Different Roads (2 page)

Instantly, I was intrigued by him and
felt completely exposed and vulnerable as though I was having the infamous
naked dream. It was nothing I'd ever felt in my life. No guy should be allowed
to leave the house looking as deadly hot as he looked.  Like a fly, I got
caught up in his web and helplessly stole glances in his direction.

He was nothing like Rick or any of the
other guys I normally allowed myself to be attracted to. The reserved and laid
back good ol' boys.

Part of me was repelled by the crazy
dude's obvious mission to drink himself comatose, but the bad girl part of me
clawed at the door I'd kept her locked behind for so long, aching for freedom.
Mesmerized, I couldn't turn away from him as he chugged Wild Turkey straight
from the bottle. Whatever or whoever he was trying to blot from his memory sure
must have pulled a number on him.

Mandy nudged me, "Didn't anyone
teach you it's not polite to stare? If you insist on doing it anyway it might
be a good idea to close your mouth."

"Who is he?" I managed to
utter after prying my tongue from the roof of my mouth.

"I don't know who he is," she
said. "But he is in-freaking-sane hotness."

Sometime later while I sat on the
tailgate of Rick's truck, Mandy marched up to me, "Come on. We've got to
be good Samaritans," she said with a snort and her giggles turned into the
hiccups. "Seth needs us."

"Seth?" I asked, raising an
eyebrow. I wasn't completely drunk, but teetered right on the edge between the
need to have one more and having had one too many. That place right between
being able to walk a semi-straight line and being falling down stupid drunk.

"Wild Turkey guy," she
muttered under her breath as she yanked me inside the house and down the hall
to the bathroom. Seth had passed out in a puddle of his own puke on the floor.

"And me without my camera," I
grinned. Seems the blue eyed God of Wild Turkey guzzling was sicker than a dog and
needed to be rescued.

We stripped him down to his boxers and
threw him into the shower, hoping the cold water would sober him up as well as
clean off the vomit. Mandy offered to keep an eye on Seth in one bedroom, while
Rick led me off to another. 

Normally, Rick's an amazing kisser but
my heart just wasn't in it. Kissing him felt like kissing my pillow. All I
could think about was Seth. I wondered what his kisses tasted like and was just
a little annoyed that my best friend was with him instead of me. Rick kept
pushing me to have sex and that idea felt wrong in every way because what I
really wanted was to be in Mandy's shoes and not my own.

There was no way in hell I wanted to
lose my virginity to Rick. Not when every time I closed my eyes I saw Seth's
piercing blue eyes staring back at me. I decided the next day I needed to walk
away from Rick because in my heart I knew he couldn't possibly be the right guy
for me. Not when I was so easily distracted by someone else. It's been said
that
if
you love two people at the same time, choose the second. Because if you really
loved the first one, you wouldn't have fallen for the second.

I
sat on my bed reliving last night's events when what I should have been doing
was getting ready. Rick would be here in less than an hour and I hadn't even
showered yet. I was less than excited.

            Mom
knocked on my door, "Jacqueline?"

            "Yeah
mom, come in," I said.

            "Happy
birthday honey," she smiled warmly and handed me an envelope with my name
scrawled across the front. "This is from your dad. He dropped it off last
night."

            "Oh,"
the irritation I felt bubbling inside about everything going on in my life was
compounded by the fact that it was my birthday and all my dad managed was to
swing by when I wasn't even home to leave me a lousy card. Yeah dad thanks for
that. "Thanks mom."

            "This
is from me." She had a small box in her hand and waved it in front of my
face. "Go on, take it. It's for you to use on your date with Rick
tonight."

            My
eyes widened. Great, mom bought me condoms. I took the box from her
outstretched hand and pulled the top off to peek inside. It was two tickets for
tonight's showing of
Wicked
at the Fox Theatre. "Mom, Rick and I
have other plans tonight. I'm not sure he'll want to change them at the last
minute like this."

            "I've
already worked everything out with him," she beamed. "We've had it
planned for weeks. I knew how much you wanted to see
Wicked
so I bought
the tickets and asked Rick if he would take you. What you do after the show of
course is up to you."

            My
cheeks flamed red as I thought about the real plans that had been made for our
night. Rick decided tonight would be the perfect night for me to lose my
virginity. I swallowed and painted a fake smile on my face for mom,
"Thanks mom, this is great." I had about as much enthusiasm for the
night ahead as if I was going to the dentist for a root canal but I gave her a
quick hug of reassurance.

            Going
to the Fabulous Fox meant a change of plans for my choice of clothes for the
night as well. Blue jeans and hoodie, what I normally wore when I went out with
Rick definitely would not work for tonight's
adventure
. When mom said
she'd worked everything out, she wasn't kidding, because when I walked back
into my room after my shower, she had a bright green dress waiting for me on the
closet door.

            Tonight
was going to be epic: a date with a guy who expected to take my virginity and I
planned to break up with him instead. Going to the Fox Theatre
and
I
have to wear a dress.  I felt sick to my stomach.
Happy fricking birthday
Jaq.

           
I
was still in the process of trying to make my hair cooperate when I heard the
doorbell ring. My stomach lurched into my throat and I swallowed a few times
trying to coax it back into place. Mom called up the stairs, "Jacqueline,
Rick's here."

           
Yay
me
. "I'll be right down," I said with a cheerfulness I didn't feel
and grabbed the matching shoes to carry downstairs. The shoes would be a
challenge to walk in since the heels were a lot higher than anything else I ever
wore.

            Rick's
eyebrows rose appreciatively when I came into view, "You look hot
Jaq," he leered.

            My
eyes darted to my mom who seemed too concerned with trying to figure out how to
work the digital camera in her hands to catch that my date just said I looked
hot
.
I frowned at him and muttered, "Thanks."

            Mom
glanced at me and pursed her lips, "Jacqueline, honey where's the matching
clutch I gave you to carry?" Apparently, mom didn't think my backpack was
an appropriate handbag.

            "It's
too small to hold anything useful," I complained.

            She
huffed and folded her arms in front of her, "Well good lord don't carry
that
thing
into the theatre with you."

            I'd
stuffed a change of clothes, including a pair of
comfortable
shoes,
inside the backpack along with my cell phone and some extra cash. Shoes made
for walking, in case I had to. The cell phone was so I could call someone in
case Rick left me at the theatre. Finally, the extra cash would be a last
resort in case I needed to take a cab. I intended on breaking up with Rick
tonight and I knew it was not going to go over well once he found out he was
getting dumped instead of laid.

            Rick
had borrowed his dad's Lincoln for our date which made getting in and out of
while wearing a dress much easier. As soon as we were inside the car he
loosened the tie he had on and threw his jacket into the backseat.

            "What
are you doing?" I asked.

            "Look,
I had to wear that crap for appearance sake in front of your mom," he
reached over and ran the back of his hand down my cheek.

            My
eyebrows drew together in confusion, "We're not going to see
Wicked
?"

            "Are
you high?" he laughed. When he realized I was seriously caught off guard
by his confession, he added, "Jaq, tonight's
the
night. If you
think I'm going to waste precious time sitting in some lame play instead of
blowing through a dozen or so condoms, you'd better think again."

            "
A dozen or so
?" I
squeaked.

My
brain was spinning in circles as I tried to work out how I was going to handle everything.
I had no idea where he planned to take me, and the scenery became more rural with
each passing mile. "So where are we going then?" I asked. 

Rick glanced sideways at me and grinned,
"I rented a motel room."

            "You
do know my mom expects me home tonight, right?"

            He
shrugged, "So? It won't be the first time you broke the rules now will
it?"

            That
comment effectively ended all conversation between the two of us. When he
pulled the car off the main highway onto a narrow, winding blacktop out in the
middle of nowhere, I spotted a neon sign in the shape of a cactus. Some of the
letters weren't lit up, so the sign read 'actus el'. It might actually have
been Cactus Hell with the way I felt about things at the moment.

            "We're
here," he said as he pulled the Lincoln into the deserted parking lot. His
mouth curved into a small smile and he squeezed my leg, "I know it isn't
exactly a four-star hotel Jaq, but maybe next time."

            My
jaw had been clenched so tight for the last half-hour that my teeth ached, and
there was a slow, dull throb building behind my eyes. I grabbed my bag out of
the back seat while he popped the trunk to get the cooler of beer he'd brought
along.
How romantic
, I mused.

            He
unlocked the motel door and nudged it open with his foot. I followed him and the
cooler on wheels inside the room which smelled a lot like dirt, and not clean
dirt, but dirt that had been in the same spot forever. He turned to face me,
pinning me between him and the grimy door. I seriously wanted to wipe the smug
look off his face and when he leaned in to kiss me I turned my head so that his
lips connected with my cheek instead of my mouth.

"I'm nervous," I chewed on my
bottom lip. Actually, I was a basket case. I was so fucking pissed my fists
were clenched and I couldn't stop shaking. I knew he thought I was nervous because
we were finally going to
do it
. I wanted to buy myself some time so I
could figure out how to tactfully dump his stupid ass, though I was pretty sure
there would be no easy way.

He cracked open a bottle of beer and
handed it to me, "Here, maybe this will help relax you a little bit."

I nodded and took a swig before sitting the
bottle on the end table and telling him, "I'm going to get out of this
dress." Of course, he liked that idea and waggled his eyebrows suggestively
at me. I rolled my eyes and said, "Don't get your hopes up; I'm not
getting naked, I'm just putting on something a little more Jaq-like."

He snickered and I felt his eyes hot on
me as I walked into the cramped bathroom, "Don't take all night Jaq. I'm
paying by the hour you know," he called out.

My hands fisted, and I squeezed my eyes tight.
I slipped out of my dress and stuffed it into the backpack. Once I had on my
jeans and hoodie, I felt a little more like myself and better able to deal with
whatever hand the situation dealt. 

Apparently he thought since I was changing
my clothes, he decided to get out of his. The boxer shorts he wore reminded me
of a certain someone else, reinforcing my decision to be rid of Rick. He was sprawled
out across the tacky bedspread when I walked out of the bathroom and he shot me
a puzzled glance, "Babe? I thought you were getting naked for me," he
said.

"I said I was getting out of the
dress, you're the one who interpreted that to mean
naked
," I told
him. He handed me the open beer and I swallowed a big gulp. It tasted bitter
and was already half warm, "This tastes like shit," I grimaced.

He shrugged, "Warm beer usually
does."

I sat on the edge of the bed, musing to
myself as to whether or not it was one of those quarter-driven vibrating specialties
that all the low-rent establishments had in place. I started thinking about how
to phrase my break up with him. Maybe I should turn all of the blame on myself.
Rick, it's not you, it's me.
I chugged the rest of the lukewarm beer and
reached for another. He grabbed for my arm and pulled me down on top of him. After
a few more minutes I began to sweat and felt strange, like I'd had four or five
beers instead of just the one. I swallowed a couple of times and asked,
"Did you put something in my beer?"

"Maybe," he smiled.

"I can't feel my lips," I
said, pressing my fingertips against my mouth. "What did you do?"

"I just gave you a little something
to help you relax. Jesus Jaq, calm down," he muttered. He wrapped his arm
around the back of my neck and pulled my face down so he could kiss me before
rolling me onto my back. He pinned my arms above my head with one hand, while the
other hand worked trying to unfasten the button of my jeans.