Nerd Girl (22 page)

Appetizers, penis cake, dinner and several drinks later, we ended up at a nightclub in Pioneer Square. It was an ultra-trendy club with overpriced drinks, but it had a cool lounge that was lit like a futuristic blue room. The club was known as a great place for dancing and attracting top DJ talent. I didn’t realize you needed talent to be a DJ, but apparently it’s a real skill to spin top 40 with hip hop and house music. Who knew?

The girls were all on the dance floor and Anna and Sarah were flirting outrageously, dirty dancing with a couple of attractive young fraternity guys. Seriously? I’m sure the frat boys were getting a kick out of being picked up by two attractive older women. It’s not like we were all that much older, but when you’re twenty-two, someone who is twenty-eight or twenty-nine is pretty darn old. Anna looked like she was going to keel over. I better keep an eye on her.

I needed to pee. I left Bridget and Allison dancing with a few guys we had picked up earlier in the evening. A little innocent flirtation was harmless and they were nowhere near the blatant flirts Anna and Sarah were. I was feeling warm and dizzy from the overcrowded room and suffocated by the close body contact on the dance floor. There were silver disco balls of all sizes hanging down from the high ceiling and the blinking lights reflecting off of them were starting to give me a headache. If I kept looking at them, I was probably going to have a disco ball-induced seizure or something. I was a lightweight and I knew I was way past my drink limit for the night. I knew I had the one cosmo at my place and two glasses of wine at dinner, and two, or was this my third, at the club …

On my way off the dance floor, I passed the DJ station that was raised halfway up to the ceiling and saw a couple groping each other in the corner.
Get a room!
I was a little grossed out, but their obvious affection for one another made me think of Ryan. Should I call him? He
did
offer up his driving services tonight. I joined the line for the bathroom and pondered my options. I was just about ready to go home. I knew we could always take a taxi and Anna said that Ethan was available to pick us up, too, but how lame was it to have the groom pick up his bride (and her sister) from her own bachelorette party? No, we couldn’t ask Ethan to do it. I looked at my cell to see what time it was. It was almost one in the morning. Ryan was probably sleeping by now anyway.

But I did look pretty hot in my little black dress and sexy heels. Maybe I could text him to see if he was still awake. If he didn’t answer, I would call us a taxi.

Me:
Hi – r u there?

It was my turn to go pee. Oh, he texted me back so quickly!

Ryan:
Hey Julia, are u ok?

Me:
Yes

I started to type and ask him why he was still up but then my phone rang.

“Hello?” I answered.

It was a concerned-sounding Ryan. “Julia, are you okay? Do you need a ride home?”

“Um … yes!” I yelled through the phone, trying to shout over the loud dance music.

“Where are you? I can pick you up.”

“Well, let me talk to Anna first. She’s picking up some college guy,” I said the words, but they didn’t come out as clearly as I had heard them in my brain. I clearly drank more than I thought. “Can I call you right back? I’m peeing right now.”

Oh God, did I just tell him I was peeing?
My face burned with mortification. So embarrassing! When I drink too much, I never have any issues with memory loss. Even if I pass out, I still remember everything I did the night before. My problem, however, was that I had absolutely no filter when I was drunk. It’s like that part of my brain just temporarily dissolves and shuts down. I pretty much say whatever’s on my mind and do whatever I feel like doing. Sometimes I wished I could forget things the next morning, because there were some pretty cringe-worthy events in the past that I really would’ve rather not remembered.

“Julia, where are you?” He didn’t seem fazed by my pee comment.

“At Trinity, it’s on Yesler Street,” I slurred. The word Yesler came out more like Yethler.

“Okay, listen, you sound … a little out of it. Why don’t I just pick you up in thirty minutes, okay?”

How sweet of him. I think he sounded worried.

“Can you take Anna home, too? She lives in Magnolia.”

“Yeah, of course. Anyone else?”

“Um, maybe.”

“Just wait outside the entrance. I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay,” I said meekly. “See you in a little bit.” Ooh … I really was feeling dizzy. I leaned my forehead against the bathroom door for a minute before flushing the toilet.

I walked back to the dance floor to gather the troops. When I spotted Anna, she was still dirty dancing with one of the cute college boys and he was nuzzling her neck. She tilted her head back, laughing. Oh, it was
so
past time for us to go. Thirty minutes later, we all headed outside. Bridget and Allison both lived in the same north Seattle neighborhood, so they shared a taxi home. I was glad to see them leave before we saw Ryan. I was worried that Ryan might feel a little uncomfortable with an MS HR representative watching him take me home. Sarah lived in Belltown only a mile up First, so she was coming with us.

We’d only been outside a few minutes when his black Range Rover pulled up. “Julia!” he shouted, lowering the passenger side window and pointing up ahead to the load and unload section of the curb. We walked over to his car as he pulled it over. He hopped out of the car and sauntered on over to us. Anna was barely standing, leaning on Sarah’s arm.

Ryan looked like he’d just woken up. His hair was a little messy and his face revealed some stubble. My eyes drank him in, though. It had been five days since I’d last seen him. He was wearing jeans, flip flops, and a navy blue pocket t-shirt. He was also wearing eyeglasses. They were those retro, black-framed ones you would see on Mad Men; probably Gucci or something. He looked quite sexy in them. I always had a thing for men who wore glasses. I momentarily envisioned removing his glasses and kissing him.

When he reached us, I threw my arms around him. “Ryan, my hero! Thank you for coming to get us.” I made a concerted effort to speak clearly and not slur my words. I needed to remain dignified. He chuckled and his dimples were just so cute. I wanted to kiss him right on the sidewalk.

“This is our friend, Sarah. She lives about a mile up, on First. Can you take her home too?” I asked.

“Yeah, of course.” Ryan nodded to Sarah in acknowledgement and then said “Hi” to a barely conscious Anna before taking her in his arms helping her into the backseat of his car.

“Shotgun!” I cried out.

Sarah ignored me and I found her staring appreciatively at Ryan. While Ryan helped Anna, Sarah was wildly pointing her finger at Ryan’s back and mouthing, “He is so cute!”

“I know!” I mouthed back to her and did a little happy dance. I stopped once I realized Ryan was looking at me with an amused expression.

Once Anna was safely buckled in, Sarah slid in next to her. We dropped Sarah off and drove Anna home next. She looked like she was on the verge of passing out or getting sick or both. Ryan looked relieved to get her out of his car and helped walk her to her front door. He thought it best that I remain in the car. Did he think I was going to run away or something?

Ethan answered the door and took possession of his very drunk fiancé. The two men chatted about something for a few minutes while Anna looked adoringly up at the both of them. Ethan and Ryan turned to look at me from the doorstep and laughed. They looked like they were enjoying some inside joke.
Hey! Why am I the butt of this private joke?
I’m not nearly as bad off as Anna!
My lips did feel rather numb and I was making a real effort to not slur my words, which meant I was talking to myself in the car, as Ryan was still talking to Ethan outside of the car.
Yep, I’m in bad shape.

As Ryan got behind the wheel, he looked at me sympathetically and said, “Let’s get you home.”

I loved that he picked me up to take me, my sister, and her friend home. I loved that he walked Anna to her door. I loved that he didn’t look irritated at all. Frankly, there really was nothing that I didn’t love about him. I was so happy to finally see him after his long absence that I was blatantly staring at him with a goofy smile on my face.

As he drove to my place, he looked over on occasion with amusement. “How many drinks have you had?”

“Hmm?” I mumbled.

“Never mind,” he chuckled and continued driving.

When we arrived at my place, Ryan parked the car and followed me into my unit without hesitation. I wondered if he was going to stay. I stumbled into my foyer and threw off my shoes.

“Nice heels,” he commented.

Score!
He
did
notice.

Ryan headed to the kitchen and poured me a glass of filtered water, which he insisted I drink all of. He asked me where the ibuprofen was and then handed me two, which I took with the rest of my water. He put his arms around my waist and hugged me tight, inhaling deeply into my neck. “I missed you.”

Oh, it felt so nice to be in his arms. And he smelled so good. Before I knew it, I started kissing him. He obliged me and kissed me back hungrily. I don’t know what came over me, but I decided to quickly slide the spaghetti straps off my shoulders. My dress fell to the floor in one swoop. I stood in front of him in my strapless bra and panties for a moment before I threw my arms around him and start kissing him again.

“Whoa!” he said in surprise and pulled back. He gently pushed me a few inches away, but I could feel his eyes lingering up and down my body, pausing briefly at my breasts. Encouraged by the hunger in his eyes, I tried to look as sexy as possible with a little mischievous grin, daring him to do whatever he wanted with me.

“This must be the naughty part you were talking about,” he mumbled. I heard him chuckle and saw him lightly shake his head. However, rather than taking me in his arms and passionately kissing me, he walked away and headed to my bedroom. I pouted in response. After a minute or so of standing there confused, I decided to follow him. He was standing in front of my dresser, and grabbed a camisole out of it. He walked over to me and pulled it on over my head. I was disappointed and a little confused.

“You look so sad,” he said, with a little smile on his face.

“Well, I’m just confused.” I focused really hard on not slurring my words. “You were just kissing me in the living room and …”

He kissed be lightly on the lips and then my forehead before sitting me down on my bed. He lifted my chin up to look me in the eye. There was a pained expression on his face. “I really look forward to making love to you someday, but not when you’re drunk, and not on the night of your sister’s bachelorette party.”

“Oh,” I said as a yawn involuntarily escaped my mouth.

Ryan tried to tuck me in under my covers, but I unclasped my bra and wriggled it out from under my camisole before I laid down. I knew that he would be able to see through the material, and it didn’t hurt to torture him a little bit, right? It’ll give him something to look forward to. Besides, I couldn’t sleep with a bra on anyway.

As I lay my head down, it started spinning. Oh God … this could be unpleasant. I never get sick.
Please don’t let tonight be the one night I get sick.
I kept my eyes closed and waited for everything to stop spinning.

“Are we still on for tomorrow?” Ryan inquired quietly.

“Mmm hmm,” I mumbled with my eyes closed. “When?”

“I’ll let you get your beauty sleep, since you’ll likely be hungover in the morning. How about we hang out in the afternoon and do dinner? We can cook in.”

I don’t remember replying. The last thing I remembered was Ryan giving me a light kiss on my forehead, sitting himself in the bed next to me, and playing with my hair.

“I got a pocket, got a pocketful of sunshine, I got a love and I know that it’s all mine, oh, oh oh oh.”
Anna was trying to call me. She loved that song and programmed it in my cellphone as her personal ringtone.

The phone was nearby, but I couldn’t exactly remember where.
“Do what you want but you’re never gonna break me, sticks and stones are never gonna shake me, oh, oh oh oh.”

I hid my head under my pillow to drown out the sound of my cell phone, hoping she would just leave a message.
Yeah, right. You just keep on waiting, girl.
She was worse off than me when Ryan delivered her home last night. How could she be awake before me?

“Take me away, a secret place, a sweet escape, take …”
It finally stopped.
Peace.

Not even a minute later, my landline rang.
Ring
…
ring
… Damn her! I blindly reached for the phone on my nightstand, fumbling as I picked it up.

“You suck,” I grumbled. “Let me sleep.”

“Hmm, I expected at least a thank you for my services last night.” Ryan’s voice sounded sexy and teasing.

“Oh, hey, hi.” I was groggy, but my heart skipped a beat. “I didn’t realize it was you. Anna literally called just before, but I didn’t pick up.” I looked at the clock—9:35.
Ugh.