by K. C. Enders
“Adelaide, be nice to the young gentleman. He’s a long way from his family, too,” Virginia appeals for her new friend. Hers, not mine. “Maybe you’d like to be friends. Get a drink or a bite to eat after class.”
Is she serious? Making playdates for me? Setting me up on a date with her grandson was one thing. This is entirely different. And not okay.
“We met last week and didn’t hit it off, so…I’ll pass.”
“Surely, we can’t be done. I’ve still not made it all the way through the setup, and—”
“What?”
“The laptop is new, and I thought…well, I thought you could help me get things set up, so I’ll be ready to take classes in the next college session.” He has the nerve to look around the room, silently pleading his case.
“You’re ridiculous, you know that?” I just can’t with him. “Go. You’re perfectly capable of setting up and using your laptop. Why the hell did you get this one anyway?” I turn the machine, so I can see what the specs are and laugh. “Jesus Christ, you already have a shortcut on your desktop to—” I snap my head up, staring into his eyes, and clamp my lips tightly together.
Oh my God.
“Adelaide, are you okay? Your face looks like a tomato.”
Lord have mercy, nothing gets by Connie, and she is closing in on me and the screen full of Tumblr GIFs.
I slam the top down and push the now-offending computer away from me. “This is not what we do here.” I glance around the room before narrowing my eyes at him again. “If you plan on coming back on Thursday, you will be following the syllabus in an appropriate manner. Do you understand?” I used my stern voice. My I-mean-business voice. My do-not-even-fuck-with-me voice. And I expect him to be intimidated, embarrassed, something.
Instead, Finn stands up, so we’re chest-to-chest—more like chest-to-stomach in my case—and he leans in to pick up his laptop.
“Oh, I plan on coming back, love. For every single class. I’ll also be planning on that drink and the bite as well.” He nods toward his new best friend and the class traitor. Taking a step back, he addresses the group as he slides all his miscellaneous crap into his bag, “Ladies, it’s been a pleasure. As for you, Addie, I’ll see you soon.”
“It’s Adelaide.”
He slings his backpack over his shoulder and walks backward out of the room, waving as he goes.
“He’s a cutie, isn’t he?”
“And did you hear him with that accent?”
“And manners. With his, Yes, ma’am, it might just make an old lady swoon a little.”
Not one of them is bothered by the shade I’m throwing their way. I pack up my computer and straighten the chairs, making my way to the door. My jaw is tight, and my head is down. I don’t want to engage. I feel like they all turned on me a little.
A warm hand settles on my arm, startling me out of my thoughts. “Adelaide, you should give him a chance,” Louise says softly.
I can’t help but roll my eyes again at the idea of going out with Finn.
“Louise, he’s just…” Sighing, I try to think of what I want to tell her. That he’s a cheesy flirt? That the rumors I’ve heard are that he’s a man-whore and more likely to have a flavor of the day as opposed to being the gentleman he’s led them all to believe he is? And why do I care? I have Eric; he’s all I need.
Louise wraps her arms around me and pulls me in tight. Maybe it’s time for me to move back home. I miss my family, especially my grandma.
Squeezing her back and stuffing down my tears, I bark out an ugly laugh when she pats my back and says, “If nothing else, honey, get laid. You’ll feel better.”
6
Finn
“Your pants would look great on my bedroom floor.”
“You can buy the same pair at Target for twenty dollars.”
I should have probably gone back to my flat after that exchange with the fiery little thing, but I’m too keyed up. Instead, I stop in at McBride’s for a pint and some food.
“You’re done then? I’m away, home to Lis.” Aidan claps a heavy hand down on my shoulder and plants a bar rag in the middle of my chest.
“Fuck’s sake, you said you’d work for me tonight. I’m just in for a—”
“Sorry, Finn. Lis is home. She got done early and needs me.”
“Christ, I can’t catch a break anywhere today.” I stow my ruck under the bar and grab a glass for my pint, mumbling, “Just wanted to get my setup done, check out some GIFs, and take care of myself.”
“What are you on about?” Aidan asks. “I thought you had your class today, yeah?”
I set the glass down to let the thick black beer settle and lean my ass against the bar. “I did. Didn’t go to plan though.”
Aidan huffs a laugh at me. “Turn out, the instructor was a man?”
I hang my head and roll my shoulders. The last thing I want to do is let on that I’m hung up on—haunted by—his web designer. Aidan’s such a protective arse; he’d probably never have her meet him here again if he knew. What if they’re done meeting up? What if his work with her is finished?
“Finn, you all right? Need to talk something out?” He steps back up to the bar, concern written across his face.
“I’m fine,” I mutter. “Just gonna drop some chips in the fryer before you leave, yeah? Give me a minute.”
In the kitchen, I take a few moments to cool off in the walk-in freezer and try to collect myself. I should have just gone straight home. Addie has me off-balance and aching for her at the same time.
When I can’t avoid it any longer, I grab a fresh bag of chips and drop a healthy—or rather, an unhealthy—portion into the fryer. I busy myself, cleaning the already-spotless kitchen while I wait for my food to cook. Aidan will be fine for a few extra minutes. And Lis won’t be that upset with me for keeping him.
“You about done back here?” Aidan pops his head through the door, eyebrows raised, pupils dancing. “Lis is waiting for me in—”
“Christ, man, don’t rub it in. I’ll be out in a second.” I need to find someone to take my mind off matters. Or take them into my own hands.
“Let’s go then. I don’t want to keep her waiting.” He smacks the doorjamb twice in quick succession and fixes me with a glare. The glare of a man about to go home to a beautiful woman. His beautiful woman.
Shaking my head, I drain and plate my chips with a liberal application of salt. I grab the vinegar and go back out front to the bar.
When I show up to the community center on Thursday afternoon, I’m prepared. I have water in my water bottle instead of whiskey and my own little snack pack of cookies, and I’m not entirely late. I’ve even hidden the shortcuts to Tumblr and Pornhub in a folder on my desktop titled Homework. Perfectly respectable.
My new friend, Virginia, nods and smiles to me as I take my seat across the aisle. Like a ripple effect, each row of ladies turns, smiles, and nods, murmuring their hellos until sweet Addie raises her head and fixes me with her gaze.
“You’re back.” Not a question, it’s more of an annoyed observation.
“I am,” I reply, smiling. “And I’ve brought my own snack.” I hold up my store-bought treat, feeling like I’ve got this thing handled.
Addie does the eye-roll thing again, and I have to admit, I’m a bit concerned for her. She seems to have a problem controlling that particular response. Like, I’m afraid she’s going to strain herself.
Virginia though stands, grabs the bag of cookies out of my hand, and throws them in the rubbish bin. “We don’t allow that shit in here, Finn. We have standards,” she scolds.
My protest is on the tip of my tongue when she hands me a still-warm, gooey cookie from the plastic container on the desk in front of her.
Addie grumbles something about me not knowing standards if they smacked me upside the head, which isn’t true at all. If I didn’t have standards, I’d have gotten into more trouble in Dublin with my Humanities professor.
“Thank you, ma’am.
” I make an exaggerated show of manners that everyone seems to appreciate. Everyone, except Addie.
She turns back to her computer and prattles on about files and organizing them into folders.
I get a bit lost inside my head, listening to the gentle melody of her voice. She’s lulling me into a trance with her soft, almost accentless tone. Well, she has no accent compared to most of the girls I chat up in the pub. They all seem to have that harsh edge that screams New York, whereas Addie is all rounded vowels and steady cadence.
Christ, she’s stunning when she’s focused on what she’s doing. I’m so entranced, watching her, listening to her, that when I take a bite of the cookie Virginia so kindly bestowed upon me, I embarrass myself a little. The chocolate and sugary flavors explode in my mouth, causing my eyes to close and a groan to escape from low in my throat.
The room goes absolutely silent, and when I open my eyes, everyone’s head is turned, and the cleavage-dabber is dabbing and fanning.
I drop my feet down from where I rested them on the desktop and swallow quickly. “This is spectacular.” I hold up the remainder of the cookie and smile.
While the prevalent response is a murmured, “Oh, dear,” the louder response, the one that makes its way to my waiting ears, is more of a, “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Are you done?” she asks more loudly, glaring at me across the room.
“I’d never finish before you,” rolls off my tongue before I can think better of it. So, I wink at her. I wink hard and play it off like it’s no big deal because, really, it’s true. Despite what she threw at me in the pub, I flirt and follow through.
And the ladies? They’re not nearly as hard of hearing as I hoped, as they are stifling their laughter while Addie’s face turns the color of her hair.
7
Adelaide
“I was going to tell you a joke about my cock, but it was too long.”
“Too bad because I was going to tell you one about my vagina, but you’ll never get it.”
I can’t believe Finn just said that. I can’t fucking believe it. I bite at my lip while my face flames red, and I try to compose myself. Does he mean to say shit like that all the time? Does he not know how to tone it down?
Putting forth my best effort to ignore the fool, I carry on with the rest of the material, sneaking an occasional glance Finn’s way to make sure he’s not doing anything inappropriate, like cruising Tumblr. Sadly, the only way I can even think of to check on that is to find his hands and maybe look for any exuberant adjustments.
Each time I glance up though, he’s smirking at me, hands in his lap, stroking his pen, but still. And, of course, he winks. Every. Dingle. Time. Single. I meant, every single time. Damn it. I just roll my eyes, unchecked, not giving a shit anymore if he notices.
I hang back as the room empties, hoping to avoid any more awkwardness. Finn holds the door and acts all valiant and chivalrous to the ladies. My ladies. I had them first, and now, I feel like I’m losing them to him. We haven’t even been out on one date, and we’re already having a custody battle. Wait, there will be no dates with the cheese-slinging Tumblr monkey. Nope.
Finally alone, I check my email and see that my Susie-change-a-lot client has yet another overhaul she wants me to do. My bank account gets fatter with every one of her whims, but she’s starting to drive me insane.
Aidan responded to my meeting request, and thankfully, he’s agreed to meet at the coffee shop. I pack my stuff up and notice that no one really said good-bye to me. Shoulders slumped, I grab my bag and head out the door, flipping off the lights as I go.
Finn is opening and closing car doors for Virginia and Louise. Maybe he is chivalrous. Maybe he misses his grandma, too. I don’t know. But my heart breaks a little when I see Louise wrap him in a hug before she settles in her car.
With a deep breath, I tuck my head down against the wind and power-walk to my car. It’s time for a change.
“Thank you so much for being flexible.” Aidan assesses me as I settle at a table in the back corner of McBride’s. “I have to cover for one of the bartenders for a bit and couldn’t get away to the coffee shop. We shouldn’t be bothered much over here.” He’s searching, trying to figure out what’s different with me.
“It’s green,” I say, thinking that’s all he needs, but he’s still squinting his eyes and furrowing his brows. “My hair. It was time for a new color, so…” I just shrug. Do I really want to share with him that I was feeling a little jealous, so I needed my hair to match? Probably not. It sounds crazy enough when I think about it too hard, but I guess, if he pushes it, St. Patrick’s Day would do for an excuse.
“Huh. It suits you, but so did the pink. I like it.” He smiles as he brings me a fresh mug of coffee and a small pitcher of cream. “The website is fantastic, by the way.” Aidan pulls a chair around next to me and places his glass of whiskey down on a coaster.
“Great. So, I just wanted to check with you on a couple of details before we launch it and optimize the search engines.” I slide my finger across the touchpad, waking the screen, just as the door flies open.
Virginia, Louise, and Connie come tumbling in—with Finn.
They pass through the room to a table out of sight and settle into what looks like a conversation that’s been going on for a while. I would like not to be sad, not to feel left out, but I do. They didn’t even notice me. I wrap a lock of my mood-matching hair around my finger and try to ignore the cackles of laughter and blatant flirting across the room.
He’s flirting with them. Like real flirting, gentle touches, eyes sparkling, genuine smiles. Not the cheesy shit he gives me.
“You all right, Adelaide?” Aidan’s brows are pinched, concern written across his features.
“Um, yeah.” I shake my head, clearing the errant thoughts away. “Let’s get through this and get your new site launched.”
Aidan looks back at the table full of whispers and laughter, pausing before turning back to me. “He’s a good man. A little lost maybe but a good man.”
My breath catches, and my spine stiffens. “Okay. What…what does that have to do with anything?” I ask. The edge in my voice is a little sharper than it needs to be.
“Not a thing. Just doing a good deed for the lad.” He smirks at me before nodding at someone over my shoulder.
I assume it’s the cheesy leprechaun, but I don’t need to know.
“Well, charity is good for your Karma, I guess.” The desire to finish this up and escape to home washes over me. I would love to call in sick to class tomorrow, but I know that’d just end up biting me in the ass. Hell, I’m the substitute. Who knows whom they’d call to fill in for me?
We make a few minor adjustments on his site and take care of finances, and then I’m done. Quickly and quietly, I wrap my scarf around my neck and grab my bag. I forego my jacket to escape just a little bit sooner.
“Okay, so thanks. Let me know if we need to tweak anything, make changes, whatever.”
Aidan nods his thanks, and I bolt. I’m out.
Eric is surely waiting on me. At least he’ll be excited to see me.
8
Finn
“Your body is a temple.”
“There are no services today.”
I wasn’t really sure what to think when the lovely ladies from class asked me to lunch on Monday, but I had the time free and figured I could pump them for some information on Addie. I never expected to see her in the pub with Aidan. I might have volunteered to work for Jimmy if I had known they were going to be meeting up here.
“I think you’d make a lovely couple.” Virginia leans close, like she’s sharing a secret.
“I don’t think she’s interested,” I huff out. “She has a tendency to—”
“To cut you to the quick. I know,” Louise cuts me off with a knowing nod. “Have you considered maybe a different approach?” She peers at me over the top of her reading glasses.
This conversation seems to
have taken quite the turn.
Hell, I didn’t even know I was looking for Addie to be interested. I thought I was just fixated on her since she seemed impervious to my obvious charms. I mean, I’ve tried all of my best moves. She just seems to dislike me more and more.
“Maybe bring a coffee to class for her tomorrow. And, of course, you’ll want to work on your cookies.” Connie grabs a pad of paper from her bag and starts writing a list or something.
“What do you mean, my cookies? Is that a euphemism for something?” I like getting a rise out of the girls, though I do need to know more about the cookie situation.
Connie passes me the top sheet of paper from her pad. “Here, just follow this exactly and bring them tomorrow with that coffee. Dark roast with—”
“A bit of cream, yeah.” I look over Connie’s recipe for chocolate-chocolate chunk cookies as I think about what I need to grab from the market on my way home.
The closing of the front door draws my attention away from my mental shopping list. Addie is gone, Aidan’s getting the bar ready for the night, and all the girls are staring at me. I push my glasses back up my nose and run my hand through my hair as I look at each of them in turn.
“What?”
“Nothing, dear.” Virginia pats my arm again and smiles at Louise and Connie. They’re quite obviously plotting something.
They file out the door shortly after, talking about where to go for dinner. That adds to my confusion since it’s only three o’clock in the afternoon.
“Who eats dinner this early?” I ask the empty table.
Aidan, of course, can’t leave well enough alone. “Erm, your demographic is aging, yeah?”
I slouch back in my chair and throw him a glare over my shoulder. I wish I could just ask him for advice. Talk to him and be taken seriously for a change.