Chapter Four
“What smells good?” It is 10 am and I let my nose wake me up from a weird yet good dream.
“I made breakfast for everyone. Bacon, sausage, hash browns, scrambled and sunny side up eggs, and pancakes. I didn’t know if anyone liked blueberry or whatever so I made them all plain.”
“If it tastes as good as it smells I’m asking you to marry me.”
I think about punching Steve. What is the damn deal with all of them flirting with her? I don’t like it, but what can I say to get them to stop?
“She’s already married Steve.”
I grab my food and sit down to eat while everyone turns to stare at Trisha. She looks embarrassed and pissed. I hadn’t meant to say it like that. I just don’t want them flirting with her.
She drops her spatula and stomps into her room slamming the door. I sigh and almost bang my head on the counter. No one says a word…feeling far too awkward to do so. Yeah, I am an idiot.
Tommy scowls at me and gets up, going to her room. He knocks and goes in. Doesn’t even wait for an okay. If I did that I would get hit with a skillet or at least threatened. The guys all go to stand by the wall since Tommy left the door open. Geez, what were they five?
When she comes back out she is smiling. I would have given anything to just once have Tommy’s smooth ability with women. Whatever he says and does, I have no idea, but they always are smiling when with him. I know we have all been jealous of his abilities at some point, so I didn’t feel bad about being jealous now.
“So the food’s good. Once you are divorced let me know so I can ask you to marry me too.”
She smiles at Tommy and nods. I, on the other hand, want to beat him. Ugh! He has to know I like her. He is the one that pointed out before she even moved here that I spent a lot of time talking to her for no reason. I had denied everything, but he was smarter than that.
“I’ll tell you. Doesn’t mean I will say yes.”
He laughs and shrugs. Damn he is a really good flirting.
“Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“You can, but I suppose it wouldn’t be fair. It’s hard to find good home cooking.”
Is that considered flirting back? Ugh, I wish I know more about how she interacts with men in general.
“So how did you all meet Will?”
Oh God, Tommy please don’t tell her the truth. I have distanced myself from my family, but Tommy still does a lot of the upper class stuff. He does the parties and dances and luncheons. He dates the debutants and rich girls. He lives off his trust fund in a high end apartment. I don’t do any of that. I don’t want to do any of that. I didn’t even acknowledge that I did while still a child.
Luckily, Tommy launches into the story of how we met all the others. The gaming challenge he posted online, and all of us showing up for it.
“Who won?”
“Oh haven’t you seen the trophy in Will’s room?” Tommy says.
“I’ve been cleaning in there for two weeks and I haven’t seen any trophy ever.” Tommy and a couple of the others go into my room. Trisha follows. They won’t find it sitting around. She cleans in here and I didn’t want her to see all the things I had out at one point, so I hid most stuff under the bed.
“Hey! I have to clean in here you know!”
I go running in and get ready to kill someone. Tommy is getting under my bed and dragging stuff out. What the hell!
“Well this was all from under the bed. Don’t you clean under here to?”
She looks shocked and shakes her head.
“No, I thought only teen’s shoved stuff under their beds. Like porn and what not. I mean I’ve seen people have drawers or boxes of stuff under there like storing winter stuff, but I didn’t think under there would be stuffed with random loose stuff.”
I grab stuff as fast as I can and shove it back under the bed with my foot. Damn, this is embarrassing. What the hell is Tommy trying to do? I had shoved all this under here so she wouldn’t see. I don’t have any porn, but still this is terrible.
“Leave it alone guys. Go eat.” Tommy ignores me and continues rifling through stuff while I try to get it out of sight.
“Ah ha! Here it is,” he says in triumph.
She jumps on the bed and lands with a bounce, taking the trophy from Tommy.
“How many people came to try to win?”
“About two hundred. I put everyone’s name in a hat and drew names for who went against whom. It was tiered so everyone only played once a day and had rest time so they were always at their best. Also that way I didn’t have to feed anyone and no one had to stay over.”
“Good move.”
She hands me the trophy.
“Cool. See I’m more casual. Not talented enough to win a trophy, but I still enjoy playing. What game did you play?”
Tommy answers her. She is pretty much talking to him anyway since I am doing nothing but glaring.
“We did the Halos.”
She lays back on the bed. If Tommy wasn’t here…. I would likely do nothing I’m not really an outgoing person, but I would want to even more than I already do.
“Who hasn’t entered a halo tournament?”
Tommy shrugs. “It was a big thing then.”
She laughs. I’m embarrassed, but for some reason she doesn’t seem to think it is too dorky.
“I hear ya.” She started rifling through the stuff he dumped on the bed.
“What else you got hidden away Will?”
I answer hesitantly. She isn’t annoying me…unlike Tommy. “Some awards and stuff.”
“What kind of awards?”
I don’t respond; just continue to stuff everything Tommy pulled out back.
Tommy grabs a binder and sits on the bed next to her, opening it. It is my awards from grade school through college.
“Now I feel exceptionally computer illiterate. I can turn mine on, shop online, check my email, and use word. That pretty much covers it.”
“Look at this. College graduate when he was only nineteen. His Master’s.”
“Okay Will, my respect for you just went up like a thousand percent. I knew you were smart but damn. You really hit the bottom of the barrel helping me make my website.”
I can’t help but mumble to myself about annoying people going through my stuff, but stop when she says that. She sounds impressed. It is likely the only thing about me that will ever impress her.
Still I felt uncomfortable having all the attention on me. I don’t want her, or any of them, rifling through my things, but I guess I can’t let her only get to know the part of me I show her every day. She is far too curious to give up anyway.
“That’s how you met?”
Oh no, she is going to tell them. I had said online and left it at that.
“Yeah, I did a lot of research on people that made websites. Will’s name popped up. It said he had started out doing those things but dropped it after he went on to greener pastures. But you know everyone wants the best so I emailed him anyway.”
“He agreed to take you on as a client? He hasn’t made websites in years.”
This is why I hadn’t told them. I will never hear the end of it now.
“I must be special. Or desperate sounding. But hey whatever works.”
Everyone finds it funny and laughs, but I just glare. Why can’t they leave me alone? I like it better when she and I are alone; especially if she is going to sprawl out on my bed like she is right now. I don’t want them here anymore. Last night had been fun. Now I am just annoyed.
“Your bed is comfier than mine. No fair.”
“The furniture came with the place. I had no control over it. It was easier to rent a furnished place so I did. Then I don’t have to shop.”
“You should take the time to. Get a sectional couch. One where one side turns into a bed. Then three people could sleep on that thing. Forget the futon idea. Get one of those; push this couch against the wall. Four more people can sleep comfy at nigh
t.”
Everyone is looking contemplative and nodding. Ugh, stop making their lives easier. If she does they would spend more time here.
“We like this girl. She’s smart, and she feeds us good food and is trying to help us not wake up with back pain.”
“That’s me your friendly neighborhood Spiderman.” She is way hotter than any Spiderman could ever be.
“But in all seriousness Will is looking way better. How did you get him to agree to eat?”
Ugh. Why did I let them come over? Why am I friends with them?
“I threatened him with a skillet. Eat and walk with me or be banged in the head. I didn’t mean it, but he didn’t know that. He didn’t talk to me for almost a week, but he did eat and walk.”
“I wouldn’t need threatening. You cook really well.”
“Thanks.”
I grab the binder from Tommy and go back to stuffing.
“It’s not that I don’t like her food…”
“Just her company?”
“No I don’t hate that either. You know me when I work, I’m forgetful. She is too. She sets alarms to remind herself to get up and cook when she’s writing.”
“At least she has alarms and listens to them. She doesn’t look on the verge of death.”
“He doesn’t anymore either. He’s still too skinny, but we are slowly putting meat on his bones. And making him build muscle instead of fat by making him take evening walks with me every day. Except when it rains or in winter if it gets freeing ass cold, I don’t do cold.”
“It’s good for him. He might live to see thirty now.”
“That’s still only six years until he dies.”
She goes into actress mode, which is what I think of every time she decides to be dramatic. She hugs me. This part of her dramatics I don’t mind.
“I hope not, if he dies in my care that can’t be good for my resume. If I can’t nanny an adult it doesn’t look good for me on the whole kids debate. Like as in should I ever have them or not.”
Everyone laughs and starts to shuffle out. Even Tommy jumps off the bed and heads back toward the leftovers. I am so relieved they are finally leaving my room. She stops at the door.
“Will you don’t have to hide things because you are embarrassed. You pointed out last night embarrassing habits I have like the talking while I read thing.”
“Sorry I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
She shushes me and smiles.
“That’s not what I meant. I meant you don’t have to be embarrassed. I do crazy things in front of you, feel free to be nuts around me in return. I mean I threatened my employer with a skillet; my idea of weird is not like most peoples. If you want to go through all that stuff sometime we can find room for the important stuff and carefully pack up the rest. I would hate for something important to get ruined under there. That and who knows how long before you get bugs.”
She isn’t going to judge me. I just smile and feel my face growing hot. She turns to leave and I can’t let her go without telling her how much that meant to me.
“Thanks.”
Chapter Five
“Will you need to get out of the house. It’s been raining for a week and you haven’t come with me to the gym to make up for not walking. We are trying to build muscle not make you a piggy. Come on I need out of this house and you should get fresh air. Shopping will be fun.”
“Have you ever known a guy that likes shopping?”
It’s true that lately it has been raining so much we have been under house arrest. Trisha has gone to the Y for a bit until Bobbi’s car broke down. She hasn’t been able to stay long, even when it was still safe to go and Bobbi’s car was working because there had been a lot of flooding meaning closing roads and a chance she wouldn’t be able to get back home. It is warm and sunny now. It’s the Thursday following her first visit with the guys and I can tell she is restless.
Meanwhile, I have an order that is taking longer than I thought it would and I don’t have time to spare. If she wants to go out and leave me to fend for myself I won’t mind. I can tell she wants me to go and I would go, shopping or not, but I can’t take the risk of not finishing my work on time.
“If I stay in this house one more day I will lose my mind.”
I believe it. I am going to lose my mind if I hear her pacing anymore.
“So go out, you don’t have to stay. Just show me where leftovers are for lunch.”
“Come with me and I will buy you lunch. Please.”
I can’t stand it when she begs. She’s got this pathetic pout that, when I say no, it makes me feel like I am kicking a puppy. I want nothing more than to spend the day with her. Still, I have been in business long enough to know that if you piss off a big and well known client, you don’t stay in business. If I want to keep her here, I have to be able to pay her and to do that I need my work. It is a vicious circle, but it is how I have to do things. If she ever does agree to go out with me I am shoring up on work and taking a month off so we have plenty of time together.
“I’m working.”
“I know. You haven’t stopped since Saturday. It’s been almost a week straight. You aren’t even coming out to eat anymore just eating in here and leaving dirty dishes piled by the door for me.”
“I’m eating everything you give me and we haven’t walked because of the weather. I can’t control the weather.”
“If you could you’d make it sunny all the time so you wouldn’t have to see me at all!”
She grabs the breakfast dishes and leaves, slamming my office door. I sigh. No, I wouldn’t make it sunny all the time because then she would only be here long enough to cook and do a quick clean. She loves being outside in the sun. It doesn’t matter what she is doing as long as she is out there. She keeps teasing that in the summer we are going to the beach. I know how to swim, but I don’t care to be around that many people. She rolled her eyes and said it wouldn’t be a lot. Just her and the guys.
I wouldn’t invite them, seeing her in a bathing suit will make some of them braver…or just horny enough to get over their reservations about asking her out. Tommy is holding them in check for now; he’s not an idiot, though if he keeps harassing me about asking her out and flirting with her to make me jealous I might reevaluate my opinion of his intelligence.
I hear the door slam and sigh. She is angry with me. I have spent almost the entire last week working and she is use to me hanging out with her when it isn’t normal business hours and on Sundays. I worked on Sunday and I haven’t made it up to her yet.
Sometimes it feels like we are already dating, though Tommy said we aren’t because ’m not getting the perks. Just hanging out with her is great. She is fun and likes a lot of the same things I do. Sure she has her girl moments, but I like that about her also.
I go out to the living room to make sure she remembered her coat. If it starts raining again she will freeze without it. This fall has been colder than past ones. If she gets sick I won’t be able to do anything but worry. It is a double edged sword. I can barely focus when she is gone because I worry, but when she is home and I am relaxed enough to do things with her. But have to I actually work because while she is gone I can’t focus on work.
Maybe I can call one of the guys and have them meet her in town. No, Tommy is the only one I trust around her simply because I know she is not his type. He prefers dumb, rich and gigantic boobs. I know he is going somewhere with the flavor of the week. Damn his inconvenient sex schedule.
“You look to be in a better mood.”
She comes back smiling so something good must have happened on her trip out today. I managed to fend for myself for lunch and I missed her because it was so quiet. I would have called to talk to her, but I doubt she would have answered. Besides, all I would have been able to do was listen to her talk while I work and no responses from me would do nothing but tick her off more.
“I am thank you. By the way I’m going to be ordering everything for Friday night earl
y, but I will have them deliver it at the same time as always. So you will need to set everything up. The ice, pizzas, and what not. I will leave the plates and chips all out so everything is easy to find.”
I sit on the stool as she starts getting dinner ready. She is going out? Apparently one Friday is enough to scare her away. Or she is so stir crazy she is going out even if she has to do it alone. Maybe I could skip Friday night too…
“You aren’t going to be here?”
“Nope. And I won’t be up for breakfast so you will have to fend for yourselves. I promise to be quiet when I come in.”
I don’t like the sound of that. That’s similar to what Tommy says if I try to get a hold of him. He means I will get his voicemail because he will be having lots of sex.
“Where are you going?”
“Out with a friend.”
I didn’t think she had made a lot of friends yet. I know there is a girl at the Y she talks to off and on and she has mentioned a lawyer once, but no one she talks about more than once or twice. My face must have given away my thoughts because she sighs and starts going on about it while she preps dinner.
“Look, I will leave some bacon and sausage and pancakes pre-cooked so you only have to reheat. That way if I’m not back for breakfast it’s not an issue. Just go easy, I can only fit so many leftovers in that fridge so I can’t make as much as usual.”
It isn’t breakfast I give a damn about. She isn’t going into detail about this friend. What if it is a guy? Has she been dating? Would she have mentioned it to me if she was?
“You plan to be out all night?”
She nods and is all casual. She doesn’t see it as a big deal and doesn’t seem to think I should either. I guess Tommy is right, I haven’t really given her any indication that I care.
“The club closes at 2 am and we plan to be there from open til close. I guess if we get to tired we might crash early. Don’t worry I will crash at their place and not bring them here.”
His & Hers Page 14