by Brittany Bly
“Friends?” he cuts his eyes toward me “You want to be friends?”
“I would like to try,” I say my voice is conveying an ounce of hopefulness.
Blaine stares at me for a minute before nodding his head slowly.
Chapter Eleven
Despite the anxiety that creeps in every time Blaine comes to mind, I actually feel lighter after our conversation last night, like I can hold my shoulders back a little easier. Right now, I think we’re both in a good place. This could work.
I tie my shoes, preparing for my morning run. Find my earbuds and walk toward the door, stretching outside on the porch getting my muscles ready. I flip my phone over in my hand as it dings. A message from a number I’m not familiar with is on the screen. My hand stills as I open the message.
Unknown: Hey, Lila, this is Blaine. I forgot to give you my number last night.
Did I give him mine? I don’t remember giving it to him. I don’t have to filter through the events of last night before he answers my questions for me.
Unknown: Marissa gave me your number. I figured since we’re friends now. Friends should have each other’s numbers, right?
My fingers have yet to move. After my initial shock wears off, I realize he’s right. Friends do keep in touch with each other. There’s no need to read any more into it, and I need to try and relax more with him.
Lila: Hi, Blaine, you’re right. I’m saving yours now.
I lock the door behind me and let my body take over, my mind goes silent. Today’s one of those many days that Seattle is known for. Mist layers my face, each street provides refreshing encouragement. Running toward Volunteer Park, I let my mind go blank and just embrace the endorphins breaking free. The city’s like an entity all on its own. It’s alive with the people that inhabit it and the energy they pour into the atmosphere. Music floats around every corner and works of art adorn every street. The city is like a musician in itself with its tattooed skin put on display for anyone who wants to become acquainted. Maybe that’s why I fell in love with it as much as I did. So many aspects in the city, the blocks that make up Seattle as a whole, living in unison. You can’t turn a corner without your eyes and ears being romanced in one way or another. Each street’s just hoping to inspire you into creating something new.
I always feel like I can conquer the world after my runs. Bounding into the house, I strip off my clothing. My sweat and the mist have combined, creating an adhesive that requires a little work to peel them off my skin. I look at my phone, Blaine’s texted me back.
Blaine: Would you want to get lunch with the guys and me? We’re finishing up at the studio and are starving.
My brain immediately goes into overdrive, thinking, and rethinking every possible aspect. Should I consider it? Or would this be going too far and putting myself in a situation that I don’t need to be in? I fight the compulsion to overthink it. I could do this, we’re friends, and if we’re going to be friends, I need to alleviate the awkwardness.
Lila: Sure, what time? Where?
I turn the water on in the shower to let it heat up. I walk over to the closet and pick out a pair of leggings and a long tunic laying them on the bed. His response comes as I make my way into the bathroom.
Blaine: 30 mins? There’s a burger joint near the studio, I can send you the address?
Lila: Sounds good. I’ll see you there.
Sending the message, I step into the shower letting the water do its job and wash away the effects of my run, leaving me feeling fresh and clean.
Chapter Twelve
The restaurant isn’t that far from my house. I’m relieved that the mist has stopped. Even though the sun isn’t shining, at least the rain is no more – which is a big plus for Seattle. As I reach the restaurant, the guys are rounding the opposite corner, walking toward me with Axton leading the group. Today his long locks are tied back in a bun that sits on top of his head making him look sexier.
Cupping his hands around his mouth, Axton shouts “Lila… babe, I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away!”
I try and suppress it, but I’m unable to, I roll my eyes and smirk, “Oh Axton, you caught me. Should we just skip the meal and find somewhere more private and just get this out of the way?”
Lust fills his eyes as they roam up and down my body pausing on my curves “I’m game, babe.”
Cohen grabs his shirt and without much effort yanks him backward, “Enough of that. We won’t be disrespectful, you ass.”
Axton shrugs looking back, he winks before ducking into the restaurant. Cohen slides up beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, “Sorry about that. We can’t very well keep him in his cage all the time. Inhumane and all, you know.”
Laughing, I look up to his big hazel eyes, “It’s okay. I can handle myself, promise.”
Cohen shakes his head, muttering, “You shouldn’t have to, especially around us.” He steps back holding the door and letting me through first.
Hensley and Axton are across the restaurant about to sit. They found a table big enough for all of us while Cohen, Blaine, and I wade through the tables. Blaine bows slightly pulling out the chair at the end of the table for me before taking the seat to my right. Cohen follows taking the seat on my left. If I didn’t know any better, I would say they were barricading me from Axton.
“Hey guys, my name is Reagan. I’ll be your waitress. What can I get you to drink?”
Before we have settled, the waitress is already beside me. I glance up from the menu and make eye contact with the source of the energetic voice at the end of the table. Reagan’s quite beautiful. Her long black hair falls laying right atop her shoulders in that beach wave messy style that I love but can never pull off. Smiling, I say, “Water, please.”
Reagan nods and writes it down, moving on to each of the guys, her bright blue eyes land on each of them indicating it’s their turn. Her eyes linger on Hensley just a moment longer than the rest of them. I look over the menu smirking as I try to decide what looks good. She wastes no time bringing our drinks luckily by the time I think each of us have some idea of what it is we might want. She jots down everything and smiles glancing back at Hensley before saying, “’ Kay, guys, I’ll get this in for you. Let me know if you need anything.”
The shy expression on Hensley’s face is just too adorable. It’s obvious that they find each other attractive,
“So, Lila, what have you been doing since we last saw you?” Cohen asks sipping on his coke. His bald head shining just as bright as the first time I saw him. He must wax it, that can’t be natural.
“Oh, you know, just trying to enjoy the rest of my time off.”
“Time off? You’re on vacation?” Cohen asks, leaning back in his chair.
“Yeah, I’m supposed to be in Hawaii, but that didn’t work out” I reply, looking around and watching the restaurant fill up as business begins to pick up for lunch.
“You weren’t supposed to do our shoot?” Blaine speaks for the first time.
My heart skips a beat hearing his voice. I don’t know how to explain the effect it has on me. The way it caresses over my skin while also igniting my blood on fire. When this feeling wrapped around me tightly years ago, I would take his face in my hands and pull his lips to mine. He willingly gave me whatever it was I needed, whether it be the kiss or passionate sex. A shiver runs down my spine as the memories float through my mind.
I glance over to Blaine. He’s watching me, like he can see the memories flickering behind my eyes. His biceps flex as he leans closer, five o’ clock shadow covers his face extenuating his sharp jawline.
“Nope. I did it to help Marissa out.”
“Hell yeah, it worked out in our favor then,” Axton says from the other end of the table.
I raise a brow as he shrugs his shoulder “What? Just glad I got to meet ya and all” he says with a playful glint in his eyes.
“Well, I hope I can say the same one day,” I say stopping
there and deciding to leave the conversation at that. I turn taking of sip of water, I say, “Hensley, you’re awful quiet.”
Hensley glances up from the table at me briefly before staring down at his own water, “Am I?” he mumbles.
Axton slaps him on the shoulder “Oh yeah, Hens here is shy as hell.”
Hensley slumps down in his chair, ducking his head a little more, letting his dark hair block his face as redness begins to creep up his neck. Poor Hensley, Axton’s purposely trying to embarrass him. I lean forward making eye contact with Hensley, his bright blue eyes locking on mine “Hey, I like the strong silent type” I grin before reclining back in my chair. I shoot Axton a go to hell look in the process.
The food arrives, Reagan places each of our plates in front of us. She pauses when she gets to Hensley, she smiles, biting her lip as she puts his plate down. “I hope you guys enjoy,” she says, turning to go check on her other tables.
Once she’s out of earshot, I whisper to Hensley, “I think she likes you.”
“If he doesn’t want her, I’ll definitely go for it,” Axton says drawling out the words.
“Back off” I snap glancing back to Hensley I gesture toward Reagan who’s speaking to a table near ours. I take another bite of my fries “You should ask her out. She’s cute.”
Hensley shakes his head, shaggy hair bouncing with the movements, a small grin pulling at his lips.
Blaine leans over, his shoulder brushing mine, “Hensley is extremely shy. He does have a hard time talking to women.”
“And you guys haven’t tried to help with that?” I ask glancing his way quirking an eyebrow.
“Not much to do when the man literally can’t talk when females come around,” Blaine explains. He shrugs, taking a large bite of his burger. When he tilts his head, ketchup and mustard are smeared along the corners of his mouth.
Giggling, I gesture around the sides of my mouth “Eh, you’ve made a mess.”
Still holding his burger, Blaine points to one corner of his mouth with his pinky asking, “Here?”
I have to bite my lip to hold in the laugh, trying to make its way out. I nod, letting him know he’s going in the right direction. But instead of wiping it off he simply shrugs and devours another bite of his burger. Ketchup and mustard are now running down the sides of his face, there’s no way he doesn’t feel it. With full cheeks, he grins at me, causing my laughter to bubble up, scrunching my nose, I turn away. My eyes meet Cohen’s hazel ones, he glances between Blaine and me with a knowing look. He just shakes his head and grins.
“Have you watched the new X-files?” Blaine asks.
I glance back toward him, and I’m happy to see he’s cleaned himself up, “I haven’t, I’m rewatching the old ones before I do.”
“Yeah, I tried that, but I haven’t had the time. What season have you made it to?”
“I’m a couple episodes into season nine, so I’m almost done. I’m having to bear with it since there isn’t any Mulder though” I say tossing another fry into my mouth.
“Ah, yeah you did have a hard time with that season the first go around,” he says, taking a sip of tea. “When you get to the end, do you want to watch the new ones together?”
I stare at my plate, I don’t look up at first. I try to sort through all the conflicting thoughts in my mind inflicting fresh hell on my insides. My head screams no, this isn’t a good idea! Whereas my heart remembers what it’s like to have my best friend, saying go for it. Eventually, my heart wins out, and I nod, “Sure.”
Chapter Thirteen
The click of my mouse has been an ongoing noise the entire day. I’d taken more photos than I initially thought; and therefore, I have a lot to edit. Each has to be inspected and edited in its own way to make it the best it can be.
The TV quietly plays in the background, but my attention is focused on the laptop in front of me. With my deadline quickly approaching, I have to get them done. Most of the pictures are of the guys working diligently, one in particular held my attention even after finishing it. Blaine, Cohen, Axton, and Hensley are sitting around the notebook with their heads leaned toward it. I think at that moment, not one of them even realized I was in the room. Blaine holds the pen, writing whatever they created down on the paper, giving it life.
A few did cause me to chuckle, though. Within the serious ones, there are silly ones too. In one, Cohen is grinning, showing all his teeth, his large body slumped down on the couch and his long legs stretched across the coffee table. Then there is Axton being... well, Axton. Winking at the camera, he has his shirt lifted, revealing his toned stomach.
“What’s wrong with that guy” I mumble to myself as I click to move on to the next picture. My phone vibrates beside me, but I ignore it. I’m almost done, having just a few more left.
Fox pads around the room, he’s pacing for whatever reason. He seems to be waiting for something or for me to do something. Ignoring him too, I finish the last photo – correcting it just enough. Opening Chrome, I send a quick email to Marissa’s boss informing him that I’ve completed them and would be delivering them to Marissa within the day.
Closing my laptop, I finally check my phone, reaching across the couch to get it.
Unknown- Interested in dinner tonight?
“Who in the hell,” I mumble and start to type a lengthy message about them having the wrong number when my little camera catches my eye.
Lila- Bryant?
Unknown- Yes, ma’am. I got out of closing the shop tonight and thought I would take advantage of it.
I’ve been working hard all day getting out of the house does sound unbelievable at the moment.
Lila- What time are you thinking?
Bryant- Meet me at The Forge Lounge in an hour?
I don’t respond, placing my phone on my laptop. I walk away, leaving them both sitting there.
×××
A few minutes after seven, I push the door to The Forge Lounge open. The dim lighting revealing only what the patrons wish to be seen. It isn’t hard to spot Bryant, his bright hair a beacon for me to follow. Sliding in the seat beside him, I take off my jacket and hang it off the back of the chair.
“Hey,” I say, adjusting my shirt as he turns and looks at me.
“I didn’t know if you were coming,” Bryant says, bringing his drink to his mouth.
“Me either. No sense in getting your hopes up if I decided not to” I say with a shrug.
Chuckling, he runs a hand through his beard “Is that so?”
“I’m not a cruel person” I smirk, lifting a hand, I signal for the bartender. “What are you drinking?”
“Bourbon.”
“Ah,” as I answer the bartender stops in front of me, “Whiskey, please.”
A glass is placed in front of me moments later, and I take a sip. The burn that courses down my throat is familiar, and I welcome it.
“So you were just bored?” I ask him cutting my eyes in his direction.
“Mostly”
I can’t control my facial expressions, so I’m sure what he sees isn’t pleasant.
He chuckles, shaking his head, he turns his body towards mine “I couldn’t tell you the last time I had a night off. It just seemed to line up with meeting you the other night, and I thought what the hell.”
“You know that is the same thought that went through my head when I decided to come tonight.”
The smile on his face hasn’t faded as he downs the rest of his drink, placing the now empty glass on the bar “What do you do, Lila?”
“I’m a photographer,” I say holding up my index finger showing him the camera he put there.
“Right,” he replies once again running his hand through his beard “Should’ve known.”
“It is a good clue,” I laugh. “How did you become a tattoo artist?”
“I doodled a lot in high school… and eventually became good at it.” Looking down at his hands he extends his finge
rs causing the skulls to morph, their screams becoming frightening “I don’t know when I made the actual decision, just knew I wanted to put my mark out there, you know?”
I nod. I think every artist at one point or another wants that. To leave their imprint somewhere, securing a moment in time as theirs no matter how short.
We sink into a peaceful silence, neither of us feeling the need to talk just to fill the space. Eventually, we order food, and the conversation continues to flow just as easy. Each of us joking and not holding back with the sarcasm. Something is comforting about Bryant and the fact that it is that easy. I don’t have that with a lot of people, especially from the start.
Time is creeping up, and I have to get up early to get to Marissa, so I finish off my drink and gather my jacket. “Thanks, this was fun.”
“You leaving?” Bryant asks, checking his watch.
“Yeah, early morning for me.”
“Gotcha, well maybe we can do this again?” he asks swirling the little bit of drink he has left.
“Sure, why not,” I reply, sliding my jacket on “Have a good night.”
“Wait up,” he responds, throwing back the rest of the liquid and walking me out of the bar.
Chapter Fourteen
“Hi, Lila” Benjamin, Marissa’s assistant, greets me as I approach his desk. His blond hair is styled flawlessly, not a hair out of place. A pink bow tie fastened at the center of his neck matches his plaid button-down shirt perfectly.
“Hey, Ben,” I nod in the direction of her office “She in there?”
“Yep, she’s on the phone but go on in” he smiles waving me on.
“Thanks, doll” I blow him a kiss as I pass. He, in turn, pretends to catch it. Chuckling, I crack open the door, enough to stick my head in. There she sits behind her enormous desk. Papers piled high in stacks all over the surface.
Marissa grins and signals for me to come in “I don’t care, Peter, just make it happen.” She stops to listen to whatever it is he has to say before closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose “Have it to me no later than four,” and with that, she hangs up the phone.