Chapter 6 #2
“If me rushing out of the wedding like my ass was on fire, only to plop down at the oceanside bar and order a drink is interesting, then yeah, I guess so.”
“Girl, I see right through you. What was his name?”
I open my mouth to lie, and the truth comes out. “Reid. Don’t ask me for his last name because I don’t know. We didn’t exchange anything but first names. Hell, Reid might not even be his real name.”
“Did you give him your real name?”
“I did. He didn’t give off creeper vibes, and he was—I don’t know—easy to talk to, I guess.”
“How much time did the two of you spend talking?”
“All night. Well, most of it. We ended up taking a walk on the beach. We sat for a while and talked, and then ended up back at the bar, in the same seats we were in before we walked on the beach, and talked until the bartender announced the last call and kicked us out.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Bellamy!” she scolds.
“Fine. He was gorgeous, Manda. He has messy, dirty-blond hair, and he's not a surfer; he wasn’t from LA. He’s got lots of ink, his muscles have muscles, and his eyes are ocean blue, sometimes light, sometimes dark.”
“And how would you know that, hmm?” she asks.
“Well, I might have invited him back to my room after he refused to let me pay for my drinks.”
“You make it sound like the drinks are what sold you, when I know it was the ink and the muscles, and those eyes of his sound like a damn good bonus.” She smirks.
“It was the whole package. He was sweet and charming, and we talked about everything. Not just small talk like the weather, but it was deeper. I even told him about my dad.”
“Wow, he must have been a charmer.”
“He was, but he wasn’t. I mean, I didn’t get the vibe that he was trying to charm me, you know? He was just being him, and that was more than enough.”
“So, you invited him back to your room.”
“I did.”
“Bella,” she warns.
“We spent the night together. It was… the hottest night of my life,” I confess.
“Are you going to make plans to see him again? Where’s he from?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay, but you got his number, right? When a man has those kinds of skills in the bedroom, you make sure you have a way to reach him.”
I wince. “Unless you’re me, and you have daddy issues, which relate to pushing those issues on every man, and you sneak out before the sun has barely risen, leaving him sleeping in the bed in your hotel room.”
“Bellamy!”
“I even made it a point to tell the front desk attendant not to give my information out to him, but I did have them schedule a wake-up call so he wouldn’t miss checkout.”
“So, let me get this straight. You met a man—one who didn’t annoy you and one you trusted—you had great chemistry with, in and out of the bedroom, you don’t know his last name, you don’t know where he’s from, and you didn’t get his number?”
“That about sums it up.”’
“Girl, what were you thinking?”
“I don’t know, okay? I panicked. I felt too much. It was too much too soon, and I had to leave.”
“What if he was the one?”
“What?”’
“The one!” Her eyes widen dramatically. “The one man who was meant for you, and you left him all blissed out in a deep sleep. He’s going to pine after you for the rest of his life, and you’ll both be lonely and miserable because you were too afraid to pick up your big girl panties and see where things might go. ”
“He probably lives in Washington or something, too far for us to be able to make it work. And speaking of big girl panties, I left without mine. I got dressed, looked for my clothes in the dark room, and didn’t realize until I was home that I was missing something.”
“Oh, I bet he found them and took them with him. He holds them in his hands every night as he drifts off to sleep, dreaming about you.”
“Stop.” I push her arm, laughing at her. “That’s not happening. He might have taken them, but I doubt it. I’m sure he was angry that I left. He admitted he wasn’t the one-night stand type, not since college.”
“Wow, you all did talk about everything.”
“We did. Now, the issue is that I can’t stop thinking about him. I remember every moment. It’s so bad that Grant busted me daydreaming earlier this week, and today was even worse. My dad called, and I was lost in thought, so I answered before checking to see who it was,” I grumble.
“How is Daddy Will?” she asks, waggling her eyebrows.
“No. Just no.”
“Come on, Bella, you know your dad’s hot.”
“Can we not, please?” I beg her.
“Fine. What did your father want?” she asks.
“He’s got this work thing again that he wants me to go to with him. He even said I could bring a friend or a date if I wanted to. I ended up telling him I wasn’t dating and that I was at Tabby’s wedding a couple of weeks ago. I gave him way more than I usually do.”
“Oh, he invited you last year, too, right?”
“He did.”
“When is it?”
Grabbing my phone, I pull up his message and hand it to her. She reads over the screen, and a slow smile tugs at her lips.
“We’re going to this. I’ll be your plus one.”
“What? No. No, we are not going. I don’t want to go and pretend to be the dutiful daughter to a man who left us.”
“We’ll be friendly, shake a few hands, smile, eat some good food, then post up and watch the eye candy.”
“Manda,” I groan.
“Please? For me? Besides, your dad’s been trying the best way he knows how to connect with you. I know you’re still angry with him, and I’d never tell you to forgive him, but he is your dad, and he’s trying. Even your mom said that you should have gone last year.”
“Ugh,” I groan because I know that she’s right. “Why do you want to go so badly?”
“The eye candy, of course.” She grins. “And I’d love to see my bestie be able to reconnect with her father.”
“I don’t want to go,” I whine.
“I’ll be there. We say hi, shake a few hands, and then we disappear into the crowd. Come on, it’ll be fun.”
“Fine, we’ll go.”
She grins as she opens up my phone, and her fingers fly across the screen. The whooshing sound of a message being sent hits me as she hands me my phone.
Me: Amanda and I will be there.
He replies immediately.
Sperm Donor: Really? Oh, sweetheart, I’m glad. I can’t wait to see you.
“Fuck my life,” I mutter, before grabbing another piece of pizza. I might as well eat my feelings.