This Obsession of Mine (Raine Series #5) (8 page)

“Joey Green, are you keepin’ something from me? Because I’d like to think that you tell your best friend,
everything
.” Bits of anger started to interlace with her words, and I knew I was gonna be in a whole heap load of shit if I didn’t speak up now.

“I have to say I’m a bit surprised that you haven’t heard yet. I knew when I introduced her to Glenn that even though I asked him not to say anything, that he would probably tell my lovely sister who would in turn tell you.”

“Wait right there! Glenn
met
her?”

Shit! Now I was really going to get my ass chewed. Why did I have to go and open my big fat mouth? Ugh! “It’s a
really
long story, KJ. I wasn’t tryin’ to hide anything from y’all, I just have to be careful because of the whole Tanya situation.” The line was completely silence, and if I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought that she hung up. “Forgive me?” I whispered into the phone.

“Forgiven. It just sucks, Jo. We used to be so close. I mean, I know we’ve had our differences, what with Madison and all, but I can’t lose what we have. It would kill me.”

I immediately knew somethin’ was up, because KJ was
never
one to talk about her feelings. I’m not even sure she knew what they were half the time, and she always talked about them like allegedly we had them. “Kayla?”

“Yeah, Jo?”

“What’s up with you?” I know she knew I was genuinely concerned, and I could sense her hesitation in wantin’ to answer me, but I was so relieved when she finally did.

“I don’t think Madison and I are gonna make it.” And with those ten words, I felt my world shift.

Diem

The week went by without me even noticing, and before I knew it, it was Friday afternoon and I had a date to get ready for. Being that I was still relatively new to this country and state, I convinced Troy to follow me with our friend from school. I knew how juvenile I sounded, but I had heard the stories of girls getting date raped, and all sorts of bad things. I just really didn’t feel like being a statistic. Troy seemed just as worried, so she was more than happy to follow along with my plan.

I had just walked in the house when Troy started shouting my name. “I’m here, what is all the shouting for?”

“Sorry, I wasn’t sure if that was you or not. What time is
Mr. Wonderful
coming to get you?”

“Oh bugger off with that
Mr. Wonderful
crap. I barely even know the guy. What if he turns out to be a total wanker?”

“You know, I’m not quite sure what a wanker is just yet, but I’m guessing it’s not a good thing.” She laughed.

“Here it would be like a…an arse, or someone stupid.”

“Oh, I figured as much.”

I rolled my eyes sarcastically as she kept on about it. “He says seven. I’m pretty well ready, I think I just need to touch up my hair and I’ll be ok. He’s driving down from where we were yesterday.”

“Do you know where you guys are going yet?”

“No, I’m famished though, so hopefully he’s taking me some place good.”

“Well Sasha and I will make sure we stay close by until you get where you’re going. After that, just shoot me a text if you need me.”

I nodded, and then headed up to my room. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to my night out, but I was willing to make the most of it. I guess it didn’t hurt that he was an extremely good looking fella. At this point I was just hoping that I didn’t spend the entire night obsessing over that wanker Joey Green. I was determined to free him from my mind, and if I had to go on a million dates to do it, well then that is exactly what I would do.

The bell rang a short while later, and I instantly ran to answer it like a bloody school girl. I silently scolded myself, straightened my dress, and answered the door like a normal human being. “Rowan, pleasure to see you again. Please come in.” I waved him in, and then led him to the sitting room in the front of the house. “Can I get you anything?”

“No thanks. You look amazing, Diem.” He leaned in to kiss my cheek and out of habit, I placed a chaste kiss to his other cheek as well, completely catching him off guard.

“Sorry, it’s an English thing.”

“Oh right, right, like on the movies.” He laughed, and I sat there with a baffled expression on my face.

“Right. So I’m just going to pop in on my roomie and let her know we are leaving. I’ll be right back.” I practically ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, to get to Troy’s bedroom door. Usually I would knock and wait, but I just couldn’t wait for all that. “Troy, bloody hell. This guy is a daft idiot. I don’t know if I can make it through an entire meal with him.”

Troy’s laughter filled her tiny room, “Don’t be so snobbish, D. Maybe he’s just nervous. I mean, hello, have you seen yourself? You’re probably the most gorgeous girl he has ever been on a date with.”

“Oh bugger off, you twit.” I laughed. “I’m sure he’s dated plenty of pretty girls.” I pushed myself up off of Troy’s vanity stool, and started making my way out her door. “Well, we’re getting ready to leave. You ladies ready?”

“We’re right behind you.”

As I started making my way downstairs I started to think about what Troy had just said to me. Maybe I wasn’t giving him enough credit. Maybe he is just very nervous. Either way, I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt, and see where the date took us. “All set?” I reached for my handbag, and opened the front door to let him know that I was ready to go.

“Sure thing, dollface. Let’s hit it.”

I shook my head not knowing what in the hell he was talking about, but kept telling myself to just be nice. When we pulled up to the restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised that he didn’t take us to some filthy bar. He pulled up to the valet, and I wanted to test him and see if he would be a gentleman and open my door for me. Luckily, he did. One point for the American. He reached out for my hand, and I took it without hesitation. His skin felt nice against mine, not at all rugged as I imagined it would feel. It was definitely a welcome surprise.

After we were seated, I noticed Troy and Sasha enter the restaurant and I breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it through the entire evening with this bloke. The waiter came over and took our order a short bit later, and I immediately ordered my first of many drinks. At this point I was looking to get pissed, whether or not this whole thing worked out or not. I was halfway through my drink when he asked me a question that made me practically choke on the liquid in my mouth.

“Sorry, come again?”

“Are you British?”

A large part of me wanted to let out the rolling laughter that I was holding back, but the other part of me started to wonder if he really was that stupid. “Yes, I’m British. How did you not know that?”

“I wasn’t sure if you were British or Australian. They all kinda sound the same to me to be honest.”

As he went back in for his twentieth chip, slathering it in some sort of dip, I almost couldn’t help the gag sound that was about to come out of my mouth. If I was going to save this date, it looks like I was going to have to dumb myself down a bit. “Where are you from? Were you born in California?”

At first he looked confused, but then he suddenly answered, “Um…no actually. I was born in Missouri. I only came out to California when someone from San Jose State came and recruited me to play ball here.”

I was waiting for more, or maybe even for him to ask me a question, but he just continued to devour the food in front of him. He must’ve noticed me staring at him oddly because he was quick to justify his actions.

“Sorry. I gotta bulk up for tomorrow. Gotta game and all.”

“I see.” Literally. I laughed to myself. “So do you have any siblings?”

“Nope, just me. Guess my parent’s felt like they got perfection the first time and didn’t want to not have the same with a second one.” His head fell back with laughter, and his mouth wide open. I had to cover my mouth as to not to lose the contents of my stomach all over the table. “So where are you from?”

Wow! More like they were afraid of having another one just like him. Now this was just getting embarrassing. “I was born in Beaconsfield and lived there until my mum died, and then me and my father moved to London.” I knew he had no clue what I was talking about, and furthermore, he could give a shit less.

“That’s awesome, and that’s all in England?”

“Right.” I muttered as I tilted my glass, pouring the rest of my drink down my throat. I lifted my glass to the waiter to let him know I needed a new drink, immediately. “Could you excuse me for just a sec. I’m gonna run to the loo.” I could tell by the look on his face that he was confused, yet again. “The toilet.” Still confused. “The bathroom you daft idiot.”

“Ooooohhh, sweet. Okay, yeah.”

As I rushed past Troy’s table, I caught her arm and pulled her as hard as I possibly could through the back of the restaurant and into the loo. “This is out of control now, Troy. He is…I can’t even…I don’t even know what to say. There aren’t enough words in the English language to express how I feel about that poor excuse for a man. I have never met someone so dumb, and that’s putting it mildly. I can’t do it, Troy. I don’t care if this will help me get over Joey. At this rate, I would rather just dwell on the unattainable, than sit through another minute with…
him
!” I pointed towards the door and in his general direction.

“Okay okay, I believe you.” She held her hands up as though she was surrendering to the police. “All right, let’s get you out of here. Do you wanna just leave without saying goodbye?”

“Honestly, I don’t even think he would know that I was saying good-bye. That’s how fucking stupid he is. For bloody sake, he asked if I was British. He said he couldn’t tell the difference between British accents and Australian accents.”

Troy began laughing louder and louder, and eventually I joined in with her. We were hysterical as a waitress came in to check on us, and then when I explained to her about “my date”, she began to laugh right along with us. At this point the sweet girl just felt bad for me, and offered to tell Rowan that I was very ill in the loo, and that she would make sure I got home safe. God bless American women and their whole “sisterhood” thing. It was quite handy.

I thanked the waitress, and tipped her $50 for all her help. Of course she tried to give it back, but I told her that I insist and I would be insulted if she didn’t accept. After it was safe to leave, Troy, Sasha and myself all left. I had Troy stop so I could pop in to grab some liquor and a pack of ciggies. I wasn’t much of a smoker, but when I drank I liked to have a ciggie or two. Needless to say, after all of that, I deserved to have a brilliant time tonight.

The three of us drank into the wee hours of the morning, and by the time we started to make our way around, Troy and I both realized that if we didn’t get our shit together now, we were going to be extremely late for the game, and my first day of work.

“SHIT! Troy, were gonna get sacked if we don’t leave in like twenty minutes.”

“No way! Oh my god, I can’t lose this job, Diem. Hurry up, run upstairs and get your shit on.”

In record time I was fully dressed in my work uniform, makeup
somewhat
done, hair swept up, and shoes tied tight. I was ready, and if it wasn’t for the brutal pounding in my brain I would’ve been superb, but that would have to wait. I grabbed my bag, enough pain killers for Troy and myself, and a gallon of water, and headed out the door. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would to get back to the University, and by the time we arrived, the pounding began to dissipate and I was starting to feel loads better.

Troy and I stood behind the large metal counter, waiting for patrons to arrive. We chatted back and forth a bit about last night, when I witnessed something most people would think rather insane. A giant mob of people came rushing toward us, and it didn’t look as though they would be stopping. I was suddenly fearful that they would trample over the top of us, but Troy grabbed my hand and gave it a bit of a squeeze.

“It’s ok, they’ll stop. They have to. We’re the ones who give them their trusty little wristbands so they can drink.” She held up the flimsy white bands, and I let out a loud thunderous laugh.

Time seemed to go by quickly working the wristband table, and I was thankful that I didn’t have to deal with serving food and drinks. Not that I had anything against hard labor, I just wasn’t very good at it, being klutzy and all. It was quite easy to know when the game began because the roar of the crowd was deafening, causing my headache to come back in full force. I hung my head in agony as I looked over at Troy who seemed to be completely back to normal now.

“Here, go grab something to eat real quick. I’ll man the table. If you don’t eat something, that headache will never go away and then you’ll start vomiting. Nobody wants that.” She laughed as she pushed me out from behind the table.

“Be back in a jiff.”

I was rounding the corner, heading to the food booth when I caught sight of the arena. I had never been to an American football game, and I was dying to know what all the fuss was about. Our wristband table just so happened to be on the second floor, so we had the closest access to the field, and could practically see every strand of hair on every face of every player. I stood there, enamored by the energy in the arena. Everybody was cheering and clapping, the cheerleaders were shaking their poms, and the hot as sin players were stretching and running around, giving me an up close and personal look at their
ass
ets.

I was startled when the announcers came over the loud speakers, and I instantly turned to make my way back up to where I came from, but a flood of people came walking right at me, and I was stuck. I hugged the wall with my body to let them all pass, when they started announcing the players.