Curves in the Road (The Southern Devotion Series Book 2) (3 page)

Chapter Four

**Mary Jane**

Lunchtime rolled around and as usual I went into the lounge to sit by myself and read. It was never an easy task for me to meet new people. If they didn’t approach me first, I usually didn’t speak for fear of rejection I suppose.

Today I was enjoying (I use that word lightly) my lean microwave meal that was a portion big enough for a squirrel to fill up on, when I felt the table shift and glanced up.  A large blue monster with purple spots sat across from me, he lifted a furry arm to wave. I snickered and waved back, “I loved your movies. Where’s your little green Cyclops friend?”

He shook with laughter and removed the head of the costume so he could speak. I almost choked on my food when I saw the handsome man behind the mask. He extended his furry blue hand and said, “I’m Tristan, I’m not really a monster I only play one.
I'd like to say on TV; alas my acting career hasn't taken off as I hoped it would. Perhaps the blue fur causes me to be typecast?”

He winked at me and I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, I’m Mary Jane. Most people call me MJ.” Tristan had lightly bronzed skin and his head was shaved which looked a bit odd on him but I wasn’t going to judge. His eyes were green with light specks of brown mixed in.

He released a heavy breath, “Whew, wearing this thing is tougher than it looks.” 

I smiled, “Can’t you change out of it?”
 

He nodded, “Once my shift is through. Actually I’m covering for the guy that’s supposed to be taking my place. Let’s keep that as our little secret though, if you don’t mind. I don’t want to get him in trouble.”

I held up my index finger and then made an X over my heart, “Cross my heart and hope to die.” 

He shivers, “That is one of the creepiest sayings, especially when you follow it up with stick a needle in my eye. What were people thinking when they said these things?”
  I laughed before taking another bite of my lunch.

He leaned forward, glancing at my plate and then up at me. “Is that a snack?”
 

I shook my head, “Nope, it’s lunch.”
 

His eyes bulged, “Sweetheart, that isn’t lunch for anyone. What time do you get off today?”
 

I thought about that for a moment, calculating the hours in my head. “Around
six?”

He nodded, “Great, me too. Let’s grab dinner somewhere. I need more friends around here and from the looks of it, you do too. Am I right?”
 

I sighed, “Is it that obvious?”

He shrugs, “Well you did get excited to see a big blue monster sit down with you.” We both laughed and then he stood up and put his giant head back on. Through the mask he mumbled, “I’ll meet you at the front gates around six.”

Well that seems promising, it’ll be the first time I’ve had dinner with someone other than Angel since I moved to Florida. Tonight was the perfect night too since Angel is doing an out of town training for her job this week. Tristan seems pretty cool and he isn’t bad to look at either. My phone dings with a text and it makes me smile. It’s Derrick ‘
Hope you’re having a great day. I was sitting here thinking about you.’
I didn’t have time to respond with my lunch break being over so I decided I’d write back later with something equally sweet.

Six
o’clock rolled around and I made my way to the front of the park to wait on Tristan. Six fifteen rolled around, no Tristan. I strolled to a nearby gift shop to give him a few more minutes. When six thirty came and he still hadn’t showed, I decided to go on home alone. I started through the exit gate when I hear someone calling out to me. “MJ!”  Tristan was running down the main street of the park towards me, waving his arm in the air. Once he reached me, he bent to place his hands on his knees while he caught his breath. “Damn girl, I don’t usually run unless I’m being chased by a serial killer so you should feel honored, because seriously that never happens.” 

I placed my hand over my heart, “I feel very honored, Sir.”
  Instead of going to the parking lot, he grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the monorail system. “I’m scared of heights. I’m not sure I want to ride that!”

Tristan squeezed my hand. “You can hold my hand the entire time if you need to. It’s really a cool ride.”
 

“Ok, where are we going?”
 

He smiled, “It’s a surprise, but I promise you one thing, you’re about to get laid.”
  When he said that, I panicked a bit thinking this was a date instead of a friendly dinner like I thought, especially when we got off at one of the resorts. My chest hurt with anxiety and I was afraid that I misunderstood so I didn’t want to make an idiot of myself and ask what he meant. All I could do was hope that I hadn’t misjudged this guy.

When we rounded the corner, I understood. A girl in a Hawaiian skirt and bikini top came up and placed a lei over my head. He snickered, “You should’ve seen your face earlier…priceless.”

I smacked him playfully and realized he was a lot like my friend Cameron from back home. “So what are we doing?”

He grinned, “We’re watching the luau and having dinner. The guy I covered
for paid me by giving me tickets for tonight. I was going to sell the tickets because I wasn’t going to come by myself and then I met you so it worked out nicely.”
 

“T
ell me about the guy.” Tristan said as he pulled out the seat for me. I gave him a quizzical look, “The guy who you’re so into. The look on your face earlier was a mixture of panic and guilt. So spill.” 

Then I remembered something, “Derrick! Oh my gosh, I forgot to text him back!” I pulled my phone out and sent a quick message.
Sorry I didn’t answer sooner, I was working. I’m at dinner with a friend now but I wanted to tell you that I’ve been thinking about you too. I hope you can come visit me soon. Miss you. Give Katie-cat a hug for me.” 

Tristan was reading over my shoulder and smirked, “Very sweet. Who is Katie-cat?”

“His daughter.”

Tristan’s eyebrow
rises with curiosity and he asks, “
His
daughter? Not your daughter together?”

I shook my head, “No, I wish
she was my daughter. She’s an awesome kid. He was only sixteen when she was born and he’s raised her on his own, with the occasional help of his parents and two brothers.

Tristan nodded approvingly, “He sounds like a keeper.”
 

I responded, “He is, otherwise I wouldn’t even try this whole long distance thing.”
 

His eyebrows
rise again, “Where does he live?” 

“In Nashville, where I moved here from.”
 

Tristan nods and then we are interrupted by our waiter. She grins at Tristan, “Welcome U'i how are you?”
 

He blushes
in response to her obvious flirting. “Great, you look well.” They go on chatting for a moment before she takes our drink orders and moves to the next table.

“Friend of yours?” I ask."And what did she call you?"

He pursed his lips as he chooses his words carefully, “Kind of an ex-girlfriend I guess. We ended on good terms though so I like to think of her as a friend. She called me U'i, it's Hawaiian for handsome.” 

Glancing back at the waitress, I took in her appearance. Of course she was of Hawaiian descent for the ambience and was wearing
a Hawaiian shirt with a straight khaki skirt. “She’s cute, definitely more your type than I would be.”

I’m not sure why I said that and Tristan gave me a funny look. “Why is that exactly?” I shrugged because I had no answer for it. “So you don’t think sweet, country, rockin’ hot blondes are my thing?”

I peer around the room in confusion, “Who are you talking about?”

He laughs, “You need a mirror, darling girl.
You
are hot.”

I rolled my eyes, “I hope you have a good vision plan, because you need glasses sir.”
 

He turns to grab a guy walking by who resembles the actor Ryan Gosling and asks, “Would you date my friend here?”
 

‘Ryan’ takes a lingering glance over my body, stopping a moment to view ‘the girls’ for a second time and replies, “Hell yeah.”
 

Tristan turns back to me, “See.”

The guy leans forward, “So do I get your number?”

Tristan waves his hands in a dismissing fashion. “No dude, you think a chick this hot is single? It was a rhetorical question, move on!” ‘Ryan’ moves on looking a bit annoyed at being troubled for an answer since he wasn’t getting anything in return. I couldn’t help laughing and feeling flattered at the same time.

The next couple of hours were filled with delicious Hawaiian foods and a fun-filled luau full of dancing and romance. It was an enjoyable night, but I would’ve enjoyed it more with Derrick beside me. Tristan is great, don’t get me wrong. The romantic ambience of the show made me want my boyfriend beside me.

After the luau, neither of us
was tired so we set out to find a good spot to hang out. This resort was beside a lake so it had a beachfront feel to it complete with sandy edges. We took over a couple of lounge chairs and sipped on some frozen margaritas that Tristan talked his lady friend into letting us take with us, with the promise that we’d return the glasses. He’s a sweet talker, no doubt about it.

Throughout the night h
e would run his hands back and forth across his bald head, so I finally ask about his choice of hairstyle.

“Is that a new style for you?”

He glanced at his hand as if realizing what he was doing suddenly and laughed, “Yeah, it is. I usually keep it much longer, this is strange for me.” 

I nodded in understanding, “So why the bold choice to shave it?”

Tristan pulled out his cell phone, then after a moment he handed it to me. On the screen was a young girl whose hair was starting to grow in and she had a small bow resting on top of her head that had to have been taped. “My little sister, Macy.” 

I went for the most logical assumption, “She’s beautiful. Is it leukemia?”

His brow furrowed and he shook his head, “No, she doesn’t have cancer. She’s twelve and extremely smart. Smart enough that she’s a sophomore in high school now. I've been raising her for the last year. Our mom has early onset Alzheimer's and our dad left years ago after she started to deteriorate.  Mom's in a home now and doesn't remember who we are most of the time.”

This didn’t explain anything to me thus far, but I waited to see if he went on. After a moment, he continued by saying, “Due to her age, she is bullied
pretty regularly by the older kids. One day at school some girls cornered her in the bathroom and took a razor to her hair. They shaved it off in places, enough randomness that there was nothing else to do but shave it completely. She called me in a panic and I went to pick her up from school, not knowing what I was going to see when I got there. She cried all night about how ugly she was and that she’d never show her face in public again. I calmed her down and made her take a nap. While she was sleeping I shaved my head. She knew how much I loved my hair; yes I admit I’m like a girl in that aspect. When she woke up and saw my head, she cried and told me that I was the best brother in the world.” 

His eyes were welling with tears. I reached out and took his hand in mine. “I’m keeping it shaved until hers grows back fully because mine will take no time to grow. Hers is slower. Sometimes she wears wigs but it’s still obvious.”
  His eyes met mine and he reached over to wipe the tears falling from my eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring you down.”

Letting go of his hand, I wiped my eyes. “It reminds me of my school days is all. My friends and I were all familiar with bullies. I was bullied for my weight, Angel was bullied for being Hispanic, Gracie was bullied for being friends with us, and Cameron was bullied because he’s gay. I despise bullies.”
 

Tristan stood up and moved his chair right next to mine and wrapped his arms around me. We cuddled on the beach for a few minutes after he said, “Me too.”
   

He drove me back to my car and said, “Well we officially bonded tonight, I’d say.
"  Doing his best valley girl impression he said, "You know we'll have to be besties.” 

I chuckled, “I’d say that’s an accurate description of the night.
And I'd love to be your bestie. I’d like to meet your sister sometime. Maybe on a day off she and I could hang out at the park?”

His face lit up with excitement, “She’d love that MJ. Thank you! I’ll set it up. Maybe we can both have the day off.”
 

“Sounds great! Thanks for tonight, I really needed it.”
  As I got into my car, my phone rang; it was Derrick. Activating the blue tooth in my car for hands free usage, I answered.

Before I could say anything, I hear a sweet voice, “MJ, I wanted to call and tell you goodnight before Daddy talks to you.
I'm really glad you two are still friends.”