The Running Series Complete Collection: 3-Book Set plus Bonus Novella (24 page)

“But there were so
many
other girls, not just rich and famous.  There were tons of young college girls, too.  There’s always going to be women throwing themselves at him.  I don’t think I’ll ever fully trust him.”

I didn’t notice that the boys had walked in looking for us.  Apparently, they overheard part of our conversation.  Grant doesn’t have too much to say, so he refills everyone’s glass and sits beside Emmy.  Marcus is the first one to chime in with his perspective.

“Jette, stay clear of that boy.  I don’t care how much he claims to have changed, don’t believe it.  You deserve better.  You don’t want to become a part of his fucked-up lifestyle.  Once the season starts, he’ll be gone, a lot.  Sure, he can keep his dick in his pants here in Point Pleasant, but how about when he starts travelling?  Can you handle that?  Do you really think that if he’s in California, Florida, or Tennessee and there’s a team party with tons of beautiful women, he’ll be able to keep his hands off them?”  Marcus speaks the exact thoughts that have been plaguing me since I first discovered the truth.

“He’s going to hurt you.  I know it.  I don’t think I can stand to see you like you were yesterday.  You came to work looking like a zombie.  Marcus is right, you deserve better.”  This time, it’s Derek speaking.

“You’re all right, all four of you.  Let’s just forget about this crap for one fucking night – OK?  Please?”

I get up and find more plates for the boys so I can serve them my confectionary treats.  I come back to the table and they have set up shot glasses and cards for a fun little party game.  “What are we playing?”

“Apples to Apples, but with a twist.  Do you know how to play?”  Derek asks.

“Sure, everyone gets seven red apple cards and we take turns turning over a green apple card.  The best match wins, right?”  We played this game a lot in the common room of my dorm in college.

Grant adds some more rules. “Rule 1– inning apple chooses someone to do a shot.  Rule 2– Helen Keller card wins the game and
everyone
takes a shot.  Ready?”  Sounds like fun, mindless, silly fun and I love it.

Since I’m the newest addition to the group, I get to go first.  I turn over a green apple card and read it aloud, “useless”.  Everyone throws in a red apple card pretty quickly, except for Derek.  “Come on, Derek, pick a card.”

“Gimme a minute.  I have some pretty good choices here.  Ready? Anne Frank, cucumbers, and ballerinas.  I can’t pick.”  Derek actually looks deep in thought.

“Well, since it’s my round, I’ll tell you
not
to pick cucumbers if you want to win.  They have
lots
of uses.”  The whole table erupts into laughter.  This is exactly what I need.  Derek’s selection of ballerinas wins the hand and he makes me do a shot.

Derek turns over the Green Apple card ‘important’.  We all quickly make our choices and turn in our cards upside down so Derek doesn’t know who selected each.  He turns each over and reads them one at a time:  Backstreet Boys, Spam, whipped cream, x-ray vision, and friction.  He quickly eliminates Backstreet Boys and Spam, leaving the other three to argue the merits of each.

Grant tries to persuade Derek to pick x-ray vision.  “Dude, you work in a bar.  Hot girls are everywhere.  Think about it.”

Camilla picks whipped cream.  “Well, can you think of any other condiment you’d take with you to bed?  You have to have some on hand, just in case.  Right, honey?”  She kisses Marcus and he nods in agreement.

“I say friction,” Emmy argues.  What’s the point in the whipped cream or x-ray vision if there’s no friction between the sheets?  We all agree, and Emmy picks Grant to do a shot. 

The next few rounds, everyone gets to do a shot, but after that, I seem to be a favorite target.  Emmy makes me do a shot, then Derek makes me do two in a row, and I’m starting to feel the effects.  “Derek Lattimer, are you trying to get me drunk?”

“What, who, me?  Never!”  He devilishly grins and slides my chair closer to his.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  I give him a peck on the cheek.

“Excuse me.”  I get up to use the bathroom.  “I’ll be right back.”  I walk to the bathroom, or perhaps stagger is the better word.  When I sit down, the walls stop spinning for a moment and I’m grateful.  Just then, my phone beeps signaling a new text message.  I struggle to retrieve my phone from my pants, which is no small feat.  It’s from Evan.

Damn.  Evan.  I almost went an entire hour without thinking about him.  Thinking about him makes me want him and wish he was here with me now.  I know that in my present condition, there’s no way I could resist him.  I should tell him.

There.  Maybe when he reads that, he’ll regret lying to me.  If he didn’t lie to me, we would probably be in his bed right now.  Naked.  God, he looks good naked. 

A ringing phone startles me from my fantasy.  Wait, it’s my phone.  I should answer it.  “Buddy the Elf, what’s your favorite color?”  I crack myself up.

“Juliette, is that you?”

“Duh.”  It’s Evan, I’d recognize that schmexy voice anywhere.

“Are you OK?  Have you been drinking tonight?”

“Yup.  I could have been with you, but you ruined it.  Now I’m here with these other boys who aren’t you.”

“Juliette, who’s there with you?  Is Emmy there?  Can I talk to her?” 

“Why would Emmy be in the bathroom with me?  That’s silly.  I have to go back to my party now.  Bye-bye.”

I finish up in the bathroom and I’m washing my hands in the sink when there’s a knock on the door.  I open it to find Emmy standing there with her hands on her hips.  She’s mad.  That’s not good.  I wonder what happened.

“Juliette Evangeline Fletcher, why the hell did you just drunk dial your ex-boyfriend?”  Shit, is that what I did?  No, he called me.  I’m pretty sure.

“He called me.  Wait, how do you know?  Emmy, are you a witch?”

“No, Jette, Evan just called me to make sure you were safe.  You really did have a lot to drink tonight, didn’t you, honey?”

I guess she’s right.  “Emmy, I’m tired.  I think I should go home now.”  I can hardly keep my eyes open all of a sudden.

“Sorry, but you’re crashing here tonight.  Derek is making up the couch for you.  Camilla and Marcus just left.  Come on, let’s get you tucked in.  You’ve had a rough night.”

I
wake up with a pounding headache.  I try to focus on my surroundings and it takes a minute for me to recall the events of the previous night.  Shit.  I’m at Derek’s.  I got pretty drunk last night.  I vaguely remember something about a phone call. God, I hope I didn’t call Evan and say anything embarrassing.

On the table beside me is a bottle of water and two aspirins.  I wash them down and look around to see who left them there for me.  Sitting alone in the kitchen is Derek, freshly showered.  He’s not wearing any shoes and he’s sitting there in the quiet kitchen, alone, eating some cereal and reading the paper.  What is it about bare feet?

Shifting Sands

“G
ood morning, Sunshine.”  Derek must have heard me getting up.

“Good morning, Derek.”  Slowly, I make my way into the kitchen to join him, sitting at the table directly across from him. 

“How do you feel this morning, Jette?” 

“My head is pounding.  I really overdid it last night, didn’t I?” 

“I don’t know, maybe.  One minute you’re fine, the next minute, you’re gonzo.  That’s mostly my fault, I think.  Sorry about that.”

“Yeah, you know what?  It is mostly your fault.  If you didn’t make me do so many shots, I might not have this hangover.”  I crumble up the napkin in front of me and throw it at his head.  I don’t think he expected me to hit him, because he didn’t even try to avoid it.  He looks almost as shocked as I am when it hits him square between the eyes.

“Well, then there’s only one thing left to do.  You have to let me make it up to you.  You’re working the lunch shift today, right?”  I nod.  “Me, too.  How about you let me take you out to dinner?  My treat.  I promise, no alcohol.”  He leans back in his chair and waits for my answer.  There’s a sparkle in his eye as we talk.  I don’t know if I’ve ever really noticed that before.

“Gee, Derek, that sounds great, but I have plans with Evan tonight.  I promised him we could talk.”  Why do I suddenly feel guilty about having plans with Evan?

He picks the paper back up again so I cannot see his face.  “He doesn’t deserve you, you know,” he says behind the newspaper.

“I know.”

My headache has already reduced to a dull ache and I definitely need food in my stomach.  I rummage through the cabinets looking for something edible to have for breakfast.  All I can find are different boxes of cereal and I nearly settle on Frosted Flakes when I spot a box of Bisquick.  Scanning the room quickly, I spot a bunch of overripe bananas and I immediately set to cooking breakfast for my host and his still slumbering guests. 

“Derek, can you give me a hand?  I need a mixing bowl and a frying pan.” Derek puts down the paper and locates the necessary tools for me to get started.

“What are you making?”

“Bananas Foster Pancakes.  I really could use some help.  Do you think you can handle following the recipe on the box and mixing up a batch of pancake batter?  All you need to do is add milk and eggs, then mix it together.”  I hand him the box and show him the recipe.  “I’ll cook, I just need you to get it ready for me.”

Meanwhile, I’m relieved when I quickly find some brown sugar and cinnamon.  Since this is a bachelor’s home, I’m surprised I can find any baking ingredients at all.  Along with butter, that’s all I’ll need for my topping.

Derek’s kitchen is small and there’s not much room for us to move around each other.  It’s almost like being behind the bar together.

“Let’s take a look at your batter.”  No sooner are the words leaving my mouth when I realize how that could be taken.  What is wrong with me?

Derek eyes me and smirks.  “Is that how we’re going to play this, Jette?  You want to play dirty with me?”

“You know what I mean.”  Damn.  I really don’t want to play games with Derek.  He steps aside to let me assess his progress.  “It looks good, let’s get started.  I’m going to start frying the pancakes.  Can you slice up all these bananas for me?”  I hand him the bunch of bananas and send him back to the kitchen table.

The pancakes fry up pretty quickly.  Once done, I get to work on the topping.  I melt the butter in the pan, and then add the brown sugar and a little cinnamon.  I instruct Derek to add the bananas for me as I continue to stir.  Standing in front of the stove together is nice.  I’m starting to feel like we can go back to our playful friendship. 

“Can you go grab some rum to top this off?”  Derek returns with three different kinds of rum, and I quickly select the bottle of Bacardi and add it to my mixture.

Just as I had hoped, the smell of breakfast cooking has roused Emmy and Grant, and they join us in the kitchen.  Emmy makes us some coffee and Grant sets the table.

The four of us sit and enjoy a nice meal together.  It feels like the awkwardness between Derek and me earlier is dissolving.  I’m glad for it. 

Emmy and I leave after we finish cleaning up.  It’s a quick drive to my house.  As I get out of her car, she has one simple thing to say to me before leaving.  “Jette, work your shit out with Evan.  It’s tearing you up and making you crazy.”

“I know.  You’re right.  See you at work.”