Why Did It Have To Be You?

by T. L. Quinn

  Brian shouts through the house “Dad! We’re here!”

  I hear a slider door open and close and footsteps heading in from the hall by the kitchen. Brian’s dad shouts back. “How’d you get here so fast? I thought I had time to go for a run. I didn’t even shower yet. Just got back.”

  A man comes into view and Brian reaches for my waist. He wraps his arm around my back and says “Hey dad, this is my girlfriend Caroline.”

  I turn from Brian and look towards his dad walking up to us. “It’s nice to meet you Mr. Dougla-”

  My words stop mid sentence. My mouth drops open. I blink. I blink again. This is a dream. I must be dreaming. This can’t be real.

  Oh god!

  No. Please let this be a dream.

  I don’t understand why or how but Dean is standing right in front of me. A very shirtless, sweaty Dean. My eyes can’t help themselves and are scanning over all of his abs and down to his carved legs in nothing but running shorts and sneakers. I swear the way the sweat glistens over his chest makes him look like he walked straight out of a magazine.

  Brian’s arm tightens around me and it snaps me out of my gawking, and I turn to look at him. He is looking at me with a puzzled look, and I realize no one has said anything for a few seconds as we were all just staring at each other.

  Dean stretches out his hand and says “Nice to meet you Caroline. I would give you a hug but I am all sweaty.”

  I slowly move my hand into his and awkwardly shake it. I am too caught off guard by the way he said my name to act normal. It was all deep and gravely, and I am so glad I did not tell him my name that night at the bar because there is no way I would have been able to walk away if he had said it like that.

  I look down to our hands that are still joined and pull it back quickly like he burned me.

  I still can’t believe this is happening.

  Maybe he doesn’t recognize me. Or maybe he will think I was so drunk that I won't recognize him and so he will play it cool. Maybe I actually was that drunk and it isn't really him.

  Yeah that’s it. There’s no way this is the same guy as the guy at the bar. What would be the chances of that? And Dean was way too young to be Brian’s dad. That’s right I have just been spending too much time thinking about that night and am projecting onto Brian’s very hot dad.

  Oh shit. That’s probably why he’s looking at me funny because I was totally checking him out right in front of his son.

  Brian interrupts the silence “I gotta pee. Be right back babe.”

  “I’ll go grab the rest of our bags.” I say as he walks toward the main floor bathroom.

  Brian’s dad says “I’ll help.”

  Oh great. I was trying to escape and have a moment to myself.

  Brian yells out as he is shutting the bathroom door “Be there in a sec.”

  I quickly head toward the door and out to the car. I can hear footsteps following behind me but I don’t dare look back.

  I am leaning into the truck grabbing my bag, when Brian’s dad stops behind me and softly breathes out. “Birthday girl.”

  I can’t tell if he is asking or telling, but my mind has gone into overdrive. He knows it’s me. Not only does he know, but he also just confirmed out loud that he knows so there is no way for me to deny it.

  I turn around so fast and look at him with my mouth hanging open not knowing what to say. “I-- I don’t--”

  A smirk appears on his face as I stutter over my words and I turn outright angry. Does he think this is funny? He really thinks kissing his son’s girlfriend is something to be laughing about? I glare at him and raise one eyebrow asking those very questions with my facial expression. It only makes his smirk grow even more.

  Brian is suddenly rushing out of the house to come help, so I turn toward the trunk again and grab more bags so he doesn’t notice the tension between me and his dad. Dad? How can Dean be his dad? There’s no way he is old enough. He must’ve been even younger than I thought when Brian was born.

  I reach for the last bag, but Dean grabs it from my hand. “Here I’ll take that.”

  I look down to where his hand is on mine taking the bag directly from my hand. I let it go quickly so I don’t have to be touching him. I nod and I want to act polite in front of Brian so I say “Thank you Mr. Douglas.”

  Brian laughs out loud at that. “Jesus Care! Do not call him Mr. Douglas. Just call him Dean. You are going to be here for a while.”

  I look to Dean pretending to seek permission to call him by his first name, but I really just want to look at his face again to take in the fact that he really is here standing in front of me. Confirmed even once again by Brian calling him by his first name.

  Dean just nods his head and smiles like he is saying of course you can call me Dean.

  We start to walk back towards the house and Brian has to open his mouth “Or you know if you don’t want to call him Dean, you can just call him daddy.” I cough, choking on my own breath. He did not just say that. I glare up at Brian in disbelief but he just keeps going. “Isn’t that right Daddy-O?”

  Dean gives a small laugh. “Sure whatever is fine.”

  But when I look back at him his smirk is even bigger and more sinister than it ever was before. I turn away and blow my hair out of my eyes. How am I going to survive living here for a month?

  Chapter 4

  Me and Brian are unpacking our bags in our room. Our shared room right across the hall from Dean’s room. Oh my. Brian finishes putting his last items in his drawer and turns to me. “Want a tour of the house?”

  Before I have a chance to answer. Dean pops his head in and says “I ordered Gigi’s. Should be here in about 30 minutes.”

  Brian groans “Oh yes. Gigi’s is my favorite. Care, you are going to love it. We would always get it every time I stayed with my dad.”

  Dean gives us a nod and leaves the room. Brian turns to look at me and raises his eyebrows in question. “So ready for the tour?”

  I shake my head. “I think I want to take a shower before dinner. I am still pretty messy from trying to wipe up all the water early.”

  Brian kisses my temple and says “Sure thing. I am going to go catch up with my dad. Meet you downstairs when you’re done?” I smile at him and nod my head.

  Once he leaves the room, I shut the door and lean against it. I needed a minute alone to think before facing either of them again. I let out a long sigh and then head toward the bathroom. The bathroom is really nice like the rest of the house with a tiled shower and modern hardware on the vanity.

  I take extra long in the shower wanting to avoid going down for as long as possible. I wash my hair, shave my legs, and do every other thing I can think of before I get out.

  When I finally do get out, I go to grab some clothes and hesitate when I reach for my usual nightly attire. Normally, I would throw on some sweatpants and a hoodie, but for some reason I want to look good.

  I compromise and put on some leggings with an off the shoulder t-shirt. Comfy but sexier than my normal attire. I brush and blow dry my hair, and I choose to put a little hair product in just because I don't want to look like a complete bum on my first day here. I washed all my makeup off in the shower, so I quickly put on a little powder and some lip gloss.

  Sure, I have never put makeup on after my shower at home with Brian, but we are guests here.

  After a few more finishing touches, I check myself out in the mirror to make sure I don’t look like I’m trying too hard. My dark hair is slightly wavy around my shoulders and my face looks natural but my skin looks smooth from my makeup and my lips look more plump than without any gloss.

  I take a big breath and head downstairs.

  Dean and Brian are putting the food on plates when I come into the kitchen. Brian looks up at me. “Hey just in time. The food just got here.”

  “Smells amazing.” I check out the Italian food spread on the counter and it does look amazing. No wonder Brian loves this place.

  Dean ho
lds up a bottle of wine to us. “Would you like some?” He pauses and then adds. “You are both legal now, right?”

  I glare at Dean. Of course he would reference the night we met. I don’t understand why he is making this so hard on me. It’s not like he wasn’t a part of it. Does he really want his son to know he almost hooked up with his girlfriend?

  I guess he is confused that I am in a relationship, but I mean I told him what happened with me and Brian on my birthday. I thought we had broken up.

  I need to change up my strategy. Trying to ignore him only seems to make him try harder to get my attention. I have to fight fire with fire.

  I nod towards Dean. “You have any peach wine? I love any alcoholic drink with peach. It makes it go down so much smoother. Dontcha think?” I smile really big and let my eyes flutter a little.

  Dean grunts. “I just have red or white.”

  “I’ll have white. What do you want babe?” I turn to Brian.

  “I’m just going to stick with my beer.” He says as he takes another sip of the bottle I didn’t even notice he had in his hands.

  We all sit down at the dining room table right off the kitchen. I quickly reach for my glass of wine. I really could use a drink after the day I’ve had. I set the glass down and notice I almost drank the whole thing, and I haven’t even started eating yet.

  Dean raises his eyebrows at me, but just reaches over and pours more wine into my glass.

  Brian takes a few bites of his food and moans. “I always forget how good this is. I wish they’d open a Gigi’s by us huh Care?”

  I take a few bites and nod my head. “Yes that would be nice.”

  Dean chimes in. “Maybe you can just visit more and then you won’t need one by you.”

  Brian just laughs and continues to eat his food.

  It’s quiet for a few minutes as we all eat our food. Finally Dean says “So, how long have you two been together?”

  Brian pipes in right away “6 months. We met in class.”

  Dean looks right at me. “6 months huh?” I stare right back at his eyes and can read everything he is saying in between the lines. Six months means me and Brian were together when we met, and also that Brian is for sure the one who ditched me on my birthday to go see his ex.

  Dean continues “I didn’t realize you were serious with anyone. I thought you were still dating... what’s her name again? Madison?”

  He did not just go there. Brian looks at his dad like he betrayed him. “No dad. Me and Madison are just friends. Have been since middle school.”

  Dean nods and continues “Obviously, you have a serious girlfriend now. When did you two move in together.”

  For some reason that I don’t understand, I feel the need to let Dean know it happened after we were together. “Just last month. My lease was up and we figured we’d save money by only renting one apartment while finishing school.”

  As soon as the words leave my mouth, I feel guilty. Like I am only with Brian to save money to pay for school, so I quickly add on “Plus it’s much easier having our stuff all in one place since I was there most nights anyway.”

  Dean’s face cringes when I mention staying the night. I mean it’s not like he thought we never slept together. We live together. Obviously we are having sex. Or we were having sex before the birthday fight.

  The rest of dinner is mostly Brian and Dean talking about Brian’s classes and filling him in on what his mom is up to these days. As if this day couldn’t get any worse, Brian’s phone rings as we are clearing the dishes to the sink. Madison’s name flashes across the screen and I know Dean sees it. Brian says he’ll be right back and walks out of the room to answer. I call out to him that I am going to bed and try to leave the kitchen as soon as possible.

  As I am walking out, Dean grabs my elbow to stop me. I try to catch my breath, looking straight ahead too nervous to face him now that we are alone.

  Instead of trying to turn me around, he just leans forward and whispers into my ear “We need to talk.”

  His voice is so stern and commanding and it makes my mind wander to other situations in which he could use that voice on me. I shake my head a little to stop myself from thinking that way.

  I finally turn around and look at him. I hate that I still get the same feelings towards him that I had at the bar that night. I can feel my body reacting to his stare the same way. I still want him.

  I just want to avoid him and walk away so I don’t have to confront what I am feeling. I am with Brian now, so that is exactly what I do. I avoid.

  “No, I don’t think we have anything to talk about at all.”

  I try to make my face indifferent towards him to pretend that night meant nothing to me at all even though I haven’t stopped thinking about it since it happened.

  He pauses for a moment, but then his hand tightens on my elbow and he leans down so his face is next to mine. I can feel his breath on my neck and goosebumps flood up my arms. I know he can feel it. I can’t see his smirk but I can feel it since his lips are so close to my skin.

  All he says is “Yes. Yes we do.”

  Then he lets go and walks back toward the kitchen to finish the dishes. I quickly turn around to get out of here before Brian comes back, and I run up to my room. I close the door and close my eyes trying to figure out how I should play this. Should I avoid him? Should I play his game? Should I sleep with him? Whoa. No. Where did that come from? That’s not me. I don’t cheat on my partners. This whole Maddison thing is just making my brain all messed up. I am imagining things that never actually happened, and that is not fair to Brian. I just need to put Dean out of my mind. I need to get things back to normal with Brian is all, starting with being with him physically again. Yes, that’s it. I am probably just acting crazy because I haven’t had sex in two months even though I have been surrounded by these gorgeous Douglas men.

  I feel better now that I have made that decision. I lay on the bed to wait for Brian to come up so we can get things back to normal, but after a few minutes of laying on this obviously very expensive and comfy mattress, I fall into the deep sleep I needed to process what a crazy day this has been.

  Chapter 5

  The next few days are pretty normal. Brian was right about how much his dad works. With my night classes and working at the diner and his busy work schedule, I have barely seen him, which is probably for the best. The longer we can avoid each other, the more we can get used to the idea that I am with Brian and nothing is ever going to happen between us. Or maybe that is just me thinking something would ever happen between us. What was I thinking? He probably just wants to talk about what happened to tell me he was drunk and we can’t ever let Brian find out about this. Except the way he was looking at me tells a different story. Ugh! Even when I don’t see him, he is still somehow occupying my thoughts.

  When Friday evening rolls around, I finally have a day off. I am sitting on the living room couch reading a book while Brian is playing his video games. I am content and cozy with my feet on his lap. Our schedules have clashed the past few days but we can finally have tonight together, so I plan to make the most of it.

  I start casually rubbing my foot against his thigh, inching slowly up his leg. I see his eyes glance towards my foot and then back to his game, but a small smirk is now on his lips. A couple minutes later his game ends and his hand grabs my foot and he slowly makes his way up my ankle. I am wearing my comfy pajama shorts that Brian loves. They are very short but loose at the bottom, so there is very easy access. His hands make it up to my thighs and I am finally starting to feel good with him again. As his thumb brushes at the hem of my shorts, his lips lightly press on my neck. He breathes out softly “Caroline…”

  A moment later the front door swings open and Dean walks in. It feels as if a cold bucket of water was just poured on me, and I gently push at Brian’s chest to put distance between us.

  Dean is just standing by the door for a moment looking at us. It almost seems like he is stunned to see us
together, but he quickly gains composure and starts undoing his suit jacket and setting his briefcase on the table by the door.

  He looks good coming home from a day at the office. He wears the same type of suit he wore the night we met, and it reminds me of how it felt to have my hands on him in those clothes.

  Since we’ve been staying here, I've only ever seen him in his normal clothes that he puts on after he showers after getting home from work, which are usually just jeans and a t-shirt. Trust me he looks good in anything he wears, but there is something about him in his suit that just makes me want him even more.

  Brian groans “Jesus dad. Cockblock much?”

  My eyes widen at Brian. I mean you could tell what we were doing, but is really just talking openly to his dad about how we were going to have sex?

  Even though I don’t want to, my eyes have a mind of their own and shoot over to Dean’s. I regret it immediately. His eyes are boring into mine. Their usual green has darkened but it isn’t lust this time. His eyes are angry. And they are pointed straight at me.

  Brian doesn’t seem to notice the tension and just stretches his arms above his head making his shirt ride up and exposing his abs. My eyes automatically go there to check him out. I mean come on. I am a female after all.

  Dean follows my eyes and his stare somehow becomes even more intense than before. I quickly avert my eyes from both men even though I should have no shame. I can check out my own boyfriend if I want to. I look back to Dean and give him a look that says just that.

  Brian breaks the tension again “You guys want to order pizza? Thought we could see what is available to rent. Care, wasn’t there a movie we wanted to see in theaters recently?”

  I just smile at him. “Not sure. We haven’t been to the movies in a while.”

  Dean pulls his wallet out of his back pocket and sets a credit card on the counter. “Sure order whatever you want. I am going to go take a shower.”