Ten Days of Perfect (21 page)

“You’re so drun
k
.
I don’t feel comfortable leaving, Ember.” The poor boy looked tortured.

“So do
n’t,” I yawned and rolled over.

I patted the side of the bed next to me, and he obliged. Adrian removed his shoes, and nothing more, before climbing in to my bed and folding his hands behind his head. Instinctively, I rolled over and nuzzled into his chest. He
sighed
a conflicted huff, reached down, and stroked my hair. I suddenly wished Bo was with me, and I was again
mad at him for not being there.

I clumsily propped myself up on one elbow and looked into Adrian’s eyes. The sexual tension between us was as palpable and undeniable as ever. The intensity of the moment overtook me; I leaned in, my lips
reaching for his.

“Ember . . . Adrian pressed on my shoulder, stopping my downward motion.

“What?” I said rather petulantly.

“You’re drunk
. Drunker
than I ever remember seeing you. I can’t do that to you, and I ca
n’t let you do it to yourself.”

His words were rather sobering, and my soul pulled itself out of the dark hole it had fallen into and mouthed
thank you.
Feeling only slightly defeated, I resumed my nuzzling of his chest; this I w
ould not regret in the morning.

“
Thank you.” I smiled up at him.

“For what?”

“Taking care of me tonight
.” Sleep fell heavy on my eyes.

“Always.” He kissed the top of my head as I drifted off to sleep.

“Ow. What the
. . .
?
Ow.” I pulled the blanket down from my face, only to return it immediatel
y at the brightness of the sun.

My memories of last night were thoroughly clouded. I recalled everything in precise detail up until the point Monica and I saw the guys walk into Lost Dog. From that point on it was just flashes of liquor and Lil’ Jon.

“How are you feeling?” A deep voice whispered from above my head, scaring the hell out of me.

“Shit!” I flew to a seated position and looked to my right, regretting the sudden move immediately. I grabbed my head in a weak attempt to ease the throbbing pain.

“Whoa, take it easy Em. I’m sure you’ve got a killer headache after last night’s performance.” Adrian smiled.

“Adrian?” I was squinting, trying to keep as much sunlight out of my eyes as possible.

“Ha
! Ya
, it’s me. Disappointed?” He coyly smiled as he accurately sensed my reaction. I took note that Adrian was fully dressed in the clothes he was wearing last night, save for his shoes, which were on the floor. I was wearing the same shirt, but my face flushed when I noticed my absence of pants from underneath my covers. I looked over at Adrian in horror.

“Where are my pants?”
Classy question, Ember.

“You tossed them over there.” Adrian motioned to the other side of the bed with his hand.

“Oh. So, we didn’t . . .”
God, coul
d this be any more humiliating?

“No, Ember, we didn’t.” His voice was terse.

“Disappointed?” I shot his previous question back at him.

“I’m disappointed you’d think so little of me, frankly.” He shook his head and swung his legs to the side of the bed. “We never even had drunk sex when we were together, Ember, What makes you think we’d start now?”  He wasn’t looking at me so I couldn’t read his face.

“I’m sorry, last night is
very
fuzzy. Oh, damn, I was an awful bitch to Josh, wasn’t I?” I covered my eyes with my forearm and laid back down on the bed.

“Seemed like he deserved it a little,” Adrian chuckled. “ I’ll go make some coffee; come out when you’re ready. Take it easy when you stand.”

Suddenly, I remembered a lot about last night. I remembered yelling at Josh, Bo catching my concrete dive, leaving with Adrian, and then Adrian catching me.
I shouldn’t wear those shoes anymore.
My stomach dropped as I remembered yelling at Bo on the phone, and then trying to kiss Adrian in my bed.
What a mess.
I walked wearily to the kitchen, where I saw Adrian pouring coffee and checking his Blackberry.

“Seems like our boy Bo really has it bad for you.” Adrian smirked at his Blackberry.

This conversation feels familiar. Oh, yea, last night . . .

“What do you mean?” I wandered to the living room, recalling painfully that I had to be at work in an hour.

“
He e-mailed your boss and told her that the four of us got together for a dinner meeting and we all got food poisoning. You’re off the hook for work today.”  Adrian wore a wry smirk as he tucked his Blackberry back in to his khaki’s.

“That was
thoughtful.” I tried passively.

“Yea, OK, we’ll go with thoughtful.” Adrian sat next to me on the couch.

“What’s your problem with Bo?”

He didn’t hesitate before he launched into his spiel. “First, you call him
Bo,
meaning you know him outside of work. Second, he likes you. Thi
rd, you like him. Those are my
issues with Cavanaugh.

“
Cutting right to the chase this morning, Council? Fir
st,” I retorted, “Monica and I
happened to see Bo play at Finnegan’s last weekend. It wasn’t until Monday that we learned we’d be working together. Second
,
maybe he does. And third
,
maybe I do.” I shrugged, not breaking eye contact.
Conversational filter clearly hung over, as well.

Adrian’s forehead creased and he closed his eyes for a moment.

“Adrian,
please
don’t say anything to anyone about Bo.” I was walking the fine line between self-preservation and revealing too much.

“Is there anything to tell?” Adrian studied my face, imploring the truth from me.

His question sent chills through my body and froze my face. I opened my mouth to speak, but Adrian put up his hand.

“Never mind, I don’t think I wan
t to know.
I’d never say anything, Ember. I respect you
. . .
and your decisions.” He seemed sad. “Just be careful, OK?” His eyes darkened as he put a firm hand on my knee.

“Thanks, Adrian.”

I felt a little weird talking about this with him, especially since we hadn’t properly and soberly addressed what we
’d
talked about
on the beach
. My face paled at yet another piece of last night’s puzzle. Adrian talked a lot about his feelings for me in the past, but hadn’t suggested that they were any different in the presen
t.

“You OK?” Adrian asked.

“I need to check on Monica,” I lied. I didn’t want to rehash his feelings for me or further discuss my bud
ding romance with his coworker.

I quickly texted Monica:

Me:
Morning. You ok? Did you hear we got the day off due to “food poisoning” courtesy of Bo?

Monica:
Hey, I probably feel better than you do, Hot-Mess-Express. So grateful for food poisoning right now. I’ll come over later . . .when I decide to move.

Me:
Adrian stayed here last night. NOTHING happened. Don’t call, I’ll call you. I just needed to get that out there.

Monica:
You’re lucky outside noises still hurt my head this morning or I’d ignore your request to not call. Literally dying waiting for your call.

I put down my phone, took a huge breath, and returned my attention to Adrian.

“Ooooh,” Adrian said in a revelatory tone, leaning back against the couch.

“What?” I narrowed my eyebrows.

“That’s why you so easily suggested that Cavanaugh take you home last night. There’s already something going on between the two of you, isn’t there?” It was like he was working out a math problem in his h
ead and didn’t like the answer.

I chuckled for a split second, until I bl
anched under my own revelation.

“Nooo,” I sounded like I was speaking to a toddler, “that’s why you
insisted
on taking me home.” My volume rose as I stood up in front of Adrian. “You already
knew
, didn’t you, Adrian, because I called him Bo in front of you and you told me you noticed a certain “look” on his face when he talked about me.” My eyes were wide with anger.

Adrian glanced to the floor before sta
nding. His eyes finally met mine.

“I’m right, aren’
t I?
”
My voice burned with fury.

My heart raced as I realized how misplaced my anger at B
o was last night. Not only was
he truly trying to respect me, but both of us were manipul
ated by Adrian. Smug was a kind
adjective compared to the ones going through my head at that moment. Betrayal is not something I take lightly. I stormed by Adrian, crudely opened the door and stood next to it with my arms crossed and eyes n
arrowed.

I couldn’t even begin to rationalize the reasons Adrian would splinter himself between me and Bo. Did he want me back? If so, why, and did I even care?  Either way, I was so upset I couldn’t
talk to him about it, not yet.

“Ember, come on.” That was all he could
manage as he walked toward me.

“Don’t say anything about me and Bo to anyone, OK?” My tone was only a hair below a yell.

“I won’t. I’m sorry. Please be careful, Ember.” His voice sounded sincere again.

“Well,
Bo
hasn’t manipulated me lately, has he?” I arched one hell of an eyebrow.

“No, I guess you’re right, he hasn’t. But, you don’t know him well.”

“And you do?” I snipped.

Adrian shrugged unconvincingly, let out a sigh, and brushed my cheek softly before I turned away.

“Adrian-”

“Ember, look, I’m here until tomorrow. I want to try to get together again - just the two of us. There are still some things-”

“I’ll see you later, Adrian. I’m too angry to talk about this right now, but we
will
be talking about it.” I opened the door wider as I interrupted him, solidifying my stance in anger.

He turned and walked uneventfully out the door and down the stairs. When I heard his car drive away, I collapsed on the couch in tears. I had shared some sweet moments with Adrian last night only to find out he manipulated the whole situation, and for what? Adrian didn’t even make a move last night - maybe he felt guilty; he damn well better.

I called Monica and told her everything. She wanted to come over,
but I needed some time alone.
When I heard a knock on my door,  I hung up the phone and angrily walked to answer it, preparing for round two with Master Manipulator.

I threw the door open rather ungracefully, and found Bo standing there, hands in his pockets and his head hanging slightly; he looked thoroughly tortured. I burst into tears at the sight of him, threw my arms around his neck, and
sobbed heavily into his shirt.

“Ember, what happened? Are you
OK
?” He took a slow step into the apartment; my arms still around his
neck, his arms around my body.

He gently unwrapped my arms from his neck, took my hand, and led me to my couch. When we sat, I placed my head back on his shoulder and continued to sob irrepressibly. Bo rubbed my shoulders silently, before he sat me up.

“Did Adrian do something to you?” His chilling look ceased my tears.

“N-no, not like that,” I managed to spit out, though my breathing was erratic from crying. Bo looked confused.

I told Bo about Adrian helping me up the stairs, rolling my eyes at the embarrassment all over again. I sheepishly admitted that I tried to kiss him in my drunken haze, but he rebuffed my offer and slept on top of the blankets
with his clothes on
. Finally, I took a deep breath before telling him about Adrian’s motivations for taking me home last night; that I understood only seconds before I kicked him out of my apartment. When I finished I just stared at Bo, awaiting his reaction. After a thoughtful pause, Bo’s forehead smoothed as he released a sly grin.