Wherever the Dandelion Falls (54 page)

"I'm sorry," I had mumbled, pulling pack and smoothing my hair.

"For what?" Faye had asked.

"For... being a tease," I sighed. There wasn't another word for what I was doing to her.

"You're not a tease," Faye would assure me. "There's no need to apologize."

And although her words were sincere, I wasn't sure I believed her.

But tonight maybe I wouldn't pull away or apologize. Tonight I could picture myself following through.

I was about to take Faye's hand and suggest we go back to her place when she pointed across the street to a wine bar.

"Want to have another drink?" she asked.

I shrugged. I didn't want to invite myself over to her house, even though I knew she wouldn't mind. I could handle having another drink. "Sure.”

So we walked across the street and found two seats at the bar, toasting each other and chatting about movies we wanted to see in the coming weeks.

When we'd finished our drink, we stood, and Faye helped me into my coat. We had made it almost all the way to the door when I saw a familiar man at the bar.

As soon as I recognized who it was, I felt all the sting and humiliation of waking up alone in that hotel room rush back to me. I felt hot and cold and shaky. The first thing I did was grab Faye's arm. Right away she knew something was wrong. Her hand flew to cover mine where I gripped her.

"What is it?" she asked in a low, hushed voice.

"Someone who upset me a while ago," I mumbled.

Faye looked around as though searching for someone who was pointing at me and laughing, her eyes already glaring with threat. "Who is it? I'll punch them," she said, and I wasn't sure if she was kidding.

Faye kept looking around until she spotted Vance at the bar. She must have recognized him because I felt her bristle. "What is that asshole doing here?" she hissed.

"Pretty sure anyone can come in," I mumbled.

Faye huffed, not sure what to do. Then she seemed to calm for a moment as she studied Vance where he was hunched over the bar. Then she said with a sneaky smile, "Are you okay kissing me in front of him?"

I paused for a split second before saying, "Yeah." I was comfortable kissing Faye in front of anyone except people I worked with.

"Really?" Faye asked, double-checking.

I nodded.

She patted my arm as she unhooked it from her elbow. "Wait here."

Then she sauntered forward, fluffing up her hair and running her finger under her eye to catch any mascara dust. I watched her with anxious anticipation as she approached Vance. I could tell from her walk and the way she held her arm out to him that she was being excessively flirtatious. From the double take Vance gave her as he extended his hand to her, I could tell he was buying it.

I had to admit, knowing that Faye was toying with him made me feel better. Maybe I would be able to move on from the sting of being ditched if she pulled something over on him.

I watched for two minutes as Faye engaged in petty banter with him, laughing raucously at his jokes. I recalled the jokes he'd made at dinner the few times had gone out and begrudgingly remembered that he did have a good sense of humor. What he was saying to Faye was probably funny, but not funny enough to warrant her tilting her head back as she laughed and touched his arm.

I don't know what she said exactly, but suddenly Vance's expression changed dramatically and he looked stricken as Faye turned away from him. Then she sauntered back to me, keeping up her dramatic charade as she gave me a sneaky smile. When she reached me, I saw Vance's face pale as he saw who she was walking towards. That single expression was the most satisfying thing that had happened to me all week.

Then Faye pressed up flush against me, turning to the side so Vance could see, and planted a big, sloppy kiss on my lips. She gave me a devilish grin before she pulled back and gave Vance a final dig in the form of a condescending little wave as she hooked her other hand into my elbow and guided me out of the bar.

I was stunned. I shot Vance a look over my shoulder as I left and was delighted to see him slack-jawed — and alone — at his place at the bar.

Once we got outside and out of sight, Faye burst into giggles. I couldn't help but laugh with her. Once the laughter died down, I pulled in front of her and murmured, "For real this time," before sealing my lips to hers, capturing a more honest, intimate kiss than we had exchanged for the sake of getting revenge on Vance.

Faye hummed into me and kissed me eagerly back. "I think we," kiss, "should have lots more," kiss, "real kisses," kiss, "at my place."

I kissed her harder for a second. "Sounds like a plan." I was excited to get back to her place and see where the night took us.

We hung there, lips not touching, but hungry for each other still. Finally I broke the tension by saying, "That was unexpectedly fun."

She grinned. "I love dashing the hopes of douche bags."

I smiled and kissed her once more before taking her hand and walking back to where she'd parked.

"What did you say to him?" I asked, still smiling as Faye started the car and pulled away from the curb.

She smirked. "I told him that I was intimately familiar with someone he had once offended and that I was planning on giving it to her better than his precious pecker ever could."

At that my smile dropped. I was surprised and incredibly uncomfortable with what she'd said. "Faye, that's gross," I said. "And in case you've forgotten, you're not giving it to me yet."

Faye reached over and gave me a placating pat on the knee. "He doesn't know that, though."

I jerked my leg away from her. "It makes me really uncomfortable that you said that.”

“Why?"

"Because
—
because he knows my boss, and because now he's got further proof that I'm easy. I made a
mistake
with him."

Faye frowned. "What?"

Realizing I had almost admitted to sleeping with Vance, I stiffened. I couldn't tell Faye I'd slept with him on the third date without offending her. We were on our — gosh, I'd lost count of how many dates we'd been on — and we hadn't had sex yet.

My silence wasn't an effective distraction though.

"What mistake?" Faye asked, getting more agitated.

Feeling backed into a corner, I mumbled, "Sleeping with someone too soon."

Faye was quiet for a minute, hands gripping the steering wheel a little too hard. Then, finally, she said quietly, "You slept with him?"

Knowing I couldn't lie, I mumbled, "Yes."

"How long did you date?"

Feeling all the shame of waking up in the hotel room alone, I said quietly, "Not long enough."

"How long is not long enough?" she asked, tensing in her seat.

Wanting to avoid telling her the truth, I mumbled, "It doesn't matter."

"Were you a couple, or just dating?"

Feeling my face grow hot, I put my hands over my cheeks to cover them. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't."

Faye was stony for a moment before she turned forward, her motions jerky with contained anger as she said, "I get it," she muttered. "You'll sleep with a guy on the first date, but not a girl."

Offended by her assumption, I scoffed. "No."

"Second date? Third date?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Faye gave me a passive aggressive shrug. "I just want to get a feel for your double standards concerning penis and vagina."

I gasped. "It has nothing to do with body parts."

"You sure about that?" she asked, eying me with what felt like vicious accusation.

I couldn't believe what was happening. Hadn't we just been giggling and kissing on the sidewalk? She seemed like a completely different person now.

"Why are you being like this?" I asked. I was genuinely bewildered by her sudden aggressiveness.

"Being like what?" she said, defensive.

Deciding to give her a taste of her own medicine, I crossed my arms and avoided looking at her. "Obsessing over things I did before we were dating.”

"Do you actually like girls, or do you just like throwing your bisexuality around for men to see?"

I was flabbergasted. Where was all this anger coming from? How was she so threatened by my attraction to men when it had never been an issue before?

"My attraction to men isn't a threat to you any more than my attraction to women. It was
you
who decided to flaunt our relationship in front of Vance. I would never have made a show of claiming you in front of someone just to spite them."

Faye didn't respond, and my comeback felt like a twang from a poorly fired arrow.

Faye swerved suddenly into a turning lane. "I guess I'll take you home," she said, low and icy. "You're obviously not in a place to continue our
romantic evening
." She said it with such crisp distaste, everything about her felt prickly.

"Fine. I hope you stop getting angry over imaginary things I did to wrong you," I huffed.

Faye took a breath as though she was going to respond, but then closed her mouth, deciding against it.

Feeling like I had an opportunity to gain some footing, I addressed her previous accusation that I was treating men and women differently in my dating practices. "For your information, I regret sleeping with him. He made me feel really bad about myself."

Faye tucked her lips into her mouth as though she were chewing them for a moment before she said, "I'm sorry to hear that." Her words were still tense, but they were less aggressive.

A few minutes later she arrived at my door. "Sorry the night ended on a sour note," she said. "Next time I'll just keep my thoughts to myself."

Looking at her with a critical eye, I said, "No. Next time, share your thoughts honestly like we agreed when we decided to be open with each other about our feelings. Don't wait until they explode when you're angry."

Faye tucked her chin down and nodded. "Okay."

I opened my door and slid out of my seat, picking my purse up off her floor. "Thanks for dinner," I said, the relief of my nearby apartment relaxing the knot of unpleasantness in my stomach.

Faye nodded again and mumbled, "Goodnight."

"Night," I said, and closed the door.

And as I turned to the steps of my apartment and fished out my keys, I realized it was the first time since our first kiss that we hadn't kissed each other goodnight. And that made me sad.

Faye gave me a sheepish, grateful smile, and walked next to me into the restaurant. I saw her face go blank as she took in the surroundings. Then she leaned toward me, shoulder brushing mine as she hissed, "Riley, this place is really fancy."

I gave her a smile and a tap on the wrist with mine at our sides. "You deserve it."

Faye still looked overwhelmed, so I said, "I wanted to bring you here for our first date, but we missed our reservation."

Faye's smile relaxed as we both remembered eating pizza with each other in a divey little shop near her house.

"I liked our first date exactly as it was," she murmured.

Feeling warmth soak into my chest at the memory of her face that night as we ate cheap pizza at a rickety table, I said, "Me too."

As soon as we were seated, I felt something flapping at my knee and realized she was leaning forward so she could pat my knee.

Grinning, I leaned forward so I could hold her hand under the table, and we sat there, hunched over, smiling like fools.

Realizing we wouldn't be able to eat like this, I looked around and spotted a circular booth on the other side of the restaurant that wasn't being used. When our waiter approached, I asked, "Is there any way we could sit over there?" pointing to the booth.

The waiter gave a stiff bow at the waist and said, "Certainly, ma'am. Just one moment." He walked briskly away and Faye gave me a funny look.

"I can hold your hand with more stealth over there," I explained.