What We Search For (14 page)

“Seemed like
it! A few too many, or god forbid… He’s like that all the time.” I replied, a
soft laugh escaping my lips.

“Surely not!”
Troy said, laughing with me.

“Either way.
He’s gone thankfully!” Rachel said smiling at Troy. It seemed like she might be
interested.

“Seriously
though, thanks mate!” I added.  Leaning over towards him, I shook his hand firmly
with a grin.

“Any time.” He
replied with a nod. Turning my attention back to Amanda I left Rachel and Troy
to their conversation.

“May I have
this dance?” I asked Amanda, offering my hand. She took it with a smile.

“I thought
you’d never ask.” She replied. We stood together hand in hand. My arm was
around her waist as I looked in her eyes. My smile was wide across my face as
we danced together step by step. I didn’t care one bit if the music didn’t suit
our dancing.

We danced like
that until last call was shouted and the lights flashed off and on. Rachel gave
her number to Troy with a playful smile and a ‘call me’, and she came over to
join us. I grinned at her and nodded in Troy’s direction. She smiled shyly back
at me, and shrugged her shoulders.

We left the
club together in a jovial mood, and lucked out as we managed to flag down an
approaching cab. With my arms around each of the girls we made our way home in
the back seat. My head throbbed but I still had a smile on my face.

Back home we stumbled inside,
laughing the whole way. We had gotten more drunk than I thought and it was
starting to show by our stumbling and slurring of words. Making for the kitchen
I pulled out the cheese from the fridge and found a loaf of bread. “Grilled
cheese!” I yelled happily.

“Yes-sssss!” Rachel
replied, slumping over onto the couch. “I can’t believe some guys.” Rachel
continued, “After a few drinks, if everything doesn't go their way, they go
cr-az-yyy.” She finished with a wave of her hand.

“Some people feel they have
something to prove.” I added, “It’s just shitty he had to prove something using
my head as an example.” I said, laughing and rubbing my head. My laughter cut
short as I winced when I found the bruise.

“We had fun in the end
though.” Amanda said, joining in. She was sitting on the couch with her feet
tucked under her, and a shoe in one hand which she used to emphasize her point
by waving it around.

“Yeah we did! I’m glad we
went. It was fun.” Rachel added, “We’ll have to do it again soon.” She said as
she tried to get comfortable.

The girls put the TV on
and talked while I finished up the grilled cheese. “It’s time.” I said in a
dramatically deep voice. Walking over to the couch I handed out each plate.  “Just
what we needed.” Amanda slurred slightly, and her arm wobbled as she took the
plate.

We spoke drunkenly
together until we were all about to fall asleep. Rachel lay with her head
against Amanda, and her legs over me. She was mostly passed out already. Amanda
looked over at me and smiled and winked. I smiled back and indicated I was
going to go to bed. I gently removed Rachel’s legs from on top of me, and made
my way to my futon.

Throwing myself into bed
was not a good idea as the metal bar running through the middle of the futon
greeted me harshly. Rolling off of it I stripped off my clothes this time, and
fell asleep in no time. I was exhausted from a big day and an even bigger
night. LA was turning out to be entertaining!

The morning greeted me
poorly. I thought of the standard hangover response to swear off drinking, but
that inevitably only lasts a few days. Rolling off the bed,  I landed on the
floor and groaned.

My head was pounding more
from being punched than drinking. Picking myself up off of the floor, I made my
way to the shower and opened the door. Rachel was sitting on the toilet her
head in her hands.

“Seriously Rachel, you
need to start locking the door.” I mumbled. She replied with some sort of
groan. I closed the door behind me and made my way to the kitchen to pour
myself as many glasses of water as I could stomach. Amanda walked out to greet
me.

“Morning.” She said, her
hair was everywhere and she looked half asleep. Joining me she poured herself
some water and slowly stumbled her way to the couch. Setting her glass on the
table, she unceremoniously collapsed into the cushions and let out a groan.
“How’s your head?” She asked through the couch.

“Horrible! Feels like
someone is playing the drums using the inside my skull.” I replied, closing my
eyes and massaging my head slowly.

I moved over to her and
sat on the end of the couch picking up her legs in doing so and returning them
to my lap. I closed my eyes again and we sat there for a long while. Rachel
came out of the bathroom and said something. We both grunted a nonsensical
response, and continued to doze.

Out of nowhere I finally
got the energy to go and have a shower. Walking straight in, I threw my clothes
off and got in the shower. Adjusting the temperature as hot as I could handle,
I let the water run down my body and soak into my pores. I looked up into the
stream of water and closed my eyes. The pain in my head slowly subsided. I
stood like that for a long time.

Turning the shower off, I
stepped out and reached for a towel just as the door opened. Amanda walked in,
and as she looked up she caught me standing there completely naked. Her eyes
traced my body still dripping in water. My hair slicked back. It took me a few
moments for my mind to register and finally feel self-conscious and grab for
the towel wrapping myself in it.

“Not you too!” Amanda said,
with a smile on her face. “Although, I didn’t mind this so much.” She added,
now grinning.

“It didn’t even cross my
mind! I just needed a shower.” I said, feeling like an idiot, “If you enjoyed
the show so much you could have at least tipped me.” I said, turning around and
shaking my ass in her direction. She laughed at the sight of it and rushed in
and slapped me firmly on the derriere.

“You have to work for your
tips.” She said. I turned around and grabbed her in an embrace using my soaked
body to advantage.

She was wet in no time and
laughing while struggling to get out of my grip. Picking her up in one arm I
walked us to the shower and turned it on. My towel falling off a little bit at
a time in the process. Ignoring it I positioned Amanda under the shower, as she
squealed still dressed in her PJ’s. Laughing, she tried to escape, but gave up
as the water soaked her completely.

Grabbing my arm, she
pulled me into the water. Looking down at her with the water running over my
eyes I put my left arm around her waist, and pulled her closer. Guiding her
head with my right hand, I drew her into a kiss.

“You bastard.” She said,
smiling faintly as she pulled away and punched me on the chest.

“I regret nothing.” I
said. With my head held high, I grinned the whole time. Backing out of the
shower, I noticed the door was still wide open and Rachel was there watching
the commotion and laughing to herself.

“Can you grab me another
towel please Rachel?” I asked, smiling at her. She took a moment to reply as
she looked at my body with the now soaked towel only barely wrapped around my
waist

“Sure thing.” She said,
this time taking her time to once again look over my body.

“Rachel… My eyes are up
here.” I said, pointing.

“Sorry about that, I was
just showing you what you looked like the other day.” She said with a laugh and
turned around walking down the hall to get me a towel, the laughter following
her.

Upon return she threw a
towel at me, and looked toward Amanda, who had stayed in the shower. She pulled
the curtain and threw her wet PJ’s over the top. “I guess I’ll get changed in
my room. I’m not making any tips after all, so I don’t need the audience.” I
said, as I gathered my things and walked out. I closed the door behind me, and
in front of Rachel.

“You’re a smooth one
aren’t you?” She said, looking up at me with a grin.

“What do you mean?” I
asked in genuine confusion.

“Naked wrestling, throwing
her in the shower with you, and not to mention scoring a sopping wet kiss?” She
replied in turn.

“Oh that.” I said, amused,
“We were just having fun.” I finished. I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face
though, and Rachel saw it.

“You’re an idiot! You
should have stayed in there with her.” She said, throwing her hands up in
disappointment, “Oh well, keep it up. You obviously like each other, and it’s
great to see Amanda so happy.” She said, slapping me on the back firmly,
leaving a red mark. She walked back towards her room leaving me standing
staring after her, while I dripped onto the hallway floor.

Holding my dry towel in
hand, and wet one still wrapped around me. I felt the effects of being wet in
the cold air of the hallway. Dashing to my room I flung the wet towel off of me
to the side, and dried myself off. This time with the door firmly closed, and
locked, I got dressed while whistling a happy tune. I looked forward to what
the day might hold.

“Hey Rachel. What are you
up to today?” I asked, as I joined her in the kitchen. She was cooking up a
storm. Egg shells lay all across the counter with an open milk carton next to a
used glass. Six pieces of bread in their monster toaster were cooking away.

“I’m free as a bird today!
You hungry?” She replied, and motioned towards the scrambled eggs she was
making.

“Starving.” I said, as I
took a seat at the counter, “How long have you and Amanda lived together
anyway?” I asked.

“Well.” She said, as she
took on a thoughtful look, “We’ve been here for two years now. Before here we
lived together in a piece of shit place for a year.” She added.

“At least you’re in a good
place now. You two seem to get along really well! It’s great.” I added.

“Thanks. Yeah, Amanda is
amazing.” She said, taking on a serious tone, “Be good to her. She hasn’t had
the best run with guys in the past.” She added, looking me dead in the eye. I could
tell she was concerned for her friend.

“I will.” I said
sincerely, “She’s lucky to have you as a friend.” I added.

Amanda joined us, and we
sat at the table together to eat breakfast.

“Thanks for stopping that
guy last night, James.” Rachel said. Amanda nodded her agreement.

“He wasn’t letting go! I
couldn’t just leave him, but I didn’t mean to get in a fight, I’m sorry about
that.” I replied.

“Don’t apologize! You
kicked his ass!” Rachel said, laughing.

“Kung Fu moves!” Amanda
added, while punching the air. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Kinda.” I said.

“Well thanks anyway.” She
added.

“Anytime.” I replied.

“So, what happened with
that other guy last night, Rach?” Amanda asked in conspiring tones. Winking at
me as she did.

“What a good question!” I
added, as I leaned towards her.

“Nothing serious… We just
traded numbers. He seemed pretty nice though.” Rachel said defensively.

“Yeah he seemed like a
decent dude.” I said, nodding my agreement, “Then again I was pretty much
knocked out, so I have no idea who we’re talking about.” I finished with a
smile, and started clearing the plates.

“Think you’ll get in touch
with him?” Amanda asked.

“Who knows? Maybe.” Rachel
replied. I stood and left the girls talking as I washed up.

The next few days were fun.
I spent most of my time with the girls as they showed me around LA. We explored
all the sights and I soaked it all in. I liked LA, but the traffic got under my
skin. After living in the Rocky Mountains, I would watch people in LA, and it
looked like everyone needed to be somewhere 20 minutes earlier.

I was here to be with
Amanda, and that’s what I focused on. I knew that I couldn’t stay here forever,
but I didn’t let that bring me down. No matter what happened I’d always have
the memories.

It was the seventh night I
had stayed with the girls. Amanda and I sat together on the couch watching the
end of a movie, and that’s when it hit me. I was wearing out my welcome. Not
because of anything Rachel or Amanda had said, but more so out of my own
concerns. I had such an amazing time here and it was everything and more that I
had wished it to be, but it was time to move on.

Leaning across to Amanda,
I took hold of her hand. “Did I thank you for having me in your home for so
long?” I asked softly.

“When you first arrived
you did. Yes!” She replied, looking at her hand in mine and back up at my face.

“Can I thank you by taking
you out to dinner tonight?” I asked. Her soft fingers gently linked to my own
made me smile.

“I would love that.” She
replied, smiling.

I held Amanda’s hand as we
walked together towards the entrance of the restaurant. Amanda was stunning as
usual. She was dressed in a deep scarlet dress that hugged her body and
accentuated her features perfectly. A dark gray shawl was also gently wrapped
over her shoulders. I wore my tailor made, charcoal suit with a red and white
thin check dress shirt, and a mauve and gray scarf.