Private Show (The Private Series) (4 page)

When my shift is over I go to wake a sleeping Erin. Apparently that coffee didn’t do her justice. “Hey sleeping beauty, time to go home.” I say with a nudge.

She starts to shift. “Oh my God. I fell asleep?”

“Obviously. You have some drool right…” I rub my chin to imply where she needs to wipe. She quickly grabs a napkin and rises to her feet.

“Can we get out of here now?” She sounds agitated.

When I unlock my car door I notice that I still have my pharmacy bag on the seat and look to Erin.
Crap.
I don’t want her knowing I am on the pill. She will make such a big deal out of it. So I jump in as fast as I can to get to the bag before she does. Fail. She grabs it, sits down, and places the bag on her lap.

“Why do you look so nervous, Tess?” she asks.

“Uh, no reason. Just thought I’d move that bag for you, so you don’t have to hold it all the way back to your place.”

Not buying it, she tears into the bag. Damn. “Suckers. Temporary tattoos? And… Oh. MY. God!”

“Yes! I know! I am on the pill.” I say it before she ruptures my eardrums.

“Tess! Why didn’t you tell me you were going on it?”

“Honestly because it’s not that big of a deal.” But, really, it’s huge deal to me. A very committed deal.

Damn her and her all-knowing ways. “I don’t buy it. This is a big thing, Tess. This means you’re planning on having lots and lots of hot sex with your very sexy British hunk of a man boyfriend.”

I sigh in defeat. “Yes. It is a gigantic deal for me. I never thought that I would be so attracted to a man like I am with Ben. And yes, the sex is a huge perk.” We are both giggling by the time we pull into Erin’s parking lot. She lives in an upper-class apartment complex and most of the people here drive Jaguars and Mercedes, so my little red Honda sticks out like a bleeding toe with gout.

We plop onto her sofa, abs still hurting from laughing all the way here. “Drinks,” Erin states, not asking. She jumps to her feet and goes for the fridge. I hear her rattling around some bottles. Damn, this girl is a lush. She comes back to me with a mixed drink in hand. And I love her even more, when she hands me my classic rum and Coke. Heavy on the rum.

“Are you trying to get me drunk?” I ask her.

In her seductive voice, “What if I am?” She’s trying not to smile, but fails. And so do I. We pick out a fun movie, with some crude humor to keep the vibe light tonight.

“So I take it Mark liked your purchases from yesterday?” I ask with a little wink.

Her face lights up with the mention of his name. “Yeah, you can say that.” And I don’t want to know the details, no way. So I just smile and shake my head at her.

We eventually order a pizza and watch another movie. We have another drink and I already know there’s no way I am going to be going home tonight. Erin makes a mean rum and Coke, and vodka cranberry. By the time the pizza is here we could definitely use the carbs to absorb the alcohol a little bit. This is such a nice evening. Food, movies, drinks and my best friend.

At almost the end of the second movie, I decide to text Ben good night, like we have been. I am just happy I remembered, considering my buzzed state. Turning it on I see I have four missed calls, two voicemails and about a dozen texts. All from Ben. Uh-oh. I start to scroll through the texts first:

10:23:
Hey babe tried calling you.

10:47:
Hey where are you?

11:02:
Tess?

11:16:
Are you ok? Call me.

11:34:
Call me.

11:45:
What the hell Tess what’s going on?

12:01:
You’re scaring the shit out of me.

His voicemail messages were along the same lines. Shit. I quickly dial his number, feeling a little guilty. He answers on the second ring. “Tess! What the fuck? I have been going crazy over here trying to get a hold of you! Are you OK? Where are you? I went to your place when you didn’t answer your phone or my texts. Are you mad at me? Did I do something?” He just kept going on, not letting me assure him that I was perfectly fine. But man, does he sound crazed. A mix of scared, livid, relieved and finally sexy.

“I am fine. I am over at Erin’s,” I simply tell him.

He sighs with relief. “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

“I had it on silent at work and I must have forgotten to turn it back on. We’re just hanging out, having pizza and watching movies.” Like a normal girl in her early twenties does… geez.

He clears his throat. “Are you heading home soon?” His voice sounds deep and sensual. Oh my. Ben’s accent mixed with the rum in my system is doing things to me, things that I need taken care of.

“I have been drinking. I can’t drive.”

Keeping his voice low he asks me, “Do you want me to come get you?”

Do I?

“I do, but I don’t.” I say, not thinking. But I also just need a girl’s night, it’s refreshing. He will just have to understand.

“What do you mean by that?” He’s a little defensive.

I try to recover the conversation, “No, Ben, I do, but I want to wait until the party before we…”

As if he understands, he jumps in. “Oh. OH! You
need
a few days.”

“What? No! I am not on my period!” I explode and I hear Erin blast a laugh from across the room. My face is red from embarrassment and slight anger. “Why would you assume that?”

“Well, what other reason do you have to not want to see me tonight?”

Damn rum. I can’t think of something quick enough, “Because I want to wait till the night of the party. I have a surprise for you.”

“What kind of surprise?” He’s amused.

I need to put my filter on, which is apparently already filled with rum. Shit. “Look, I am buzzed and I don’t want to ruin the surprise I have for you. Now please stop asking before I spill the beans.”

He’s laughing. “OK, OK, I’ll stop hounding you. Did you really just say spill the beans? How crocked are you?”

“Uh, well I have had a couple of Erin’s drinks so… I’d say pretty crocked.”

His laughter slowing and fading, “OK, babe, have fun with your friend. I…” He doesn’t finish his sentence.

“You…?” I know what I want him to say, but will he say it over the phone for the first time? I don’t know, but I would rather hear it in person. I have never been told ‘I love you’ from a guy before. That was reserved for my mom. Not even my friends growing up would say it to me.

I can practically hear the hamster spinning the wheel in his head, as he thinks about his next set of words. “I… can’t wait to see what costume you decided on for tomorrow night and I can’t wait to see you. I miss you like crazy.”

Nice save.

I sigh. Even though I cannot wait to hear him say those words, knowing he misses me after a short amount of time swells my heart. I know that when he says it, he’ll make it perfect. “I miss you too.”

“Bye baby.”

“Bye.”

The next morning Erin and I wake up holding our heads. “How much did we drink?” I gurgle out.

She’s covering her eyes to shield it from the blinding light from the morning sun. “The whole liquor store, I’d say.”

The remainder of last night after getting off the phone with Ben was pretty much a blur. I feel bad that he was worried. I don’t want him to worry; I do enough of that on my own.

For one thing I don’t know what the current judicial standing is with Dave and when or if he will be released. But the big concern is how fast I have fallen for Ben. I don’t know how strongly he feels for me. Yes, he has told me over and over how crazy he is about me. But am I enough for him? I suppose only time will tell.

Erin is in front of me now, snapping her fingers in my face. “Hello, earth to Tess! Come in Tess!”

Blinking rapidly drawing my attention back to my red headed friend, “Yeah, sorry.”

“So, you wanna?”

“Want to what?”

Throwing her hands on her hips, she puffs a loose strand of her hair from her face. “Go grab some coffee?”

I’m smiling. “Always.”

Erin loans me a pair of jeans which I have to roll up, because I am like half a foot shorter than she is and a sweater to wear before we leave for the little café just down the block from Erin’s place. It’s not overly busy this late morning, and it’s comfortable in here. The cute barista flirts with Erin and she flirts right back. I nudge her shoulder after the blond-haired, green-eyed barista boy saunters off to make our coffee.

“Uh, what was that?” I ask her.

“What?” She shrugs and smirks.

“What about Mark?”

She giggles and rolls her eyes. “Wow, you really are innocent, aren’t you? Mark and I are okay, but there’s nothing wrong with a little harmless flirting… besides, he seems to have a wandering eye…”

Barista boy is back to ring up our order. “It’s on the house.” He gives Erin a little wink.

She leans in to read his name tag. “Thank you… Kevin.” She blows him a little kiss. I raise my cup and offer a “cheers” to the guy as thanks. Huh, guess her flirting quite literally pays off.

“See?” Is all she has to say.

We sit and sip our hot rich drinks. Licking her lips, Erin speaks. “So are you excited about the party?”

“I am really excited about tonight! This is the first time that I have dressed up non-scary.”

Erin looks shocked and confused. “Wait, you have never been a slutty nurse or a whorish nun? Really? Most of the girls our age wouldn’t be caught dead in a gory costume.”

“Oh, believe me, I know! I have nothing against it. It just wasn’t ever for me. Although there was this one year when I wore a dress… I went as Carrie, post-prom.”

Erin laughs, and then switches the subject to Mark. “He is going as Justin Timberlake, during his N’SYNC days. He is the Justin to my Britney… bitch.”

I can’t help but laugh, “Are you going to finish with ‘Bitch’ after every time you say Britney tonight?”

“Duh.”

I shake my head, “Oh, this is going to be fun.”

“Yes. Yes it is. Now what do you have planned for today?”

“Um, nothing really, other than sit and watch the clock.”

Judging by the expression on her face, Erin disapproves.

“Well, how about we make today a pampering day? My treat.”

Never having been to a spa, I agree.

Erin claps her hands with excitement, “Yay! OK, let’s go!”

And I admit I am pretty damn excited about this. I have been working hard all my life, even more so since graduating high school. I mean, hell, I have never even had a manicure in my entire life. We walk back to Erin’s complex and jump into my little red baby, and Erin tells me where to go, and when we pull up to the lush building I think I pee my pants a little. This place is gorgeous! Very upscale, you can tell the light stone that the structure is made out of was laid by hand. The flowers and landscaping was something out of a magazine photo spread. There is even a valet.

The valet guy opens my door and helps me out. Now this is something new. I hand him my keys and he eyes my oldie-but-a-goodie of a car, tells us to enjoy our visit. Another man greets Erin by name and I can only assume she is a regular here.

Inside, Erin grabs my hand, smiles at the desk clerk, and says, “The Girlfriend Package, please.”