Every Girl Does It (22 page)

“You okay?” He asks as he gently puts his hand on my shoulder.

“Fine
,
” I
reply,
trying to
keep
the food in my stomach. I need the pink stuff bad.

“Are you sure
?
B
ecause you don’t look too well
.
I’m sorry we
’
re stuck here for another hour or so
.
D
o you think you
'
ll make it?” He looks genuin
e
ly concerned
,
which would normally touch me
,
if I wasn’t ready to blow half
-
digested shrimp all over his face.

If I don’t stop burping up the sweet sauce from the coconut
,
I
’
m going to lose my mind. “I think I just need to go to the
rest
room.”

“
To
throw up?” Preston asks smiling kindly.
Why does he have to be so nice sometimes
?

“Yes
,
” I
groan
weakly
,
and honestly
,
I feel like I am going to pass out any minute.

“I have an idea
,
”
h
e says
.

“Oh my
gosh
.
P
lease, no more ideas
.
N
o more Angelina or Morocco or…” I can’t finish my sentence.

"
No
,
nothing like that,” he says and within
moments
he
’
s slowly walking me to the single family bathroom and opening the door.

I try to protest
,
but I feel too sick to open my mouth.
He did this to me
! He should know I tend to overeat when I
'
m nervous, or that I eat when I don’t have nice things to say to people.

“
You know,
Amanda, you shouldn’t eat to get back at me
.
I
t
'
s mean to your body.” He shak
es
his head, but I don’t care
if
he’s
kidding around
at this point
.
I just need to get rid of
the excess
rich food.

“Okay
,
so I’
ll
hold your hair
,
”
he offers
.

“You
’
ll do no such thing
!
” I
’
m completely
mortified
.

“Yes
,
I will
.
I don’t want old shrimp on your cute dress
,
or on your pretty face
,
or in your hair
,
okay?” He
’
s being difficult
,
and I don’t have time to argue
,
so I just nod my head and heave
.
Yeah, there it is. E
verything I just ate at the restaurant
makes
its encore appearance in the shiny toilet
.

T
he weird part is
,
he doesn’t even say anything. He isn’t mocking me
,
he isn’t laughing
,
and he isn’t even getting grossed out. Maybe it’s a fireman thing? I don’t know
,
but I do know one thing
, and
that
is
I
’
m
ridiculously
embarrassed right now. I just threw up shrimp in front of the hottest guy I know
,
even if he
’
s unavailable and a cheater. He
’
s
still
good looking
,
and
,
well okay
,
I’ll admit, deep down he
’
s a good guy
.
I
can’t
blame him for wanting his wife back or vice versa
.
I mean
,
I
’
d want him back if I
was
her.

I fi
nish up and wash my tan face before finally
working up
enough guts
(sorry, poor choice of words)
to make eye contact. I look up to see Preston digging through his pockets. What in the world is he doing?

He pulls out two
breath mints
, one of those disposable toothbrushes, and some
chap stick
. And then I cry. I know
,
I know
.
I’m pathetic
.
But
I
’
m
just
one of those girls
who
,
once she does
n’t feel well
,
end
s
up crying
,
holding
her
teddy bear and calling
her
mom
to ask
her
to
please drive four hours to take care of
her baby
.
I mean
,
it
'
s not that I
’
m not independent
,
I just hate not feeling well
. And
here
’
s Preston in the bathroom with me
,
offering
ways to make me feel better
.
N
ot only that
,
but he doesn’t seem the least bit
a
ffected
the way
I just got rid of all of my lunch/dinner in the same room we
’
re still standing in.

He kisses me, yes
,
kisses
me on the forehead
,
before leaving. I sigh and cry to myself as I lean over the porcelain counter top. How did this happen? How did I fall in love with the most wonderful guy on the planet just to find out I can’t have him?
Where’s the justice in this
,
God
? I wait
,
but
don’t get an answer. Maybe my feelings will
dissipate
,
and one day Preston
will be like the brother I've
never had.

I
meditate
on this for a while and shake my head. No way can I ever look at that man and think
brother
.
Not even if he was
was a terrible kisser, which
he
i
sn’t
.
T
h
e
man has a mouth on him
,
let me tell you.
His kiss could
get a girl pregnant.
And I can’t see that perfect smile and tight body and
imagine
,
O
h look
,
how nice
.
Preston
and his wife are now having kids
.
and I
'
m still single
. Nope, no
t going to happen.
Dang
, I
‘m going to have to move
.
Or switch churches. I gro
an
before trying to fix the mess I
’
m in the mirror.

I walk outside to sit
,
only to find Preston
already
sitting there reading
U
S Weekly.
Yeah, right. Like he just
h
appened
to pick it up
from
the seat?

“I got this for you
,
”
h
e
offers
me the magazine and some 7-up.

“I thought your stomach might be upset
.
H
ey
,
did you know it says here that Brad and Angelina are
cooperating
with the Maui
authorities
to
try to find their impersonators? Apparently they
’
ve been on some sort of tour for World Hunger this whole week.” He shrugs as if it
'
s no big deal
, but
I snatch the magazine from his hands.

I begin searching the table of contents
frantically until
I hear laughing next to me. “You
'
r
e
kidding
,
aren’t you
?
” I say in a panicked voice.

“Oh y
e
a
h.
” He peeks around the magazine
.
“
Y
ou should have seen your face though
.
Priceless
.”

I roll my eyes and try to hide my smile as I look through the magazine.

“Is that a smile I see on that pretty face?” he says
,
lea
ning in.

Why is he torturing me
?

“No
,
” I
fight to hide my smile and turn away from his tempting face

“Oh good
.
I wouldn’t want you being happy or anything.” He pats my leg
and then
looks at his watch
.
“Time to go to the gate.”

I follow him numbly. This is the moment I
’
ve been waiting for. This is where I finally see who this mystery woman is
.
T
his is….wait a second…

“Hey
,
Bobby
!
O
ver here!”

I look to see who Preston is talking to and see
a kid
–well,
okay
,
he
'
s probably around
nineteen
,
a young
—approaching
us with some sort of crate. “Hey
,
brother
.
L
ong time no see
.”
They do some sort of ritualistic high five before looking at me.

“Amanda,
I
’
d like you to meet Bobby
,
or BJ for short.”

BJ holds out his hand
, and I take it.
T
his isn’t the Bobby from
my past
.
T
his is an entirely different person,
and
that means the text messages could have been from this Bobby.” I immediately feel sick again.

BJ looks back to Preston
.
“Sorry
,
dude, when you called to talk to Ashlyn
,
I was in the process of getting patted down by some
foreign
guy in the airport. Get this
;
he made me take off my shirt? Who does that?”

“Ah
,
so you’ve met Jorge
,
” I interrupt.

“Y
e
a
h
! That was his name
.
H
ey
,
how’d you know?” BJ asks.

“O
h,
lucky guess
.”
I shrug.

Preston looks at me and smiles
,
then says
,
“Amanda
,
meet Ashlyn.” He opens up the crate and pulls out the tiniest
,
and honestly
,
the
cutest little lab I
’
ve ever seen in my entire life.
She
’
s chocolate with deep brown eyes
.
I nearly
squeal
from joy at the size of
this little thing
'
s paw—
wait.

“Ashlyn?”
I swallow hard
.

“Ashlyn
,
”
h
e
repeats
positively pleased with himself.

“Ashlyn
,
as in
,
Ashlyn is a dog?” I
gasp.
“As in
, your ex-
wife is a dog?” I ask
,
confused and half hoping it
’
s true
. Then
I
won’t
look stupid.

“No
.
Ashlyn
,
as in, Ashlyn the firehouse dog I
’
ve been taking care of the past few months
,
”
h
e says
,
lifting an eyebrow.

“But I thought your wife was named Ashlyn!” I
blurt,
because I
’
m panicking.

“Where would you get that idea?”

“Y
eah,
” BJ interrupt
.
“
H
er name is Sara
,
and she doesn’t even live around here anymore
.
S
eriously
,
dude
,
if she
was
still dating Bobby
,
I
’
d bring physical harm to that dude. Ugh
. They
deserve each other.”

I
’
m listening to the conversation
,
but at the same time
,
I feel
rather
faint. This means the texts from Bobby were really from BJ
,
and Ashlyn was the puppy
,
and
…
oh wait
, t
his also means the bet
had to do with something else e
ntirely.

“You bet you
’
d marry me so you could get a dog?” I shriek as my fists tighten.

“Um
,
no
,
” B
J
interrupt
s
again
.
“Actually
,
he bet he could marry you
,
so he could give you the dog as a present
.
B
ecause
,
apparently
,
he thinks your cat
,
Mrs. Butterworth
,
is it?”

I nod
.

“Y
e
a
h,
your cat is like clinically depressed or something
,
because it has no hair
.
W
hich
,
if you ask me
,
is
just
weird. Anyway Preston here has been my mentor at the firehouse
,
and he
gets
annoyed with how many times I call him and make mistakes with the dog and with…other things. So
,
I told him that if he could get a girl as hot
as you
,
I
’
d not only transfer to a different firehouse
,
but let him keep the dog. And well
,
he won
.
B
ecause look at you
.
Y
ou look like
you’re
crazy in love, or maybe just crazy
.
I can’t tell. I blame my inability to commit.”

He finishes his little rant
,
and
I take a seat at the gate.
Oh.
My. Gosh
.

I
’
m going to kill Preston. I
’
m going to tell Mrs. Butterworth and Ashlyn to scratch his eyes out and feed them to the turtles in the pond by our hotel. I
can't help but
smile
evill
y as I
fantasize
about
my revenge
and look toward Preston
,
who
se
starting to look a little
worried.

“Don’t.” H
e
h
old
s
up his finger, and then he takes off running
.

I jump up and
chase him around the airport
scream
ing
,
“I’
m going to kill you
!”

I notice that he starts to sprint
. Smart
man
.
I mean
,
I
’
m fast and he knows it. I try to catch up to him but
have
to
stop
suddenly
when he
jerks
someone else
'
s luggage between us
to hinder my progress
.

“Now
,
Amanda,” he says
,
hold
ing his hands out in front of him
.
“
L
et’s
try and be reasonable
.
Y
ou never gave me a chance to expla
in. You just ran your mouth ove
r
and over again about what you thought was going on and never once asked me about it.” His hands were still out in front of him. I gave him a polite smile before grabbing my purse and smacking him over the head with it.

“Um
,
guys
,”
BJ says
,
catching up to us.
"
Sorry to interrupt
this bonding moment,
but I gotta get on
the
next flight.
"

“Wait
,
” I say
,
turning to him
.
“
W
hat do you mean
,
you’re
getting on the next flight?”

“Well
,
” he says
,
handing the crate over to Preston
.
“
M
y parents own some property in Kona
. And
since
they
wouldn’t let the dog travel alone
,
it was either go visit them or fly directly back to Boise
,
s
o
...
”
H
e shakes my hand forcefully
.
“
I
t was a pleasure meeting you
,
and I’m sure I
’
ll see a lot more of you now that you an
d Preston are getting married.”

I hear Preston snicker behind me before I give him another warning lunge with my bag. He backs off slowly and walks around to give BJ a hi
gh five.

“Thanks
,
man
.
I owe you one.” Preston winks.

“Actually
,
” BJ says
.
“
I
t was totally worth it
,
seeing her chase you with her purse like that. Just wait until I tell the guys.
We’ll
see ya!” He waves and walks off
,
while I turn to glare at Preston again.