Sara sighs. “I understand, believe me. The
only reason why I talked to her was because she called when I was
distracted, and I didn’t look at my caller ID.”
“
What’d she say?” I’m not sure I want
to know but I ask anyways.
She thinks on it for a minute before
answering. “Well, you know her, always ‘why me?’, ‘I didn’t do
anything wrong.’, ‘I can’t help the way I feel’, and blah, blah,
blah.” She rolls her eyes. “I hung up on her a minute into the
phone call, seriously.” She laughs.
This is one of those moments when I’m so
glad that Sara is my friend. We’ve been through a lot together.
We’ve been friends since we met in third grade after Sara beat up
Max Fields because he called me a bitch. She said us girls have to
stick up for each other. Ever since then we’ve pretty much been
inseparable. Even when I moved after graduation with my mom, she
moved up north with us and had actually lived with us for a year
before moving into her own place.
I get up to give her a hug. “You’re a great
friend,” I say, but before her ego gets too big I smile and add,
“But you need to shower, seriously you smell like a skunk that
rolled around in cow shit.”
She pushes me away and laughs. “Geez you’re
such a bitch.”
“
But you totes love me,” I sing
teasingly.
“
Unfortunately for me, yes, I do.” She
throws a pillow at me before getting up. “I should go. I’m going to
have to somehow manage to study when I’m only running on three
hours of sleep.” She sighs.
“
Uh-oh is that
friend
of yours keeping you busy?” I ask wiggling
my eyebrows suggestively. She’s been MIA a lot more lately, but she
won’t spill the beans on this guy. I don’t know what she’s trying
to hide.
She rolls her eyes. “Maybe. You wouldn’t
believe me even if I told you.”
Before she leaves, she hands me her work
keys and fills me in on the opening routine. While walking to the
door she repeats her thanks and gives me another hug before
leaving.
I go to sit back at my desk and glance at my
phone and see I have a new text message from Emma.
You’re going to have to talk to me
eventually Mel.
I consider replying to her text message
telling her exactly where she can shove it but I decide against it.
I’ve said all that needs to be said. I’m done with her.
***
I ended up only sleeping for two hours. I
stayed up late studying, and once I laid down to sleep I couldn’t
get my thoughts to slow down. Every toss and turn birthed a new
thought.
Should I forgive my dad?
Where do I even start? If my mom can forgive him surely I can,
right? Why was the man in the park so sad? Who was he? Why did he
sound so familiar?
Then those thoughts morphed into
worries about my test and whether I studied enough.
I used to sleep great but once my parents
divorced every worry seems to keep me up at night. I’m a worrier so
sleep isn’t my friend these days.
Once I’m caffeinated enough to be human,
rather than just a grunting grumpy hot mess, I get ready for the
day. I grab my textbook and my Kindle just in case I want to catch
up on my latest hot read. I’m a book boyfriend whore. Give me a
book with a bad boy who’s a hottie with a body and I’m wrapped
around that book’s figurative finger. It’s an addiction.
Although I’ve had my first coffee of the
morning, I still have to stop for my mid-morning coffee. It’s my
other addiction.
I stop in at my favorite coffee shop in town
where they know me by name and have my drink started before I can
even utter a “good morning”.
“
Hey Mel, how are you this morning?
Getting anything to eat today?” my favorite barista
asks.
“
I’m doing good and not today Beth,
thank you,” I reply.
Once I grab my coffee and straw, because I’m
one of those weird people who drinks hot coffee with a straw, I
head to my car and begin my drive to Sara’s work.
It’s in town, but it’s in the industrial
part of town so it still takes me fifteen minutes to get there.
Once there I open up and power everything on like Sara asked me to
do. I sit at the reception desk awaiting the first appointment’s
arrival. It’s still thirty minutes off so I get my Kindle out and
continue the story of my favorite troubled underground boxer.
I lose myself in the book so much so that I
don’t hear when the front door opens. I take a huge gulp of my
coffee to finish it off. As I’m about to swallow I hear a throat
being cleared. Startled I look up into the eyes of the Ace of
Spades himself and spit the coffee out over said rock star’s
shirt.
That’s right folks, I just showered the Ace
of Spades in a mist of my backwashed coffee.
Good going Mel.
I jump up in shock. “Holy crap! You’re… I’m
so… I can’t believe I just…” I can’t even complete a sentence. In a
normal situation this man would leave me speechless but now that I
have absolutely humiliated myself I can’t even form a coherent
thought. He’s probably wondering what planet I escaped from.
He looks down at himself and then up at me
as if to say, “Did you really just do that?” and then, to my
complete surprise, he starts laughing. Hard.
Never in my life have I witnessed a man with
a case of the giggles. Not only does he have them, but he’s hunched
over holding his stomach gasping for breath between giggles. He
even starts wiping his eyes because his laughing fit has caused
them to water.
I’m still in complete shock. Not knowing
whether I should join in on the laughter or burst into tears out of
pure embarrassment.
He starts to get control of himself but is
still gasping for breath “You should… see… your face,” he says
between fits.
My face breaks out into a grin, and I cover
it with my hands “I can’t believe I just did that. I am SO sorry!”
I am absolutely mortified.
I begin running around in search of towels
or cleaning supplies. Which causes him to fall into another
giggling fit.
I swear I’d be angry by all the laughing if
it were someone else, but it’s Ace Caplin. I had always thought he
was hot but even pictures and TV don’t do this man justice. He’s at
least six-foot-two of hot muscled tattooed glory. He’s wearing a
black beanie but I know underneath is short dark brown hair. His
sharp jaw with its five o’clock shadow is absolutely lickable. I
feel his eyes on me and peek back over my shoulder. Our eyes lock
onto each other. His are such a vivid green it’s hard to even
remember my own name when I look into them. I’m locked into place
until I suddenly remember that I was supposed to be doing
something…
Crap, what was I doing
again?
Oh. Right. Paper towels.
I find a door in the hallway that looks like
the supply closet. I open the door and find random office supplies
and also paper towels. I grab a roll and head back out to the
reception area.
Ace seems to have recovered from his
episode. I unroll a handful of sheets and pass a few over to him
and then we both begin the task of drying off his coffee stained
shirt. Luckily it’s black.
He grins at me causing a dimple to
appear on one side. “Well, I can’t say
that
has ever happened to me before.”
I stop drying him off and cover my face in
embarrassment again. “Sadly I wish I could say the same.”
He snorts. “You’re telling me that you’ve
spit your drink on random strangers before?”
I lower my hands and moan. “It was only one
other time!” I reply defensively. “What can I say? I spook
easily.”
He throws his head back and lets out a bark
of laughter. “That’s putting it lightly.” He shakes his head in
amusement. “I can’t remember the last time I laughed this much. I
might need to come here when you’re working more often.” He grins
devilishly at me.
I practically melt before I remember that I
don’t actually work here.
“
Thanks, I guess, but I don’t actually
work here. I’m just filling in for a friend,” I reply
sheepishly.
“
That’s too bad, I was having fun with
you.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me.
I playfully push on his chest, and he wraps
his hands around my dainty wrists. I suck in a gush of air and
slowly look up into his amazing eyes.
We’re locked into another moment. It’s as if
our bodies are on a wavelength all their own. My stomach has
bottomed out and tingles run up and down my body like I’m falling
from a great height. Ace seems to feel it too, and the smile falls
from his lips as he starts to lean forward. We’re mere inches apart
when someone barges in the door.
“
Hey Slut! Sorry I’m late, you
wouldn’t believe the kinds of questions the professor had on that
horrid paper he calls a test!” Sara says as she’s shuffling through
the recent pile of mail. “I totally failed. I wonder if he’ll let
me retake-” Her words come to a halt as she looks up and she almost
drops the papers she’s carrying. “Holy shit.”
“
Sara, impeccable timing.” I let out
the breath that I had apparently been holding and back away from
Ace. At first I’m a bit annoyed but her interrupting but that soon
turns into thankfulness. I don’t even know this guy, surely he eats
girls like me for breakfast. But why is that thought turning me on
so damn much? I’m a hot mess.
“
Mel… That’s… He’s… Oh my God.” The
whole time I’ve known Sara I have never witnessed her speechless,
and in this moment she is completely so. It’s actually pretty
entertaining.
“
Hon, close your mouth, you’re
drooling,” I joke.
She snaps her mouth shut and shakes her head
as if she’s trying to restart her brain process.
“
I’m so sorry, how rude of me. Hi, I’m
Sara and you are Ace freaking Caplin.” She reaches over to shake
his hand.
“
Nice to meet you Sara. My brother
talks about you all the time. He said there was room to fit me in
this morning?”
A mask of confusion covers her face.
“Brother? Wait a second… Nate is your brother? Holy shit.” She
plops down onto the office chair behind the desk, obviously needing
a moment to gather herself.
“
Sorry, I thought he told you? He said
he scheduled an appointment for me…” He brings his hand to the back
of his neck and rubs it in a nervous gesture.
“
He did, he just failed to
mention
who
is brother is,”
she replies with a hint of bitterness. I can tell Nate will be
getting an earful from Sara the second Ace walks out of here, maybe
even before.
“
Well, now that you’re here I guess I
should be going…” I say. I walk over to the desk to grab my
purse.
I say my goodbyes to Sara and look over at
Ace who is staring intently at me. My heart speeds up and my brain
turns to mush. I settle for a little wave, a nervous smile, and
begin to head toward the exit.
I can’t believe I acted like such a crazy
person. I know I’m an awkward mess but that was a new level of
craziness, even for me.
I’m halfway into my car when I hear my name
being called. I look back and see Ace running toward me. He stops a
couple of feet away.
“
Wait, how do you know my name?” I ask
curiously.
He smiles. “From your friend.”
“
Okay...” I’m not sure what he needed
to chase after me for, but my words are limited around him. My mind
turns to a jumbled mess, and I can barely tell left from
right.
He has his left hand in his pocket and is
rubbing his neck nervously with his right. “Actually I was
wondering if you’d want to grab coffee sometime. I, uh, don’t
really know that many people out here, and you seem friendly
enough.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. I don’t get the
giggles like he did, but I have to take a breath once I’m finished.
“You want to hang out with me after that disaster in there?”
He looks down at his feet and a boyish grin
appears on his face. If his flirting grin a few minutes ago made me
melt, this grin absolutely demolishes me. I get a feeling it
doesn’t appear often.
“
Yeah, I mean, as long as you don’t
spit your drink out on me again” His flirtatious grin is back. The
butterflies in my stomach turn into bats at the realization of what
he’s asking me.
“
Oh, um, sure,” I mumble trying to get
my thoughts straight.
“
Great how does tomorrow around lunch
sound?”
“
Good.” I give him my number, and we
say our goodbyes with the promise that he will text me later to
work out the details.
I get into my car and take a calming breath.
I can’t believe that just happened. I’m having lunch with a rock
star.