Unbroken Pleasures (11 page)

The waitress
interrupted to take our order and I selected a chicken salad with a coke while
Sylvia chose the same. When the waitress went back to place our orders Sylvia
looked back at me with raised eyebrows.

“Only a salad,
huh? I guess you didn’t get lucky. What’s the story then?”

“He’s a really
nice guy. There’s no story. We just decided not to rush into anything, that’s
all.”

“Oh. So you’re
going to see him again then. That’s great, Alex. I’m really happy for you.
That’s what you wanted, right? And it’s definitely time to pick up the pieces
and move on.”

“Well, not
exactly.”

“What do you
mean not exactly? You got along, right? And you can’t still be hung up on that
good for nothing loser of an ex. You’re taking things slowly so that’s a good
thing. What’s the problem?”

“I don’t really
know if I’ll ever hear from him again.”

“Oh boy. That’s
taking slow to a whole new level.”

“I kind of
screwed up this one big time.”

We paused as our
waitress placed our drinks in front of us and Sylvia looked at me as though she
couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She knew that I was holding back on
something big.

“Details,” she
demanded impatiently.

“I saw
him
there… at the restaurant, I mean. Adam and I were having a really nice time and
we were even talking about renting a movie and going back to my place after but
then he got up to go use the restroom and I saw
him
and I just couldn’t
sit there and watch him walk out that door. I had to follow him.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,
wait a minute. Back up. Who on earth are you talking about? Ed?”

“No. I’m talking
about Reese.” Saying his name out loud gave me a shiver of pleasure through my
body. I would never get tired of saying his name.

“Who the hell is
Reese and why have I never heard of him until now?”

“He’s the
stranger that I met that night in the rain. The one that followed me back to my
house.”

“Oh God, Alex,
please tell me that you’re joking.”

“I’m not.”

“I thought you
weren’t going to go there again? I mean, didn’t we make it pretty clear what a
truly awful idea that was to begin with? And now, what, you’re seeing him
around town and chasing him down? Do you have any idea how crazy that sounds?
Seriously, Alex, I’m starting to wonder about you.”

“Listen, Sylvia,
I know how it sounds, believe me, but I couldn’t help myself. I’m not chasing
him down. He happened to be in the same restaurant at the same time and I
couldn’t watch him walk out the door without saying something.”

“Your timing
could have been a little bit better,” she said giving me a stern expression.

“No kidding and
I feel really bad about that. It’s not like I meant to upset Adam or anything.
I didn’t think. I just went after him.”

“Okay, so you
chase down this mystery man and you finally find out his name. So what does
this mean? Are you going to see him again? Did you talk? Did you find out why
he was out stalking women in the night when you met him? Come on, Alex, this
guy is not boyfriend material.”

I sighed. She
was right, of course. I didn’t know what I was thinking but that was the problem,
wasn’t it? When it came to Reese, no logical part of my brain was engaged. It
was pure adrenaline and lust fueling me to just want more.

“You can relax,
Sylvia. He doesn’t want to see me. He was there with another woman.” I watched
as Sylvia winced.

“I hope that you
didn’t screw up his evening too,” she said. I wished I could feel the same way but
a dark part of me really hoped that I had. I didn’t even see the woman’s face
and I wanted to tear her away from him and strangle her so that I could have
him all to myself. It was irrational.

The waitress set
down our chicken salads and Sylvia quickly started eating hers while all I
could do was sit and stare dumbly at mine. Why did I feel like I could burst
into tears at any moment? Why was it so difficult to let go of a man that was
never mine to begin with?

Sylvia paused
pushing a bit of chicken over her salad and then looked at me thoughtfully. She
seemed to be trying to understand even if through her eyes, it must have seemed
like her best friend was plunging off the deep end.

“It doesn’t
really matter,” I said quietly, “It’s over.”

“You’re obsessed
with him.”

“I’m not. I’m
over it. Or at least, I’m getting over it.”

“Well, either
way, you’ve got some making up to do.”

“After last
night, I don’t think I could even face Adam again. God only knows what he must
think.”

“He obviously
really likes you, Alex. I wouldn’t be so quick to give up on him. I am betting
with the right touch, you could even help to persuade him.”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you like
this guy?”

“Yes, of
course.”

“Do you think he
could be a good boyfriend? I mean, is he someone that you could see yourself
with?”

“Yes.”

“Then it’s
obvious to me that what you need to do is pay a little visit to his house and
smooth things over.”

“I’ll try
calling him later. I can’t go over there and risk getting the door slammed in
my face.”

“That’s exactly
what you need to do but trust me, if you follow my advice, you’ll have him
panting and drooling all over you in no time.”

“I’m not sure I
like the sound of that.”

She laughed.
“That’s the problem with you, Alex. You don’t know how to relax and just have a
good time. You take everything too seriously, especially when it comes to men.”

“I don’t want to
screw things up even worse than I already have.”

“That’s kind of
my point, Alex. If you never take a chance to actually do anything then you’ll
never move forward. There has to be some sort of risk if you want the rewards
and after last night, you owe it to this guy to do some serious making up if
you expect to ever spend time with him again and I think you kind of like him.
It’s worth taking a chance. Don’t you agree?”

“I’ll think
about it.”

“No, no, no.”
Sylvia dropped her fork in frustration and folded her arms over her chest. “The
more time you let slip by, the greater your chance of losing out with this guy.
Come on, Alex, he’s the first guy that you actually went out with since that
whole fiasco with Ed. Can’t you just trust me on this one? Humor me? For once?
I might actually know what I’m talking about.”

“Yeah, you
might,” I agreed, “So what happened with your date last night? Weren’t you
seeing some new guy?”

“Screw him. He’s
history.”

It was my turn
to look at my friend with raised eyebrows. I’d obviously touched on a sore
subject. Last that we spoke while underwear shopping, she was eager to
replenish her own naughty stock in anticipation of what proved to be quite the
evening with the latest hunk to hit her radar.

“Trouble in
paradise?” I teased. While he’d obviously put her in a sour frame of mind, I
didn’t expect it would hold her down for long. With Sylvia, there was always
someone better just beyond her reach. For all I knew, she probably had the next
one lined up already.

“He stood me
up,” she said flatly. She continued to stare at her drink as she took a few
sips through the straw and I could feel the tension that this line of
conversation brought out in her. It confused me. She’d been stood up before and
didn’t care. Why would this man be any different?

“I’m sorry,
Sylvia. But surely he isn’t worth it, right? There are other guys…”

“I don’t care
about the stupid jerk,” she said cutting me off. I sat looking at her in
stunned silence for a moment. If she didn’t care so much then why was it
suddenly such a big deal that I brought it up?

“Okay,” I said.
I didn’t know what else to say. “So, what did you do? You never answered my
text messages. I figured you must have been… ummm… busy.” I regretted bringing
up the sore subject again but I was curious to push for more of a response from
her. What wasn’t she telling me?

“I didn’t get
your messages until this morning.”

“You were with
someone?” This was just getting stranger by the moment.

“It’s not a big
deal. Ben came over. We watched TV and fell asleep.”

“Holy crap!” I
slapped my hand over my mouth in shock. I couldn’t believe it. No wonder she
was being so evasive about the subject. My dear friend Sylvia had just broken
one of her biggest “Man Rules” of all.

“I told you,
Alex, it’s not a big deal. I called him up for back-up and well, we just
started talking.”

“You and a guy
sat together talking and watching TV until you fell asleep? I never thought I
would see the day.”

“It’s not like
it’s never happened before.”

“Oh really? Name
one other guy that you gave a crap about enough to tolerate for anything more
than sex?”

“It doesn’t mean
anything,” she insisted.

“That’s what I
thought. You can’t think of anyone else because there isn’t anyone else. Just
admit it, Sylvia, you have feelings for this guy and the fact is that you’re
good together so why pretend like it’s nothing when obviously there is
something there.”

“Just because we
fell asleep last night doesn’t mean that we didn’t spend the morning making up
for it,” she said with that familiar twinkle in her eye. It always went back to
sex when it came to talking about guys with Sylvia.

“So not only did
you have a great night just hanging out with a guy that you get along with but
you had a morning of amazing sex. You’re falling for this guy.”

“Get real, Alex.
I don’t fall in love.”

“You don’t admit
to it and maybe it’s never happened before but you know there is something
special about this one. How often have you seen him since last weekend when you
tried to fix me up with Nick?”

“Only a couple
times,” she mumbled into her spoonful of salad.

“As often as you
could,” I corrected. I could tell by the way she went out of her way to look
anywhere except at me. “When will you see him again?”

She shrugged.

“Tonight,” I
said. She didn’t confirm or deny it. “Wow.”

“What do you
mean ‘wow’?”

“It’s just that
I never thought I’d see the day that you’d actually have a boyfriend. This is
awesome.”

“Ben is not my
boyfriend. It’s just that he happens to be particularly good in bed so I’m
keeping him around a little longer than most. I don’t have feelings for the guy
and it’s not going to turn into anything serious. We both know that we are
still free to see other people and believe me, I will see other men and I will
have plenty of sex.”

“Maybe you will.
Maybe you won’t. The fact remains that even if you do see someone else, you’re
going to be thinking about him in the back of your mind and that does mean
something. In your own messed up kind of way, you are in a relationship whether
you want to admit it to your best friend or not.”

“I am not.”

“You are too.”

She sighed
heavily. “I’m doomed, aren’t I?” she asked as she pushed away her plate. I
shook my head. I realized in that moment that my dear friend that I’d always
looked up to for having her life so put together was just as confused as I was
when it came to relationships. She needed me as much as I needed her. I
finished off the last of my own salad and put down my fork.

“I’ll make you a
deal,” I said at last.

“What is that?”

“Whatever you
think I should do to set things right with Adam, I will trust you and follow
your advice exactly but in return, you have to admit that you actually like
this Ben guy and agree that you’re going to listen to me once in a while and
give this guy half a chance. No running away when things get too intense for
you. Okay?”

“I’m not so sure
I can agree to that, Alex.”

“You really
believe that I have a chance with Adam, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you can
help me fix it?”

“You know I
can.”

“So just trust
me this once. I know what I’m talking about. Well, okay, kind of. I admit that
I’m not exactly lucky in love but I have a good feeling about Ben and I like
seeing how happy he makes you.”

“I don’t know
what you’re talking about.”

“Sylvia, I saw
you two together, remember? I’ve never seen you light up the way you do when
he’s in the room. There is something there.”

“I don’t know,
Alex, it’s scary.”

“Love is a
terrifying thing, Sylvia,” I said laughing, “but I am pretty sure we can get
you through it. Remember that whole speech you just gave me moments ago about
taking risks for greater rewards and blah, blah, blah.”

“Yes, I believe
in all that blah, blah, blah.” She smiled.

“Yeah, well, it
applies to you too, you know.”

“It was a really
nice evening,” she admitted, “and to be honest, Alex, I didn’t really call him
for sex. He called me and I think he just wanted to hear the sound of my voice.
So I invited him over thinking he’d probably just want to mess around and go
home but he didn’t and it was just comfortable and I enjoyed it. I didn’t want
to enjoy it but I did and I didn’t want him to leave. When he fell asleep I just
lay my head down on his shoulder and I went to sleep too. It was a really nice
feeling.”

“Yep, you’re in
love.”

“Let’s not get
carried away. I’m admitting that maybe I was wrong about a few things along the
way but I’m not ready to go shopping for the white dress just yet. Let’s get
back to more important matters here anyway. You have to hold up your end of our
little deal.”

“Yes, I need to
make Adam forgive me.”

“We’re going to
get you back into that man’s good graces and make him forget all about that little
blunder you made last night. Believe me, Alex, once you follow through with
what I’ve got in store for you, he won’t be able to think straight. He’s just
going to come crawling back to you for more.”