Fighting Perfection (The Perfection Series Book 2) (25 page)

     I gave her a tight smile.  I didn’t know why Justin called her, but I really doubted it was for the reasons she thought.  As I was thinking this, she grabbed me and hugged me nearly making me drop my laptop in the process.

     “Slow down, sister.  Let me get all the way out of the car first.”  I said, not really wanting to make it look like I shared her hopefulness.

     “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.  I’m just so elated,” she crowed.  Then she looked at me funny and said, “Wow, I guess you really do know him well.”

     “I’ve known Justin for five years now, and we’re very close.  I told you that before.”  I said as we made our way to the classroom.

     She looked at me a little longer, then shrugged her shoulders.  “Well, I guess that’s alright.  I can always come to you for advice if we ever have rough patches.”

     I stopped at the door.  “Delia, I wouldn’t…”  Just as I began to launch into a short speech about how she shouldn’t get ahead of herself or get her hopes up until after they’d talked, Angela breezed by.

     “Come on, ladies,” she said.  “It’s time to get started.”

      I swallowed my words of advice and followed her into the classroom taking our regular seats.

     As class ended, Delia started fidgeting.  When Angela dismissed us, she jumped up without a word to me and ran out of the room as if it were on fire.  I wasn’t too sure what her hurry was, but I had a sinking feeling that it didn’t foretell good things for Justin.

     The days began to rush by, one into the next.  Delia stopped coming to class regularly and skipping our study sessions.  Being honest, it was a relief to me.  I didn’t want to get any closer to the situation between her and Justin, and I felt she would only put me in the middle.

     I continued to see James regularly, and we grew closer through each phone call and date between us.  I also continued to see Justin every Wednesday for pizza and beer night.  On one such night, about three weeks after the ‘Delia Incident’ as I had come to think of it in my head, I asked what was going on with her.  I had been curious, but had left it to Justin to tell me what was going on.

     “So, have you heard anything more from Delia?” I asked as we were sitting on the sofa after watching our most recent movie selection.  “She hasn’t been coming to school and hasn’t come over or contacted me to get together to study.  Last I’d heard, she told me you had called her to get together and talk.”

      “I think I finally got through to her that day.  I told her in no uncertain terms there was never going to be anything between us.  I apologized to her again, but explained that I was actually in love with someone else, and I had my sights set in that direction.  Again she swung between crying and begging me to give her a chance and being spitting mad.  I mean that literally; she spit on me when she finally left.  I haven’t heard a thing from her since.”

     “I bet that’s a relief.” I remarked.

     “It is, but I thought once I mentioned you, she’d finally understand.”

     “You mentioned me by name?” I asked, raising my eyebrows in surprise.

     “Well, she guessed to be honest.  I just confirmed it.  She again accused me of using her which is when she finally left.”

     “I guess it’s what she needed to hear though.”

     “Yeah,” he said, then looked at me hopefully.  “Now that things have died down, I’d like to pick up where we left off if I haven’t totally botched that altogether.  What do you think?”

     I paused for a minute.  I had been given a reprieve from talking to him about us just remaining friends with the whole Delia thing, but the time had come to bite the bullet and tell him.

     “I made a decision a while back that we should probably just remain friends.  I’m still not in a position to make any hard decisions about my romantic future, and I had been feeling like I was stringing you along.  I don’t want to do that to you.  You are far too important to risk our friendship, and I love you too much to lose you.”

    “Peaches, I understand where you are in your life right now.  I hate the idea that I’d be sharing you with someone else, but I get it.  However, I can see I’ve been going about this all wrong if you’re worried about my feelings getting hurt.  I’m a grown man, not some pussy who will throw a tantrum if things don’t work out between us.  You know I’m never going to walk away from you.”

     “You don’t know that.  I know that you’re loyal to a fault, but even that would test the limits of any relationship.  I also wouldn’t want to damage your opinion of me if you felt like you were being led along with your desires knowingly not being fulfilled on my part.  I don’t want you feeling like I’m trying to have my cake and eat it, too.” I argued.

     “I won’t feel that way.  If it gets to be too much, I’d let you know.  Our friendship will still continue on.  The one question I have to ask though is if you have any feelings for me in that respect at all.  If you don’t, then this whole conversation is moot.  But if you do, I’m not about to give up on what we can be together.”

     “I can’t lie to say to you that I don’t.  I just don’t have a clear idea of what I want my romantic life to be, now or in the future.  That’s not fair to you.”

     “So, would this moratorium on relationships apply to both James and me?  Or would you continue to see just him?”

     That was a question I stupidly hadn’t considered.  How did I explain that I wasn’t overly concerned about my future with James?  It would sound like I had no feelings for him at all beyond having a good time.  While that’s all that I truly wanted at this point, I had to admit to myself, and probably to Justin, that my feelings had grown for him daily.

     “I hadn’t planned to quit seeing him.  I do have feelings for him too, but since we didn’t have a deep bond before we began like you and I, I don’t think the consequences if things don’t work out would be as disastrous.  I’m not sure his heart is involved in the way that yours is.”

     He blew out a long breath, leaning back and letting his head drop back onto the sofa.  He sat like that for a few moments, I assumed considering what I had said.  Finally he turned to look at me with a determined stare.

     “In that case, Peaches, I’m not giving up.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to pressure you to go any further than we are now, but if I have to chase you a little bit to get you to see we should be together, I’m not backing down.  Just know that I’m not above seducing you,” he said, wiggling his brows at me and smiling.

     I sighed.  “You’re impossible.” I said.  “Don’t make me push you away.  I would be a mess without you in my life.  I need you, and I’m especially going to need you in a few days.”

     “Of course, I didn’t think you’d forget, but I thought you might deal with the anniversary of Vance’s death a little better this year.”

     “I already have so far.  The last few years, the weeks leading up to it were painful and depressing.  I think I’ve gotten to a point now where I’m finally on a forward path, and my life is so full between school and what’s going on in my so-called love life that I can handle it without becoming a total mess.  We still have a few days yet so I may be premature in saying so, but I’m pretty confident I can handle it better.  I do think we should spend that day together though.  I’m not ready to handle it alone and rather than mourning our loss, I think we should find a way to celebrate his life instead next Monday.”

     “I think that’s a great idea.  Let’s get together Friday and plan something to do to honor him,” he said as he stood to leave.

     It was early and the night was very warm so I decided to walk him out to his motorcycle.  As I opened the door, I noticed my car in the driveway.   Something was scrawled all over the windows and in the dim light from the porch, it appeared to have black marks all up and down the side of the vehicle.  I froze for a moment then grabbed Justin’s arm and pointed to it, my hand trembling and eyes wide.

    “I see it,” he said as we walked down the steps and over to inspect the damage.  Someone had spray painted in black squiggly lines all up and down both sides of the SUV.  On the windshield, it was written in white shoe polish, “You’ll get yours, bitch.”  The other windows had derogatory names, like slut, whore, and cunt written on them.  At first, I couldn’t imagine who would do such a thing to me.  Then I looked at Justin searching his face to see if he had come to the same conclusion I had.

     His mouth was set in a grim line as he looked at me.  He said just one word.  “Delia.”

     I nodded and remarked, “That’s my suspicion, too.  I can’t imagine anyone else having this kind of animosity toward me.”  I looked around, worried she was still nearby.  I couldn’t help but feel as if there were eyes on me, gauging my reaction to this little surprise.  I was angry, but creeped out nonetheless.  Determined not to give her the satisfaction she was looking for if she was out there somewhere, I schooled my face into a dispassionate expression.

     “Don’t worry, Peaches, we’ll get your car fixed right away.  In the meantime, you can drive mine, and I’ll just use the motorcycle.  I’ll bring it by tomorrow morning and you can take me back to the house in it.  I’ll also handle Delia.  I’ll make sure nothing like this happens again.  In the meantime, you need to file a police report.  We don’t have any proof it was her, but you at least need to go on record that someone has threatened you.”

     I nodded and tried to blink back the tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks.  “I’ll do that in the morning as well.  Call me when you get up, and we’ll coordinate everything.”

     “Let’s get you back inside the house and make sure everything is locked up tight.  We have no idea of how far she’s willing to go.”

     Justin put his arm around me and led me back into the house.  He checked all the windows, the back door off the laundry room, and the sliding glass door in the family room.  Once he was satisfied that everything was secure, he came back to me in the living room.  “I’m not comfortable leaving you alone tonight,” he said.  “If it’s alright with you, I’m going to sleep here on the sofa.”

     Grateful for his offer to stay, I readily accepted because I was shaken.  I felt violated and threatened and needed the security his presence would provide.

      “I do have a guest room,” I reminded him.  “There’s no need for you to sleep on the sofa.” 

      “I want to be out here to hear anything if she does try to break in.  A light blanket and a pillow are all I need.”

     After retrieving the items, I set up a make-shift bed for him on the sofa.  We gave each other a tight hug good night, and I went to my room still feeling unsettled.  I knew I wouldn’t sleep much that night despite Justin’s reassuring presence.

      The next morning, Justin drove back to his house to shower and change his clothes promising to return to help me get everything sorted out.  While he was gone, I called around to auto body shops who could either remove the spray paint from the car without damaging the underlying paint, or if necessary, to repaint the whole vehicle.  After taking pictures of the damage, I was able to wash the shoe polish off the windows and hoped none of my neighbors had noticed it. 

     When Justin returned, he drove my car to the shop as I followed in his car.  I was embarrassed to be seen in the thing, but I also felt so violated I didn’t feel safe in it. 

     After that was taken care of, we drove over to the police station to file the report and provide them with the pictures I’d taken and printed out.  As anticipated, all they could do was take a report since we couldn’t say for sure it was Delia who damaged my car.

     I drove Justin back to his house in the early afternoon so he could get some of his work done.  I didn’t feel safe being home alone so I decided to gather my school supplies and spend the rest of the afternoon in the university library studying before my class that night.  I had entertained the idea of skipping the day, but we had a test and I didn’t want to miss it.

     As I expected, Delia didn’t show up for class.  I was relieved as I didn’t know how I’d handle seeing her, suspecting her as I did.  I was distracted for most of the class and wasn’t sure how I fared on the test.  I had taken it on auto-pilot, my thoughts consumed by what had happened, but I could only hope that all the studying I had done that afternoon had prepared me well enough that I could answer the questions correctly, even if I was distracted.

     When I arrived home, I went through the whole house turning on all the lights and inspecting every closet and under the beds.  After I was assured that I was alone, I changed into my night clothes and settled into my bed.  It took some time for sleep to claim me, but eventually it did, and I managed to sleep through the night.

     James called the following day, and I had to explain to him what had happened.  He was furious and ready to go hunt Delia down, but I dissuaded him from doing so.  He was so far away, and confronting her might only exacerbate the situation as the police officer who took my report warned me.  He grudgingly agreed to stay home, but we made plans to see each other on Saturday.

      The rest of the week was quiet as was the weekend.  James seemed slightly disappointed that she didn’t show up so he could threaten her off my case.  I was just relieved that there wouldn’t be any kind of hostilities to address.

     Monday came and with it a sense of melancholy.  Vance had been gone three years.  I couldn’t help but think that if he had lived, none of this would be happening.  I wouldn’t be caught in some odd sort of love triangle, I’d still be working as a paralegal, thus never meeting Delia at all.  We’d be happy and perhaps even have a child or two by then.  Despite my previous thoughts that I’d spend the day celebrating his life, I still mourned heavily.  I missed him with all my heart.  In honor of the day and my love for him, I decided to put my wedding rings on.  It seemed a sad thing to do, but I needed to feel close to him. 

     I went to my jewelry box to retrieve them, but to my astonishment and dismay, they weren’t there.  Along with them, a number of other pieces he had given me were missing.  I frantically tore through all the drawers in my dresser and those in my en suite, though I couldn’t believe I had just misplaced them.  I never would have been so careless.  I could only suspect I had somehow been robbed. 

     I went through the house checking on what few true valuables were missing.  Of course, there were no obvious things like my stereo system or televisions, etc.  Certainly I would have noticed them missing, whether whomever had been in my house last week or last night, whenever the theft had occurred.  I didn’t wear my expensive jewelry often enough to notice when they had gone missing.

     In my search of the house, I came to Vance’s office.  There were a number of items missing, little trinkets of our life together, including a picture of the two of us from the desk.  I had just been in the office the afternoon before working on the computer, and I was certain it had been there at the time.  That meant somewhere between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, someone had been in my house.  A chill went through me, goosebumps raised on my arms and I shivered.  The only things I could find missing were items that were connected to either Vance or my relationship with him.  It wasn’t your average robbery.  The only thing that came to mind was that Delia had returned and somehow gained entry into my home.  I could only think that she chose items she assumed had some kind of sentimental value to me.  I couldn’t help but look around me, once again feeling like eyes were on me, watching me eager for my reaction to the discovery.

     When Justin arrived, I told him of the situation.  Our plans to go up to Santa Barbara where Vance and I had celebrated our first anniversary were ruined.  Instead, I needed to make a list of the items that were missing and file another police report.  This time, I was assured a detective would be assigned to the case.  I also had to file a claim with my insurance company under my homeowner’s policy.  They were items that couldn’t be replaced and the money from the claim would do nothing for me, assuming they would even pay out considering there was no sign of forced entry, but the police had advised me to do it just to have another record that I had been burglarized.

     While it also frightened me and added to my sense of violation, I felt renewed anger toward Delia.  It was my turn to want to hunt her down and strangle the life out of her.  These items were precious to me.  Justin felt similarly and assured me that he would handle it.

     By the time we were finished, it was four-thirty p.m.  Justin still wanted to do something to honor Vance so we decided to go to Rosie’s, a small bar we often frequented as a group.  He suggested we call Griffin and Bryant to join us since they had to be feeling a similar sense of loss that day, too.  We gathered together and though the day had been tumultuous and draining for me, I managed to enjoy reminiscing with the guys about Vance’s life, both before my entry into it and after. 

     Two weeks went by and with them came the end of my first class.  I had enjoyed learning about my new career path and was as firmly settled on what I wanted to do as I had been when I first discovered the program.  As soon as enrollment opened, I knew I’d be registering for the next two classes in the certificate course.

     There had been no developments with regard to Delia.  The detective had been investigating the case and although he questioned her, he assured me she had a solid alibi for the day of the burglary.  She claimed to have been caring for her ailing mother who corroborated her story.  I didn’t believe it for a minute, but that’s where the case stood.  I didn’t have much hope that it would be resolved as it was a low priority for the L.A.P.D. 

     The two weeks after that were quiet.  I kept myself occupied until school finally started again, and I continued to spend time with both James and Justin.  Justin and I continued just being friends.  If he was pursuing me as he claimed he would, I didn’t see it.  I assumed with the resurfacing of Delia in our lives, he had been distracted from his plan.  I had to be honest and admit I was relieved.  I wouldn’t have been able to handle the stress.

     On a Friday night about a month after the robbery, Grace, Liz, Jessica, and I decided to go out for a night on the town to celebrate Jessica’s thirtieth birthday.  We all chipped in for a limousine and VIP reservations at a hot, new nightclub called The Limited where we’d have a reserved seating area and bottle service.  We all dressed to the nines with Jessica wearing a tiara as she had dubbed herself “The Birthday Princess.”

     We were pretty well loosened up, having availed ourselves to the bar inside the limousine when we arrived at the club.  We consumed two entire bottles of champagne on the way there.  (In our defense, it took a good hour to pick everyone up and then drive to Marina del Rey where the nightclub was located.)

     Once inside and seated in our special section, Grace immediately started scoping out men for potential targets.

     “Targets?” Liz asked.  “You mean marks.  You’re like a damned assassin with these men.”

     “Hey,” I said, “Whatever happened with that David guy we met at that mixer you dragged me to?”

     Grace chuckled and replied, “He was good.  He was real good.  I saw him a few times, we even managed to go out to dinner once.”

     “What?” Jessica began.  “You mean he didn’t have any real potential for something longer term?”

     “Nah.  He and I are on the same wavelength as far as relationships go.  If we want to get together and scratch an itch, then one of us will call the other.  Aside from that, there’s nothing else going on.”

     “Don’t let her fool you guys,” Liz said.  “I have it on good authority that she’s seeing someone fairly regularly, and it isn’t just for sex.”

     “Wait, wait, wait,” I said, making myself a Red Bull and vodka with the alcohol and mixers provided by the club.  “Who is this mystery person?”

     Shockingly, Grace blushed.  I didn’t think anything could make that woman blush which only turned us all into ravenous beasts hungry for information.

     “I don’t want to jinx it,” she claimed.  “I’ve been seeing him quite some time now, and while I wasn’t too sure of it to begin with, the guy has grown on me.”

     “Okay, tell us just a little bit about this one,” Jessica begged.  “How is this one in the sack?”

     Grace gave us a shy smile.  “I really don’t know.  I haven’t gone beyond a few heated kisses with this one.”

     “Shut up!” I squealed.  “This is definitely newsworthy.  You have to tell us who it is.”

     Grace leaned back in her chair and gave each of us a look.  “After everything that happened last year with Alfonso, I’m not ready to jump into anything.  This has some promise, and I’m slowly coming around to thinking about another relationship, but I’m not rushing into anything.  So for now, I’m still the same old Grace looking for a good time.”

     “You and Alfonso were serious?” I gasped.  “I never knew that.”

     “It ended before it really got off the ground,” she admitted, grabbing a bottle of tequila and a can of 7-Up.  She started pouring her own drink before speaking again.

     “I was gone for the guy.  I hadn’t met anyone so charming, debonair, and as cultured as he was.  Not to mention super fucking hot.  It was a really passionate relationship—until I found out he was married and had three little children, none of them even school age yet.”

    It all made sense at that point; Grace’s over-the-top behavior and her attention-seeking ways that had spiraled almost out of control over the last several months. 

     “I was crushed, but rather than wallow in self-pity, I chose to be empowered and take what I wanted from men, rather than letting them do the same to me.  I’m not going to let that happen again.  So, Ike will just have to be patient and prove himself to me.”

     I screamed, “Who? Ike? Oh my God!  I cannot believe it!  He is so not your type.”

     Grace blushed again and the other two girls looked at me.  “You know this Ike person?” Jessica asked.

     “We met him at the Jewish mixer Grace took me to.” That made me immediately turn to Grace and ask, “Wait.  Does he still think you’re Jewish?”

     “No,” Grace replied.  “Just last week I finally came clean.  He was disappointed, and there was some arguing involved, but in the end he conceded that as long as I was open to the idea of converting if we got very serious, he’d live with it.”

     “How is he not her type?” Liz asked.  She leaned forward in her seat and looked at me.  “All men are Grace’s type.”

    Grace piped up with “Hey, that’s not fair.  I may date a lot of men, but I don’t go with just anyone.”

     “Yes, but they’re all tall, dark, and handsome.  Ike is…well, none of those things.” I said.

     “Ike is a little sweetheart.  It doesn’t matter that he isn’t movie-star gorgeous.  He has other things going for him.”

     “Hey, as long as he makes you happy,” Jessica said, taking a healthy gulp of her Jack and Coke.    “You just hang in there for as long as he does.  That’s all we really want for you.  Although if you do get serious, I will totally miss the recounting of your adventures.”

     “Well, you needn’t worry about that for the foreseeable future,” she said as her eyes wandered over the dance floor.  “In fact, I just spied my first victim for the night.  Excuse me, ladies.”  With that, we all watched her as she stood and walked over to a man in the adjacent seating area.  He was at least six-foot-four, had long, straight black hair that nearly reached the middle of his back, and looked like he belonged on the cover of a romance novel.

     “We’ll be lucky if we see her again tonight,” Jessica said as she turned back to Liz and me.  “What do you say we finish these drinks and get our groove on out on the dance floor?  I am ready to get this party moving.”

     We danced for hours, just the three of us.  Every so often a few bold guys would come over and join our little circle.  We’d dance with them but none of us engaged with them any further than that.  We kept an eye on Grace just to make sure that she wasn’t getting herself into trouble.  She was remarkably subdued for her in a club environment.  Normally she was ready to get down and dirty on the dance floor if she’d found a guy she was interested in.  I suspected that maybe Ike was having a real effect on her.  Ike.  Who woulda thunk it?