The Beginning of Us (150 page)

Knowing Ryan and her threats, I hoped something did happen before she took control. It was also more motivation to get my ass to the gym. I had already decided that tomorrow I was going to go back and try the free kickboxing class they offered twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

*~*~*

Tuesday and Wednesday, I didn’t see 
him
 when I went to the gym. I was starting to think that I would never see him again. I walked into the kickboxing class on Thursday night and there he was in the second row. I almost tripped over my own feet when I noticed him.

I was running a little late, so I stayed in the back of the class. Good thing, because it gave me the opportunity to stare at that perfect ass. About halfway through the class, the teacher told us to partner up so we could work on our abs by doing crunches. 

I glanced up from beneath my lashes and he was looking at me with that smile I remembered from Monday. He didn’t make a move toward me and I didn’t move toward him, though I badly wanted the guts to say something. Then the woman next to me offered to be my partner and I lost my chance. 

While I was holding her legs, I glanced over and he was looking at me again. At least I thought he was. I casually glanced around to see who else he might be looking at, but the only other person it could have been was one of the guys who had partnered up on my right. Great—it’d be just my luck if he was gay.

After the class ended, I headed to the locker room. Just as I was about to enter, I heard a man’s voice say, “excuse me”. My heart stopped. When I turned around, it was only one of the guys who had been on my right side during crunches. “I think you forgot your towel.” Disappointed that it wasn’t my hottie who had stopped me, I thanked him as he handed me my towel, then hurried into the locker room to change and head home. 

*~*~*

Friday night I headed straight home after work. It had been a long day and all I wanted was to take a long bath, heat up a Lean Cuisine and watch a chick flick.

I was halfway through 
Serendipity
 when Ryan stormed through the front door. She and Max always made Friday night “date night” and normally, she would spend the entire weekend at Max’s place. “Hey, what are you doing home?” I looked at her more closely and noticed that she had been crying, I quickly jumped up to give her a hug. “Oh my God, Ryan! What’s wrong?” 

Ryan accepted my hug and took a minute to collect herself. Sitting down with me on the couch, she hugged her knees to her chest and tried her best to talk through her tears, her breath hitching every few words. 

“Max and I went out to dinner and we started talking about getting married eventually–you know I’ve been hinting at a ring for months now. We were talking about what kind of house we’d buy together and how many rooms we’d need, and I said we’d need at least four bedrooms.  Then he asked why we would need four bedrooms, because it’s not like we were going to have kids or anything.” Ryan had always pictured a life living in the suburbs with a white picket fence, a loving husband, a dog and at least two kids.  “And I said, ‘What do you mean we’re not having kids?’  Then he said that he works sixty-hour weeks and there was no way in hell he has time for babies.  He just wants to spend his spare time with me and he’d rather be relaxing in Cabo than changing dirty diapers.”

“I thought you and Max already talked about this and that he’d told you that he did want kids,” I said, rubbing her back lightly to comfort her. “But hold that thought for just a sec. I’m grabbing some mint chocolate chip ice cream.” I jumped up to grab the carton from the freezer and a spoon for each of us. We always kept the fridge stocked just in case we had a stressful day and this was always our go-to ritual for moments of crisis like this.

Ryan shoved a big bite of ice cream in her mouth before replying. “Well, apparently he changed his mind. Maybe he was just saying that to get me into bed.  I don’t know, he said that he can’t ever see himself being tied down with ‘rugrats’.” 

“I’m so sorry, Ry. I know how much you really want kids. Maybe he will come around in time?” 

“Fuck that, Spence, I broke up with him,” she said angrily.

“You did what?” My mouth dropped open in shock. 

“Why should I waste any more time on someone who doesn’t want what I want?” 

She was right, but she had just broken up with him, what, thirty minutes ago? I knew she was madly in love with him, so no way had she given this decision enough thought. 

“Don’t you think that was maybe a little hasty?  I mean, I know how much you love him, maybe he just needs a little time to get used to the idea that it’s a deal breaker for you if he doesn’t want to have kids. Give him a chance to change his mind or think about it more seriously. Maybe you could try going to counseling together?”

Ryan still looked furious, but then her shoulders slumped and she bit her lip uncertainly. “I don’t know, Spence. Do you think I fucked up by breaking up with him?”

I took another bite of ice cream and sighed. “I just know how good you guys are together and I think you could have put more effort into trying to work it out first.”

“Maybe, but I was just so mad. It felt like he’s just been lying to me all this time.” Fresh tears burst into her eyes and she tossed her spoon on the coffee table.

Putting the ice cream down, I hugged her tightly again. I pulled her up off the couch to march her to the bathroom. “What you need is a long, hot shower then off to bed with you. You’ll think more rationally and feel better in the morning after a good night’s rest.”

“Like I could sleep,” she muttered, but she turned the shower on.

“Well, you know I’m here for you if you need me,” I said, and closed the bathroom door. 

A little while later after Ryan got out of the shower, I heard her go into her room. After my movie was over, I headed to my room. First, I stopped at Ryan's door, wanting to check on her. As I leaned my ear close to the door and heard her crying, my heart ached for her. Ryan had always been tough, but even tough people needed hugs. I wanted to go comfort her, but decided I would let her have some alone time while she processed everything. In the morning, I would start my best friend therapy for her. I prayed to myself that they would eventually be able to talk things through and get back together because they were perfect for each other. 

*~*~*

The next morning, I woke up early so I could cook us breakfast and make Ryan’s favorite: chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. Just as the bacon finished, Ryan walked into the kitchen looking extremely depressed with puffy eyes from crying all night. 

“Sit, I’m making your favorites,” I said to her as soon as she entered the kitchen.

“I'm not hungry.”

“Too bad, I got up 
early
 just to make you a special breakfast.”

“Fine, you know I can't pass up bacon.”

“That's my girl.” Setting her plate on the breakfast bar I said, “You know what? No more moping around thinking of the men in our life. Let’s go to Vegas on Friday and enjoy a girl’s trip!” 

“Oh my God, Spence, let’s do it!” 

Ryan was always up for Vegas. I knew I didn’t need to ask her twice. It was just the thing—we both needed a mini-vacation to process everything that had happened the last month with both of us. If Ryan still wanted Max back when we got home from Vegas, operation “Get Max Back” would be in full force.

CHAPTER TWO

The next week flew by. At the gym, I saw my hottie a few times, but he just smiled at me, same as he did every time he saw me. Maybe he was just being polite. I had already given up any hope that he would ask me out and I was too chicken to say anything to him. Call me old fashioned, but the guy should make the first move. Besides, I’d given him plenty of flirtatious smiles to let him know I was interested and Ryan already forgot her threat because of the whole Max ordeal. 

On Friday after work, Ryan and I headed to the airport. “I can’t wait—long drunken nights followed by tanning by the pool during the day. This is going to be a blast,” I said to Ryan.

“I know. What do you want to do first?”

“I don’t know… let’s see what clubs we can get into tonight with those free passes they give out on the Strip.”

Ryan and I were no Vegas virgins. With it being only an hour and a half flight from SFO, we usually went to Vegas at least once or twice a year, or maybe more. 

As Ryan and I approached our gate, I noticed him. My left arm and hand had a mind of their own as they launched out and grabbed Ryan’s right arm. “Ow! What the hell, Spence?”

“Holy shit! The guy from the gym is sitting over there.”

“Shut up! Oh my God, are you serious? Where? Which one?” Her head swung around to look for him.

“Dude, don’t make it so obvious.” I pinched her arm to make her stop looking. “Look casually…by the window between the guy and girl,” I said while nudging my head in their direction. Of course, at that moment he decided to look up and caught me staring at him again. Without skipping a beat, he flashed me that heart-stopping smile. I felt as if my legs were going to give out on me at any moment.

“
Damn
!” she said, dragging out the word. “He is 
hot
, Spence. And I think he’s going to Vegas, too.”

“Seriously?” My pulse jumped as I thought of the possibility of us seated next to each other on the plane.

“Well, it does look like he is waiting at our gate.”

I was starting to feel giddy, but then I saw him smile and dip his head to listen to something the girl next to him was saying. 
Please tell me that is not his girlfriend
. My heart began to sink.

I didn’t know if being on the same flight was fate or pure coincidence, but it didn’t matter if he was already taken. Regardless, I couldn’t sit at the gate with him and kill myself wondering for the next hour. Sighing, I tugged on Ryan’s arm. “Let’s go grab a drink at the bar.” 

*~*~*

When we boarded the plane I saw him, I wasn’t sure if he noticed me since Ryan and I sat at the back of the plane and he was toward the front. I’m not sure what I would have done if we’d been seated close together. 

If I wasn’t so shy, I might have approached him and struck up a conversation. The last thing I’d expected upon arriving at the airport was finding him there, and I was certainly not expecting him to be on the same flight as me. I wondered where he was staying and why he was going to Vegas. I scolded myself for wondering—none of that mattered if he had a girlfriend.

We landed in Vegas around eight. After an hour, Ryan and I finally made it to our hotel. We spent the next hour getting ready to go out by freshening up our make-up and downing a bottle of champagne to get a head start on our night of partying. We decided to change into short skirts with sparkly tops and strappy high-heeled sandals that were sure to make our feet hurt from all the dancing. Looking in the mirror at ourselves and striking high fashion model poses, we giggled as we took one Facebook photo after another. Over the years, we’d sometimes been mistaken as twins, but more often as sisters. 

“Hey, what color eye shadow should I put on?” Ryan asked as she squeezed into the small bathroom where I was getting ready.

“I like the purple. It will bring out your brown eyes,” I said, running the flat iron through my hair.

“Cool, what color are you going to wear?”

“I'm digging the silver.”

“Oh, I like it. I think it will look good with your brown eyes and blue top.”

“Yep, that’s what I was thinking.” 

When we were ready, we set out to find a club. We knew if we showed some skin, we would get a lot of attention from guys and hopefully score some free drinks. It’s not like we were looking to hook up with random men or anything, but buying drinks in Vegas clubs was the fastest way to empty a girl’s bank account. We just wanted to have a good time, dance and hopefully not have too bad of a hangover the next morning. 

We walked down the Strip soaking in what some people called “Disneyland for Adults”. It had been a while since Ryan and I had last been to Vegas, and we were like little kids in a candy shop. 

We finally found a guy who was passing out club passes. He handed us two for Lavo at The Palazzo. Thankfully, we were able to skip the long line and get in for free. When we made it into the club, I gave Ryan a little booty bump with my hip and grinned at her—it was gorgeous inside. 

The bar was packed, I was finally able to nudge my way between people and ordered two redheaded sluts. “I’m going to need at least one more of these before I’m able to get on the dance floor,” I yelled so Ryan could hear me over the loud music, and she nodded in agreement.

We quickly drank our shots, I turned around to order another round, but the bartender handed me two more before I said a word. “This is from the gentleman over there.” He nodded towards the other end of the bar, “The one in the black shirt.” I quickly turned my head to see what nice guy had bought us a drink. Of course, it was 
him
. 

I turned back to Ryan, slapping her arm to get her attention. “Holy shit, Mr. Hottie just bought us a drink!”