“Right…”
“It’s true!”
“Sure, because you would hate strutting around showing off your body,” she said sarcastically. “And you would definitely hate seeing women walking around doing the same.”
Without answering right away, he scooped his boxers off the floor and slid them back on before doing the same with his jeans. “Have you ever gone to a nude beach?”
“No! Why would you even ask that?”
Her outrage was adorable.
So was her blush.
“Because if you had, you would know that most people who go to the nude beach should not go to a nude beach.”
“You mean…”
He nodded. “Yes. The nude beach is not filled with supermodels and bodybuilders. So I can pretty much guarantee any place that allowed you to walk around buck naked would not be filled with guests who should be walking around naked.”
“Ah. Gotcha.” She walked closer and placed her hand on his chest. “Well, just for the record, you could walk around naked and no one would be offended by it. You’ve got a great body.”
Wow…he felt…holy crap…
Oh, God…am I blushing?
“Then I think you should know that you would make the perfect naked companion for me. I think a lot of guys would love to see you walking around like that.”
“Stop,” she said with a small laugh. “No one wants to see me naked.”
“I do,” he argued. “I just saw you naked five minutes ago and I can’t wait to see you that way again.” He paused. “Hell, if it were up to me, we’d eat naked!”
“Oh, no. That’s not something I’m going to do.” This time her laugh was a little more of the nervous variety. “I was hoping we could eat out on the balcony. There’s a little bistro set out there and we could listen to the sound of the waves and look at the stars.” She stopped and shook her head. “Sorry. You probably don’t want to do that. I mean, we’re just…” Without another word, Chelsea turned and walked over to the sliding glass doors and looked out.
Walking up behind her, Drew wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on the top of her head. She fit perfectly against him like that. “We’re just what?”
She shrugged but didn’t answer.
If he had to guess, Drew would say she was probably going to say they were just messing around. He was sure it must feel that way to her. It wasn’t like they had talked about feelings, and when they weren’t in bed together giving each other mind-blowing orgasms, they tended to be fighting.
But that didn’t have to mean this wasn’t something more, did it?
“I’d like to sit out on the balcony with you,” he said softly, moving to rest his cheek against hers. “I think that sounds great.”
She twisted slightly and looked at him. “Are you sure? I know you said you’d rather we eat naked…”
“I was just being a guy, Chels. And believe it or not, I like your idea better.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “I wish we had wine like we did last night. Even though we’re just eating pub food, it would have been nice to sit outside and eat and have a nice glass of merlot or something.” He kissed her cheek. “Let’s plan that for tomorrow night when we’re in Bluffton. What do you say?”
Her smile was so sweet and so beautiful. “I think I like that plan very much.”
They stayed like that staring down at the beach and listening to the waves crashing until he got the text that their delivery was on its way. He kissed her cheek one more time before stepping away and throwing his shirt and sneakers back on.
“I’ll be right back!” he called out on his way out the door.
In the elevator, something hit him–he felt good. Happy. Really happy. Although to be fair, he was normally a happy person, but this felt different. He was having fun with Chelsea on this trip–way more fun than he had anticipated and it wasn’t all sex-related.
But it was certainly a perk.
It was hard not to think about what was going to happen tomorrow though. Right now they were sort of in this bubble where it was just the two of them and it was like an adventure. Tomorrow it was all going to hit the fan, and for the life of him, he had no idea how it was going to play out.
When Jimmy had called him Thursday night and asked him to essentially do whatever he could to keep Chelsea away from the situation, he never imagined things going like this.
Not even close.
It was still weird to think about all the time they’d spent hanging out together and talking to each other for a damn year without ever getting to really know each other. He learned more about her in the last two days than he had all year!
That was sad, right?
And part of the reason was that he listened to Jimmy. And Bianca. And pretty much everyone else for far too long. Very rarely had he formed any opinions on his own that his friends hadn’t influenced, and that was beyond eye-opening.
It was also infuriating.
The thing that pissed him off the most was how he thought he was beyond all of that. Back when they were younger and growing up together, it was one thing to let your friends' opinions influence the people you liked and hung out with. But at his age, it was just embarrassing. How many other people had he blown off who he could have had a decent relationship with? And not just women, but other guys he could have hung out with?
And Chelsea had seen it and figured it out just from their weekly get-togethers. She had managed to look beyond the surface and see something that he hadn’t. And what had he done? He’d just written her off as being a bitch without even trying to figure out why or if that was truly who she was.
Just thinking about the things he’d said about her to Bianca–the things Chelsea had found out about–filled him with disgust.
And regret.
He needed to make it up to her–to show her that he wasn’t that guy. Drew knew he wasn’t perfect, and on some levels, he was always going to be a little immature and say stupid things, but he didn’t want them to be about her. He had a feeling she dealt with that sort of behavior a lot from their group of friends and he wasn’t going to let that happen anymore–not while he was around.
So yeah, that was going to make their confrontation with Jimmy and Bianca even more awkward than it was already going to be.
The elevator opened in the lobby and he met the delivery guy and thanked him before immediately turning around and getting back on the elevator. The entire trip down and back took less than five minutes and yet he felt like he’d had a life-changing revelation on it.
He only prayed that it was a revelation he was going to actually learn something from.
Up on their floor, he stopped at the vending machine and grabbed two sodas and two bottles of water before going back to the room. When he stepped inside, the room was dimly lit and there was no sign of Chelsea.
“Chels?”
“Out here!”
Walking across the room, he stepped out onto the balcony and found her sitting at the little bistro table with her feet up on the railing. She had put her robe on over her nightshirt, her head was thrown back and her eyes were closed. Even in the moonlight, he could see she was smiling.
“I love this,” she said softly. “I love listening to the sound of the waves.”
Placing the bag of food on the table, he sat down beside her. “Maybe we can sleep with these doors open so you can hear it all night. Plus, we might be able to catch the sunrise in the morning.”
Lazily, she turned her head, opened her eyes, and looked at him. “You don’t think it will be too cold?”
“I promise to keep you warm.”
“Damn, where was this guy for the last year?’ she teased, but there was no malice in her tone.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out too,” he admitted.
11
“I think I’m going to be sick.”
“I told you not to eat that second chocolate croissant.”
&nbs
p; “It’s not because of that.”
“Or to wash it down with a Yoo-Hoo.”
“Please. Those things are delicious, and again, it’s not breakfast that’s making me sick,” Chelsea said wearily. And Drew knew exactly what she was talking about and was just trying to make light of the situation.
Bless him.
They had left Charleston a little before ten this morning. It was only a two-hour drive to Bluffton and they had been driving for a little over ninety minutes already. The closer they got to their destination, the worse she felt.
And with the way things had been going between her and Drew, she didn’t want to ruin it by vomiting all over his car.
There would be no way to recover from that level of disgusting embarrassment.
“Do you need me to pull over?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she wanted him to turn the car around and to simply forget about going to Bluffton all together. Coming here had been a mistake. There was no way she was going to win or accomplish anything other than pissing off Bianca and potentially ruining their friendship, but…
Drew reached over without taking his eyes off the road and took her hand in his. “Whatever you need to do, Chels, we’ll do it.”
“What if I said I wanted to go back to the beach?” she asked carefully.
“Then I’d say we’ll get off at the next exit.”
Huh. She thought for sure he’d try to talk her out of it.
“What if I said I changed my mind and I want to go home?” Carefully, she glanced his way.
“Then I’d say okay, but let’s find a few different places to stop on the way back and we’re skipping the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.”
Wow. Again, not the response she was expecting.
“What if I said I was in the mood for waffles for lunch?” And this time, she fought a grin.
“Hmm…to that I would have to say not a chance.”
“Seriously? You’re okay with turning around and driving all the way home but you draw the line at waffles? That makes no sense!”
He squeezed her hand. “One has us continuing our adventure; the other has all kinds of consequences that would require my car having to be professionally cleaned.”
“I didn’t mean I’d really get sick. It was just nerves.”
“Yeah, I’m not willing to take that chance.”
“Drew…”
“Chelsea…” he mimicked. “Look, what is it you want me to say here?”
“I don’t know.” And now she was pouting.
“It seems to me the closer we get that you’re having second thoughts about this whole thing.”
“I am.”
“Okay, then. We can always turn around,” he explained. “Or we can go and wish them well and possibly stay and be part of the wedding. Or at least be there to offer our congratulations.”
That was true, but…did she want to? Would it be too hard to hold her tongue if she had to actually watch them say their vows?
“Honestly, Drew, I don’t know what I want to do. I feel like such an idiot for making us drive all the way here and then turning around.”
“You’re not an idiot, Chelsea. You’re worried about your friend and fear she’s making a mistake.” He paused. “If you ask me, you’re brave.”
“Um…what?”
Drew nodded. “It’s true. I’ve been struggling with the whole thing–even just the dating thing. When Jimmy announced that he was proposing, I wanted to say something, but all the guys were congratulating him and I thought it was just me who felt the way I did.” He sighed. “Then I was too afraid to say anything and piss Jimmy off and…you know…ruin the friendship.”
“What bothers you about it? Them,” she quickly corrected.
Releasing her hand, he put both of his on the steering wheel. “I know it’s petty, especially since we pretty much learned this weekend not to judge a book by its cover, but…it’s her. It’s Bianca.” His grip on the steering wheel tightened and she could tell he was tensing up.
“Maybe you just…”
“No. I’ve tried. Believe me, I’ve tried. I’ve gone and hung out with just the two of them, I’ve done work for her salon, and no matter what the situation or where we are, she’s just…” He growled. “She’s the worst! She dresses like Malibu Barbie and tries to come off as being all sweet, but if you don’t fawn all over her, she completely shifts gears and turns into Bitch Barbie.”
“Okay, I don’t think that’s a real Barbie…”
“Chels, please. You know what I’m saying. She’s one of those plastic, shallow people, and at the end of the day, she only cares about herself.”
Wow. Part of her really wanted to defend Bianca, but…she couldn’t.
“At first, I thought Jimmy was a nice guy,” she began quietly. “I mean, he was friendly, polite, and…I don’t know…after a couple of times of hanging out, I noticed how he’s kind of crude, kind of loud, and just nothing like the kind of guy I imagined Bianca being with–let alone marrying.”
Beside her, Drew chuckled. “Jimmy’s definitely crude, but it doesn’t make him a bad guy.”
She groaned because it was time to come clean. He deserved to know the truth before they went and ambushed their friends.
“I have to tell you something,” she said solemnly.
He looked at her oddly. “Sure. What’s up?”
“It’s about…” She let out a long sigh. “It’s about Jimmy and…how I really feel about him.”
Chelsea’s side slammed into the car door as Drew cut across three lanes of traffic and off the exit ramp. He pulled into a gas station parking lot and threw the car into park before he faced her. “If you’re going to tell me that you’ve got a thing for Jimmy and this weekend was about some sort of…of…I don’t know…weird way of getting him to notice you, I will freak the fuck out!”
“What?! No! That’s not what I was going to say!”
“Did you sleep with me because of Jimmy?” he asked through clenched teeth.
Part of her wanted to laugh at how this had escalated so quickly, but she didn’t think Drew would find the humor in it. “Okay, first of all, relax. What happened between us this weekend had absolutely nothing to do with Jimmy. Trust me.”
“Then what the hell are you talking about?” he demanded.
“If you’d shut up for five seconds, maybe I could explain!” Gah! She hated when she had to shout. “As much as I’m not a fan of Jimmy’s personality, I don’t totally hate him,” she admitted. “It’s not only that I don’t think he isn’t right for Bianca…I don’t think she’s right for him. I think she will slowly wear him down and just…I don’t know…I see how he already kowtows to her. That’s not what she needs.”
Drew let out a mirthless laugh. “Does she know that?”
“Definitely not. I think right now he’s bending over backwards to please her, but she’s going to suck the life right out of him…”
Another laugh. “You said suck him.”
Reaching out, she punched him in the arm. “And that’s one of the reasons I never enjoyed hanging out with the two of you! Your crude and juvenile comments are not always appreciated!”
“You’re right; that was crude. Sorry.” But he was smirking so she knew he wasn’t really sorry and she chose to ignore that fact.
“I think Jimmy is an amazing businessman. I recommend him to a lot of people because I’ve seen the quality of his work. But I’m telling you, Bianca’s going to start making demands on his time. She’s going to want them to buy a house and have all the upgrades known to man. Jimmy’s going to be working just to support her. It’s not going to be fair to him.”
Drew was frowning and he didn’t say anything for a solid minute.
“Wait,” he finally said. “You’re genuinely concerned for him, aren’t you?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to say!” she cried. “Haven’t you been listening at all?”
“Um…”
“Look, I could be totally wrong here. Maybe things go on between the two of them when no one else is around that we don’t know about.”
“God, I hope that’s true…”
“Drew!” she whined. “Can you please be serious?”
“I was! I am!”
“Okay, whatever.” She waved him off. “Maybe I’m not seeing the big picture right now, but what I do know and what I do see is just…this can only end badly. And when it does, she is going to take him for everything he has.”
“Again, why are you even friends with her? I don’t get it!”
“It doesn’t matter. We’ve known each other forever, so…”
“So…what? It’s habit? That’s not the way a friendship works.” He paused, shaking his head with disgust. “She doesn’t respect you, and it seems to me like you don’t really like her, so why not just walk away?”
“You know what, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just go.”
“Go? Home? To Bluffton? Where are we going, Chels?”
“Where do you think we should go? I mean, am I going to just end up making a fool out of myself if we go to see them?”
“This isn’t about me,” he said, sounding completely reasonable. “We’ve already established that I’m not confrontational where Jimmy is concerned. You’re the bold one in this relationship.”
She rolled her eyes. “Drew…”
“It’s true! You think it’s easy for me to sit here and admit that you’re bolder and braver than I am? And just to be clear…only in this situation, okay? In any other part of my life, I am a freaking rock star! A superhero! Just…not this one.”
And for some reason, that made her laugh.
Hard.
Until tears were streaming down her face.
Drew cleared his throat. “It wasn’t that funny…”
Waving her hand in front of him, Chelsea did her best to catch her breath. “I’m sorry! I know it’s not, but I suddenly had this mental image of myself in like a SuperGirl costume with the flowing red cape and I was protecting you from Jimmy and Bianca!” More laughing. “I swear I don’t know why, but it just popped up and made me laugh!”
“Yeah, ha-ha, very funny. Drew’s a wuss. Great.”
Wrong Turn: Road Tripping Series Page 13