” he looked surprised at my response, “That’s great. Then maybe they’ll build a friendship like ours and he’ll sign and you two will be free to be whatever you want.”
Moses drummed his fingers on the table, “they could also fall back in love and I’ll have to let her go.”
I don’t know how any woman could cheat or pick someone over Moses. Looking at him now, I don’t get it. He’s not just hot, he’s perfect. His toned body, his dark and stunning facial features, his attitude. He’s proud to have a friend that was a stripper and pole dances, and most the men I dated wave by day and screw me by night to avoid feeling embarrassed.
I thought of Brandon and a fresh ache started. Four months in, we broke up so I didn’t break my six-month record.
“You won’t have to let her go.” I smiled, “Chris had his chance and he’s the one that let her go. Now it’s your turn.”
He held my hand over the table but I doubt he felt the rush I did.
Done with the night and needing sleep before tomorrow night’s event we went back to the hotel. In the elevator, he put his hands in his pockets and said, “and oh yeah, I have a surprise.”
I craned my neck, “what is it?”
“Like I’m going to tell you.”
We got into our room and he went to his overnight bag. We had a room with two beds so I flopped down stomach first on mine and waited. “I’m nauseous just thinking about tomorrow. I’ve been sick for days.” I confessed.
“I noticed. You ate like a bird at dinner.”
I thought about getting up to dance in front of all these people and being scored. I thought about the award that came with a great performance and the competition after. I want this. I want to show myself I’m worth something, that I’m good at something.
“What if I screw up?”
He stopped digging in his bag and grimaced, “shut up. You’re a world-class, exceptional dancer that does awe-inspiring and captivating dance forms. You’ve got this, and I’m here to watch you take it home.”
“I’m going to make you my focal point okay?”
He smiled and went to digging, “now I feel special.”
“I’m serious. I’m really scared. I’ve performed for audiences before, and when I was a stripper I took my clothes off for strangers but this is different. This is professional. When I got the letter invite for this I thought it was a joke.”
He looked to be getting frustrated with his vain search in his bag, “that talent scout that saw you at that last show was a smart guy. Was about time someone noticed you.”
“Did you know they gave me like ten tickets for family and friends?” I laid my face sideways in the pillow to hide and see him at the same time. “Brianna can’t see, so going when she could take care of Goliath would’ve been silly and your dad has the store. When you didn’t call me back, I thought I’d have to go alone. Because…I don’t have anyone that cares about me.”
He stopped to look at me and I inhaled slowly.
He took a square gift from his bag that was wrapped in shiny copper paper and tied with a purple bow. He came over and sat on the bed but didn’t hold it out to me. Instead, he ran his fingers through my hair and stroked it back so I couldn’t hide behind it. “You have me.” He said, “you’ll always have me. I care. Because I’m not just your friend. I love you.”
I smiled a little. I can feel useless tears threatening at the back of my throat but Chloe doesn’t cry. I don’t waste my life making eye rain that gets me nowhere.
“I love you too.” I said.
He waved the gift in my face and I rolled my eyes before sitting up on my stomach to open it on my pillow. He set his hand on the other side of my hips to turn and loom but I don’t think he knows that the feel of his arm by my ass is turning me on.
I opened the gift to find one of those double frames that close like a book. I look back at him and arch my brow, “let me guess…you and me, and me and Brianna? Does she know about this?”
“Just open it.”
I love pictures, but Moses and his parents, Brianna and Goliath are all I have to decorate my apartment. I pulled it open with a smirk but then the smile fell from my face and my breathing caught. My eyes filled but even in a moment this moving I blinked them back.
I stared at the two faces on either side of the frame and let my heart recognize the souls within the eyes of the couple looking back at me.
He tapped the side with my Father’s picture, “Titos Gianopoulos and,” he tapped my Mother’s, “Mika Weizman.”
“How did you find these?” I couldn’t take my eyes off their faces.
“So this has been like a yearlong search. I had to really investigate to get the right ones, but it looks like your mother got her citizenship before she died. Your dad wasn’t really ready to become American he was a really proud Greek.”
I touched my father’s picture. He was handsome; broad shoulders and a thin frame. His head was shaved close but what remained was golden as was his beard. His green eyes were deeply set with thick brows and a strong nose at the center. I could imagine him proud.
“Does he look right to you?” Moses asked.
I nodded, “my last memory of him was him working. I don’t even know what he did. I was too little, like three? He used to sing songs in Greek and he called me his little bundle. Last I remember him, he was…walking me to daycare. This is him because I remember looking up at him. He had a dimple in his chin, like me.” I touched mine and found a new love for it. I’d forgotten he had one.
Moses pet the back of my head. “What about your mom?”
I studied her face but I didn’t have too, “yes,” I had to close my eyes to control the tears. Moses couldn’t see from his angle. “Yeah, that’s Momma.” I ran my thumb along the side of her frame. She has skin that’s brown like mine, and her hair is long and full of ringlets like mine but it’s soft brown, so I got the golden hair from papa. Her eyes are very big like mine, and they’re hazel so the green I have was from papa too, but our lips are the same shape and I have her nose.
“You remember her?” asked Moses.
I smiled, “last memory I have of her is after papa killed himself. She was telling me a story. I think it was Greek from mythology. I had a play the next day and I was nervous but she told me Gianopoulos’ don’t fear anything and they don’t cry.” I laughed, “then she tickled me till I cried, and teased me about it. I remember trying to wiggle away but she pinned me and kissed all over my face. Her hair smelled amazing and it brushed over me the whole time. Then she hugged me a long time before going to bed.”
Moses rubbed my arm. “Sweet memory. She sounds like she was happy.”
I lost my joy and felt a cloud shift over my sunshine of happiness. “All that to make me feel strong for the play, and all the affection to make me feel safe… but she took her life that night. I woke up an orphan.”
He took a breath and I closed the frame. Then he bent to kiss my ear, “was I wrong to give this to you tonight? I thought it would help but-.”
I turned over on my back and held his arms, “no.
No, Moses, this was…so special. I haven’t seen them in twenty-one years. Their possessions were almost nothing but what they did have I never had a chance to get. This means the world to me. Nothing could ever matter this much, no gift could ever measure up.”
“We’ll see, there’s a part two.” He looked proud of himself, “I also got their story…wanna hear?”
I sat up against the wall and held the frame to my chest, “how?” I guess this is part two.
“After I got the right couple I did more research. Found out from a neighbor of your father’s that he was in the Greek Military. He met your mom when she went to Greece on holiday with her parents. They became friends, wrote and called back and forth after she left for Israel. He finally broke and told her how he felt but she said no.”
I bugged my eyes, “dad was friend zoned?”
We laughed, “he totally was, for like two years.” He told me, “she said her parents didn’t like it and his were strongly against it. I guess they eventually broke and started talking because all the neighbor knows is that your dad Titos went to Israel and married her.”
“That’s crazy!” I pulled my hair to one side. “Then they moved to America?”
“Yeah, their story gets blank after that. They had you one year later so sounds like they got lucky with you on the first try.” He wriggled his brows and I laughed.
I came down from the laughter but I tried not to let it seem like a dramatic drop, “so, you don’t know why he killed himself?”
Moses massaged my knee, “he was struggling here, with the language and making ends meet. He sounds like he had a lot of self-pride, so I think it depressed him. As for your mom…”
“She loved him more than me.”
He frowned, “no, and I told you not to do that. They were like soul mates, and she knew you were a citizen, she probably thought you would thrive here.”
I laughed harshly, “yeah, they’re baby got bounced from home to home then got kicked out at legal age and stripped for a living. Now she has a string of broken relationships and no family-.”
“Stop it.” He brought his tone down to demanding. “You are a strong and incredible person, and you’ve only gotten better at everything year to year. The only reason you haven’t found someone is because you haven’t met the right one. Got nothing to do with what kind of person you are.”
The Friend Zone (The Relationship Quo Series Book 2) Page 10