Dreaming of You (22 page)

After high school, they each headed to different universities, although he’d still see this guy every year during the holidays when he’d go back to visit his parents. Rufus graduated with a degree in computer technological something or other (a bunch of big words I didn’t understand) from UCLA and was immediately snatched up by the company he worked for now. He said it wasn’t the best offer, moneywise, but it was enough, and it enabled him to move back to his hometown, which he loved.

He didn’t say so, but I could tell a large part of the reason he moved back home was to be near his mother. His eyes lit up when he talked about her, which I found an incredibly endearing quality. I threw in little tidbits about myself every now and then but tried to keep them on the more general side. He’d had enough to drink that he’d talk about himself without necessarily worrying about whether I was sharing to the same degree.

“So I take it your family knows that you’re gay?” I asked.

“Hey, guys,” Finn’s voice called from behind us.

Rufus looked up and I twirled around, carefully, on my bar stool, and we both admired all that was Finn.

“You look incredible,” Rufus said.

“Stunning.” I was smiling like a proud parent and looking around to see if everyone else in the room was as dazzled as I was. I wasn’t disappointed. “You look like Hollywood royalty, Finn.”

“So”—she slid onto a bar stool—“where
is
that drink I was promised earlier today? No fair teasing a girl. Cough it up.”

Rufus turned to wave down the bartender to find that he was already standing before Finn awaiting whatever instructions she might have for him. She looked at him for a couple of seconds with a mischievous smile on her face while I imagined he was silently praying she would ask him to be her love slave.

I started to giggle at his eagerness, and she finally said, “I would absolutely adore a cosmopolitan, up, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble. Oh, and if you could really shake it hard, so there are little ice chips floating on the top of it, I would really appreciate it.”

An undecipherable noise emitted from his lips, and he turned and trotted down the bar to make her cocktail.

“I love being a woman.” She pulled her cigarettes out of the tiny matching blue beaded purse she had neglected to show me earlier. “So, have you boys been getting acquainted?”

“We most certainly have,” Rufus said, picking up his glass. “Once you get past your friend’s initial wacky antics, he’s really a pretty normal guy.”

I peeked over at Finn and caught her rolling her eyes and giving me a “what the hell have you done now” look. “Yes, well, you have to lick through the hard, candy-coated outside to get to the chewy chocolate inside.”

“I think I prefer the way you put it,” Rufus said.

I noticed some type of commotion out of the corner of my eye. I looked up the bar and my mouth fell open when I saw the bartender jumping around as if he were at a Metallica concert shaking Finn’s cosmo. Finn and Rufus turned to look as well, and the three of us all started snickering to one another.

I was amazed by the entire scene. “That is completely ridiculous.”

“I think it’s kinda sweet,” Rufus said.

“Then you should be extremely excited to have stumbled onto Aden, huh?” Finn asked. “He’s very good at making a fool out of himself, as you’ve witnessed.”

“You would be correct,” Rufus said.

“Excuse me.” I picked up my glass. “I think I have had—what did you say?”

“You’re really sexy when you get all flustered.” He looked me up and down hungrily like a piece of meat again.

“Oh Lord,” Finn said in disgust. “You homos…here comes the mutual gush fest.”

The bartender came back holding Finn’s cocktail with both hands as if it were the Holy Grail. “Here you go…ice chips and everything.”

“You are so sweet.” Finn lifted the glass, took a tiny sip. “Oh, that is the single best cosmopolitan I’ve ever had,” she added, with a look of satiation.

“Thank you, thank you,” he said, blushing, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“We’ll let you know if we need anything else.”

“What?” the bartender asked, then looked back at me. “Oh, yeah…sure.”

He turned and headed back down to the other end of the bar. He glanced back to snatch another look, and Finn smiled, giving him a little wave. He slammed his knee into a beer cooler and stopped momentarily, straining to keep from yelping in pain. “I’m okay.” He waved.

“So, Rufus,” Finn asked, “what is it that you do?”

He began to answer when I interrupted. “Sorry, dear, we’ve already covered that. That’s what happens to people who aren’t ready on time, they miss out on things.”

“Rowr.” She held up a hand like a claw. “Who pissed in your Cheerios?”

“Finn?” a voice asked from behind us.

The three of us spun around to see an extremely gorgeous man standing behind Finn with a questioning smile on his face. He was well over six feet tall, athletic build, black hair, full lips, and wearing a loose-fitting suit. “Jesus, it is you. Finn McCauley. I can’t believe it! How are you?”

“I’m great.” She looked at me to see if I might know who he was. “You?”

“Great, I’m great,” the man said. “My God, I would’ve never thought it possible, but you look even more beautiful than you did in high school.”

“High school.” She was still trying to figure out who the hell he was.

Rufus and I looked at one another and smiled while pondering the possibilities. “Are you the one Finn lost her virginity to?”

She swung her arm over and smacked me. “Stop it, Aden. He won’t know you’re joking.”

“You don’t remember me, do you?” he asked, smiling.

“I’m sorry, no.” She reached around and picked up her martini glass. “As a matter of fact, I don’t think I remember anyone who looked like you in high school,” she added, looking him up and down.

“That’s because no one ever looks like that in high school,” Rufus mumbled under his breath.

“You’re right,” the mystery man said. “I guess I do look a little different now.”

Finn shook her free hand in the air as if unable to wait any longer. “Okay, enough of the suspense, I can’t take it. Who are you?”

“Peter Riley.” He smiled.

Finn scrunched up her forehead, filing through the records in her brain, trying to place the man standing before her with the man he wasn’t in high school. Shaking her head in frustration, she finally looked up at him with pleading eyes.

“Peter Riley; we were lab partners in chemistry junior year. Mrs. Hasting’s class.”

Recognition passed over her face, only to be replaced by shock once she looked back up at him. “You’re Peter Riley?”

He nodded and smiled.

She held up her hand, swishing her finger over him. “Whose body did you steal, because you look incredible?”

“Well,” I said, with a look of irritation, “that’s not rude.”

“And your face, or your nose, to be precise,” she added, completely ignoring me, squinting. “Plastic surgery?”

Peter burst out laughing and shook his head. “You haven’t changed a bit. Everything that comes out of your mouth is one hundred percent pure Finn. I always loved that about you.”

“You like that?” I asked.

“Shut up,” she snapped at me. “Like you can talk after the things you’ve done today.”

My eyes bulged, and she got an “oops, sorry” look on her face.

“Really,” Rufus said, with a half smile, “I can’t wait to hear about this.”

“It’s nothing really,” I said innocently. “Just a little changing of plans, nothing you’d want to be bored hearing about. So, Peter, you like bitchy women?”

“Yeah,” Finn said, “let’s get back to that. You never did answer my question.”

“Well”—Peter folded his arms—“I hate to disappoint you, but no, I didn’t have plastic surgery. I just sort of grew into my nose one day, and the rest is the result of the gym and a personal trainer.”

“I’d say you grew into your nose.” She was wide-eyed. “It was huge.”

“Looks to me like it still is,” Rufus said.

“Yeah,” I added, “but it certainly doesn’t appear to be huge.”

“Nope,” Finn smiled. “Everything looks fine now, just fine.”

“Big nose?” Rufus asked.

The three of us all sort of pondered it for a few seconds, knowing that it had some sort of significance to us, but unable to figure out what it was. Our eyes widened in recognition, and the three of us simultaneously peered down.

“Do I have something on my pants?” Peter asked, looking down.

“Nice Dockers.” Rufus smiled.

Peter looked confused. “I’m not wearing Dockers.”

My face burned ever so slightly, and I turned toward Finn to see that she was still eyeing his crotch while running her fingertips over the rim of her martini glass. I reached over and lifted her chin. “His face is up here, sweetie.”

“Thank you, I forgot,” she said, a little too seriously.

“So what are you doing here?” Peter asked. “Do you live in St. Louis, or are you just visiting?”

“No.” She reached over and placed her hand on my knee. “I brought my friend Aden up to the airport.”

“So you’re just in town for the night?”

“That’s right,” she said, seemingly unable to tear her eyes away from the man.

“Well, I don’t suppose you… That is, if your friends don’t mind, maybe I could steal you away for dinner? I’d really love to catch up.”

Finn peered over at me, and I gave her a look that unmistakably, indisputably, said,
No, I need you.

“Of course they won’t mind.” She smiled and slid off her bar stool. “I’m kind of a third wheel here anyway, if you get my drift.”

“Great.” Peter grabbed her hand to help her down.

“Well, I—”

“You boys play nice.” She cut me off with a naughty smile.

“It was nice to meet both of you,” Peter said.

“Yeah,” Rufus and I said simultaneously, then watched them walk out of the bar.
That’s just great. No Finn and I’m drinking. Fucked, party of one. Fucked, party of one.

“Did he even actually meet us?” Rufus asked, confused.

“No, I don’t think he did. I’m sorry Finn is so rude.”

“Nah.” He took a drink. “She saw an opportunity and grabbed it. You can’t blame a girl for that.”

How does that shady bitch do it?
“Sure you can; besides, I don’t think that was an opportunity.”

“Sure it was. It’s a reverse Cinderella. He was obviously a geek in high school, and she was the unobtainable desire of his pubescent lust. Now, several years later, he has transformed into a hot man and has come back to reclaim his heart’s desire.”

“Are you sure you don’t write Harlequins?” I asked.

“Cute.” He smirked. “Well, maybe we should follow suit and go find some grub.”

“Well, there is this one place Finn and I usually go, that is, if you like Italian.”

“Love it.” He hopped down off his stool and flagged down the bartender to sign for the bill.

I began to get up when he said, “Stop.”

“What?”

“Don’t move,” he said.

I sat perfectly still, and he leaned down and placed an arm under my legs and the other around my waist. He lifted me up and sat me down feetfirst on the floor.

“There,” he added, smiling, “safe and sound.”

I smacked him in the chest and turned, heading toward the door. I heard a couple of people snickering as I went by, and I could feel Rufus grinning smugly behind me.