Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
THEO
“You know, I was just making a breakthrough with Kitty by getting her to point her toes,” Rupert says after an hour of silence in the car.
No, we are not driving. Neither one of us feels comfortable doing that, but we do know how to use a ride sharing app, so this lucky person gets to drive us from Cape Meril to Boston for a three-day holiday.
I’m not sure what we plan to do in Boston, but we are going.
“Why are you even helping her?” I ask, looking out the window, willing myself not to text Renley, not yet. I need to give her some space.
“Because she has the potential to be great but needs some guidance. I’ve upped her social media game too, putting together some edits of her practically dancing around the yard with a play horse between her legs.” The driver looks at both of us in the rearview mirror.
“Can you not say it like that?” I chastise with a glare.
“What?” Rupert looks offended. “That’s what she’s doing.”
I rub my forehead. “Just…just say dancing around.”
Noticing the tension in the car, Rupert nudges me and says, “Mate, what’s been your problem? You’ve been glum ever since last night. Kind of hurts my feelings, because I’m trying to have a good time with you while we’re here. Did the date go poorly or something?”
“No, it was good,” I say, unable to get comfortable. It’s like my skin is itchy, my bones are aching, and any which way I sit, I throb, and not in a good way.
“Then what’s going on?”
I sigh heavily and slouch in my seat as far as my seatbelt will allow. “I did something stupid last night.”
“Call her by the wrong name?” he asks.
“No.”
“Poke her in the eye with your fork?”
“What? No.”
He winces. “Oh shit…did you accidentally burp in her face?”
“What? None of those things happened.”
“Did you spit food all over her?” the driver asks.
Rupert and I both startle as we bring our attention to the front.
“Uh, excuse me,” I say and then motion between me and Rupert. “This is a private conversation.”
“No, no,” Rupert says, tamping my hand down. “Maybe our driver friend can assist us. Please, tell us how you messed up the situation with Renley.”
The driver nods. “We’re all ears.”
Unsure how he became involved. Then again, can’t argue with the guy, as he has my life in his hands at the moment.
“Well, you see—”
“Can you catch me up first, so I have a general understanding of what’s going on?” the driver asks.
“Sure thing, Lamar,” Rupert says. “It all started when we were drunk and playing truth or dare. I dared this guy to sign up for a fiancé website, he said yes, but was caught by his family. Mind you, they’re pretty conscious about image, so his father gave him a hard time about it.
Our friend Theo over here stupidly said he was serious about it, so then his father threatened him and said if he didn’t get married to the person he matched with, he’s to marry Neil’s daughter. ”
“Oh damn, this is some medieval-type shit,” Lamar says. “Who is Neil’s daughter?”
“Someone you don’t want to know,” Rupert says. “She’s been known to sniff armpits. It would be a real yikes situation if Theo married her. Anyway, we came to Cape Meril to meet his bride-to-be, only to find out that she drunkenly thought the website was for financiers, not fiancés.”
“Funny how close those words are.”
“That’s what I said.” Rupert grips Lamar’s shoulder. “We are proper mates, don’t you think?”
“I think so,” Lamar says with a nod.
“Anyway, long story short, Theo here has made it his mission to woo her and he’s been doing an okay job—”
“Uh, I’ve been doing better than an okay job.”
“We’ll be the judges of that, won’t we, Lamar?”
“We will,” he answers.
Jesus.
“So then, tell us how you messed up last night.”
“I didn’t mess things up with her, I messed up in my own head,” I say, wanting to make that clear since I’m being ganged up on. “I, uh…I kissed her out on the beach, under the moonlight.”
“Oh shit, under the moonlight?” Lamar asks.
“Not the moonlight,” Rupert says.
“Yes, the moonlight.”
“That’s…that’s serious,” Lamar says.
“Was it a good kiss?” Rupert asks.
I press my head to the headrest and let out a disgruntled sigh.
“It was the best fucking kiss I’ve ever had in my life.
The moment her lips touched mine, it was like I was transported into a different realm where all the worries and shit that had happened in my life slowly disappeared and all that was left was me and her.
That was it, just me and Renley. Kissing. ”
Silence falls over the car, and after a few seconds, Lamar says, “That’s poetry, man.”
“Beautiful,” Rupert adds.
God, I hate them.
“Seems like you met your soulmate. What’s the problem with that?” Lamar asks.
“The problem is, I was not expecting that when kissing her, nor did I expect to have her in my head constantly. She’s all I fucking think about, day in and day out.
And I know what that means, okay? I know it means that I’m growing feelings.
I get that, I’m not an idiot. I just wasn’t expecting to grow feelings. ”
“You were not,” Rupert says. “You were in it just to get married, not to actually like the person you were marrying.”
“I know. But look at me over here, starting to grow feelings for my future wife who doesn’t want to be my wife, but if she isn’t my wife, then Neil’s daughter becomes my wife and—”
“That’s yikes,” Lamar finishes.
“He gets it,” Rupert adds and then drags his hand over his face. “Well, this isn’t a bad thing.”
“Of course it’s a bad thing,” Lamar says before I can. “Can’t you see what this means? Our friend went into the situation not expecting to feel emotion but found feelings under the moonlight, like he’s fucking Tom Hanks in that Sleepless movie.”
“Sleepless in San Diego,” Rupert says.
“No, you dumb-arse. It’s Sleepless in Seattle,” I say. “With Meg Ryan.”
Lamar shakes his head. “Wasn’t that the mail one?”
“It was actually both,” I say. “They starred in a few romantic comedies together.”
“Are you sure?” Rupert asks. “Wasn’t one of those with Billy Crystal?”
“That was When Harry Met Sally, completely different movie,” Lamar says. “My mom loves that movie.”
“What about Kate and Leopold?” Rupert asks. “Meg Ryan was in that one too.”
“Are you just going to list Meg Ryan movies?” I ask.
Rupert shrugs. “I can if you want; we can rank them.”
“I’d like to take part in that,” Lamar says.
“Hold the fuck on,” I say. “We were talking about my kiss with Renley.”
“We’re still on that?” Rupert asks while he looks through his phone.
“Yeah, we didn’t come to a solution,” I say.
“Is there a solution?”
“I think what our boy needs to know is that, if you like her, then you need to do everything you can to show her that, to nurture the relationship you’ve already developed, and whatever you do, keep reminding her of that kiss, because from what it sounds like…she enjoyed it as well.”
I smirk. “She did. A lot.”
“Then go for it, my man,” Lamar says. “Let this be the wind you ride, right into lovers’ lane.” He glides his hand through the air, as if he’s softly landing a plane.
“That’s beautiful,” Rupert says and starts clapping.
I clamp down on his hands, the clap far too loud for such a small space.
“Too loud.”
“Sheesh.” Rupert shakes his hands out. “Sorry for having enthusiasm for your love.”
“It’s not love,” I say.
“Not yet.” Lamar winks in the rearview mirror. “Not yet.”
“I’m having a bath,” Rupert shouts from his bedroom.
We booked a two-bedroom suite at a fancy hotel in the center of Boston, and when I say we, I mean Rupert. He booked it using my credit card. And when I say my credit card, I mean my father’s.
And we plan on putting a substantial amount of room service on it.
“They have bath salts in here!” he shouts with glee. “I hope they effervesce near my undercarriage. I could use a little tingling in my life.” Then he shuts his door, and I pick up my phone, wondering for a moment why I continue to hang out with him.
I mean, I know the answer to that, but still…he’s really fucking weird.
Despite that, I love him like a brother, and I know how much he was looking forward to this small getaway when I came up with the idea. He was practically jumping up and down, cheering for having one-on-one time with me. As if we don’t have enough of that already, but according to him, we don’t.
Pulling up my text thread with Renley, I stack my feet on the coffee table and get comfortable. For a moment, I consider doing a video call, but squash that idea almost immediately. She wouldn’t answer.
Instead I decide to send her a text.
Theo: I fell asleep on my car ride and woke up making out with Rupert’s forearm thinking it was you.
In my dream, you had a mustache. I didn’t mind, but considering what I was making out with, we can blame Rupert’s arm hair for that.
Also, this isn’t true, but I needed a good opener. Did it catch your attention?
After I press send, I wait for a reply, worried she won’t give me one. If she follows the rules, then she’ll reply. Then again, I didn’t give her a chance to counter-propose the rules. Either way, if she enjoyed that kiss, she should reply.
But with every second that ticks by and she doesn’t respond, my concern grows.
What if the kiss was too much?
What if my nonresponse scared her away?
What if she believes all of this is absolutely insane and she takes my time away from town to throw in the towel and put distance between us?
It was a risky move leaving, but Rupert was getting restless—hell, he was helping Kitty with her hobby horse technique—and I needed a moment to breathe. But now that I’ve had that second, I want nothing more than to spend the night talking to her.
More time ticks by.
I hear Rupert splashing around and giggling in the bathroom—I’m not even going to ask.
And just as I’m about to give up and go to the bar in the lobby to drown my worries away, my phone dings with a text.
Heart in my throat, I quickly pull up the text thread and see that it’s from her.