Exposed: Book One of The Love Seekers Series (8 page)

Chapter 1
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Emma

It would be another two days before I would hear from Bryan again for a total of three days without any communication. At times it felt longer than that, especially when my eyes would slowly gravitate toward my phone, or when I happened to be on my computer. I always had FaceSpace messenger open because I didn’t want to miss his message. Silly, really, since I couldn’t miss his message given all the electronic devices I owned with FS messenger downloaded on them.

Odd that I anticipated his pings with glee when days ago I cringed knowing he waited for me to respond. Who was the person waiting for a response now? Me, and I wanted to slap myself for it. Any time my phone would ding, I hurriedly checked it to see whose name or face appeared, and each time Bryan’s did not pop up, I frowned and shook my head in disappointment at him and myself. And each time I would put it down after responding to the messenger half–heartedly.

The only time I felt apprehensive about talking to him again, was when I remembered my dream.
Oh that dream.
It did not take much to recall the image of him in Batman Underoos. Sometimes the image created an ache deep within me, but more often than not, the image made me laugh. A big strong navy man with tattoos on his arm dressed in Underoos? Yeah, it was a mental image that did not want to leave once it took root. I attempted to pretend it was not there, but it was always there in the back of my mind ready to pop out at any unsuspecting moment.

Yesterday, my mouth opened of its own accord and confessed the dream to Mel. She fell to the floor laughing like a hyena. Like a fucking snorting hyena. I had never seen her become completely unhinged like this before. I stared at her in disbelief and pondered which was funnier: the Underoos or her in hysterics.

When she finally started to come down from her merry high, I grumbled, “It’s funny, but I don’t think it’s that funny.” Then again, I had stewed on the dream for a few days.

“No! No, you don’t understand.” She gasped for breath, and I worried that she was not getting enough oxygen. Her skin began to turn blue. Yikes.

I hesitated, but asked, “Okaaaay. Care to explain?”

Taking a deep breath, she tried to sit up, but fell backwards onto the floor again. Her whole body shook with her mirth.

“Well?” I demanded, curious as to the reason behind her acting as if she had completely lost her senses.

She took one more calming breath before she found me with her eyes, a large smile still on her face. “Right after we graduated from high school, I needed to grab something from his house–I don’t even remember what it was now. I knocked and thought I heard him say ‘
come in.’
He hadn’t.” Her laughter built up again. “And when…when I walked…ahem…when I walked in, he was dancing to Prince’s 1999.”

While it shocked me to hear this, it didn’t deserve a reaction as extreme as this. “I see.”

“No, that’s not all.” She guffawed, laughing until she could barely breathe. “He was stripping, and O.M.G…he started to strip. I didn’t say anything since I wanted to see how long it would take before he noticed me there. He got down to only his socks and his Captain America underwear before I couldn’t take it anymore and started laughing. He heard me and spun around and…and tried to cover up with the curtain, but when he did that, his Captain America ass peeked through the window for all the neighbors to see!” Once again she struggled to breathe from laughing so hard.

And this time, I joined her. I fell backwards onto my couch barking with laughter. I was very curious what Bryan Sampson looked like stripping as a teenager. Back before the tattoos or before he joined the Navy. Mel once told me that he played football in school and has always been on the muscular side. Him stripping, my mouth watered thinking about it.

Bad! Bad Emma!
If my fascination of him continued, I feared the consequences.

After pulling herself up onto the couch, she collapsed on the couch and we both continued to laugh as we watched a movie and ate takeout. Imagining Bryan in Captain America underwear doing a striptease would forever be ingrained in my head.

I thought about it when I went to bed, and when my dog woke me up from yet another Bryan dream, but this time Captain America Underoos replaced Batman.

              And when Bryan finally messaged me the next day, I blushed red and tried to picture him fully clothed instead of in only superhero underwear. I couldn’t do it. Once again chat saved me from embarrassment. I knew if we were on Skype or if he stood in front of me, he would be able to see my pink tinged face. Then again, if we were on the phone, he would probably be able to hear it in my voice.

             
Bryan:
Hey.

             
His greeting popped up short and simple.

             
Me:
Hey back. Everything okay?

             
I really wanted to ask him what he had been doing for the past three days, however, I remained polite.

Bryan:
Yeah. Have I mentioned u r not allowed to become crazy?

Me:
Bwahahaha! Did you get another stalker fan?

Bryan:
Fan?

Me:
Sure. They’re fangirls out for your hot body.

Bryan:
Ha! Not even funny. Not laughing.

Me:
LOL. So what happened?

             
I tried not to giggle, but I couldn’t help it and wound up holding my side from laughing too much.

Bryan:
First, I had to pull extra duty shifts because of some bullshit, and then I come home to find that wacko waiting for me.

Then my roommate brought home a different girl and she tried to convince both of us to fuck her at the same time.

Not into the whole 3some thing. Not my thing.

So between all that shit, I’ve been staying off the computer.

Me:
Damn.

             
What else was I supposed to say? I sat there blinking at my computer screen in disbelief.

Bryan:
U can say that again.

Me:
Damn. LOL.

Bryan:
Haha. Hilarious. So what u been up to?

Me:
Nothing much.

Bryan:
That sounds like so much fun.

Me:
Yep. My life is the stuff of legends.

Bryan:
I see.

Me:
:P ;)

Bryan:
So r u ready to talk?

Me:
About?

Bryan:
What do u think?

Me:
Weather? LOL.

Bryan:
Funny.

Me:
I thought we already covered that.

Bryan:
We did. LOL. So tell me.

Me:
You first.

Bryan:
Me first? Okay. I have one younger sister, Rayne. She is 6 yrs younger. When she was born, I tried to sell her to my neighbors. I even made a poster and took it over to them.

Me:
LMAO. No, you didn’t. Really?

Bryan:
Really. I don’t really remember doing it, but my parents kept that stupid poster and have photographic evidence.

They love retelling that story every time the whole family is together. :P

Me:
Your poor sister. LOL.

Bryan:
Yeah, and for some reason she still loves me.

Me:
I wouldn’t. ;)

Bryan:
Well, I’m not trying to sell u. :P

Me:
Good point. So do you get along with your sister now?

Not trying to sell her anymore?

Bryan:
Nah. I guess I’ll keep her around for a while. LOL. She is one of my closest friends now, but when she was a baby, she cried, ate, and pooped.

That’s all she was good for.

Me:
Damn babies and their neediness. LOL
.


Bryan:
LMAO. Does this mean u don’t like kids?

Me:
I actually love them. U?

Bryan:
They ok. Not sure I want any, but u never know.

Me:
True.

Bryan:
So why did u say life got in the way b4.

             
Looked like we were going to be jumping into the deep end with both feet immediately.

Me:
Because it did.

Bryan:
That’s not an answer.

Me:
Did you ever see something and decide it wasn’t for you?

Bryan:
Sure. Who hasn’t?

Me:
That was me in a nutshell in high school.

Guys were more interested in my sister.

She basically told me no guy would want me.

Bryan:
WTF?

Me:
Ok, I typed that wrong. I wanted to go to college and already knew what I wanted to major in. If I wanted college, I needed scholarships.

Bryan:
Makes sense.

Me:
I worked my ass off studying and guys were put on the backburner.

She joined the Navy and during my junior year in high school, told me that no guy would want someone smarter than him. That I needed to stop studying, dumb myself down, and let a guy take care of me.

Bryan:
WHAT?

Me:
I decided I wanted more than depending on a guy.

Bryan:
U should! WTF? And she was in the Navy, not living off a man?

Me:
By the time she said that to me, she had met the man she was going to marry. But yeah.

Bryan:
This is the same sister that Mel is friends with? The same one I met at karaoke?

Me:
My one and only sibling, Ellie.

Bryan:
That’s bullshit.

Me:
I know. It’s why I worked hard to get scholarships.

Then I had to work my ass off to keep them, and then I worked on my Master’s, which meant grants and loans.

Then working my ass off to finish my graduate degree.

Had a couple of forced dates that my roommate would dump on me and the occasional boyfriend, but none of them were my priority.

That’s about it.

Bryan:
Damn. Life huh?

Me:
Life.

Bryan:
I can see why u didn’t date much, but that doesn’t explain ur self-esteem issues.

Me:
Do we have to talk about that?

Bryan:
Yes. U need help and I’m gonna help, but I need to know.

Me:
Do you have security clearance for that?

Bryan:
Haha. I’ve got ur clearance.

Me:
I don’t know if you do. I’m not a giant and I haven’t found one yet.

Bryan:
Rofl

Me:
:D hehe

Bryan:
I’m shaking my head at u
.
  Talk to me.

Me:
What’s there to tell? Guys never really paid much attention to me.

In high school, I was the geeky girl who always had her nose in a book.

In college, more off the same.

When I started working, I thought I would finally meet someone, but I only met losers.

             
It felt as if the heat in my cheeks increased. Typing might have been impersonal, but the feelings of embarrassment, trepidation, and fear lingered. I wanted to close the chat and pretend none of our conversations ever happened, but at the same time, I reasoned with myself that this would be good for me. I hoped it would.

Bryan:
So u didn’t date much.

Just a sec. Phone dying. Switching to computer.

              I waited for his return, silently praying he would be called away, and laughing at myself because that went against everything I had decided to do with my life.

             
Bryan:
Back.

             
Me:
Welcome back.

             
Bryan:
Back to the conversation. You didn’t date much.