by Hazel Kelly
“Yep.”
“And it told you I would go out with you tonight?”
“It told me you’d do a lot more than go out with me.”
Now I was breathing hard for entirely different reasons. “What exactly did it tell you I was up for?”
“Ask again later.”
“Ha ha.”
“You really want to know?”
“Yeah.”
“Well,” he said. “First I asked if you were thinking about me.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And it said most likely.”
“Okay.”
“And then I asked if you were free tonight.”
“Yeah.”
“And it said, it is decidedly so.”
“So far so good.”
“Then I asked if you were up for dinner,” he said. “And it said outlook good.”
“Well, no surprise there. I could have told you that.”
He laughed. “Then I asked if you wanted to have me for dessert.”
I swallowed.
“And it said signs point to yes.”
“What signs?”
“Does it matter?”
“I suppose not, but you know those things aren’t always accurate.”
“This one is. It’s the others that are faulty.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Cause I asked whether it was telling the truth, and it said you can count on it.”
“Oh jeez.”
“So, seeing as how it would be foolish to mess with fate, how soon can I pick you up?”
“Well, I’m not even home yet, and I have to run an errand first.”
“Like a stopping for gas errand or a swinging by Target errand?”
“You mean how long will it take?”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe like stopping by Target with a list.”
“Oh god, forget it then. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Wait!” I said. “I swear it won’t take too long.”
“Can you give me a time?”
“Can I just call you when I’m done?”
“No. Not because I care how long I have to wait, but because that doesn’t answer the question of whether or not I should have a snack now.”
“Have a snack.”
“So more than an hour?”
“You must be really excited to see me.”
“So much for playing it cool.”
“No, I’m flattered,” I said, pulling my phone away to check the time. “How about I meet you at my place in an hour-ish, and if you beat me, Fiona can let you in?”
“Sounds good.”
“Cool. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Not as much as I am,” he said.
“Hey, why don’t you surprise me by wearing my panties?”
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I am.”
“Thank god.”
“You could return them to me though.”
“Not a chance.”
I sighed. “Okay.”
“Why don’t you just not wear any tonight?”
“Why would I-”
“Then you can wear them home tomorrow.”
“Yeah right.”
“It was just an idea,” he said.
“A terrible one.”
“If you think that was terrible, just wait until I tell you the one I had last night in bed when I was-”
“I have to go now, Aiden. See you in an hour.” I hung up the phone and took a deep breath.
I needed to shake the happy off before I went inside. It seemed horribly inappropriate to be blushing and aroused at a meeting concerning how to charge my boss with sexual harassment. I pushed the door open and looked around. A middle aged man with designer stubble in a white button up and jeans was sitting in the corner. He gave me a little wave when he saw me.
I walked over to him. “Nathan?”
He stood up and extended his hand. “You must be Lucy.”
I nodded.
“I didn’t know what you wanted or I would’ve gotten you something,” he said.
“That’s okay,” I said, deciding I could trust him based on his kind eyes and his clean fingernails.
“Back in the day people were happy with regular or decaf, but now it’s impossible to guess.”
“I’m good actually, and I really appreciate you meeting with me so I won’t waste your time.”
He held his palm out towards my chair and sat back down across from me.
I placed my purse in my lap so it would be easy to dig out a pen and paper. “I’d first like to thank you for answering my post.”
“Thank you for seeking justice.”
“Did you seriously just say that?”
He shrugged. “I know it sounds cheesy, but you wouldn’t believe how many people don’t speak up about this kind of thing.”
“Well, I should’ve sooner.”
“The important thing is that you did, and I’m going to do everything I can to help you get this guy.”
“Thanks.”
“I have sisters and daughters and if any guy, especially their boss, made them uncomfortable at work the way you described in your note-” He shook his head. “Let’s put it this way, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to put a stop to it.”
“So where do we start?” I asked, pulling out my pen and paper.
Nathan pulled a thin pair of glasses out of his pocket and slipped them on. “How about at the beginning?”
Chapter 16: Aiden
I was surprised how exciting it was to pursue Lucy.
I figured it wouldn’t be as thrilling as seducing a new woman because she was so familiar to me, but it wasn’t like that at all. On the contrary, it was arguably more nerve wracking.
Maybe because there was more to lose if it didn’t work out. But how could it not? I mean, we were so compatible, so comfortable with each other.
But the whole thing still felt a bit naughty, seeing her in this new light. She was always so off limits before so even flirting with her felt scandalous.
Frankly, she was kind of like a red onion. Not cause she was stinky and made me cry, of course, but because there were so many layers to her. And I was eager to discover them all, to memorize the different shades of pink her cheeks turned when I complimented her, to hear how her laugh changed depending on her level of nakedness.
Naturally, I never thought the guys she went for were good enough for her. She was too gorgeous and intelligent for any of them, at least the ones I’d met. Heck, she was probably too clever for me, too, but I was hoping my inherent charm and genuine affection for her would make up for that.
Cause ever since I realized there was a sexy woman hiding inside my best friend, I’d been desperate to coax her out and make her blush all over.
And she was so easy to be with. Plus, having her on my arm made me feel smarter, and I didn’t have to ask around to know if it made me more interesting. I guess the best way to describe it is that I stood taller when she was around.
Not that how tall I was mattered when we were horizontal, which is how I intended to spend more and more of our time together now that I’d seen how responsive she was to my touch. I mean, some women just laid there and let sex happen, but her noises filled the room. Even thinking about the sound of her hips swishing against my sheets was enough to fill me with fire.
And she didn’t make any stupid, sexy O faces. In fact, nothing about her was contrived. She was so natural, even the way she relaxed into me when I slid inside her.
I don’t know why she went to so much trouble to hide behind her thick eyeliner and her black clothes and her newly purple streaks. She didn’t have to do all those things to seem more complicated or interesting. She was perfect the way she was, and I was a perfect idiot for taking so long to realize it.
I smoothed my hand over my hair and rang the buzzer.
“Who is it?” Fiona asked.
“Aiden.”
I waited through the next buzzer and when I heard the latch click, I shoved the main door open. By the time I’d climbed the stairs, Fiona had already opened their door a crack.
I pushed it wider gently and looked around. “Hello?”
“Make yourself comfortable,” she yelled from down the hallway. “I’ll be out in a second.”
I closed the door behind me and looked around, smiling when I saw the flowers I got Lucy in a vase on the kitchen counter. Otherwise, their apartment looked the same as it always had, except now it wasn’t just a friend’s place, but the home of a woman I’d slept with and intended to sleep with again.
In the past, I’d been known to let myself in and grab a beer, but now that I was here with new intentions, I figured I would err on the side of being polite. Plus, Fiona was a wild card so I didn’t want to get too comfortable just yet. I’d always found her to be a bit manic for my tastes. However, I gave her the benefit of the doubt since she and Lucy were close.
I walked over to a bookshelf by the TV and looked at some pictures I’d never paid attention to before. There was one of Lucy and Fiona from several years ago where they each looked gloriously shitfaced, laughing with open mouths. There was one of Lucy’s brother holding her in a headlock not long after he’d shot past her in height and weight.
I skimmed over the ones of Fiona and her family and my eye was drawn to a small brass frame. I recognized Lucy’s Mother’s face instantly. Not just because I’d seen the same picture in Lucy’s wallet a thousand times, but because when we were kids, I thought her Mom was the coolest lady I’d ever met… Besides my second grade teacher, Miss Buckley, who was the first woman who made me realize that women’s legs were far more interesting then men’s.
Anyway, Lucy’s Mom used to let us eat ice cream for dinner sometimes. At my house, I could only have ice cream if I cleaned my plate of all its unsightly vegetables first. But as everyone knows, when you’re hungry, everything tastes way better.
As a result, ice cream always tasted better at Lucy’s house. And with Lucy. And it still did to this day. I can remember being hesitant sometimes when her Mom was getting a bowl out for me because I didn’t want to get in trouble. But as she scooped the ice cream, Mrs. Ryan would say, “Don’t be silly, Aiden. Life may be short, but it can still be sweet.”
I don’t know whether she knew she was sick then or not.
But she wasn’t sick in the picture because I know it was taken before Lucy was born, probably in the seventies since her straight hair was parted in the middle and too long to fit in the portrait.
“Can I get you a drink?” Fiona asked.
I jumped at the sound of her voice, not having realized she’d entered the room. Then I jumped again when I turned around and saw her green face.
She laughed. “Sorry. I hid as long as I could, but I need a top up.”
I put my hand over my chest. “Jesus, Fiona, you could’ve warned me you looked like the Hulk.”
“Oh relax. It’s not like I’m bleaching my mustache or something.” She opened the fridge and stared into it. “Not that I do that. Screwdriver?” she asked, pulling the orange juice and the vodka out of the fridge.
“I’d take a beer if there’s one going.”
She looked back towards the glow. “Will a Bud Light do?”
I winced.
“Shandy?”
“Sure,” I said, thinking something sweet might help tie me over until Lucy arrived.
She reached in the fridge and slipped out a brown and yellow bottle.
I made my way over to the counter. “How have you been?” I asked. “I heard there’s a new man in your life.”
She popped the top of my beer open. “Do you want a glass or-”
“No, bottle’s fine.”
She leaned forward and set it on the counter in front of me. “Yeah, I guess we’re all getting lucky on Tinder these days, huh?”
I smiled. “I guess so.”
She carried her glass to the freezer, opening it with one hand and grabbing a handful of ice. “The only problem is that it makes people greedy.”
“Greedy?”
“Yeah,” she said, pouring two big glugs of vodka into her glass. “Like fucking Chelsea. Not that I have to tell you that.”
I swallowed.
“No offense, but you must be so relieved she’s out of your life.”
“I am.”
“I mean, if I found out Peter was doing that to me-”
“Doing what?”
She reached for the orange juice and filled her glass the rest of the way up. “Using Tinder to hook up with guys while we were going out.”
“Right.”
“I would fucking cut his dick off.”
I nodded. “I bet you would.”
“I mean, you must’ve been so pissed when you found out.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I was.”
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” She leaned against the counter and took a sip of her drink. “It’s just that I have to talk to Peter about that soon so-”
“No, it’s cool,” I said. “Can I ask how you found out?”
“What?”
“How did you know she was on it?”
“I found out when Lucy did.”
“Oh, right.”
“I mean, we weren’t sure when we saw her out with that guy,” she was waving her hands in the air like she was not on her second drink. “But when she popped up on Alex’s phone, we knew she was up to no good.”
“How embarrassing for me, huh?” I asked, draining half the shandy and wishing I’d gone with something stronger.
She shook her head. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No,” I said. “I didn’t.”
But that didn’t change the fact that I felt like a fool.
Chapter 17: Lucy
I couldn’t wait to tell Fiona about my meeting with Nathan. I felt a thousand times better about the Chuck situation after talking to him, and I was eager to ease her anxiety, too.
And since Aiden’s car wasn’t in the street when I got home, I figured I could fill her in while everything Nathan said was at the front of my mind, preferably before Aiden arrived.
After all, I didn’t really want to talk to him about it. I knew he would just freak out and get over protective, and I had enough to manage without having to manage his anger on top of everything.
Plus, I wanted the time I spent with him to be fun and light. Our relationship- at least the romantic side of it- was still new. I didn’t want it to be punctuated by my own personal job drama, especially when I knew Chelsea’s constant griping did his head in.
I opened the door and smiled when I saw the flowers on the counter. But when I went to grab a shandy, my face fell. There was a bottle of vodka on the counter, and it was half empty.
“Fiona?!” I called.
I grabbed the bottle and marched down the hallway towards the music. When she didn’t hear me knocking, I pushed the door open.
I didn’t see her so I stepped over her clothes until I got to the stereo and turned it off. “Fiona?!”
“What?” she said, walking out of the bathroom, patting her face with a hand towel.
“What the fuck is this?” I asked, holding the bottle in the air.
She shrugged. “I had a few drinks.”
“A few drinks?!” I could tell by her eyes that she’d had a lot more than a few. “You were supposed to look for a new job today.”
“I’ll start tomorrow.”
“You’ve been saying that all week,” I said. “Plus, tomorrow’s Saturday.”
She reached out her hand. “I’ll finish that now then.”
I held the bottle behind me. “Do you know where I was while you were day drinking all afternoon?”
“Work?”
“Yeah, and then after work, I went to talk to a lawyer to get some legal advice, which I was hoping I’d be able to discuss with you right
now.”
“Sorry.”
“I don’t want you to apologize! I want you to sober up and get a grip- or at least a job!”
She lowered her voice. “Please don’t yell at me in front of Aiden.”
I leaned towards her. “Aiden’s not here.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“He was a second ago.”
“What?”
“I was talking to him in the kitchen, like, five minutes ago.”
“Aiden?!” I yelled.
She made a listening face. “Huh.”
“I’m not yelling at you, okay? You have every right to drink and sulk, but can you not do it during the day when I need your help to pay the bills?”
She nodded. “Sorry, Luce.”
I shook my head and set the bottle down. Then I took my phone out of my pocket and dialed Aiden’s number. He didn’t answer. I tried again. Nothing. “Are you sure he was here?”
“Yeah,” Fiona said, leaning against the inside of her bathroom door. “I’m drunk, not hallucinating.”
“Why would he leave?”
“I don’t know.”
“How long was he here?”