Hidden Desires (41 page)

 
*  *  *

Cayden breathed out a sigh of relief. "That wasn't so bad." She grimaced, suddenly remembering that she offered up Wade without his knowledge. "Shit. That'll cost me." She put on her best guilty smile and went out to face the music.

"What happened? When's the date?" Wade asked expectantly.

Cayden noticed all her pickles were gone and she bit back a scowl in favor of the puppy dog look.

"What?" He asked nervously, "I know that face Cayden. What did you do?"

"The date is Wednesday night and you're invited."

"What? What the heck kind of date is
that
?"

"You're free Wednesday, right?"

"Yeah but..."

"Good, then you won't mind cooking for all of us then." Cayden said with her best sweet and innocent look.

"
All
of us?" Wade narrowed his eyes. "Cayden..." he said with a warning in his voice.

"Please Wade! I'll feel so much more comfortable with you and Jodie here." she said, blinking rapidly.

Wade thought about making her beg, but she was trying so hard to look pathetic that he gave in. "Oh alright."

Cayden picked him up out of his chair and began twirling him in circles. "Thank you!"

"I just ate!" He complained.

"That's ok, I cooked, you'll clean."

"You'd make me clean my own puke?"

She put him down and plopped into her chair to finish dinner. "Yep."

"What will I cook?" He asked already rooting through the fridge.

"Small things. Nothing gross looking and nothing I have to chew with my mouth open."

Wade raised an eyebrow. "Such as..."

"Spicy stuff. Anything that requires the intake of air as I chew."

"Ah, gotchya. And no garlic either. This is a date after all." he winked.

"It's not
that
kind of date." she said around a mouthful of food.

"We'll see."

 
*  *  *

The next day at work, Cayden could think of nothing else but Wednesday. She wondered what Brooke was going to wear, what Wade was going to cook, if Jodie would behave herself... if there'd be another kiss. Every time she thought about the kiss, her stomach jumped. It would be stupid of her to deny that she had feelings for Brooke, but Cayden was terrified of relationships. Try as they might, no one could figure out why, and Cayden wasn't talking. The last time Jodie tried, Cayden threw up and she didn't want a repeat of that incident so she backed off. Wade and Jodie were at a loss. They knew Cayden better than she knew herself and the fact that they couldn't break this one drove them crazy. They both wanted to see Cayden happy, the poor thing moped around half her life, and they saw the opportunity in Brooke to give their friend that lift. Cayden was fighting it hard though, they were very glad Brooke didn't give up easy.

Cayden turned to the television in hopes of some distraction when she came across Jeff Corwin.
The poor guy, good looking as he is and no ass whatsoever.
Cayden wasn't one for reptiles as much as things with fur, but somehow Jeff made it easy to get interested and she soon fell deeply into the show.

"You have got to be kidding me. Eyelash Viper? That has to be the lamest scary name in the entire wild kingdom. Oooo, the dreaded
eyelash
viper... scary...."

Eventually, Jodie popped in, and Cayden grimaced, ready for the tirade.

"Of all the nerve! You purposely waited until I walked out of the house this morning to leave me that message."

The waitress had a hand on her hip and what looked to be a cold refreshing Pepsi in the other. "For me?" Cayden asked.

"Absolutely not." Jodie wagged her finger. "Penny Pingleton you are permanently punished."

"Oh lord, she's quoting Hairspray."

"Okay, I'm over it." Jodie announced, sitting down next to Cayden. "Can I bring a date to your date?"

The tall woman looked at her in horror. "No way!"

"Then what will I do with Angela?" Jodie asked in all seriousness, opening the Pepsi.

"Set her up with Thursday night." Cayden teased.

"I will not! Thursday night is very special." Jodie huffed.

"You are such a slut." The tall woman stared at the can of soda "Are you going to drink that or tease me with it?"

"Ooo, so you're that easy huh?"

"Well, you'd have to do better than that." Cayden chuckled, pointing to the waitress uniform.

"Get over it, I'd have to be Brooke. Speaking of... how'd we arrive at this date?"

"I called Brooke to thank her for taking care of me when I was ... ill."

Jodie silenced Cayden with a raised hand. "WAIT! Stop! You did what?"

"You heard me."

"You
thanked
her?
You
?" Jodie asked in disbelief.

Cayden rolled her eyes. "Yes, I did. Denise thought it would be the right thing to do."

"Denise??? I'm lost."

"Oh yeah, we had breakfast, we made out some, then she told me I should call Brooke and thank her. Said it would get us talking."

Both Jodie's eyebrows flew up high. "You went from making out to Brooke?"

"Yeah, it pissed me off too." Cayden agreed.

Jodie sniffed the Pepsi then handed it over to Cayden. "Is this spiked?" she asked of the soda which Cayden happily accepted with a long swig then a loud belch. "Charming."

"Nope. Its good." she said, holding the can away from Jodie. "It's mine now. You gave it to me."

"Cayd, I don't understand, what happened with Denise that led to Brooke?"

Cayden tried to wriggle away the uncomfortable feeling she had recalling the incident with Denise. "Aw, it was nothing, we got carried away, realized it was wrong. That's all."

Jodie sniffled and wiped her eyes with the bottom of Cayden's shirt. "Cayden's all grown up now. Where has the time gone?"

"Hey! You're stretching my shirt!"

Jodie snapped out of it quickly and giggled like a schoolgirl. "So what else happened?"

"I spoke to Brooke's mom." Cayden offered.

"Really? What's she like?"

"She's cool, as far as moms go. Her dad sounds funny though, he was making wisecracks in the background the whole time. She invited me over but didn't say when."

"Are you going to go?" Jodie's eyes bugged out.

"Not sure. Let me get through Wednesday first."

"Oh yes, about that... what body part did you have to sell to Wade to get him to cook?"

"Oddly enough, I didn't even have to beg."

"Wow. He really does like Brooke as much as I do."

"So you guys really think this could all work out on my favor?"

"If you give it half the chance, sure. Why not?" Jodie nodded.

"She's too... she's just too too, ya know?"

"Cayd, since I know you, all you've ever dated were insincere assholes only after your looks, and a few awful blind dates. The only
relationship
you had was dating the same girl, Anna, for 2 months and we know how that turned out, she left you... OH MY GOD! She left you for a man! Cayden Riley is this what you're so afraid of?" Jodie stood up with her epiphany.

Cayden slunk down in her chair.

Jodie squatted down between Cayden's knees to look her in the eyes. "Are you freaking because you think Brooke's going to leave you for a man?"
How the hell did we forget that?

"We aren't even together, how can she leave me?"

"That's it! You know, you can't think every one you are attracted to is going to do that."

"What's stopping her?"

"Cayden, she's different."

"How do you know?" Cayden mumbled.

Jodie thought about it. "Actually, I don't know, but I have a feeling."

"A feeling." Cayden deadpanned.

"Okay, so you can't base everything on my feeling, but Cayd, I've spoken to Brooke much more than you have, Wade too. She genuinely likes you, she wants you and cares about you."

"She hardly knows me for shit sakes." Cayden snorted.

"She feels as if she does. She wouldn't have gone through the shit she has if you we an experiment. Think about it! She totally set herself up for all sorts of hell by confronting you about Grant, confessing she dreams about you... PLUS, she took care of you when you were sick. If she were only interested in one thing, she wouldn't be bothered with you when you were puking."

"She could have felt guilty." Cayden said weakly.

"Think about Anna and how many times she took care of you when you were sick. Zero, none. Brooke already has one up on her."

Cayden pursed her lips in thought. Anna never cared if she was sick, or tired for that matter. She was only interested in sex, now that Cayden thought about it. They never went anywhere or did anything either, just had sex. But Cayden had fallen for her in a big way, and she was scared. She felt only half the things for Anna that she felt with Brooke. "Jo, I really like Brooke, but even so, I don't want to be in a relationship."

"Cayden , you don't know what a relationship is. Learn with Brooke."

"I don't know anyone besides my parents who have been together for a long period of time... happily. Even my parents are bored. They were always bored. They moved to Vegas to have something to do besides sit and look at each other for the rest of their lives."

"Give Brooke a chance."

"I am, aren't I?"

"I don't think so." Jodie said sadly.

"We have a date Wednesday, that's a start. You'll all be there so I don't have to worry about her getting all sexy with me."

"Why would that worry you? She's hot, Cayd! Don't you want her?"

"Hell yeah! But if we have sex, its all over. Then we're connected at the vagina as one entity, and life is never the same. I'll be stupid and drippy at first, 'yes dearing' my way through life, until we get tired of each other and then we're stuck with each other because we don't know any other way."

"Jeez, Cayd, that's a hell of a prediction." Jodie snorted. "You can't be serious. Just how long do you think you can hold out?"

"There will be no sex. At least until I am totally sure she's not playing with me."

Jodie frowned.
Poor Brooke.

U
NLIKE CAYDEN, BROOKE'S day at work had no big revelations and there was no television to distract her. The day was slow. Long and boring, and Brooke was counting the minutes until she could go home. She complained sporadically at the length of the day to Bev, who merely chuckled in response.