Playing It Safe(13)

Whatever. Let them think what they want. Between the two of them, I’m going to get an ulcer. Then throw in the verbal f*cking sessions with Alex, and this girl is sticking a fork in herself. I’m done.

I get home about a half hour later, and as soon as I get in the door, my cell phone rings. I answer without checking to see who it is while plopping myself down on the couch, completely exhausted and frustrated.

“Are you okay?” Alex asks, his voice full of concern.

“I’m fine.”

“Then why did you leave?”

“I wasn’t feeling well.”

“Then you’re not fine.”

“I’m fine, Alex.”

Silence. Utter silence from both of us. Not for nothing, but it’s an uncomfortable silence. Like shit-just-got-real-between-us kind of silence, and I don’t really know what to do with it. I hear him breathing on the phone and notice for the first time that it’s quiet wherever he is. Like he’s in his office or something.

“Where are you?” I ask in a rush of breath.

“In my office.”

“Where’s your date?”

“Why do you want to know?” he asks with a smile in his tone.

“You’re right. I don’t.”

“Yes you do.”

“You know what, Alex? The better question would be why are you calling me in the confines of your cozy office, all alone I might add, when you have a date?”

He chuckles, and the sound is one that I will catalog in the recesses of my mind for future reference because it sends a chill down my spine.

“That would be the better question,” he says smoothly. “Too bad you didn’t ask it.”

And he hangs up. The smug bastard just hung up on me!

I throw my cell phone onto the couch next to me and rub my eyes with the heels of my hands. My phone dings, and I’m almost afraid to see what it says, but curiosity gets the better of me, and I snatch it up to see a text from Alex that brings a huge smile to my face.

You looked beautiful tonight.

Swoon.





CHAPTER FIVE


She what?!” Sabrina yells loud enough that I have to turn down the volume on my laptop.


We’re on our weekly Saturday morning Skype session. It’s become a ritual with us ever since she moved away last year. I just finished explaining to her about Marisa sticking her tongue out at me like a child on a school playground last night and me giving her the finger in retaliation.

“This girl obviously doesn’t know who she’s dealing with,” she says while laughing her ass off until she starts to cackle.

“I know, right? Can you believe that shit?”

“Wait a minute,” she gets out in between a laugh and wiping a tear from her eye. “You’ve got to tell Tyler about this.”

She yells out his name, and he appears on my screen a few seconds later with just a pair of sweatpants on, looking like he just rolled out of bed.

“Hey, Julia, how are you?” He gathers up Sabrina from the chair and sits down in her place. She plants herself back down on his lap, and he gives her a quick peck on the cheek.

“My morning just got way better by looking at your fine ass. How about you?”

“Julia!” Sabrina shouts in shock.

“Oh please, we’re all adults here. You know he’s fine. I know he’s fine. Shit, I bet he even knows he’s fine.”

Tyler is trying to cover the smirk on his face but not doing a very good job of it before clearing his throat. “So, what was it that had my girl laughing so hard? With you involved, I can only imagine.”

I tell him the story, but just like with Sabrina, I don’t elaborate too much on the Alex part of it. I know that Sabrina is completely head over heels in love with Tyler, but I still feel funny talking to her about him.

Tyler starts to laugh and then asks, “How old is this girl?”

“I have no idea. But if I had to guess, I’d say twenty-five at most.”

“Alex likes them young, huh?” he muses.

“I wouldn’t know,” I say, somewhat dismayed myself.

Sabrina notices my slight tone change. I can’t get much past her and vice versa. I’m grateful that I have someone in my life I can share my ups and downs with. But as close as we are, I still haven’t been able to fully disclose what I’ve been feeling toward Alex. Worse, I haven’t mentioned how I had a run-in with Aiden earlier in the week and the amount of times I’ve replayed our meeting in my head since then. I can only imagine how crazy I would sound to her by admitting out loud just how much that has done a bit of a number on me. The best part is I’m not even sure why. You would think after all this time since Aiden that I wouldn’t care, that it would just roll off my shoulders as if he meant nothing to me. And he doesn’t … kind of. I don’t know. I can’t even explain it to myself, so there is no way in hell that I could possibly explain it to Sabrina, right?

I feel guilty keeping things from Sabrina, and I know she’ll be upset when she eventually finds out, but for now it’s for the best. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. Ugh, I know, I know, I’m a horrible best friend, and now I think I have to cover my tracks a bit.

“I mean, I don’t know how serious they are or anything like that. It’s only the second time I’ve seen them together. And now that I think about it, both times I’ve seen them together he didn’t seem to be too interested in her, so I have no f*cking clue what he sees in her. Maybe she has a cape flying out of her crotch with a giant S on it. That, or she can suck the chrome off a trailer hitch. Either of those has to be the only explanation, because everything else I’ve seen screams see you next Tuesday. And a huge one, at that.”