Chapter 5
M y day had started out fantastic. In the last couple weeks, the energy in my life was more balanced, refreshed. My yoga session made me feel limber and strong. Mostly it was because of having slept with Tripp. That night I let him over-deliver on his promise of several orgasms, bolstering my confidence and freeing me from the dark cloud. After that night, we returned back to our busy lives. With newfound energy, I researched grad schools and requirements all over the country and beyond, narrowing down my list. My school work was getting praise and the students I tutored were thriving. Of course, that all came crashing down when I let Eddie ruin my day.
Now, I’m sitting alone at the cafe, trying not to cry despite the free coffee sent my way.
Steadying my breath, I can barely respond to Summer over the phone, trying to soothe me. The day gets only worse when Tripp slides into the chair in front of me.
“Z . . .” Tripp is frowning, his face serious.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, wiping away the tears. “I thought you were at an away game?”
“Got back today. Duke overheard Summer talking to you and sent me.” His brow creases. “Is it the asshole, Eddie?”
I don’t mean to flinch in front of him, but I’m trash at hiding my emotions.
He catches it and a dark cloud settles on his features with a chill in his voice. “I see.”
It’s a strange thing. Tripp was once my villain who reveled in causing chaos, particularly mine. Now he’s here because Duke told him I was upset. My mouth tightens a bit more, not sure where to start, what to say, or even what to feel.
“Excuse me.” Crying is at the top of my list of hated human functions, especially in front of someone. Especially in front of Tripp.
The thing about heartbreak is it somehow makes you feel you’ve lost your chance. I had thought the mourning period of what could have been was over, but it had snuck up on me. As I splash cool water on my face, my mind still replays the Eddie encounter. It started out with a casual hello . How are you? Then foolishly telling him about my excitement about grad school. His last comment made it feel like a sucker punch to the gut.
“It’s fine to have ambitions, but I’m worried you’ll be alone for the rest of your life.”
When I return to the table, Tripp is still there. His jacket is off, and under it is a forest green henley that shows off his muscles. He’s made himself at home in my little private place with a fresh cup of coffee, waiting for me.
“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to,” Tripp says. “I’ll just be here for a bit, okay?”
Nodding, I take a seat and let the silence fall as I take a sip of my coffee. Tripp takes a sip of his. Anger settles in place of my distress and I want to take it out and I know how.
“This is stupid,” I mutter, chugging my coffee dry. “Wanna go to my place?”
Tripp raises a brow, studying me. Then stands and puts his jacket on. He offers his hand and I can only stare, waiting for his answer.
“Come on, take it.” He wiggles his fingers. “We’re not going to your place.”
“Then yours?” I continue to eye him and realize I haven’t been to his place yet.
“Nope,” he says, shaking his head.
“You promise you will not make me cry this out? I’d rather do anything else but that.”
“Cross my heart, baby.” He grins. “Just so you know, nothing wrong with crying.”
Taking his hand, he senses my hesitation, so he quickly encloses it. His warmth is soothing. Tripp and I are outside. The air is chilly and the sudden temperature change distracts me from my emotions.
“What are we doing?” Our hands remain held as he takes me to the parking lot.
“You’ll see,” Tripp says, pulling his keys out. He helps me in his Ford Bronco. Déjà vu briefly fills me, reminding me of our first time sleeping together. We are driving out of town and Tripp is singing off key to the radio, not at all prodding me for conversation.
“What is this place?” My head swivels around when he parks in front of a bar settled in front of the ocean. I can hear the loud music inside. I follow Tripp, my curiosity superseding my grumpy mood.
Tripp takes my hand again as we head to the entrance.
When we walk in, my mouth drops. It’s an eighties cover band night at the bar, I realize. Neon, spandex, and wilder hair make up some of the crowd. Laser lights dance around us as the band covers Africa by Toto. The energy is infectious and I take it all in. The shock is slow to fade.
Tripp leads me through the thick crowd, and we end up at the bar. We order drinks and my mind is still trying to wrap around what the hell I’m doing here with Tripp, of all people.
Tripp, the guy who tried to pawn off all our chemistry lab assignments and expected me to let him off easy on our lab finals.
The guy who tried to flirt his way out of taking his shift at the tutoring center.
The guy who wanted to fuck me because he thought I deserved better than the first time.
The guy who taunts and meets my banter whenever I throw it at him.
The guy who sat with me at a coffee shop because I was sad.
He stands here, handing me a glass of water and a beer, his head bobbing to the music.
“Come on, rain cloud, you gotta loosen up here.” He bends next to my ear.
Prince starts next, and I stare at the crowd. They are having fun and it looks enticing.
“First off, how do you know I love eighties music?” I ask. “I don’t remember telling you any of that.”
“Because that’s all you play when you’re at the Tutor Center,” Tripp replies. “And when you’re driving.”
My mind wracks when he could have heard it.
“You play music really loud when you think you’re alone, you know,” Tripp supplies. His light green eyes twinkle in the kaleidoscope of color.
My face heats. If he heard me play my playlist, then he must have seen me dancing in my car.
“Don’t worry, doll, I can keep a secret.” Tripp turns to the band, his head bobbing and smiling.
“How did you know about this?” I gesture to the show. My body is relaxing, and it joins the beat of Whitney Houston. We move toward the middle of the crowd.
“A girl I know told me that this bar does throwback themes. Today just was eighties night. Plus, I’m in the mood to dance.” Tripp is on-beat and a decent dancer. Of course he is.
“Just have fun. You’ve had a stink face for far too long and it’s a shame that douche canoe put it there,” he says in my ear. The douche canoe in question, of course, digs up feelings again and my breath hitches.
“I don’t make a stink face,” I shout over the music.
Tripp raises a brow. “Look, despite what you might think, baby doll, your pretty eyes don’t lie.”
I roll my eyes hard. “How perceptive of you, must have taken a lot to take yourself away from the mirror for you to notice.”
Tripp winks as he goes back to dancing to the beat. “That’s my girl. Come on, let’s go have fun together.”
True to his word, Tripp is always the epitome of fun, which adds to his charm and his ability to get away with most things. Throughout the night, I even laugh. Hard. I won’t forget his antics on the dance floor.
It is an unexpected turn of events as I glance at the clock on my phone. I can’t believe how late it is. After stuffing ourselves with food truck tacos, we head back, pulling up at a brick building at the edge of campus. There is a boutique store with large windows covered with flowers.
“Where are we?” We stroll in through a door that leads to a staircase.
“Duke is at Summer’s and your place. Probably having sex everywhere. You’re staying at mine tonight,” he replies as a matter of fact.
“Okay.” Nodding, I follow him up the stairs.
“Don’t worry, I don’t expect us to do anything tonight,” Tripp adds. “Besides, I’m pooped.”
I wasn’t sure what to expect for Tripp’s place, but I didn’t expect him to have a whole loft apartment that came out of a design magazine.
It’s brick and wood, with pieces of furniture that were probably worth more than my tuition.
“Huh, I expected you to have at least three sexy posters as wall art.” I glance around as he flicks the kitchen light on and heads to the fridge.
“I’m not a savage. I have two, and they hide in my room,” he replies as he moves us to his living room.
Despite Tripp’s personality, I find his place rather adult. My eyes take in everything, curious about his space and finding it unexpected. He has photographs everywhere on one wall, all beautiful places in the world. Some I recognize, some I don’t. Scribbled in the white borders of each photo are dates and coordinates.
“Wow.” Staring at the large print of the aurora borealis painted above the frosty mountain. “These are beautiful.”
“Thanks.” Tripp hands me water and an ice cream bar. “I took them.”
My head snaps toward him. “All of them?”
“Yup.” Tripp nods. “Traveling with family or solo. I enjoy taking photos.”
“Holy shit.” I’m surveying it, and my smile grows.
“Yeah, it’s a hobby.”
The wall is littered with candids of people, some old, young—characters that are part of a story.
“A woman got me into it,” Tripp says.
“Did you sleep with her?” I wink. Tripp’s face falls, the joke not landing.
“Despite what you think, I don’t want to sleep with everyone.” He takes a bite of his ice cream bar and plops on the couch.
“I know. I’m messing. You don’t have the stamina,” I tease as I join him. My body melts in luxury and I want to nap here every day.
“Little viper, do I need to remind you of my stamina?” He grins.
“I thought we weren’t going tonight. You did say you’re pooped, enforcing my previous statement.”
“Listen here, Miss Sass.” He dives toward my feet, tickling them, making me squeal.
“I can rally.” He grins as I giggle under his assault of my feet.
“No.” I catch my breath. “I think today was a lot.”
“No worries.” He smiles, going back to the last bit of his ice cream bar. Despite my statement, I notice his tongue grazing over the melted ice cream.
“Can I ask?” Tripp starts. “What happened with you and Eddie and what made you cry?”
The break-up was sobering and made me question myself. Most of my life, I knew what I wanted. What the plan was, being flexible to adjust, and who I was. When I fell in love with Eddie, we were different and I was ready to take on the challenge because I always believed anything could work if two people were on the same page.
“Well.” I sigh. “Our expectations and futures don’t match. He wanted me to move back to his hometown with him as he takes over his father’s business. Wanted me to be someone else that I wouldn’t recognize.”
“You? Squirreled away in a small town with that guy?” Tripp raises a brow.
“I mean, eventually I’d like the kids, but my career felt like a footnote in his plan.”
Tripp shakes his head, “No. You are not the kind of woman to be a footnote. He definitely had no business with a badass like you.”
His words wrap around my soul. Somehow, when it comes from him, it feels different, but it feels good. However, the moment I feel this suddenly became scary, the things that stirred inside me hit me like a hurricane. The thought flashes in my head like a warning. I like this Tripp Montgomery. My first reaction is to hide now, or better yet, run. This feeling is all terrifying and exhilarating. Tripp finally got under my skin.
“What made you stay?” he asks.
“I thought we could compromise on what we wanted, figure it out, but it was na?ve.” My lips purse and I glance down, hoping he doesn’t see what I feel. “We had assumptions about each other and honestly, he was an asshole about it.”
“I understand that,” Tripp says. “Completely.”
“What happened?” Swallowing hard, I need to change the subject. We are facing each other and I dare to stare back. This Tripp is so kind and when we became friends, I’m blown on how much we are alike.
“It’s stupid.” He shrugs.
“Come on.” I am gentle, like he was with me. “You were never chicken shit with me.”
Tripp’s eyes meet mine and I’m stuck. I witness the struggle of finding what he wants to say.
“Eh, I had a girlfriend once,” he starts. “High school, dated the last two years. We got into different schools, but I was ready, planning to work it out while in college.”
Certainly would have been a sight to see. A committed Tripp, fawning over one girl.
“She broke it off on graduation day.” He frowns.
“Why?” My voice is loud. What a shitty thing to do.
“What you see here is almost the same person in high school,” he says casually, but old hurts aren’t easy to hide. “I may have inflated myself, thinking being a player would make me cool. In truth, she was the first one I slept with.”
“Oh!” The surprise makes me lean forward in awe.
“I didn’t tell her when it happened.” He must have caught the look I gave him. “Remember, I was young and stupid.”
“So, because I planted in everyone’s head that I was this guy, she assumed I would cheat on her.”
“Ah.” It makes sense, his outgoing nature. How everyone seems to be drawn to him naturally. The persona he built for himself. There would be a level of insecurity that an incompatible partner would experience.
“Anyway, fake it till you make it,” he sighs and I wonder how many people know this part of him.
“So, you became a bit of a player.”
“We ended the same way you and Eddie ended,” he says, bitterness lacing his voice. “People we liked assumed and were assholes about it.”
This Tripp is vulnerable and I desperately want to reach out to him, to hug him, but I don’t.
“You take the bed,” Tripp says suddenly. “I’ll take the couch.”
“I can’t kick you out of—”
“Nope!” Tripp shakes his head. The easygoing, fun Tripp makes a comeback, like the conversation never happened. “Wouldn’t be gentleman-like. Take the bed and no arguing, little rain cloud.”
Tripp takes me to his loft. It has a massive bed with a walk-in closet that is surprisingly sparse. He hands me a hockey jersey and shows me the bathroom before disappearing back down the stairs. When I finally change and clean up, I melt into the enormous bed and I mull over Tripp until I can no longer fight sleep.