All the Right Things (Love in LA) (2 page)

Annie chewed her lip, looking doubtful. “I dunno… let me marinate on it for a minute.”

Alex bit into another piece of pizza and nodded at her, indicating his mouth was busy for the moment anyway. She really did want to hear what Nate had to say, and she’d rather make a decision on what to do sooner rather than later before it affected her chances with Casey.

“Alright.” Annie got up from her bar stool and patted the counter decidedly. “I’ll be back for more wine.”

“Atta girl!”

Annie’s hand trembled as she dialed Nate’s number and put the phone to her ear, listening as it rang once, then twice, then he picked up.

“Hello? Annie?”

“Hi.”

“Look, I can explain. I’m so sorry.”

“You should be.”

“I am, trust me. Can I… can I come over and speak with you in person about this? Please just let me explain.”

Even though she’d already made up her mind to let him come over, she felt like she had to make him suffer a bit first. She waited for several seconds and then sighed. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“Please. I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you at all. I just… I need to see you face to face and apologize and explain what happened.”

Annie sighed and paused again for extra effect before finally agreeing. “Fine… I mean, yeah, sure. Why not?”

“Great. I’ll be there in about half an hour.”

“Okay.”

She ended the call and looked skyward. “Please God, don’t make me regret this.”

A moment later, she was knocking first on Alex’s door before letting herself in. He had her glass filled and ready when she walked in. She quickly downed the wine and held up her glass for more.

“He’s coming over,” she squeaked.

Alex smirked as he refilled her glass. “Oh goodie, I’ll be listening for your screams through the courtyard again.”

“Okay first of all, I am not sleeping with that jerk-off, whatever he has to say. If I forgive him, he’s gonna have to work for it this time. Second of all, I learned my lesson the first time and I won’t be forgetting to shut the windows ever again.”

“Whatever you say, chica.”

Annie rolled her eyes at him as she gulped down the rest of her glass and then set it down on the countertop. “Thanks, hon. I needed the drink and pep talk. I’m gonna go freshen up before he gets here. Love you.”

“Love you more!”

There was plenty of time for Annie to touch up her make-up and hair and tidy up the apartment before Nate got there. When she answered the door and saw him standing there with a bouquet of flowers in his hand, his deep blue eyes so hopeful and apologetic, Annie’s first instinct was to throw her arms around him and say she forgave him. But the amount of hurt he had caused made her cautious; she wasn’t about to cave that easily.

“Hey,” he said quietly.

“Hey,” she said back, eyes narrowed and wary.

“You cut your hair.”

Instinctively, her hand went up to touch the hair that was now gone. “Yeah. You don’t like it?”

“No, I do. It looks good—you… look great.”

“Thanks,” she said, letting her hand drop back down to her side.

“I got you these flowers… kind of lame, I know. But uh, the florist told me that white roses can show apology while the lavender ones can express feelings of infatuation, delight or adoration. So like if I wanted to let a girl know that I’m so sorry I fucked things up and that I’ve fallen head over heels in love with her and hope she’ll forgive me and give me a second chance, this was what I should get.”

“Well, Nate, I don’t really know what you want me to say. I mean, the flowers are a nice gesture, but you can’t buy me off with roses and a pretty little speech. You still haven’t explained why you just disappeared the other night. I’m pretty sure you knew you could’ve hooked up with me
well
before the night at the karaoke bar, but you made it seem like you were interested in more than just a casual fuck.”

Nate winced as he glanced around the empty courtyard. “Ah, yeah, I know. I’m a dick. And I did—I
do
want more than that from you. But uh… can I maybe come inside and talk with you about this so we don’t give your neighbors a private show?”

Annie hesitated momentarily before nodding her consent, then reluctantly stepped back to allow Nate to enter the apartment. He handed her the flowers, then stood there waiting for her to close the door and sit down on the couch. He remained standing as he rubbed his hands together nervously, looking up at the ceiling and clearing his throat before finally looking her in the eye.

“Alright, let me start at the beginning so you understand what led to me disappearing on you that night. As I told you before, my job is being a mentor at a rehab facility for young men who are trying to get clean from drug or alcohol addiction. What I didn’t tell you is
why
that is what I do.” Nate glanced down at the ground for a moment as he cleared his throat again, then finally sat down on an armchair and began to explain.

“Look um,” he started, and then paused to take a deep breath before continuing, “my parents were junkies all my life, so it wasn’t a huge surprise when I started using at a very young age—thirteen, to be exact. First it started out with drinking, smoking cigarettes and weed, maybe doing some shrooms occasionally, and then it changed to coke and ecstasy. By the time I was sixteen, I was addicted to prescription meds and seriously considering trying meth. But I’d seen what it did to my parents, and a part of me was still holding out against that.”

Annie nodded solemnly as he paused. “I see. Wow, that is pretty crazy. So obviously you’ve given that all up since then?”

“Yeah, I made a friend through a ballet class who was sober. She’d gone through her own set of addictions and pulled through it after going to rehab. She never gave up on me and was my biggest supporter through it all. It took two years, and of course I fell back into my old habits a few times, but she helped me through the worst of it and wouldn’t put up with any of my bullshit. I’ve been sober for five years this June.”

“Well, congrats on that and I know it must have been a long, hard battle for you. I’m so sorry I didn’t realize, or I probably wouldn’t have invited you out to a bar,” Annie said with a rueful smile.

“Not your fault. It’s not necessarily something I bring up right away until I’ve gotten to know someone a little better, which is what I was trying to do with you, but… well, I got a little carried away at the bar. I seriously didn’t intend for that to happen… but we had built up all that sexual tension between us, and you just looked amazing and—
God
, did you smell good enough to eat. I know it’s not a good excuse, but I couldn’t help myself.”

“So you weren’t planning on that happening, yet you had a condom in your pocket?”

“I always carry a condom in my pocket.”

Annie smirked. “Well, always better to be safe than sorry, I suppose.”

“Safety first.”

“Okay, well that still doesn’t explain why you left the bar without saying a word.”

Nate grimaced and ran his hand through his hair, rubbing the back of his neck as he studied the floor. “Yeah, so, the thing is… my sponsor is this girl who I’ve known almost the entire time I’ve been sober. We’re pretty close, and I didn’t realize that she was secretly hoping for our relationship to turn into something more, but I guess I probably should have. I’d been talking to her about you, and I called her the couple of times I was feeling tempted to break sobriety—both times happened to be when I was with you.”

Her eyes widening slightly, Annie nodded. It was all beginning to make sense now.

“The first time was the night I crashed your weekly dinner date with Alex. The second was at the karaoke bar. Both times, she advised me to leave immediately. The second time, she told me that you were threatening my sobriety, and that I needed to get up without saying anything and leave—that ultimately, it would be better for you. I was so fucked up in the head that I just did as she advised—well, and I
trusted
her. But I haven’t been able to forgive myself or think about anything else since I left you there. After our next meeting, Sasha, my sponsor, asked me to give her a ride home. When we got to her place, she invited me in for coffee and said we could talk more. But after she tried to kiss me in the middle of me trying to tell her how badly I felt about leaving you there without saying anything, I realized what her true intentions had been all along. Needless to say, I left immediately, and she is no longer my sponsor.”

“Wow… I don’t even know what to say.” Annie shook her head; it wasn’t a great excuse, but she kind of understood.

“I know I don’t deserve a second chance, but at the very least, I had to explain what happened and to ask for your forgiveness. You are a beautiful, special, one-of-a-kind girl, and the last thing I wanted to do was hurt you. I just felt you deserved to know what happened. I didn’t want you to think it had anything to do with how I felt about you.”

Taking a deep breath, Annie played with the throw pillow in her lap, unsure of what to say next.

“Well, thank you for being honest with me. I do appreciate knowing. It really fucked with my head when you left… I didn’t know what I had done or what to think of you as a person… other than that you were the world’s biggest prick.” They both laughed a little awkwardly.

“Yeah, I know I deserve that.”

“Yeah… so… is that it? You just wanted to explain and apologize?”

“Well, I do care about you, Annie. I’d love it if you gave me a second chance. I promise you we can take it slow. I’ll take you out on dates, bring you more flowers, woo you… whatever you want.”

Her mind raced as she considered Nate’s apology and her growing feelings for Casey. Did she want to see where things could go with Nate? Could she trust him not to break her heart again? What if Casey came back and it didn’t work out? She bit her lip as she pondered her response.

Slowly she said, “Look, Nate, I appreciate you coming here tonight to tell me everything. I’ll admit I’m still attracted to you, but regardless of your explanation, you hurt me badly, and I’m not sure I want to take the chance of that happening again.”

“I swear, if you give me another chance, I will do anything it takes to prove to you that I’m worth your trust. Please—I think we could have something really special. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

Annie sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know. I need time to think.”

“Sure, sure. Take all the time you need. Look, I’ll get out of your hair—give you some space. You probably want to go vent to Alex now anyway.”

Unable to help it, Annie smiled and nodded. “Uh yeah, he’s waiting for a full report.”

“I suspected as much. I’m glad you have a friend like him to be here for you right now.”

“Me too. Don’t know what I would do without him.”

After she walked him to the door, he turned and looked at her sheepishly. “Can I give you a hug?” As soon as she nodded, he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, burying his nose in her hair. “Oh man, your hair smells so good,” he groaned before releasing her. “I like what you did with it. Looks great.”

“Heh, well, thank you.”

“Alright… think it over, Annie. I promise I’ll make it up to you. And again, take your time—maybe we can have dinner in a week or so.”

“I’ll let you know.”

Sighing, he nodded and turned to open the door. She stood in the doorway and watched him leave the courtyard, then closed her door and headed back over to Alex’s apartment.

When she let herself back in his front door, Alex was lounging on the couch and watching a movie with his cat curled up on his lap.

“So? How did it go?”

Sitting down on the couch next to him, Annie leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “Fine. He explained what happened—he’s been sober for five years, and when he told his sponsor that he was being tempted to break sobriety and that he was with me, she told him to leave.”

“Wow, well I can kind of understand that, although I don’t know why he couldn’t have just told you that at the bar.”

Lifting her head back off the couch, Annie glanced at him sideways. “Oh, there’s more to it than that. Apparently, his sponsor also has the hots for him, so she had an ulterior motive.”