How to Liv (6 page)

“You cut your hair.  It looks great.  Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you and your friend.”  He stumbled over the word ‘friend’ and I realised Jess wasn’t the only one that may have misinterpreted my interaction with Eric. 

“What?  No, don’t be silly.”  I moved a little closer and lowered my voice.  “Eric’s just a friend that is going through some stuff and needed an ear.”

I saw his body relax a little.  I moved back catching his eyes, hoping that he could see the truth behind mine.  I introduced Joel to Jess when she came walking back and then to the others seated at the table.

“Ermahgerd!” I heard Rachel screech (I guess Ally’s favourite word was rubbing off).  I turned in time for her and Ally to rush to my side.  “Ally said it was super cute, but wow!  Libby your hair looks great!”

“Thanks!”  I pulled her in for a hug.  “Good to see you
Rach.”

“Happy birthday babe!” she exclaimed excitedly, handing me an envelope.  I opened it and found a birthday card and a gift card from the same store that Ally had given me the day before.

“How did you know?” I giggled with fake shock.  Rachel and Ally had been besties since primary school.  They did most things together, it was no surprise that they shopped for my gift together as well.  “Thanks Rach.”

“C’mon let’s get our drink on,” Ally said dragging Rachel away.  I turned my attention back to Joel.

“It’s your birthday?” he asked incredulously.

“It was yesterday,” I admitted, slightly embarrassed that I hadn’t mentioned it to him before.

“But I spoke to you yesterday.  Why didn’t you say anything?”

“No biggie.”  I shrugged.

“I wish you had of told me, I would have bought you something.”  He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets.  “Now I feel terrible.”

“See?  That, right there, is why I didn’t tell you.”

“What?  You wanted me to feel terrible?” he joked with a sexy grin.

“No silly, I didn’t want you to feel obligated to buy me something.  We’ve only just met.”

“Right.”  He sighed.  “Well can I at least buy you a drink?”

Ally and Rachel returned right then with a tray of drinks.  Ally handed me an icy blue slushy type cocktail which I raised up to Joel.

“No, I see you’ve got that covered.”  He chuckled.

“Bottoms up girlfriend!”
Rachel said, raising her cocktail glass and clinking it against mine.

“Enjoy!  You’re only thirty once!” Ally chimed in hitting her glass against both of ours.

“Thirty, hey?” Joel asked as he sidled up to me.  “Happy birthday Liv.”

His voice sent chills through me; he sounded so sensual and was only inches away.  I felt the warmth of his breath on the side of my face.

“I’m just going to get myself a drink,” he announced, before sauntering off towards the bar.

My eyes automatically followed.  I lifted the cocktail to my mouth and took a large gulp.  It burned going down, it was so cold.  Whatever it was, it was really yum.

“Who is
that
?” Ally asked, leaning into my side, her eyes also focused on Joel, eyeing him off like a piece of meat.  “He’s hot!”

“
That
is Joel,” I replied with a sigh, eyes still trained on him.  “Please don’t embarrass me,” I pleaded softly.

“I won’t,” she huffed and I turned to her with a stern look on my face.  “Cross my heart,” she said, actually crossing her heart and batting her eyelashes at me.

I looked back toward the bar just as Joel turned his head to look at me.  A sexy smirk was on his face
“spank you for sleeping with me”
his words from last night echoed in my mind, for the umpteenth time today.  I felt heat flash through my body and I quickly doused it by sculling the entire blue cocktail in my hand.  It gave me a brain freeze and the buzz started soon after. 
Oh boy, was I in trouble!

Moments later, Joel returned, drink in hand with his eyes on me.  I loved the way he was looking at me as he took a sip of his drink, looking up through his dark lashes - very sensuous.  Ally nudged me with her elbow, refocusing my attention.

“Joel, this is Rachel, and my sister Ally,” I said, pointing to each in turn.

“So you’re the one that woke
Liv up last night?  Thanks, you saved me from having to listen to her snore,” he joked at my expense, the sexy look in his eyes now trained on my sister as he shook her hand.  I felt a bolt of both jealousy and hurt, but swallowed trying to squish it down.

“You normally watch movies with girls over the phone like that?” she asked, her eyes twinkling seductively at him.

“Nope.  That was definitely a first.”

Joel’s eyes came back to mine.  They held
a warmth in them that I had not seen before.  His focus was now solely on me and not my sister.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  Maybe he was immune to my sister’s charms? 
I could only hope.

“What are you on about?” Rachel spoke up, not liking that she wasn’t privy to the basis of our conversation.

“Come with me Rach and I’ll fill you in.  I think our Libby needs another drink already.”  Ally laughed, looping her arm through Rachel’s and dragging her away to the bar.

“So, how come Rachel got to give you a present, but I’m not allowed?” Joel asked.

“Well that’s because Rachel and I have known each other since we were kids.  She’s like family.  Ally and Rach have been best friends since grade three.”

“So, it’s because I have only known you for a week?”

“Yep.”

“But it feels like I’ve known you longer,” he whispered, taking a step closer to me.  I was glad that he felt that, too.  “Plus you did invite me to your 30
th
birthday party, so I am entitled to buy you something.”

“Nope.
  No gifts.  And technically, this is not a party, these people are mainly friends from work, and this is just our usual Friday night drinks.  I just hijacked it.”  I shrugged.  “They didn’t buy me gifts and neither should you.”

“Can I have everyone’s attention please?” Karen called from the other end of the table, interrupting us.  “I just wanted to say a few words for the birthday girl.  Olivia, I love you
darl, you are my best friend and it is a pleasure to work with you every day.  You’re like the little sister I never had.  Your smiling face, sense of humour and friendship are the reasons why I don’t mind coming into work.”  She was making me teary.  “Now I know you said no gifts, but it’s your 30
th
birthday and I wouldn’t be a true friend if I actually listened to you.  We had a little collection around the office and factory and well, here you go.”  She handed me an envelope.  “Here’s to being dirty, flirty and thirty!  I only wish I could remember back that far!”

I opened the envelope to find it stuffed with money and a card.  The next thing I knew I was getting a huge box of flowers shoved at me by Jess and Ally was shoving another blue cocktail in my face.

“No presents, huh?” Joel sniggered in my ear.  “Well I wouldn’t have got you anything special, if that’s any consolation,” he said, grabbing the flowers from me and placing them on the table so I could hold my drink.

“Speech!”
Daniel yelled, which was echoed by Scott.

“Oh, um, well… thank you all for the money and the flowers and… for coming out tonight.”  My eyes flicked over to Joel, those last words directed to him.  I blushed at his glorious smile before turning back to everyone else.  “Let’s get pissed!” I said, raising my glass.  Not my usual style, not that I had any, but I just didn’t know what else to say.  They all cheered in reaction, so I guess as far as speeches go it was a hit.

After giving out a few hugs, and a special thank you to Karen, I sat down at the table.  Joel took the seat opposite me.  I saw his eyes roam over to Eric at my side more than once, but Eric was too busy watching Jess to notice, or to touch me inappropriately, thankfully.  Jess was sitting with Scott and Daniel, joking and laughing and trying not to look in Eric’s direction.  It was obvious to me that she was trying to get a reaction out of him.  Although what reaction exactly, I wasn’t entirely sure.  Ally sat down next to Daniel and started flirting and I wondered if that meant he would be coming back to my place again tonight. 
I sure hope not.

The conversation was flowing around the table and so were the drinks.  Joel was having a relaxed chat with Karen, and I was about to excuse myself to go to the bathroom, when Eric turned towards me and spoke softly so only I could hear.

“I think I’m gonna head off.”

“Already?”

“Yeah, I don’t want to sit around where I’m not wanted.”  He looked so sad.  I hated that look on him - he was usually such a happy person.

“Okay, but I really think you should just talk to her,” I murmured with a consoling hand on his arm.

“She doesn’t want to talk to me, I’ve tried.”  He stood then, his head down, shoulders slumped.  He squeezed me on the shoulder.  “Have a good night, Olivia.  Happy Birthday.”  He leant down and pecked me on the cheek.

“See
ya, Eric.”

“Bye, everyone,” he called with a wave as he walked the length of the table and then out the door.  He glanced at Jess as he passed and she actually looked him in the eye for like a second before looking away.

As soon as Eric was out of sight, Jess headed to the bathroom.  I turned back to see Joel across the table watching me with an odd look on his face.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” I announced, standing up.  Joel nodded.

Jess was going through the door ahead of me when I got there.

“What is going on Jess?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” she snapped.  Jess never snapped.  “Is Joel your date?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“So why were you flirting with Eric?”

“Seriously?
  You think I was flirting with him?  Jess, I’m not interested in Eric and he’s not interested in me either.”  She didn’t look convinced.  I really didn’t want to get involved, but I guess I was in the middle of it now.  I let out a sigh of frustration.  “We were talking about you.”

“Yeah, right.”

She leant against the wall, folding her arms across her chest, looking down.  I moved to stand in front of her and dipped my head so that she was looking me in the eye.

“Jess, come on, it’s me.  You know I’m telling the truth.”  She dropped her arms and pushed off the wall, standing up straight.  “Eric’s upset because you rejected him.”

“Seriously?  He could get any girl he wanted.”  She sounded crestfallen.

“He wants you.”

“He wants a root,” she huffed.

“I don’t think you’re right about that.”  She looked deep in thought, staring off into space.  “How do you feel about him?”

“I really like him Olivia, I do, I just couldn’t be with someone like that.”  She shrugged turning to the basins and we looked at each other in the mirror.

“Like what?”

“I can’t date someone, have casual sex and get tossed to the side.  It’s not my style.”

“I had a really honest conversation with him tonight Jess.  I just think he’s misunderstood.  He really is a nice guy and I think he wants more than casual sex.”

“And there’s nothing going on between you and him?”

“Absolutely not.”
  I gave her a squeeze on the shoulder.  “You should talk to him.  You know he only left because he was jealous of the way you were talking to Daniel and Scott.  You were doing that on purpose, weren’t you?”

“Maybe.”
  She gave me a devilish smile.

“You naughty girl!”
I laughed, then cringed when I remembered how full my bladder was.  “Okay now I’m really busting!”  I quickly went into one of the toilet stalls.

An hour later, I was more than a little tipsy and having a really good time, when Joel placed a bowl of wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce in between us.  My eyes lit up.

“How did you know?” I joked.

“Well you practically finished the bowl all by yourself last Friday.”

“I did, didn’t’ I?” Surprisingly though, I was not embarrassed by that.