Intoxicated (21 page)

Matthew had preheated the oven and was
working on putting the turkey in one of those aluminum pans that
one bought only at Thanksgiving. Clad in sweats, he barely looked
awake. His hair was more unruly than usual. He wore black,
thick-rimmed glasses. Those gave me pause. I hadn’t considered the
fact that he wore contacts, though I knew Blake did. It was a silly
observation to make such a big deal over, but I felt a little
slighted that I didn’t know this already. And more than a little
bothered that they made him attractive in a whole new imperfect
way.

He looked up at us as we entered the kitchen
and smiled widely, stifling a yawn.

“I haven’t ruined anything yet,” he reported
proudly.

“Good job,” I said brightly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Blake
rolling her eyes.

“Just wait,” she muttered under her
breath.

There was so much that I could read into that
comment. I stared at her, waiting for an explanation that wasn’t
going to come. Shrugging it off, I crossed the kitchen to stand by
Matthew’s side. I busied myself opening my cookbooks to pages I had
already dog eared. As I scanned the recipes looking for things that
could be assembled ahead of time for Matthew to tend to later, I
saw Blake hovering out of the corner of my eye. She tried her best
to look engrossed in setting up the centerpiece on the dining room
table, conveniently never putting us out of her line of sight.

“What’s with her?” Matthew whispered.

“Full of holiday spirit,” I lied softly. If
he didn’t know what was up, I certainly wasn’t going to fill him
in. Apparently, I was the only one getting read the riot act.

“Whatever. She doesn’t have anything to be
nervous about. She’s been kind of odd lately.”

I nodded. “I noticed, too. Maybe she’s just
going into ultimate party planner mode?”

“Or something.”

“You’ll do fine,” I said suddenly, addressing
the unspoken. Instinctively, I started to reach for his hand to
squeeze it reassuringly but pulled back. That was all Blake needed
to witness. I placed my offending hand instead on my hip, willing
it to stay.

“I wish I had your faith in me.”

His words saddened me. I closed my eyes to
blink back tears. “I wish you did too.”

“If at any time today you change your mind
about keying the BMW, let me know.”

His abrupt subject change made me laugh out
loud. Blake looked up at us, trying to figure out what was so
funny. Until then, our entire conversation had been in hushed
tones, so try as she might, she couldn’t eavesdrop. Figuring we
were getting a little too friendly, she decided the rest of the
decorations could wait until we returned.

“Ready to go, Lauren?” she called out.

Matthew and I exchanged a guilty glance, akin
to getting called out in the middle of class for talking by the
teacher. I grinned at him and he returned the favor.

“Guess my ride’s leaving.”

“Guess so. Hurry back.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t trust you that much in
the kitchen.”

“Hey, you shouldn’t insult the host.”

He swatted my shoulder playfully. I raised my
arm to retaliate, stopped only by Blake clearing her throat. She
raised her eyebrow at me, silently berating me.

“Are we ready?” she smirked, twirling her key
ring upon her finger.

“Yes, Blake,” I replied in a sing song
fashion. I had almost referred to her as “Mom”, but decided to bite
my tongue instead. This was undoubtedly a good call. Considering
their mother issues and mine to a lesser extent, this was probably
not the best course of action, even in a good natured tone.

“We’ll be back,” Blake announced
unnecessarily, practically pushing me out the front door.

I made no move to argue. Instead, I looked
back in Matthew’s general direction and rolled my eyes. He caught
my look and nodded. Just in case Blake was watching, he quickly got
back to work, staring down into one of the cookbooks intently. I
smirked as I followed her down the sidewalk and to the Miata.

Safely inside the vehicle, I turned to my
friend. Like both myself and Matthew, her look was decidedly
casual. The siblings pulled it off better than I could ever dream
of doing. Even in sweats and a face devoid of makeup, she was
stunning. And frowning. Her lips remained in the sour expression
even as we headed out of the driveway and towards home. I
sighed.

“What?” I asked.

She shrugged. Apparently, she wasn’t eager to
give a voice to the words I already knew were about to come. She
fixed her eyes on the road, staring straight ahead.

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” I grumbled,
crossing my arms over my chest. “I am just being friendly. Matthew
and I are friends. He has invited my boyfriend to his house for
Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Indirectly.”

“Okay, fine. I have invited my boyfriend to
his house for Thanksgiving dinner. We are both aware of the fact
that I am very much taken. This does not mean that we cannot play
around and have fun together. It does not mean that we need to be
chaperoned every second that we are together. We are responsible
adults. Nothing unsavory is going to happen.”

Blake gripped the steering wheel so hard her
knuckles turned white. “Are you two really that oblivious to what
is going on?”

“What exactly is going on?”

“The two of you are so attracted to each
other, it’s ridiculous. The way you tease each other. The way you
talk to each other. The way you flirt back and forth. It would all
be very endearing if you were actually boyfriend and girlfriend.
But you’re not. And I don’t want to see either one of you get
hurt.”

“I appreciate your concern, but you have
nothing to worry about. We are good friends. That’s it. He’s never
tried to make anything more of it. Just because I’ve driven the
Mustang and we smile and laugh doesn’t mean that any deep feelings
will ever blossom. Yes, he is undeniably hot. He can’t do anything
about it. And if you’re sensing some attraction on his part, I’m
sure whatever lust you think is going on will be over once he meets
Eric. Maybe when you realize that my boyfriend is not a figment of
someone’s imagination, you’ll feel better.”

“I know my brother better than anyone,
Lauren,” she said softly. “Don’t discount that.”

“Blake, I’m not trying to argue here. I think
that Matthew is a wonderful person. And that I was brought into
your lives for a reason. But it’s not to start a relationship with
him. It’s to show him that he can be forgiven for his actions. That
other people can be accepting of his past even if his own parents
aren’t. I’m sorry for the both of you and what has happened. But he
has to forgive himself before he can ever expect anyone else to get
past it.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“About?”

“About this connection between the two of you
that I may or may not be imagining? What if I’m right, Lauren, and
he does have feelings for you? Just play along for a second.”

“Like I said, my boyfriend is coming for a
visit today. If anything is brewing, that will stop it in its
tracks. Eric will be on his best behavior, and I’m sure, in front
of an audience, he will act like the best boyfriend ever. If – and
this is a huge if – if Matthew was having impure thoughts, he would
have to bury those. He’s an honorable kind of guy. He wouldn’t do
the cheating thing. He wouldn’t put me in that position.”

“Or he’ll fight for you even harder.”

“Your optimism is staggering. Besides, he may
be preoccupied anyway.”

It was Blake’s turn to ask what I was
referring to. I debated how much I wanted to tell her prior to
setting my plan in motion. I looked down at my freshly manicured
nails and chewed on my lip.

“Lauren?”

“My best friend is single, Blake. She is also
attending today.”

“You wouldn’t.”

I couldn’t tell if Blake was upset with me,
or if she was going to be a willing coconspirator. I shrugged,
turning to look out the window. We were just pulling into our
driveway. The remainder of the conversation would have to wait. We
both needed to shower and get ready. Even though we still had a few
hours left before the Indianapolis crew was set to arrive, I knew
how easily time could get away from you.

We parted ways at the stairs to the loft
without another word. She no longer looked upset, which was a plus.
I wondered how much of that had to do with her feeling at ease, and
how much was her professional demeanor. I knew for a fact that she
took great pride in her work. Since she had singlehandedly
decorated her brother’s house, her talents would be on display. I
knew she wanted to impress today for a number of reasons, maybe
more so than even I did.

I took an extra hot shower, letting the
steaming water pound down against my skin. As I shampooed my hair,
I contemplated what Blake had said. All along I had figured I was
reading too much into Matthew’s actions. Now she had indicated they
caught her attention as well. I wasn’t sure if I should feel
flattered or scared.

She was convinced that she had her brother
pegged, but I had done my best to mask my own feelings. Sure, she
had caught me checking him out a couple times, but that wasn’t
atypical, even for someone in a committed relationship. I had to
look at him, right? I couldn’t change the fact that I liked what I
saw. She had accused me of being attracted to him just now, but I
had covered that up pretty well. Or so I thought. If I were to tell
her about the dream I had in Indy, she would absolutely flip.

I stood in front of my closet debating on
what to wear. Holidays typically weren’t a big dress up occasion as
far as I was concerned. I dressed up all of the time for work,
anyway. I wanted to be comfortable on my days off. I settled on a
pair of khaki colored denim pants paired with a chocolate brown
sweater. Ever the shoe person, I completed the look with a pair of
platform ankle boots. I rarely left home without my tall shoes. I
needed as much help in the height department as I could get.

I made sure my hair and makeup were
impeccable. Though I was silently freaking out on the inside, no
one would be the wiser due to my appearance. According to the
mirror, I was perfectly pulled together. I smiled at my reflection,
hoping to instill confidence in myself.

As I waited for Blake to finish up, I sank
down onto the sofa and checked my cell. So far, so good. No missed
calls. No frantic texts from Eric that he was at the airport
somewhere and truly was sorry that he had to cancel. Although it
was very unlikely that he could come up with a feasible work excuse
to miss out on today, I had been afraid he would try. In a moment
of neediness, I texted him instead.

Can’t wait to see you.

I wasn’t sure what exactly prompted the
clingy me to make an appearance. The sentiment, simple enough. I
hadn’t seen him in the flesh since the disastrous weekend where I
had effectively walked out on him. We had put that behind us as
much as you could without actually being in the same location. Just
like all of our arguments, the emotions behind them dulled with
time and distance. We moved on like we always did. We pretended
that nothing bad happened; that we were the perfect couple.

Same here. Leaving in about an
hour
.

His reply rang hollow, though it said all the
right things. I wasn’t sure what response I had been expecting. I
felt like he was taking the easy way out, just repeating what I had
said and including his itinerary. Just once I wanted him to show
some real affection, not the plastic type he was so used to doling
out in the sales world.

Blake emerged from her bedroom. She spied me
turning my phone over and over in my hands and assumed the worst.
To be honest, I couldn’t blame her. Eric didn’t have the best track
record.

“Don’t tell me he’s not coming.”

“No,” I shook my head, “he’s leaving in about
an hour. I’m just nervous, that’s all.”

Relief washed over her face. Apparently, she
could deal with nervousness. If I were to begin sobbing
hysterically, that was a different story.

“Good. Let’s go back.”

She picked up her purse and slung it over her
shoulder. She had chosen an emerald green sweater over black pants
for the festivities. Slightly dressy but not out of place no matter
the attire of the rest of the guests. Her blond hair was stick
straight and pulled half up, half down, the blue streak prominent.
Before me stood someone so sure of herself, so confident in her
personality, that she had that air of being comfortable in every
situation. She didn’t hide who she was, her quirkiness, from
anyone. I wondered why Matthew hadn’t learned that lesson from
her.

“Who’s driving?” I asked as I grabbed my own
purse.

“I can.”

I felt guilty for letting her drive
everywhere, but I supposed that if I was used to driving something
red and shiny that I wouldn’t want to ride with me, either. Maybe
she would let me volunteer once the snow started flying in earnest.
My car likely handled better, and if it found its way into a ditch,
it wasn’t a huge loss. Then again, I could see her just as easily
bringing home the SUV she drove for her design studio and parking
the convertible for the season.

Back in the car, I wondered if we would
resume our previous conversation. The first couple of minutes were
spent in silence. I wasn’t about to offer up any more information
without being asked. I busied myself by digging in my purse for
some lip balm, even though my makeup was freshly applied. My
attempt to look occupied was all for nothing anyway. Blake kept her
eyes on the road as if she were alone in the vehicle. When she did
speak, I quite possibly would have hit my head against the
convertible top had I not been fastened down with the seatbelt.

“So, this friend of yours-“