Love's Back Pocket (14 page)

Chapter 27

It didn’t take Holly long to get dressed. She was wearing a strapless, silk charmeuse gown with a bubble hem that reached just above her knees. It was kelly green, which made her eyes seem bolder than they already were. On her feet, there were simple silver heels that pushed her height up another two inches, and her long strawberry-blonde hair was tied into a simple ponytail and she had hair sprayed it so no stray hairs would slip from the elastic’s grasp that night. Her makeup, as usual, was natural and fresh, giving her face a youthful appearance.

When Tanya emerged from the bathroom twenty-six minutes later, Holly could see why it took her so long. Holly had no idea how Tanya managed to look better than she already did, but each time, she always exceeded Holly’s already-high expectations. Tonight, Tanya was wearing a midnight blue dress with a low V-line, dipping down the valley of her breasts until it stopped just past them. The sleeves were simple, and the hem reached a couple of inches down her knees, while there was draping detail just around her waist. Tanya straightened her hair even more than it was naturally, and her makeup was sultry looking, highlighting the aura of sensuality she always seemed to possess.

As the two left the hotel room, Holly’s lips curled into a frown with her realization. She had never been jealous of Tanya before, and she wasn’t jealous now, but Holly knew how people looked at Tanya and how people looked at her. Usually, it never bothered her because she knew she wasn’t ugly, and she also knew she was exceedingly smart. But now, her vain insecurities seemed to be getting the better of her and it was all Tommy’s fault. Okay, she had admitted she liked him and she doubted he liked her in return, but she still wanted his attention, even if it was the usual charming-joking-innuendo sort of attention.

“Holly, are you all right?” Tanya asked her friend quietly as the two stepped inside the elegant elevator.

“I’m …”
What are you, Holly? Fine? Okay? Anxious?
“… nervous.” Yes, nervous, she decided, because it was true.

“You have no reason to be,” Tanya told her with a friendly smile, and placed her hand on Holly’s forearm. “You look absolutely amazing.”

A small smile touched her lips, and all insecure feelings vanished. She was being foolish about this whole situation. Tommy was just one man—there were billions of them on this planet, and she shouldn’t be losing her senses to him. Plus, there was only a week and a half left of this tour and once it was over, she would never see Tommy again. Sure, she liked the guy, more so than she ever liked another guy before. But that didn’t mean she was going to get all tingly just because he looked at her every once in a while. Right. She could do this; she could ignore Tommy Nye. She wouldn’t fall for him.

A week and a half.

She could do this.

When the elevator door pinged open, she saw a small group of people all dressed to the nines, seemingly waiting for her and Tanya. However, her eyes found Tommy’s first, and she found that she couldn’t look away.

“Wow,” he said in a soft, breathy voice as his eyes took in every inch of Holly. He wasn’t even being discreet with his study of the woman. “You look stunning, Holly.”

Holly found her breath hitch in her throat. This was going to be the longest week and a half she had ever experienced.

--

The restaurant was on the small side when it came to size, but they still managed to fit the ten-person party in the center of the restaurant. The first thing Tommy did was explain how he found this low-key restaurant. Apparently, he was drunk out of his mind and walked into the small building when they were closed. Somebody happened to recognize him, and allowed him to stay inside. One of the cooks made him a burger while somebody else got him water, coffee, and some aspirin. For the next few hours, Tommy entertained the wait staff, sobered up, and even helped them with their closing duties. Before he exited the restaurant, he left them a four thousand dollar tip, and promised that whenever he was in Florida, he would stop by.

“It’s beautiful,” Holly commented from beside him, her eyes taking in the dimly-lit restaurant, the guests, and the dance floor. Soft piano music filled the nearly silent room, giving the restaurant a romantic feeling.

Tommy took a sip of his Coke, looking at her from the corner of his eyes. “I’m glad you like it,” he told her, once he swallowed the drink.

It took another moment before the party could put in their order, with Tommy assuring them that they could order whatever they wanted.

“Tommy!” the waiter, Al, exclaimed, his blue eyes crinkling to see the familiar face.

“Al!” Tommy said in the same tone. “You’re our waiter, huh? I’m not sure I’m too excited about that. I’ve heard of your little nickname, Butterfingers.”

“Well, if I do drop everything,” Al began, giving his friend a good-natured smirk, “I’ll be sure to drop everything on you.”

Tommy rolled his sparkling eyes but his lips were smiling in a charming nature. “Oh, ha ha,” he murmured dryly. “Though, to be honest, I don’t doubt you for a second.”

When Al left to go put in their order to the kitchen, the party started talking to themselves. Holly was slightly disappointed that Victor had refused to come, though, to be honest, she wasn’t all that surprised. Instead, she decided to get to know the stage director, Bill, and his wife Jewel, better. They were actually interesting people, and if Holly was sitting anywhere but where she was, she probably could have paid better attention to them.

But Tommy’s eyes were on her, and she couldn’t shake that unsettling feeling. How was she supposed to concentrate on not paying attention to him when he was blatantly paying attention to her? Was there something stuck in her teeth? Was her mascara running in any way? Did she look weird or something with her hair pulled away from her face?

“Would you like to dance?”

Holly’s head turned sharply to look at Tommy. Did he really just ask her that? She searched his eyes for any sort of joking, mocking, teasing glint that usually accompanied such loaded questions, but all she could see was sincerity. She wasn’t sure whether to feel elated or scared, but she found she was feeling a mixture of both. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Tanya give her a wicked smile, and Holly swallowed.

“Uh …” she said, hoping her voice wasn’t as shaky as she expected it to be. “Yeah. Yes.” She nodded once. “I would like that.”

Tommy gave her probably one of the most disarming smiles she had ever seen as he stood, and when he offered her his hand, she took it. Tommy led her to the dance floor with one hand on the small of her back while the other gently held onto hers. When they reached a vacant place, he turned her around so she faced him, keeping both of his hands on her.

“I don’t really know how to do this,” Holly admitted, shrugging her slender shoulders as a light blush touched her cheeks.

“Yeah, me neither,” he told her. “I just wanted an excuse to hold you, so I guess we could just sway to the music and pretend that we know how to do this, shall we?” He cocked his head the side, looking down at her with an inquiring gaze, but found that he was much more interested in the depth of her eyes than her answer.

The two began to move to the music, and Holly tried to focus on the steps of the dance rather than the close proximity between her and Tommy, rather than the fact that Tommy was holding her, rather than the fact that Tommy had said he wanted to hold her … This was not going at all as Holly had planned. She was supposed to be distancing herself from Tommy, from her feelings for him, but he was so deeply underneath her skin, she found her endeavors were impossible. His hands holding her gently but firmly made her feel safe and secure with him, as though this was where she belonged. Everything fit right between them. But this is the last place where she wanted to be. She couldn’t allow herself to hope for something that was never going to happen.

“Are you okay?” he asked her, furrowing a brow. His voice broke through all of her thoughts, and she raised her eyes to meet his. “There seems to be something on your mind. Do you want to talk about it?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head, but forced a smile. “No, nothing’s wrong. I’m all right. I’m just … I can’t believe I’m almost finished with my hours.”

And instead of talking, the two merely danced.  

Chapter 28

The next day, both Holly and Tanya woke up earlier than normal in order to go to Disneyworld. Holly had always been a fan of anything Disney, and when she had been living in Los Angeles, she made it a point to go to Disneyland once every season. She particularly loved the roller coasters the best, especially both Splash Mountain and the Matterhorn. Though she was incredibly loyal in believing that Disneyland was the best park out of the Disney Park franchise, she was really excited to see what Disneyworld had to offer. She knew it was bigger, and that instead of two parks like Disneyland had, it had five. Tanya was nearly as excited as Holly was, but only because she knew that Disneyworld must have good shopping, and if Tanya loved anything, she loved to shop.

Once the women were dressed and packed, they slipped out of their hotel room just after dawn and into the taxi that was currently waiting for them outside. Originally, Holly had invited the band to go with them. She figured it had been a while since they had last been to the park, if they had been there at all. However, they had a concert that night, and didn’t want to go for a few hours, only to have to leave. At first, Holly was disappointed, up until the point when she realized she could use their absence in her favor; she could talk to Tanya about the weird feelings she was having concerning a Mister Tommy Nye.

“So,” Tanya began, once the cab dropped them off at the Disneyworld drop-off point, “how many more hours do you have with this whole psychologist thing?”

Holly pushed her brow down, obviously deep in thought. “I don’t know the exact number,” she murmured as they headed toward the entrance, “but there’s no way I’ll be able to finish them with the band. I think I’ll have a good two-fifty, three hundred done, which means I’ll finish them in a year and a half, maybe two.”

“Holly, that’s amazing!” Tanya said with genuine enthusiasm. She wrapped an arm around her friend before pulling Holly toward her. “This calls for a picture.” Grabbing her camera from her purse, she pulled it out of its case and then quickly took a picture of herself and Holly.

“I have a feeling that a lot of occasions are going to call for a picture,” Holly murmured dryly, though a teasing smile was desperately trying to get onto her face.

“Well, your feeling would be right.” Tanya’s dark eyes twinkled with happiness.

As the women predicted, there were tons and tons of people waiting at the entrance for tickets to the various parks, but because they were relatively early—the parks had yet to open—they weren’t too worried about it. They decided to go to the Magic Kingdom because it was the biggest park with the familiar rides, though there were four other parks: Epcot, which was technological-based and had cuisine from eleven different countries; Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon, which was a water park; Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park, which prominently featured animals; and Disney Hollywood Studios, which focused on the behind-the-scenes aspect of Disney movies.

The park opened at nine, and soon, both Tanya and Holly were on their way to Frontierland to get in line for Splash Mountain.

“It’s better if we do it now,” Holly had told Tanya. “This way, we’ll get dry quicker because the sun will be out soon after we get off the ride.” She had paused here for a moment, before offering her friend a smile. “And we’re telling them it’s your birthday so we can sit in the front.”

“
You
can sit in the front,” Tanya had replied. “You know how much I hate it when my jeans get wet.”

“You’re the one who wore jeans knowing that this is one of my favorite rides,” Holly chided her friend, shrugging as though it didn’t matter. “Plus, oh, I don’t know, it’s a
water
ride!”

Tanya rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’ll sit behind you and try not to get them wet.”

Holly chuckled, knowing full well that such a feat was impossible. And her theory was proven correct when both women walked off of the ride, one with a big smile, the other completely horrified. “This calls for a picture!” Holly sing-songed, and politely asked a passerby if they would mind taking a picture of the two of them, making sure to get in Tanya’s drenched pants.

The next ride they went on was Pirates of the Caribbean, and though Holly didn’t know most of the words, she still tried to sing along.. Whenever Holly was involved in anything Disney related, she was a completely different person. Instead of logical and by-the-books, she was almost like a child, with an imagination that believed in the Magic Kingdom. She seemed happier here, less-stressed, and the best part of it was Holly smiled a lot more. It was one of the only few places Holly could safely be herself, which was why she was grateful Tanya didn’t mind missing a concert to be here, even if her jeans did get soaked after Splash Mountain.

It wasn’t until the two were waiting in line for the Haunted Mansion that Holly looked at her friend, deciding now was probably as good as ever to talk to her about Tommy. “Hey,” she began, catching Tanya’s attention, “can I tell you something?”

. “Of course,” Tanya replied, nodding a couple of times. “You can tell me whatever you want.”

It took Holly a moment for her to find the right words to say in order to respond. The line moved for a couple of minutes, but they weren’t yet inside. When it came to a halt, Holly looked back at Tanya, and sighed through her nose.
Just do it
, a voice told her.
Just say it. Say it out loud, and you’ll feel so much better.

“It has come to my attention,” she began, her voice slightly shaky, but she managed to pull it together at the end, “that I may like … um … that I may li
ke
Tommy.” She stopped, her face wincing as though it had prepared for a drastic reaction from her friend.

It took a moment for Tanya to take everything in only because it surprised her how nervous Holly was sharing this. “Oh,” she mumbled, perking her brow up. It took another minute until Holly’s words finally registered to Tanya. This, time, her eyes widened. “
Oh
!” She looked at Holly expectantly, but when Holly didn’t say anything, she asked, “How did this happen? When did you figure this out?”

Holly blushed when Tanya started questioning her, and she took her time in responding, only because she wanted to make sure that nothing came out wrong. “I don’t know how this happened, Tanya!” she exclaimed, her answer completely going out the window when she opened her mouth. “It scares me because I know—I
know
—he’s just so wrong for me. There’s the age difference, the fact that he likes women—as in multiple—the fact that he’s a recovering alcoholic and addict, the fact that he’s been to jail, the fact that, for whatever reason, he manages to infuriate me to no end, and yet …” She paused, and her eyes glazed over as she began to think about him. “And yet, he makes me feel …” She looked over at Tanya who seemed to have a knowing smile on her face as she waited patiently for Holly to explain. “I can’t even describe it, Tanya,” Holly continued. “Whenever he smiles, and it reaches that sparkle in his eyes, I feel … paralyzed. I feel as though this is the exact place that I’m supposed to be at, as though everything is right in this world when I am with him.”

Tanya’s smile only deepened, and as the line started moving, she quickly took a picture of the content look on her friend’s face. Holly opened her mouth, upset that Tanya took a picture for no reason, but her friend cut her off. “Sounds deeper than just like, Holl,” she told her friend, but made no move to suggest what she was thinking.

This completely threw Holly off, and she forgot what she was planning to say to Tanya about taking such a picture. She blinked once as she was ushered into the mansion, and then in the elevator with a bunch of other people. The room as silent as the elevator descended when Holly finally realized what Tanya was insinuating.

“I am not in love with Tommy Nye,” she all but exclaimed, causing the people surrounding the two of them to look over at Holly oddly.

Tanya smiled, completely amused by this, but Holly could clearly read her friend’s dark orbs, and right now, they were saying that they didn’t believe Holly’s declaration for even one second.