Fall From Grace(39)

Traffic was light and we made it there within fifteen minutes.  Tucker’s father was standing outside waiting on the steps.

Shane pulled up and opened his side of the car door to let Tucker get out.  When Shane got back in and closed the door, Tucker made him open the window to talk to me.  “Grace, I’m sorry.  I know that this was one of the best nights of your life, so I’ll take you back to Masa whenever you’d like.”

Is he insane?  One of the best nights of my life? I kept my voice calm, “Oh, we’ll have to talk about that, Tucker.”

Tucker gave me his sexiest smile.  “I know, it was amazing.  Grace, you’re amazing.”  He tilted his head to Shane and nodded, “Thanks for taking her home for me, you’re a good friend.”  He pounded his palm on the door, which made me want to scratch his eyes out.  “Get her home safe, this big boy has gotta play superman!” he shouted, pointing to himself.

Shane pulled away and drove without saying a word.  I kept my head against the cold glass.  The tingly feeling that I had before was slipping out of my body and I found myself wanting to find a way to continue the mind-blowing numbness.  Shane’s silence was making it worse.

After circling the block of my apartment five times, Shane finally found a spot and pulled in.  We got out and he walked me to my apartment, but instead of going inside, I kept moving.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I need to have a drink or few.”

“What? Now? Why?”

I looked down at my cellphone and saw that it was 8:30.  I looked at him seriously.  “That was just two and a half hours of my life that I will never get back.  And in those two and a half hours, I have spent more time with a jerk, than all of my years on this earth.”  I watched a small smile play on his face. “I am kind of hoping the rest of my night will be full of regretful behavior and irreversible decisions.”  I stomped away from him, but he grabbed me by my arm, spinning me around to face him.

“What?  So that wasn’t the best night of your life?” he asked with amusement in his voice.

“Shut up, Shane, go home!” I walked away.

He threw his arm around my neck and walked with me.  “I think I need a night of watching you entertain me with your regretful behavior and your irreversible decisions.”

“Then we definitely need to call Lea to tell her and Conner to meet us at Boozer’s,” I said.

Shane looked down into my eyes.  He was so close to me like this that it was hard to think straight.  His whole body vibrated with sex appeal, or maybe that was me.  Either way, I didn’t want to have any sexy thoughts about me and New York City’s Most Popular Man-whore and I wanted my best friend with me.

He must have read something on my face. “Grace, are you afraid of being alone with me?”  He eyes widened and he took his arm off my shoulders.  “Grace, I get it.  You aren’t interested in anything with me.  I’m not going to try anything, I promise.”   He looked around and back to my eyes, running his hand through his hair. He took his phone out of his pocket.  “I’ll tell them to meet us there.”

Boozer’s was crowded for a weeknight, as Shane and I meandered our way to the bar.

Shane introduced me to Ryan, the bartender, and told him whatever I wanted was limitless and he was paying.  I eyed him suspiciously and took off my coat.  When he saw me with my coat off, his mouth dropped open and he froze.  His eyes smoldered, giving me a slow long once over from my eyes to my toes and back up again.  He sucked his breath in, but said nothing.  He looked awestruck, and I had no doubt that if I were any other girl in the world other than me, that look would have made me let him take me home.