Chapter 6
Aurora
“What are you going to have?”
I glanced up from the menu and looked across the table at Lorelai. I’d been in a daze for days, and today was no different.
“What?”
“I asked what you were going to have?” Lorelai frowned. “Are you worried about something? Is Professor Johnson giving you trouble again?”
It was a good guess. I’d had trouble with Professor Johnson earlier on in the year, but things had sorted themselves out. I just shrugged and looked back at the menu in front of me, still not really reading the words, just staring off into space and thinking about the other night.
“Aurora?”
“Huh?” I said, looking up again.
Lorelai sat there, frowning at me, a hint of concern in her eyes. “What is going on, Aurora? You’ve been like this all week. Not making full notes. Actually, you’ve barely made any notes all at, and then you borrow mine at night. We’ve been sitting here for twenty-five minutes in your favourite restaurant, and you still haven’t even decided what you want to eat yet, when normally you don’t even need to look at the menu. So, what is going on?”
I glanced around the room, the familiarity of the restaurant coming to me. I’d basically zoned out the moment I’d gotten into the car to come from my mother’s three days ago, because the only thing on my mind had been Dylan. I’d said nothing to Lorelai about that night, even though she’d asked me many times who my new stepbrother was. Instead, I’d suffered in silence, trying to figure out why my luck was so damn bad. The hottest, sexiest, most riveting night of my young life with a man, and it had to turn out this way.
“Earth to Aurora!” Lorelai shouted, snapping her fingers in front of my face.
I jumped and met my friend’s eyes. “Sorry. I think I’ll have the salmon.”
“Great, now tell me what the hell is going on? Like I said, you’ve been like this for days.”
I let out the breath I was holding and sank down into my chair. “My life is over,” I muttered.
“What are you talking about?” Lorelai laughed.
“I don’t know where I am going to apply for a job at the end of the year,” I muttered.
“Okay?” Lorelai frowned. “Where is this coming from? We are at the top of our class, and I already told you Phil is going to get us in with the Dominators.”
I sighed. “We can’t work for the Dominators,” I mumbled, fear filling me. We’d been planning to apply since we’d finished our first year in school. Lorelai’s brother was going to go to bat for us, and he promised if we kept our grades up, it would almost be a sure thing. He’d come through, landing us both an interview in the next month or so.
Lorelai shook her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest just as the server returned to the table.
“Any ideas?” he questioned.
“She’ll have the salmon, and I’ll have the chicken,” she said, not giving me a chance to change my mind. He nodded and left, going to put our order in.
“Okay, so tell me, why can’t we work for the Dominators?”
“Because of Dylan.”
In my mind, I was making perfect sense. To Lorelai, she did not know who Dylan even was, so she just sat there, her face contorted in confusion, waiting for me to explain.
“Who the hell is Dylan?” she asked.
“Remember the guy in Cozumel?” I asked.
Lorelai frowned. “The guy you slept with, the one-nighter, who, according to you, was the best sex you’d ever had? The guy and his friend who I thought looked familiar? That guy?”
“Yes, that guy,” I said, picking up my pop and taking a drink.
“Are you having some kind of meltdown I should know about?” Lorelai questioned with concern. “You never got the guy’s name, and I don’t have a clue what he has to do with you acting this way or why we can’t work with the Dominators.”
“Can’t you keep up?” I gritted.
Lorelai glanced around the room like she was looking for a hidden camera or something. Then she looked back at me. “Aurora, I can keep up, but you aren’t making any sense. Why don’t you just start from the beginning? Phil has worked hard to get us interviews with the head of their therapy division with the Dominators. I’d hate for us not to show up and take the interview.”
I gritted my teeth together. I did not know why she was making this so much more difficult on me than it had to be. Yet instead of getting angry, I took a deep breath and looked over at my friend.
“I know he has. Your brother is one of the best there is,” I said, feeling kind of bad now that I wasn’t sure that was the best course of action to take for work.
“I know. I also know we can’t spit in his face that way. He’s doing us a huge favor. He’s gone out on a limb for us.”
I let out a sigh. “Okay, so the guy in Cozumel.”
“Yes.”
“I never got his name, remember?”
“Correct, and you were kicking yourself in the ass for weeks after. Probably still are, which is probably why you are completely messed up, because you’re missing some of that good old loving right now.”
I played with my straw and nodded. “Correct.”
“So???”
“I know who he is.”
Lorelai almost dropped her glass. She placed it at the back of the table and looked over in my direction. “What? How?”
“His name is Dylan, and he’s one of the Vancouver Dominators!” I said, not really wanting to divulge how I even knew that.
“Oh my god, you’ve got to be kidding me. The best sex of your life plays on the team with my brother. I’ve told you that you need to watch hockey. It wouldn’t have taken you so long to figure it out.” Lorelai giggled.
“It’s not funny, and I’m not joking.”
“Okay, sorry,” Lorelai said, rolling her eyes. “So, how did you find that out? Did you see him on TV? Did your brother take you to a game where you ran into him? Which, if he did, I’m going to be pissed you didn’t tell me,” Lorelai said, picking up her glass once again.
“He is my new stepbrother.”
This time Lorelai’s glass slipped from her hand and smashed on the floor. She stared at me and then looked down, embarrassment flooding her face as she realized she’d broken the glass.
“Wow. Now it’s not a wonder why I thought he looked familiar.”
“I bet Walker and him will get along well.”
If she only knew. I shook my head, still not sure she believed me.
“Okay, tell me, this supposed hockey stepbrother…is his room covered in hockey posters and shit? Phil’s was until Candace dug her claws into him. It’s funny how suddenly they grow up.” She giggled, her eyes lighting up as our food finally arrived.
The server had barely placed hers down before she was snatching fries off the plate.
“Sorry I broke the glass,” she said, pointing to the floor.
“Not a problem. I’ll get that cleaned up and grab you both another refill.” He winked and took off in the direction in which he’d come.
“It’s not the way you envision it completely,” I muttered, swirling my fork around in the bed of pasta beneath the salmon.
“What isn’t?”
“The whole situation.”
“Okay????” She smiled. “Why don’t you tell me this little dream of yours?” She giggled again, shaking her head.
“You don’t believe me,” I said, looking over at my friend, who sat there smiling.
Lorelai laughed. “I’m sorry, Aurora, this story is a little much, especially for you. If it were coming from say Willow, I’d believe it.”
“I’m not joking, Lorelai. My stepbrother is the Dominator, and he is the guy I spent the night with in Cozumel.” I sighed, feeling one weight rise off my chest, only for another to press down. I knew she still wouldn’t believe me, so I pulled the neck of my sweater down to show her the light purple mark that was still on my neck. The mark he’d left the other night.
Lorelai almost dropped her fork, but her quick reflexes allowed her to grab it before it hit the floor. Lorelai studied me for a moment. “You’ve got to be shitting me?”
“Seriously, I almost died when I saw him.”
Lorelai sat there, still not knowing what to say. She studied me, then reached over and pulled my sweater down again and wiped her finger over the mark to make sure it didn’t come off.
“Wow, Aurora, I don’t really know what to say.”
“Join the club.” I sighed.
“What did he do? Did he recognize you? Never mind, that was a stupid question.”
I nodded, placing a piece of salmon in my mouth. “Sure was.”
“What was his reaction?”
I sat there, replaying the entire night over in my mind. Most people would have been mortified, but not Dylan.
“You don’t want to know,” I muttered.
“The hell I don’t.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Even though she was my best friend, I was hesitant to tell her everything. I didn’t want her to think badly of me.
“He was all over me.”
Lorelai lifted her eyes and met mine. “Are you serious? In front of everyone?”
I shook my head. “Only when we were alone, but he made it obvious that he knew me in front of everyone, or at least I think he did.”
She almost jumped across the table at me. “What?”
“Yep, he wants to, um…continue things.”
“What did you say?”
Just then the server approached the table with our refills and was about to ask if we needed anything else, but Lorelai beat him to it by shoving her hand out toward him and immediately telling him we were fine.
“What did you say?”
“What I should have said. No.”
“Okay and…”
“What do you think? He wouldn’t take that as an answer. So, instead, the second we were alone, he was all over me. Flirting, putting his hands on me, his lips on me, pulling me into him. He even said if I thought the first time was good, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like the next time now that he knows my body.”
I could feel my face heating at the memory of that night. At his words.
“Ohhhh my god.!!!!!” Lorelai screeched.
“Shut up!” I said, holding my hands out to a now excited Lorelai.
“I will not. You’ve got to think about this,” she said.
“I don’t, because there is nothing to think about.”
Just then, my cell phone rang, and I looked down at the screen to see Walker’s name appear.
“Is that him?” she asked, excitement growing in her voice.
“No. It’s Walker. He’ll be worried if I don’t answer it.”
“Fine, go ahead.”
In a matter of minutes, I’d found out that Walker wouldn’t be attending the wedding party on Saturday, which made me sad, but made me worry. I swallowed hard as I listened to him talk about the fact that his commanding officer wouldn’t allow him leave. He sounded disappointed but nowhere near as disappointed as I would be on Saturday night. I’d be alone with Dylan in a house full of people.
I hung up the phone and looked over at Lorelai jumping right back to the beginning of the conversation.
“Bottom line, there is no way I can accept a job with the Dominators.”
“If you think I’m turning down that interview my brother has worked so hard to get for us, you are mistaken. I’m also not turning down a job if I am lucky enough to be offered one. Now what did Walker want?”
I dragged my fork over my salmon and then took another bite, while I quickly figured out a solution for Saturday night. I was already being forced to go to the wedding party. There was no out for me. Then I glanced over at Lorelai who sat there eating her fries while looking around the restaurant. She hadn’t seen my mom in a while, and I knew she’d be thrilled to see her.
“What are you doing Saturday night?”
She shrugged. “Probably working on my paper as should you be.”
I nodded. “Feel like going to a wedding celebration party instead?” I questioned.
“I’ll have to think about it.” She shrugged. “I’m behind on my paper.”
I shook my head. “Look, I’ll do the interview, and I’ll help you with your paper if you do this for me,” I muttered.
Lorelai looked over at me, a hint of a smile on her lips. “Where is the party?”