Rhett in Love (4 page)

“Come on dude, what happened to you?” Tomas frowned. “You know I love Clementine, but you’re still in your twenties, you’re too young to become some pussy-whipped old man. Is this really the life you saw yourself having after college?”

“Did I see myself dating Clementine and living in Boston? No.” I answered. “But then there are a lot of things I didn’t see or think about.”

“I can’t believe you moved here, bro. You messed everything up. I hooked up with Penelope last week and she—”

“You hooked up with Penelope? Clemmie’s ex best friend? The girl that tried to fuck me in the back of my truck?”

“Yup.” He grinned at me.

“Are you out of your mind? She’s crazy!”

“I didn’t say she wasn’t, but you ever fuck a crazy chick? They are down for basically anything.”

“I’m going to be sick.” I cringed. “Are you desperate?”

“What?” He frowned. “Where’s my high-five? What’s up with the judgment? Boys don’t judge man. What’s Clementine done to you?”

“I’m not judging you man, but you can do better than Penelope.”

“All of us don’t want a perfect girl like Clementine.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” My voice sounded surly and I stopped in the street.

“Are we really going to do this bro?” He frowned. “What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing.” I sighed and reached out and gave him a quick man hug. “It’s good to see your handsome face Don Juan.”

“That’s racist that is.” He grinned.

“It’s not racist if it’s true.” I laughed.

“Why I gotta be Don Juan, why can’t I be—” He stopped and burst out laughing at my expression. “Got ya bro, take a chill pill. Life isn’t so serious. It’s about fun. Love, sex and fun. It seems to me that you’ve forgotten that.”

“The expression is love, sex and rock n’ roll.” I corrected him and he groaned.

“Let’s go see some titties.” He pulled out his phone. “Let me Yelp it, I got a feeling you ain’t got no idea where the strip-club is.”

“You know what, I really don’t.” I shook my head in surprise. “I don’t even know where the local pick-up joints are. I don’t even know how freaky girls up here are in bed.”

“You think they’re freakier?” Tomas eyes lit up.

“You’ll have to tell me.” I grinned and I felt my stomach curdle. “It feels weird saying that.”

“What?” Tomas looked at me in confusion.

“Saying you’ll have to tell me. I’m normally the one that’s doing the telling.”

“You wish, bro.” Tomas shook his hair and smiled as two girls walked by. “Have a great evening ladies.” They looked at him and giggled and he gave them a huge smile. “I’m only here for a few days, so if you need some Tomas loving, come back on by.” He called after them and they giggled and continued walking.

“They looked like they were in high school.” I shook my head and he laughed.

“Dude it’s only illegal if you touch them. I ain’t got time for no high school chicas, you know that. 21 and up, bro. That’s all I want.” He ran his hands through his hair and grinned. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t show them what they’re missing. I’m a smooth, sexy, love machine.”

“I hope I never sounded like that.” I groaned as he started gyrating in the street as if he were an extra auditioning for the Magic Mike Two movie.

“Dude, you sounded worse. Hi, I’m Rhett. I’m blond, blue eyes and tan. I look like a regular Ken. I’ll pick you up in my mustang and fuck you in my truck, but don’t bother calling me ‘cos you won’t hear from me again. I’ll be too busy sucking up to my nerdy best friend Clementine O’Hara. And don’t you dare say we’re more than friends or I’ll rip your head off.”

“Asshole.” I laughed, knowing that what he said was true. “You want to go to the strip-club or not?”

“I’m looking bro, what do you think ‘XXX Girls’ or ‘A Night in Heaven’?”

“Seriously?” I sighed and then groaned as my phone rang. “Hold on, it’s Clementine.” I answered the phone quickly. “What’s good?”

“What’s good?” She drawled lightly, mocking me. “I see Tomas made it there safely.”

“Yeah, haha. What’s up?”

“I was just calling to see what’s going on.” She paused. “Does something have to be up for me to call?”

“No. Tomas and I are just about to head out. Are you coming home now?” I asked hopefully.

“No, Holden and I are going to have a late night.” She sighed and I could hear some music playing in the background.

“Studying with music?” I said lightly, feeling annoyed thinking about Clementine with that schmuck Holden. There was something about him that irritated me. It might be the simple fact that he was spending one-on-one time with my girl, or it might have been my body telling me that there was something off about him. All I knew was that I felt tense about the fact that they were spending so much time together. I did not trust him. He wanted my Clementine and he was using the guise of studying to get closer to her.

“It’s Mozart, Rhett, not Barry White.”

“Do you wish it was Barry White?” I said, knowing I sounded jealous. I could see Tomas staring at me with keen eyes.

“Rhett, I gotta go.” She said in a tired voice. “I’ll see you both later.”

“Shall we wait to have dinner with you?”

“No.” She said quickly. “I told you, it’s going to be a long night. I won’t be back ‘til late. Eat without me.”

“Okay fine.”

“What are you guys going to do?”

I know I shouldn’t have lied, but really how do you tell someone you’re dating that you’re going to a strip-club? Maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been in a relationship before, but I couldn’t tell her. Which was sad because I had always told Clementine before. I had no secrets from her. She knew who I’d been with, when I’d been with them, how I’d met them. She knew everything about me and I’d never been scared to tell her anything before. I knew as soon as I said the words that I was crossing a line that I’d never crossed before. “I think we’re going to go bowling.”

“Oh that should be fun.”

“Yeah, I’m hoping to get all strikes.”

“You never get all strikes.” She laughed. “I wish I was going as well, I wish I could show you how it’s done.”

“I’m the one that taught you how to bowl Clemmie.”

“Well the student is now better the master.” She giggled and even though her tone was lighter, I didn’t feel better.

“In all things?” I asked softly, but she pretended she didn’t hear me.

“Have a good time bowling. Tell Tomas I’ll see him in the morning and that I’m sorry to miss his first day in Boston.”

“I will.” I paused. “Have a good time studying, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“Before or after you dated me?” She asked softly and I felt as if I’d been kicked in the gut. Was she joking or being serious?

“Is that a joke, Clementine? Because if it is, it’s in very poor taste.”

“Oh Rhett, relax.” She sounded annoyed. “I’ll see you later.” And then she hung up. I stared at the phone in my hand and frowned. I couldn’t believe that she’d hung up on me already.

“Trouble in paradise?” Tomas looked concerned.

“Dude, what paradise?” I rolled my eyes. “Clementine has become a different girl now that we’re dating.”

“That’s girls bro. She’s got you by the short and curlies and she ain’t going to let go.”

“Short and curlies?” I shook my head at him. “What is that?”

“I got it from some English show I was watching.” He grinned. “Describes your relationship perfectly.”

“You decide on a club yet?”

“A club or a bowling alley?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “You lying already bro?”

“Dude, she doesn’t want to hear about me going to see naked girls.”

“That’s why I don’t date. I can’t deal with these jealous bitches trying to put me on lockdown.”

“Not cool, Tomas.” I frowned. “Don’t call Clementine a bitch.”

“What? I didn’t call her a bitch.”

“Girls aren’t bitches, that’s not cool.”

“Oh shut the fuck up, Rhett.” Tomas gave me a look. “You were down with bitches and hoes this time last year, don’t go getting all holier than thou on my ass now, just ‘cos you’ve been with this chick for a few months. You’re going to be back to the bitches and hoes as soon as you and Clementine break up.”

“Excuse me?” My body stilled at his words.

“Not trying to be rude dude, but c’mon. You’re both in your early twenties. This is your first relationship and you used to be a player. This is her first anything. The likelihood of you both working out is not high.” He shrugged. “I mean she’s already spending late nights with some other guy, listening to music.”

“You need to stop eavesdropping.” I muttered. “And I told you, they’re studying.”

“Do you think all he cares about is studying?” He laughed. “If it was you, what would you be doing?”

“Huh?”

“If it was the old Rhett ‘studying’ with a hot girl, would you be just listening to music for no reason?”

“That muthafucka is trying to get into her pants.” I exclaimed loudly and Tomas nodded.

“He’s most probably got his hand on her back and asking if she wants a massage to help with the stress.”

“What stress?”

“The stress of dating a punkass like you.” Tomas pulled out a piece of gum and started chewing. “She just hung up on you, so she’s obviously frustrated. He’s going to see that and try to act all nice so he can get up in there.”

“She wouldn’t let him do anything.” My head was starting to hurt at the thought of Holden trying to make a move. “She loves me.”

“You know how many girls love me?” Tomas started gyrating again. “And you know how many girls I love? Love don’t mean shit.”

“That’s not true.” I turned to him. “When you talk about love, you’re talking about lust fueled love. What Clemmie and I have is different. Our relationship is based on trust, respect, honesty and a deep love.”

“That’s why you just lied to her?” He said softly and I looked away. We stood there in silence for a few moments and I felt confused. I didn’t really understand why I’d lied. I think it was because I didn’t want her to be disappointed in me. And I didn’t want to give her an excuse to let her guard down with Holden. I just didn’t trust him. I felt a hollow feeling inside as I wondered why trusting her wasn’t enough.

***

"Where are you going?" I asked Clementine as she walked past me in her short shorts and t-shirt early the next morning. I groaned as I stared at her through foggy eyes.

"Out." She turned and looked at me. "Is that okay warden?" She smiled quickly and my heart stopped for a second as I thought about her.

"Funny." I rolled my eyes and then rubbed my forehead. “I feel like shit.”

“You guys got drunk at the bowling alley?” She looked amused. “Tomas was snoring when I woke up.”

“We didn’t wake you up when we got in, did we?”

“No.” She walked over to the bed and sat down. “I was fast asleep. I was exhausted from all the studying. I’m glad you guys had a good time.”

“Yeah, we did. So where are you going now?”

“I’m going to pick up some breakfast and coffee for all of us.”

“Oh. Nice.” I grabbed her hand and tried to smile, though guilt filled me as I thought about all the naked breasts I’d seen the night before. All breasts and no bowling balls.

“So I better go now before the lines get too long.” She bent down, gave me a kiss on the cheek and then stood up.

"Are those shorts appropriate?" I frowned as I stared at her long legs.

"As appropriate as it was for you to go to the strip-club yesterday." She snapped at me, her eyes light as she stared down at me with disappointed eyes.

"I told him not to go." Tomas yelled out from the living room as I stared at Clementine in shock. "It's not appropriate for you to go and get lap dances when you have a girlfriend at home." He continued shouting.

"Tomas." I shouted back angrily. “How did you know?” I asked her quietly, feeling mad at myself.

"First off, you got a lap dance?" Clementine glared at me and my heart sunk.

"Honey." I gave her a quick smile and she just stared at me with her hand on her hip. Oh shit! I thought to myself. I wasn't sure how I was going to get out of this one. “I didn’t, I mean I—”

“Oh Rhett.” She started laughing loudly. “When will you learn you can’t lie to me? Bowling alley my foot.”

“I’m sorry.” I made a face. “How did you know?”

“Tomas had photos of the two of you all over Facebook last night.” She laughed. “I knew the minute you hit the club because he took a photo of the sign.
One Night in Heaven
? Really?”

“Tomas.” I shouted back at him. “I’m going to kill you.” This time he didn’t respond.

“And after you kill him, I’m going to kill you, Rhett Madison.”

“For going to the strip-club?”

“No, for lying to me.” She sighed. “I mean, I kind of of get why, but I don’t like it.”

“I didn’t have fun.”

“He’s lying again.” Tomas shouted out from the living room. “He had a great time.”

“Tomas, shut up.” I growled.

“It’s fine, Rhett. I know who you are.” She sat back down on the bed again. “I just don’t want you to lie to me anymore.”

“Fine, I went to a strip-club and I had a lap dance.”

“One?” She asked softly.

“Two.” I sighed.

“He’s lying. He had four.” Tomas shouted again and I knew that he was two seconds away from feeling my fist in his face.

“I didn’t really enjoy them though.”

“Now that’s true.” Tomas said. “He didn’t even grab any of their boobs. He didn’t even want to play real or fake.”

“Well, that’s good.” Clementine rolled her eyes. “You got four lap dances?” She asked me softly and I could see the hurt in her eyes.

“It didn’t mean anything to me.” I grabbed her hand. “I only went for Tomas.”

“We’ll talk about it later.” She sighed. “I need to get breakfast and then I have a call with Holden in two hours.”

“Another one?” I let go of her hand and turned away from her and closed my eyes. When was this guy just going to go away?

“We’re finishing up a project Rhett.”

“Yeah, okay. Go and get the coffee, I’ll see you later.” I mumbled, not knowing why I suddenly felt so bereft inside. There was a coldness seeping in and I wasn’t sure why.