Gable (17 page)
Monday morning I decided to grow up and go to class. Hell, I’d dodged Gable on campus before, I could do it again. Besides, I hated missing even though I’d called and gotten my assignments which I’d hand in when I got to my classes that morning. I’d even emailed five movie reviews to the newspaper last Friday, so that was taken care of.
I made sure to be late to psych as I’d done before, so I could get in, hear the lecture, take notes then be the first to leave which I hoped worked like a charm once again. During class, I avoided looking around the room for fear of seeing Gable, and once Dr. Horner was finished, I booked it the hell out of there without running into him. Thank God.
I was scheduled to work that night, but I’d called Natalie on Saturday and traded for her early shift the entire week, having to fill her in a little on what had happened so she’d give me Gable’s schedule and I could summarily avoid him at work too. And that worked in my favor too. Wow. Things were looking up.
Now if only I could avoid him for the rest of my life, everything would be fabulous.
~*~*~*~
Saturday, Bodhi called and asked Amy and me to go out with him that night to a popular club in town because his study group from his History of Anthropological Thought class was going and he thought it’d “Do me good” to get out. I seriously had the best friends in the world.
So I thought, what the hell. I didn’t have to work and it wasn’t like I was busy having a social life or anything, so Amy and I got “dolled up” (her words), I wore my skinny jeans tucked into my brown riding boots and a sparkly royal blue tank top under a cream chiffon button down shirt. I did my hair and makeup the same way I’d done it for the dreaded Halloween party, but I’d liked how it’d looked then so, again, what the hell. Amy dressed similarly, looking great as usual, and she was excited because she’d called Chad and he was going to meet her at the club later.
When we were ready, we had a couple tequila shots from the bottle Bodhi had brought over then we all chipped in for a cab. When we got to the club, I showed the fake ID Amy had gotten me a month before, although I knew my dad would pitch a fit if he found out. Oh, well, I didn’t have a problem with it because, college, as Amy said and that was good enough for me.
The place was packed with tons of coeds but we managed to find the table Bodhi’s group was occupying and he introduced us to everyone, practically having to scream over the loud music, but that was fine. I needed some loudness to drown out the thoughts of Gable that I knew would inevitably sneak up on me throughout the evening. And some of the guys in the group were really cute, and a couple had even asked me to dance, so I was having a great time.
Until I wasn’t.
We’d been there a couple hours when a guy named Dawson asked me to dance. We walked to the crowded dance floor and I smiled as we passed Amy who grinned back as she danced with Chad who’d appeared an hour before. Amy was an amazing dancer, her gymnastics having aided with it I’m sure, but when Dawson started dancing, I saw that he was crazy good as he proceeded to show up everyone on the floor. I found myself mostly watching him and grinning because he was fantastic. I mean, people around us were even watching him and some even clapped when the song was over. Wow. A slow song came on next and I noticed Dawson looking at me with a pouty face which made me laugh. He held his arms out to me, so I stepped into them, raising my left arm up to rest on his right shoulder as he wrapped his right arm around my waist then took my right hand in his left.
“You’re really good,” I said as we swayed to the song.
“Thanks.” He grinned, flashing his perfectly straight, white teeth. “Mom made me take lessons which I hated because I played football and got made fun of on a daily basis. I finally put my foot down when I was fifteen but the damage was already done.” He chuckled making me giggle.
“Well, it definitely paid off,” I replied smiling up at him.
“If it gets me a dance with a beautiful girl like you, yeah, it has,” he said with a wink.
I blushed and ducked my head, and looking off to the side saw Gable staring right at me from a short distance away.
Shit.
My head came up quickly and I saw that he was dancing with a beautiful brunette which made me wheeze in a damned breath.
“I’ve got to go,” I told Dawson then turned and ran off the floor, pushing my way through couple after couple. I didn’t even go to the table where Bodhi was to let him know I was leaving, just ran through the club to the front doors and out where I knew they had cabs waiting. I jumped in one and breathlessly gave the guy my address and we took off.
Dramatic? Yes. Necessary? I thought so.
I was working on calming myself down when my phone started buzzing in my back pocket. I twisted my hip and pulled it out to see that Gable was calling. No. No no no no! I hit decline then pulled up a text to Amy and Bodhi to let them know I’d gone and not to worry. After I’d hit Send, my phone buzzed again that Gable had left a voicemail.
God.
I let it go and stared out the window as I was driven through the city to my apartment thinking it was funny how the lights look so much prettier through teary eyes.
When I got to the apartment, I’d already made up my mind and headed directly to my bedroom where I pulled a suitcase out of my closet and began to pack.
I’d ended up staying at Bodhi’s apartment that night. Since I’d been drinking, I didn’t want to be out on the road for too long and his place was only five minutes away, so I’d texted him to make sure it was okay. I hadn’t wanted to hang around my place for too long in case Gable showed up because I knew if he did, I probably would’ve ended up letting him in if not just to scream at him. So I’d packed quickly and had left in under fifteen minutes.
Bodhi had told me his roommate, Grant, would be there, but he’d been asleep when I’d gotten in and he was a nice guy, so I knew he wouldn’t have minded anyway. I’d gone right to Bodhi’s room and passed out on his bed.
The next morning, I’d awakened when something was tickling my nose, and after swatting at it several times, I finally opened my eyes to see Bodhi lying next to me grinning holding the pen he’d been using touching my nose with trying to get me to wake up.
“You jerk,” I’d said with a laugh, smacking him on the arm hearing him chuckle as I got out of bed to use his bathroom taking my bag with me so I could brush my teeth. I’d lain back down next to him when I got back to his room.
“When you texted that you were leaving last night, I knew something was going on because I saw Gable running off the dance floor toward the front,” he informed me.
I closed my eyes. “He was dancing with some beautiful woman and I freaked. Am I ridiculous or what?”
“Or what,” he said and when I opened my eyes, I saw him smiling sadly at me.
“I pegged him from the start, Bode. He’s a player through and through but stupid me had to get all caught up in him.” I ran a hand over my face, pulling my hair back into a makeshift ponytail with the band I’d put around my wrist.
“Love makes us do funny things,” he said wistfully making me frown at him. “When I saw him going to the front, I followed him.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. Some guy who looked just like him, so I’m assuming it was one of the other famous Powers brothers, had come up and Gable started yelling at him, his arms flying all around looking like a crazy man. After he was finished yelling, his brother said something back to him, and Gable just looked so despondent, hanging his head like he’d just lost his best friend. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.”
I sucked in a breath. “You know he lost his best friend years ago. I hate that he was feeling like that.”
“You amaze me, Scout,” Bodhi said, his eyes warm as he looked at me.
I looked at him like he was a lunatic.
“You’re such a good person. And you really do love him.”
“That doesn’t make me a good person. It makes me a fool,” I whispered.
Bodhi shook his head slowly. “I saw Gable leave not long after. Alone.”
“Good for him,” I muttered not knowing what else to say.
We were over. He’d told me that himself. Then he’d made love to his pen pal, emailing her that he was in love with her. And no matter how much I wanted to believe that he knew it was me, I had to let it go.
Bodhi and I had lain in bed and talked for another thirty minutes about how his night had gone at the club. He’d said he’d met a cute guy and gotten his number, so that was good. They’d made a date for the next weekend and that made me happy for him. He also told me that Dawson had asked for my number but he hadn’t given it to him, thank God, because just what I needed was to pull someone else into the freaking madness that was Scout Patterson’s idiotic world. We’d ended our conversation with me telling him that I was going home to Stone Springs.
When he’d asked if I was coming back, I didn’t have an answer.
After that, we got up and made pancakes eating mostly in silence. When we finished, I cleaned the kitchen while he dressed, and when he came back in, he handed me my bag, frowning at me. I promised him I’d be in contact, gave him a huge hug and left.
And now here I was, back home.
“Scout?” I heard my dad call from the living room.
“Yeah?” I yelled back but got no response, so I got up and went to see what he needed.
“You know I don’t carry on conversations from another room.”
Yep. I knew that. So great to be home!
“Yeah,” I answered.
My dad looked at me, assessing my mood, I guessed, then he spoke. “You up for having dinner at The Ranch tonight?”
The Ranch was a restaurant that my Aunt Hadley owned in town. She wasn’t really my aunt but had been my mom’s best friend, so that’s what my brothers and I called her.
“Uh, yeah. I haven’t had awesome food in forever,” I replied.
“Then it’s a date,” Dad said, smiling at me before going back to reading the newspaper he held open in his hands.
I went back upstairs to my room and plopped down on my bed, picking up my phone off my nightstand and texting Amy back since we’d been interrupted when Dad had called.
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:25 p.m.
Me: Back. Dad and I are gonna eat out tonight. Woohoo. You’ve got to visit here so I can show you around… it’ll take all of five minutes lol
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:25 p.m.
Amy: ha I’d love to see Stone Springs, Idaho sometime. I’ll add it to my Places I’d Never Visit Unless I Was Bored to Friggin’ Tears list ; )
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:26 p.m.
Me: ha Exactly. So anything new going on?
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:26 p.m.
Amy: Got a new asst mgr at work. She’s pretty cool. Didn’t make me clean the ice cream machine last night, so that’s a plus
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:26 p.m.
Me: Awesome. Seniority pays off, huh?
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:27 p.m.
Amy: Yeah, until I work with someone who has seniority over me and she makes me do it ugh
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:27 p.m.
Me: ha yeah. So I called the university and told them I had an emergency at home and they’re allowing me to makeup everything. I’ll probably come back the week after Thanksgiving jsyk
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:28 p.m.
Amy: Good. You need to come back. I miss you. Bodhi misses you : (
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:28 p.m.
Me: I miss you guys too. Oddly, I miss my classes, even Dr. Rippy’s tantalizing lectures in poli-sci about how exciting the Cold War was…
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:29 p.m.
Amy: I’m sure he holds you spellbound
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:29 p.m.
Me: Most definitely
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:30 p.m.
Amy: Okay, let’s address the elephant in the room
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:30 p.m.
Me: Hello, elephant
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:31 p.m.
Amy: You know what I mean… grrrr
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:31 p.m.
Me: haha
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:31 p.m.
Amy: So?
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:32 p.m.
Me: There’s nothing to address… it’s over… I mean, he’s the one who called it off
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:33 p.m.
Amy: Scout. He’s come by three times. He stalked me all the way across campus the other day just to ask how you were. If he had my # I’m sure he’d cell stalk me too
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:33 p.m.
Me: I don’t know what to tell you
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:34 p.m.
Amy: Just talk to him jeez
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:34 p.m.
Me: For what? To hear him, once again, tell me how we’re over? I don’t need to be reminded.
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:35 p.m.
Amy: You are one stubborn ass woman #$%^*@
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:35 p.m.
Me: Are you symbolically cussing me out?
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:36 p.m.
Amy: I can do the real deal if you want. All I’m saying is give him a chance. I know he’s been calling/texting/emailing you, hasn’t he?
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:36 p.m.
Me: Yep
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:36 p.m.
Amy: And what’s he said?
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:36 p.m.
Me: I don’t know. I delete them all
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:37 p.m.
Amy: Stubborn. Ass. Woman. Jesus
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:37 p.m.
Me: Bleeding. Heart. Woman. Who. Thinks. Because. She’s. In. Love. Everyone. Needs. To. Be.
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:38 p.m.
Amy: I know. Isn’t it great? :P
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:38 p.m.
Me: It is. I’m really happy for you guys
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:39 p.m.
Amy: Thanks. I really do love him. He’s definitely my next ex-boyfriend
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:39 p.m.
Me: lol you’re so bad. Who knows, things work out, he could be your first ex-husband ; )
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:39 p.m.
Amy: Gah! That’d be so cool!
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:40 p.m.
Me: It would lol You crack me up :D K, I’d better go get ready. Dad thinks dinner’s at 4. Of course he gets up at 4 am so yeah. Love you. Give Bodhi a big smooch from me!
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:40 p.m.
Amy: Farmers… ick… Okay. Love you too. I’m not kissing someone who still thinks Pluto is a planet… not even for you…
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:41 p.m.
Me: Damn. Talk later xo
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:41 p.m.
Amy: xo
I set my phone down and got up to get ready having not been kidding about Dad eating dinner that early. Before I got to my door, I heard my phone buzz again and went back to pick it up.
Text Message—Tues, Nov 19, 2:42 p.m.
Amy: p.s. give Gable a chance… xo
Uh, yeah. Not happening in this lifetime.