Distraction (16 page)

"So what do you say? I don
'
t think I can go
through with this if I don
'
t have you up there with me."

I looked up into his serious, warm honey eyes.

My answer came without effort. "Sure." From the
corner of my eye, I noticed Kellie and her friends walking into the store.
After adjusting Tristan
'
s tie, I leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "Just
promise that I get to pick out my own dress. I
'
ve got this
killer black strapless number I
'
m dying to wear. We
'
ll look perfect together." I
hadn
'
t meant to throw in the last part. It just slipped out, but I
got the reaction I hoped for from Kellie.

"Would y
'
all like a room?" Kellie
'
s hardened tone
made me smile. Simply put, I couldn't stand her, she being the sole source
behind me and Tristan
'
s strangled friendship. Until I met her, I usually shied away
from confrontation, but not anymore.

I opened my mouth, ready to smart off, but Tristan beat me to
the chance.

"Sure, you paying," he countered, turning to look
in the mirror at my handy work. I held back from laughing. Knowing nothing good
could come out of me sticking around, I decided to leave before any other
heated words could take place.

"I
'
ve got to go, but thanks for asking me to be with you."
I finished with a peck to his cheek then turned to his fuming fiancée.
"Kellie, as always, a pleasure." I smiled as I walked past her and
her shocked-faced friends.

Before I stepped out of the store, I heard Kellie
'
s hushed anger.
She monopolized all of Tristan
'
s time. We didn
'
t hang out, which helped to distance myself from him, but the
wedge between us still affected me profoundly. Growing up sometimes meant
letting go of the past. Even though a part of me would always love Tristan, and
we would remain friends, I didn
'
t think our friendship would ever be the same. I sighed,
pushing away what we
'
d lost. With my shoulders straight, I headed to my car.

"
Hey, Elle. Wait up.
"

I heard a distant voice shout from behind. I turned to see
Eric jogging up to meet me. From the looks of him, he
'
d just left the
gym down the street. His muscular arms were bare and his five o
'
clock shadow
gave him a hunky wilderness look. His sandy blond hair fell in a mess on his
forehead. He smiled when he walked up to me.

"Hi, Eric. Did you just leave the gym?"

"Yeah and I
'
m starved. You wanna grab a bite to eat?"

"I
'
m actually pretty hungry, so why not. Where did you have in
mind?" I looked around at our slim options.

"There
'
s a great hamburger place down the street." His mouth
turned into a lazy grin. "My family owns it, actually. We can walk. It's
not too far."

"After you," I said smiling.

Chapter
10

Tristan

My mind ran a mile a minute after Elle left. She had no clue
the effect she had over me. When she leaned close and whispered in my
ear...damn. She smelled fucking incredible, and when her body pressed against my
chest, I nearly lost control and pulled her to me. Shit, just being close to
her felt intimate, until Kellie interrupted us and the moment ended.

I could have kicked myself in the ass. I
'
d finally
reached a place where every damn minute of every day my thoughts weren
'
t consumed by
Elle, then like snapping her fingers she drew me back in.

"Tristan! I leave you alone and come back to find her
nearly sucking your ear off."

I laughed, and not at the absurdity of what Kellie said, but
how much I would
'
ve traded the idea for reality.

"You think this is funny?"

I knew her tempered words were more show for her friends than
me, but this shit was getting old.

"Listen, Kellie, I
'
m gonna walk away." I inched
closer to her, watching her eyes grow wide. "Yeah, I
'
m gonna walk
away, get in my car, and drive the fuck off. Because if I stay here, and listen
to this bullshit..." I had to take a deep breath. "Then this wedding
shit–you and I in general–will be over. Got it?"

I didn
'
t hang around for her retort or her attempt to guilt trip me
by creating tears. As soon as I dropped the monkey suit off in the dressing
room, I called up some guys on the team. As luck would have it, I was only
minutes away from as much alcohol as I could drink.

Elle

Eric and I walked into his family's burger place and headed
to the register. He introduced me to his parents and little sister. They were
nice and refused to take my money when I ordered a jalape
ñ
o cheeseburger
with extra onions.

I didn
'
t think about the onion part until his sister said,
"Guess you don
'
t want my brother to kiss ya?" Their mom glared down at
her. Eric laughed and then led me to a booth in the back.

"I
'
ve never been here before. It's
nice,
" I said as
we sat down.

"Thanks. What do you want to drink?"

"I
'
ll have a non-sweet iced tea."

“Cool, I
'
ll be back in a minute."

I smiled. "Sounds good." I stayed in the booth and
glanced around the small but nice area. When Eric came back a few minutes
later, he had our burgers and drinks with him.

"Wow. That was fast. The service here is great."

"Helps to know the owner." He winked. We ate and
talked about school and sports. By the time I
'
d finished my
last fry, I
'
d overstuffed my stomach.

"So what did you think of the burger? Great, huh,"
Eric said, then slurped the last of his drink.

"Everything was delicious. I
'
ll have to
bring..."
I stopped.
"
Alyssa in here.
" I immediately thought of Tristan knowing he
'
d love the food.
Just then I noticed the sun dipping into the horizon. "I should get going,
I have a Biology test tomorrow I really need to study for."

"Okay." We stood, but before heading out, Eric and
I said goodbye to his family. "Come on, I
'
ll walk you to
your car."

Once outside, he smiled over at me.

Alyssa's words came back to me. I needed to start living my
life. "So we should do this again. I mean if you want to."

"I
'
d like that," he said

"We
'
ll plan another date."

"So this was a date?" Eric tilted his head to the
side and chuckled as we walked down the street.

"Isn
'
t the definition of a date when one party asks the other to
dinner?"

"I guess you
'
re right. So, does this mean we
'
re dating?"
He smiled through his brilliant smoky blue eyes.

"I guess that depends on you." I smiled back at
him.

"I
'
m game."

I folded my arms across my chest to keep warm. October
brought cooler temps and I found myself picking up pace as we neared my car.

"Easy, speedy," he said, catching up with me.

"Sorry, I was getting cold." I leaned against my
car with Eric in front of me.

"
No problem. So, I
'
ll call you tomorrow?"

"Okay, I look forward to it." Eric closed the small
space between us and then very lightly, brushed his lips over mine.

The connection sent my head swirling, and I felt the heat as
the cool October wind hit my face.

He backed away, smiling. "I
'
ve wanted to do
that for a long time."

My cheeks burned hotter. "Well, keep it up and you may
get another chance."

Eric opened my door, and I hurried out of the cold. He smiled
sweetly at me as he pushed it closed. I started my car and cranked up the
heater.

When I walked up to my front door, I could hear Alyssa
yelling at someone. I hesitantly opened the door.

"It's not my fault you
'
re a skank!"
Alyssa stood, looming over Ginger in the living room when I walked in. Tisha
stood behind Alyssa, smiling smugly at Ginger. I shut the door, but no one
noticed me.

"Fine you can have my sloppy seconds. I didn
'
t like him much
anyway," said Ginger. She pushed her flaming red hair behind her shoulders
and marched out of the room, but not before Alyssa threw in the last word.

"Honey, you were the sloppy one, and I
'
m always the
prize," she said in a low, dangerous tone. Alyssa loved nothing more than
to rile people up and never took their retorts to heart, but Ginger got to her,
I could tell.

"Care to let me in on what
'
s going on?"
I flopped on the couch next to where Alyssa stood. She sighed and sat next to
me.

"Bret asked me to the party this weekend since our house
is paired with his frat, and I guess," she raised her voice, "some
people can
'
t handle he
'
d rather go with me than a slut." A door slammed after
that.

"Girl, she is pissed, but I
'
m glad you
'
re going with my
brother instead of that slut. I can
'
t believe he went for that,"
Tisha turned to Ginger
'
s room,
"piece of work."

"Never a dull moment is there?" I settled with a
sigh. "
So I
'
ve got to study for my Bio test, and don
'
t forget about
the new pledges tomorrow, you two." I stood and headed to my room, but
stopped at the end of the hall.

"Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, Eric and I had dinner
tonight. He
'
s supposed to call me tomorrow so we can set up another date."
Grinning, I walked away.

A few seconds later, Alyssa walked into our shared room.
"Okay you can never say something like that and then walk out of the room.
I need every detail, starting with how you ended up on a date with Eric when
you were supposed to be helping Tristan pick out a suit."

I didn
'
t internally shut down when I heard Tristan
'
s name and his
engagement in the same sentence anymore.

Today when I leaned in and whispered in his ear, I could tell
he was nervous. He'd held his breath and moved in a little closer. Especially
after I told him about the fake black, strapless dress I wanted to wear.

The great part though, I didn
'
t react the way
I imagined I would. Instead, I felt the power shift had changed between us, and
I liked the feeling. So when Eric asked me to dinner, I was more than willing
to try out my newfound self-assurance.

"I left Tristan when Kellie and her friends showed up. I
wasn
'
t up to playing nice with her." I rolled my eyes, but
conveniently left out what happened between us. I wasn
'
t sure how
Alyssa would react. "Eric was leaving the gym when he caught me walking
out. That
'
s when he asked if I wanted to grab a bite to eat. Oh, and I
met his family." I couldn't contain my smile.

"First official date and he
'
s introducing
you to his family. Nice start, Elle." Alyssa sat on my bed. The excitement
shining in her eyes changed to concern. "Are you okay with this? I mean,
are you ready?"

I understood what she meant and I
'
d never been more
ready, especially after today. I could do this. I could move on with my life.