Chapter 5 The Worst That Could Happen #2
“What’s that about? A book?”
“Sleepless In Seattle?”
“Not a big fan of Seattle. Or Oregon in general.”
“Seattle is in Washington, but okay. Romeo and Juliet?”
“Oh yeah! They die at the end.”
“Fair. That was a bad example.”
We eyed each other again, and I groaned. This was useless. But another thought came into my head, and I squinted at him before asking delicately, “Randall, have you ever been in love?”
“Er, I’ve been in love a LOT, actually. Hundreds of times.”
“Yeah. I think you’re mistaking love for fucking, Randall.”
“It’s Bobby,” he hissed at me, before checking over his shoulder, “And I’ve been with a Brazilian women.”
“A Brazilian?”
“Yeah, it means, like, more than you can count to.”
“That is not what it mea… You know what, never mind! My point is that you don’t talk to people like that when you’re in love. And I don’t think you’ve been there.”
“Sure, it’s all like ‘my fluffy wubby, you complete me, you have my heart forever’ and that stuff.”
“You know, I actually think you really might be a lost cause, Rand… Sorry… Bobby.”
“Maybe if I had a proper chance, I could be better.”
Those blue eyes looked off to the side with more than a hint of sadness in them, perhaps wondering to himself if that was actually true.
“Sure. Fake it ‘til you make it and all that.”
“Hey, wait! That’s a great idea!”
I didn’t like or understand the sudden change of energy or the expression on Randall’s face. But I could sense that I wasn’t going to like what he was about to say next, as his eyes unexpectedly lit up with excitement.
“Yeah! What you’re saying is… You can help me!”
“Oh. Wait! No! No, no, no, Randall.”
“Yeah! I mean, it’s perfect. You’re here on your own, so am I. No one has to know. You can be like my… Love guru! Show me how to do it.”
“Jesus. No. Even this is beyond me.” But his shining eyes told me it would not be that easy to escape from his plan.
“You know, Lucy. Us both being in this town. Alone. Everything happens for a reason,” he said, leaning in and passing off the words as if they were a profound prophecy.
“Sure. And maybe that reason is, Randall, that you’re a monumental jerk, who should probably be in jail, and every woman on the planet should be given a restraining order from you.”
He even looked hurt for a second, but I wasn’t fooled this time. I’d seen enough on my TV screen over the past few weeks to know that this man didn’t have deep feelings like that. He was just another rich, entitled ass-hat that had no idea what it felt like to be the rest of us.
“Okay, sure, sure. I get it. It’s just… You seemed like a good person and, well, you tell it like it is.”
“Yeah, I am, and you’re not.”
“I want to try, Lucy, but I suppose I’m just a lost cause, huh?”
Fuck. Why did he have to look at me like that with those big, dumb, sad eyes? I can’t. Surely, I can’t do this.
In my head, I thought about going back to the resort and then shuddered at the levels of boredom that awaited me there.
Was this worse? At the very least, it was something else.
I hated that I was even considering it as I looked at his face, eagerly waiting for me to say “Yes” to him for the second time that day.
“Okay. Look. The only endearing thing I remember from your nightmare on Love Villa is that you can actually cook. So, make me dinner, and perhaps tonight you can have an hour of my time.”
Randall’s expression quickly changed again, the softness disappearing entirely. He leaned back in his chair, suddenly inspecting some invisible piece of dirt under his nails.
“Yeah. Nice try. But I’m not doing you.”
“Excuse me!”
“Don’t take it the wrong way. I’m just not going to fuck you, okay?”
“The wrong way! Randall, I said fucking dinner. What the actual fuck!?”
“Sure, sure. And it’s Bobby.”
Now I was mad.
“Randall… Bobby! …Whatever! …I wouldn’t sleep with you if my life depended on it!”
“Alright, keep your panties on. I wasn’t saying you were entirely… Well, y’know…” He leaned in and lowered his voice as he delivered the Randall Jackson version of a compliment, “…Un-fuckable.”
My blood fizzed with anger.
“For you, Randall, that’s exactly what I am.”
I leapt to my feet, red-faced and furious, grabbed my bag, and turned away from him to leave. I’d managed to walk a few paces, nearly far enough to have escaped him forever, before I heard his voice again. This time it was softer and almost wobbled in the air.
“My mom died.”
I paused and then closed my eyes.
Fuck.
I turned back to him. He looked just like a sad little boy who just wanted someone to wrap their arms around him and tell him it would be okay.
Despite every bone in my body wanting to, I just couldn’t walk away from those words.
It wasn’t only that I’d lost my own mom when I was seventeen.
It was the call of a wounded animal asking for help.
You can’t just walk away, can you? I wished for all the world that I could, but I knew who I was and that those words would drag me back to him.
I eyed his sad expression, and then exhaled a long, resigned rush of pained air. I was already getting in deeper than I wanted to be. On the other hand, what the hell else was there out here to entertain me?
I’d just run into the man I’d been watching with glorious fascination for the past few weeks. Sure, for all the wrong reasons, but now here he was, all alone and asking for my help. What was the harm?