And Then It Happened: An Unexpected Romance (10 page)

“And do you ever veer from those rules?” I asked.

“Yeah, Adrian, do you ever veer from those rules?” Marcus asked with a grin.

“No,” Adrian replied, folding his arms across his chest. “I haven’t found the right girl yet.”

“Not yet?” August asked.

“Not yet,” Adrian bit out before turning toward me. “You know what? Enough with these losers. Let’s go get you a drink,” he said, sliding out of his chair and extending his hand toward me. I guessed he was tired of being battered by his friends and because I felt sorry for him, I went along with his suggestion without arguing.

As we walked away from the table I asked, “So you ever going to tell me about Creepy Clara?”

Adrian shrugged. “Maybe if you ask nicely.”

I wrapped my arm around his and leaned into him. “Pretty please,” I said with a large smile.

Adrian glanced down at me and the frown he wore slowly disappeared.

“I’ll tell you about her when I’m not around my asshole friends, who I apologize for by the way.”

“I like them,” I replied, moving away from him as we neared the bar.

“Well, I better keep you around then. I can’t imagine anyone else wanting to be around those clowns.”

“Wait,” I said, turning toward him as the bartender neared. “Are you telling me you really haven’t introduced anyone to them yet? I thought that was a joke.”

Before he could answer the bartender came up to me. The two of us ordered our drinks and while we waited for them to be made, I leaned toward Adrian over the sound of the voices and music and asked, “So have you ever broken one of your rules before?”

“Yeah.”

My eyebrows rose. I hadn’t expected that. “Recently?”

“Yeah.”

“With who?” Now I was interested. Who was this girl that Adrian broke rules for and why did I feel jealous all of a sudden?

Because you like him, that’s why.

Adrian stared at me for a second before replying, “You wouldn’t know her.”

I tapped my fingers against the bar top as the bartender slid me my drink. I took a sip and cringed at the amount of vodka within.

“Not good?” Adrian asked.

“Good, just a little strong. So,” I said, glancing around, “Is this mystery girl here tonight?”

“Why are you so interested?”

“I’m just curious about who she is,” I said with a shrug, taking another tentative sip of my drink. “What she looks like, what her interests are…”

“Janice, I’m not telling you who it is,” he said with a crooked smile. “Let’s go back to the table. I know the guys are dying to air more of my dirty laundry. And make me look like a total douche.”

“You do that just fine all by yourself,” I replied as I eagerly took another sip of my drink and nearly skipped back to the table. As I lowered myself into my chair, Adrian’s three friends watched me in silence.

“That took an exorbitant amount of time,” August said, eyeing Adrian.

“The bartender was a little slow,” I explained.

“What August is trying to ask is are you two dating?” Marcus asked.

“Dating?” I asked, nearly spitting out my drink. “Am I dating Adrian?”

Adrian glanced over at me as I began to laugh and wave my hands in the air.

“What? No. Not ever. Nope. Never ever,” I said between spurts of hysterics.

When I finally calmed down, I wiped my eyes, not noticing Adrian’s frustrated glance and his friend’s shooting him glances. “Why would you think that?” I asked.

“No reason,” Adrian interjected. “No reason.”

“It’s because he brought you here…to meet his friends,” Chris said with a smirk.

My brow furrowed as I shot Adrian a nervous glance. My laughter died and heart thumped anxiously in my chest as I waited for his denial.

“Look guys. I brought her here because she needed to get out. She’s my friend.”

“Friend?” August asked.

“Friend,” Adrian repeated.

“You don’t have friends that are girls,” Marcus interjected.

“I do now,” Adrian replied, glancing at me. “Right? We’re friends?”

My eyes shifted from Marcus, to Chris to August and then back to Adrian as I nodded slowly.

“Yeah, friends. I guess there’s a first for everything.”

Adrian seemed to slump visibly as the words left my mouth.

The three guys shifted nervously at the table, all stunned into silence as Adrian held out his hand to me. “Let’s dance.”

I finished off my drink, feeling slightly warm and woozy as Adrian led me onto the dance floor. There were a few couples swinging back and forth to a fast song as Adrian pulled me into him. I loved how he felt against me, how his arms held me, but I pushed those feelings away. Being with Adrian wasn’t an option.

Oh yes it is.

“So we’re friends now?” I asked, looking up into his eyes.

He glanced down and the corners of his lips twitched. “Yeah. I guess we are. It’s weird…”

“What’s weird?”

“I’ve never been just friends with a girl before.”

“Never? Not once?”

“I mean, in elementary school, but other than that no. Friendship never entered into it. Fucking, yes. Friends
hip, no.”

I bit my bottom lip in thought. “Why not?”

“Girls want me and I usually want them. Why waste time with things like small talk and soul searching. I’d rather be between their legs.”

“Writhing?” I asked with a laugh despite feeling slightly offended. Obviously, despite his constant joking about it, he didn’t want me like that. Like I’d thought, I must really not be his type of girl.

Oh, but he almost kissed you the other day and he constantly talks to you about sex…

“Thrusting,” he replied.

“Oh god, you’re seriously the worst. And you have a terrible outlook on friendship by the way. I think being friends with me is going to open new doors for you…new worlds…you are going to explore the unexplored…”

“Just shut the fuck up. The only unexplored worlds I want to explore are new sex positions and if you’d like to introduce one to me, I’m game. Other than that…”

“I do know a few cool things to do with a paintbrush,” I couldn’t help but say, despite it being untrue. I was being outrageously flirty and I think I had the alcohol to thank. Because now that I knew what Adrian and I were, it seemed a little safer to cross certain boundaries. If he could never really want me, then why be so shy about things.

Like whether you use your fingers or a vibrator.

“Paintbrushes, huh?” His eyes twinkled as he pulled me closer.

I wiggled against him. “Yes.”

He chuckled and pulled away. “Friends don’t dance like this, you know?”

I sighed heavily. “Friends also don’t buy vibrators or lingerie for one another.”

“You’re saying your friends haven’t bought you sex toys or sexy outfits?”

“Never,” I said, glancing toward the table of Adrian’s friends. They were gawking at the two of us and I forced my gaze back to Adrian.

“You have terrible friends then.”

I weakly shoved at Adrian’s chest. “So since you’ve dragged me out of my house and introduced me to your amazing friends, I think I’m going to make this dress and my makeup useful. I think I’ll go ahead and meet someone.”

Adrian blinked as he watched me glance toward the bar. The humor previously in his eyes quickly disappeared as he followed my gaze.

“Anyone you’d suggest?” I asked, scanning the slim crowd. “How about that guy?” I said pointing toward a guy with a fla
nnel shirt and a baseball hat. “He looks rugged. Probably has rough, calloused hands too.”

“He probably rapes horses in his spare time.”

I shot Adrian a look before waving toward a guy wearing a suit and tie. “Fine, then what about him?”

“Owns an Anthropolgie lamp and has guy porn in the bottom drawer of his bed stand.”

I rolled my eyes as I found a guy sitting at a table wearing a v-neck shirt, dark jeans and had beautifully styled hair. He was way out of my league, kind of like Adrian, but hey, I was feeling invincible at the moment.

“He looks pretty promising,” I said, not able to foresee any problems with my last choice besides the fact I wouldn’t have been able to speak in his presence. And the fact that he would most likely overlook me.

“He looks like he’s so in love with himself that he would suck his own dick,” Adrian said after a moment of silence.

My eyes widened at his proclamation as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me toward him.

“Where do you come up with this stuff?” I asked as he led me off the dance floor and back toward his friends.

“You came out with me tonight, so hang out with me, okay?”

“It seems all I do is hang out with you,” I whined with a smile.

“Get used to it. Now that we’re officially friends you’re never getting rid of me.”

***

I curled up on Adrian’s seat as he drove me home. After another round of drinks and some more shit talking about Adrian I was ready to go home.

“I didn’t realize you graduated with a degree in business,” I said as Adrian pulled out of the parking lot.

Adrian shrugged. “Never came up.”

“I just thought you were a gigolo.”

“I wish. That would be a much more fulfilling and lucrative career than computer programming.”

“You’re such a nerd,” I said, slipping my bare feet from my high heels and rubbing them.

“I bet you never saw a nerd this hot before, huh?”

I glanced at him. It was true. I’d never have pegged Adrian as a nerd, not with his body and his personality, but for some reason it worked and I liked him even more because of it.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, how old is Marcus?” I asked as he came to stop at a stoplight.

“Why?”

“I just wanted to know. He looked younger than you guys.”

Adrian glanced over at me and sighed. “You interested?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m not. I was just wondering.”

“He’s your age, 25, and he’s a cool guy. We just became close the past few years when he finally got his shit together.”

I nodded as I leaned back against the seat cushion. “It’s cool that you have brothers. Are you close with Gabe too?”

“I idolized him most of my childhood, so yeah I am.”

“I wish I had brothers or sisters.”

“Being an only child, it’s no wonder you sometimes have the social skills of a gnat.”

I snorted. “And you’re so much better? You have so many rules when it comes to girls and sex, it’s a wonder you enjoy either.”

“Trust me. I enjoy both. Very much.”

“Sure. So why haven’t you had any girls over lately. Your side of the house has been pretty quiet lately.”

Adrian shrugged as he pulled up to the curb.

“I’ve been trying new things…taking a break from the usual. Expanding my horizons.”

I slipped my feet back in my heels as I glanced at him. “And why is that?”

He shrugged. “Just seeing if I can find something a little more meaningful.”

It was the most serious I’d seen Adrian since I’d met him and it turned me on. In a big way. The two of us sat in his truck, staring at each other until he cleared his throat and looked away.

“So,” he began and I knew he was hiding behind his humor once more. “Since I saved you from a night of detriment and loneliness, you going to invite me in?”

I slid out of his truck and walked to my door. “Um, we’re just friends, remember?”

“Being friends with a girl sucks tits.”

“Too bad, so sad,” I replied.

“Come on, Janie. We already slept together…”

His nickname for me had my heartbeat quickening. “Okay. You’re right. Come on in.”

Adrian smiled widely as he followed me inside. “I knew it. Knew it. You are easy.”

***

We curled up on the couch like we’d done it a zillion times before and I smiled inwardly. 

“Give me your feet,” Adrian said as I turned on the TV.

“You going to rub them?”

“Yep.”

I lowered myself across from him and placed my feet in his lap. “Being friends with you is the best,” I said as he began to slowly rub the ache away.

“I’m just doing this so you’ll stick around.”

I slanted him a look. “You know you don’t have to do that to keep me around. I may not have very many friends, but I’m loyal when I do have them.”

Adrian watched me and nodded. “So you have fun tonight?”

My eyes closed as he found a particularly sore spot on my insole. “Yeah. I’m glad I went out. It was fun hearing all about you. I know so many things about you now…deep
, dark things.”