Rushed(14)

I see tears in her eyes, and I take her hand gently in mine, leading her over to the kitchen sink. "Come on, let's get that washed out first," I murmur, giving her a smile. "It's not as bad as it feels, I bet."

The water is cold, and I hold her hand under the flow for a while, until there's no more red flowing from the scratch and my own fingers are numb. Damn, Toronto tap water is cold as hell.

"There," I say, shutting off the water. "It'll be fine. How does it feel now?"

"Numb," April says, wiping away a tear with her free hand. "God, I'm such an idiot."

"You should meet my high school buddy, Fred. He's got a dimple in his right thigh from the same thing, except that he put a Phillips head two inches into the muscle."

I continue, making sure she knows this isn’t necessary. “Let's set this aside, not even worry about the bed except to make sure the mattresses are down, and tomorrow, we'll try again. And I do mean we, after practice or something. That is, unless you have plans.”

“I don’t have plans,” April replies. “This job is pretty much my life.”

I shake my head, strangely pleased. "Well, let me make it up to you. No club this time, you obviously weren't into that, and I can't have another headache like earlier. So let's just do dinner. No alcohol, just food."

"Really?" April asks. She smiles a little. "It sounds like you’re asking me out on a date."

I chuckle and nod. "I guess you can call it that. But let’s set some rules. It’ll be better for both of us."

I've never really had a girlfriend for all that long. I’ve had f*ck buddies, no real girlfriends. Not one that I could see myself with for the rest of my life. Besides, I can't open that part of myself again, not after what happened before.

April looks at me a little confused. "I can obey rules, but what kind of rules are we talking about here?”

I can't help it, her eagerness sends a shiver down my spine, and I smile back. "Okay then. Two very simple rules. First, you pick us a nice restaurant. Nothing super black tie, but not casual either. Second, and most important, is that you dress up. Last night you tried, but I think you held yourself back because you just wasn’t sure. Wear that outfit you bought off the internet and thought you’d never wear.”

"I can do that," April says, a hint of nervousness in her voice. "But why?"

"Because I want you to see yourself the way the world should see you. Smart, powerful, and pretty. Now, let's get the hell outta here, and get that hand bandaged before our dinner. I've gotta shower and shave myself."

I lock up the door to my new apartment, and April and I head down to my car. "Can I take you back to your apartment?" I ask her as I drive, and she shakes her head. "Oh yeah, your car's at the hotel."

She gives me a little smile, and I can't help but notice again how pretty her face is when she's smiling. "Yeah. Thanks for remembering."

"No problem."





Chapter 6





April





I'm trembling with excitement as I step out of my shower, my hair dripping but I don't mind. My hair is thick and straight and nearly impossible to change from that. Back in school, I almost always just let it air dry on my way to class, it didn't matter. I can run a brush through it after I get dressed, and I'm good to go.

A date? Really? I mean, I know it's not a date-date, but holy shit! Tyler Paulson is taking me out on a date. Regardless of the fact he's my Tyler summer camp, he doesn't know yet I can still tell, he asked me out to dinner.

I mean, I know I should be pissed off still about last night, and the way he horn dogged with those two club sluts, but I'm not. For some reason I believe him when he said that he doesn't remember what happened, and the way he's acted all day, maybe he didn't do what I immediately thought he did when he answered his door naked, oh so gloriously naked, at noon.

My God, did you see his junk? the little voice in my head that seems to love the naughty side of life, asks. Tight abs, that little trail of hair down to…

I roll my eyes, even as I acknowledge the truth, Tyler is sexy as hell and gave me quite an eyeful today. But we're just going out to dinner, that's all. I couldn't even get my initial idea for a reservation, the place that had been Zagat's choice as Toronto's most stylish restaurant, but instead a table at a still stylish higher end steakhouse over on Simcoe. I've been there once before, a team event, and I think Tyler will like it. Aged steaks, some seafood if that's his thing, but still, the sort of place I'd never go to by myself.

"Now, what do I wear?" I ask myself, standing in front of the closet. I don't really have a lot, I mean, most of my money that I don't use for the basics of life goes to help out my parents, but there's one dress. I didn’t buy it off the internet like Tyler joked. It was a gift from a friend of mine, we went to the University of Toronto together. Gail and I were total opposites in so many ways, except that we clicked, and it was hard to let her go when she got her dream job in Vancouver. Her last gift to me was a belted Jovani two tone cocktail dress, with a plunging back that doesn't let me wear a bra underneath, and an asymmetrical slightly form fitting skirt that shows a lot of my right leg. The whole thing is done with illusion lace, and the sleeveless sides bare my arms to the whole world. I've never worn it outside of trying it on for Gail the day she gave it to me, and it's sat in my closet for two years now, along with the matching high heels that I will admit I've worn one or two other times, black five inch stilettos.