Love Unexpected (6 page)

I made my way to the front
of the club. Zander’s silhouette followed my steps.
 

"Are you leaving?" his hooded
eyes inquired.
 

"Yeah." I scrolled through my phone for th
e cab's number.

"I'm leaving too. I can give you a ride," he offered.
 

"No, it’s ok, I'm
calling a cab."
 

"At this time, the cab is probably not going to be here for half an hour or more. The clubs are open, meaning the cabs are in demand, so they’d take longer to get here. I told the guys I’m on my way out so it’s really no biggie if you
ride with me.”
 

"Thank you Zander, it’s really nice of you to offer. I can just wait here for the cab," I graciously declined his offer.

I walked towards the sidewalk. I was in the process of dialing the cab company when I glanced around and a
cross from where I was standing, was a red Infiniti G37 Sports Car with the plates ‘COOLSTFF’. It was Brennan’s car which could only mean that he was still inside. He was probably going to look for me again. I wanted to avoid more drama so I looked over at Zander, "Ok, if it's really no bother, I'd like to accept your offer."
 

Zander's hand
s went up in a flash. He called up the valet and within minutes, we were inside a black Porsche SUV, driving on the freeway.
 

The day's events were replaying in my head when his voice broke m
y concentration.
 

"I'd be content to drive all night, Sedona. I’m just a bit worried that we'll end up in L.A. if I
kept driving."
 

"Oh, I’m so sorry. Just keep going on the 805 and exit Marmion Way. It should be in
about 4 exits."
 

I gave the rest of the directions to my place while he drove. He didn't ask about Brennan during the drive. He asked me where I'm from, what I liked about San Francisco, and the places I
haven't been to and would like to see in San Francisco.  I didn’t see the purpose of his questions but I did not want to be rude, especially since he was driving me to my apartment, so I answered “Santa Monica; the climate and diversity; and the Japanese Gardens, Museums, and maybe some tourist spots.”

I talked while he listened. While he drove, I discovered some things about him - his hands were twice as big as mine (I checked them out while they were on the steering wheel), he liked Hip Hop and Club music (types of music playing inside his car), he liked vanilla (his car smelled like vanilla), and the corners of his mouth turned up in a very sexy way when he was amused.
 

I didn't even realize we were in front of my place until he parked his car. He had both of his hands on the steering wheel, turned his head towards me, and was looking at me strangely, "So Brennan Townsend is not your boyfr
iend, right?"
 

"How did you know hi
s name?" I asked bewildered.
 

"Sedona, I play football. He plays for San Francisco Rivers, our division rival, so we meet for a couple of game
s each year."
 

"Oh."

“I think we belong in the same fraternity.”

“Oh.”

"So, he’s not, right?” he repeated, “Your boyfriend?"
                 

"Like I said earlier, he used to be. Not anymore," I simply replied.
                 

"Good. I just want to get it straight," he said.
                 

He l
eaned across from the driver seat and kissed me.

“Life is a collection of experiences – the good, the bad, the ugly, and the wonderful.”

Sedona

The text messages started coming in around 10:15 AM, followed by voicemails, then more text messages.

I was snuggled under my bed covers, ready to switch my body position from left to right. I wanted to wake up; my body loudly rebelled. I was so not on schedule. I would have to rearrange my day planner for today. Ugh.

My phone vibrated on my nightstand. I ignored it. It would stop after three buzzes.

Well, it didn’t.

Aargh.

I let it continue for 5 more buzzes then I grabbed it with my right hand.

My phone lit up when I pushed on a key.

I scrolled down.

Nalee: Call me. Spill!

Tanya: He is HOT! For once, you got it right, girlfriend!

Nalee (again): CALL me!!!!

Kieran: WTH, I go on a swim meet and ur in the headlines?!! Call me, Ace.

505-670-8088: Hey! You’re in the news!  (
I had no idea who this number belonged to.
)

Tanya (again): Call me. NOW!

I also saw 5 missed calls, 2 from Tanya, 1 from Nalee, 1 from Kieran, and 1 from Brennan.

What was happening?

I tried calling Tanya but my call went straight to voicemail. She was probably in some exercise class. I called Nalee but she didn’t pick up either. Kieran was probably in practice so his cell phone would be off.

I was about to check my voicemails when Tanya called back.

“HEY!” She screamed on the phone. My ears were going to explode.

“Dial down, sister. I’m half awake,” groggily, I said.

“You’re still in bed?!” I put my phone away from my ear. Why did she have to scream so much?

“Yes, Ms. Perky. I’m still in bed.”

“You’re so lazy during break,” she mumbled. Thank goodness, her voice was a couple of notches down.

I was not lazy. I was drained from last night. No wonder I stuck to my routine of sleeping before midnight. With no energy to explain my actions, I said, “I seldom get to sleep in for clinicals.” It was true. During the semester, when I had clinical rotations, I was awake up by 5:00 in the morning so I could get to the hospital by 6:15. At this time, however, on a Saturday, I should have completed at least 2 laps in the pool already. It was starting to bother me how off schedule I was.

“So this means you haven’t checked Chatty Pepper!” Her voice was increasing in decibels again.

“Chatty WHO?” I had no clue on whom she was referring to. 

“Chatty Pepper! THE biggest college website!”

“Tanya, I have no idea who this Chatty Person is. And why should I care?” I asked in an exasperated voice. It was really too early to be woken up to insignificant matters.

“Sedona, Chatty Pepper is the # 1 College Website! And, you should care because you’re on it!!!” Her voice was getting loud again.

“Huh? Why would I be on it?”

“I gotta go. Pilates instructor’s back. Check the link I’m sending you right now,” she said in a rush and hung up.

Still laying on my pillow, I clicked on the link that Tanya sent me:
www.chattypepper.com
. The yellow, blue, and green background of the website’s page was blinding. I didn’t know what I was looking for so I scrolled through the site.

The site boasted that it was the # 1 Source for College Gossip. Beneath that claim was the Tagline “From Hookups to Breakups to Makeups and More, Chatty Pepper’s Got It All!”

Man, this was so cheesy. Who would actually waste time to look at a site like this? Apparently, Chatty Pepper’s 128,000 fans and counting, as the ticker on the top right flashed. 

I kept scrolling, not knowing what I was really looking for.

I browsed through items tagged baseball hotties at Tennessee College, steroid controversy at an unnamed popular university in the East Coast, and multiple pictures of what appeared to be the latest college gadgets and craze. College athletes must be the equivalent of Hollywood celebrities. The site had numerous pictures of attractive males and females who excelled in collegiate sports.

I was halfway through the page when this one-liner caught my eye:
Who is this CSUF hunk’s latest mystery date?

Below the tagline was a picture of Zander in last night’s clothes and wait….was that ME?

My facial profile was outlined in the photo. Whoever took the picture had taken it when Zander and I were driving away in his SUV. The camera caught Zander with a big smile on his face. Our eyes were red. The photographer didn’t even bother to turn on the red eye camera function.

I sat up. I didn’t know what the implications were of this photo. It was not like we were caught in
flagrant delicto.

I continued reading the gossip item-”The last time this hottie was seen with a member of the female gender - (a link was attached to this)”

The link, dated two weeks ago, showed Zander walking with a tall, beautiful blonde, from Spitzers, a ritzy restaurant in Downtown San Francisco. They made an attractive pair.

I clicked on a few more links. The stories were pretty much the same. Zander appeared with tall, willowy, attractive females. It seemed like he dated a lot. Each date was somehow caught by the camera.

I was just about to press the “X” on the Chatty Pepper tab, when this grabbed my attention. This particular link brought me to an image of Zander that took up ¾ of my phone screen. It was taken on College Signing Day 2008. On his right side was with a dark-haired, older female. Her face looked familiar.

The caption below the photo read:
Football wunderkid Zander Zobowski, with his mother, Dr. Haven Zobowski, commits to CSUF, his home-state school, boosting the Mariners’ incoming class. His father, Sev, was unable to make it to signing day due to out-of-country commitments.
 

Sev. Why did that name that ring a bell? Sev Zobowski?

Ohmigod! Zander was the son of Sev Zobowski – the brilliant pioneer of Systix Technologies. I was not a tech geek or anything. Neither was I a hermit. I read the news and I watched TV on a regular basis. Systix Technologies powered up the laptop sitting on my desk. Sev Zobowski’s net worth had to be equivalent to a small nation’s capita/year. Oh, Zander’s mother was a doctor? And, Zander was a football wunderkid?
 

I stood up in bed feeling like I just got shot with caffeine in my system and my body had an instantaneous reaction.

My mind grappled with the facts being presented to me by this stupid website.

Zander, the guy who kissed me passionately last night, who didn’t even want to let me go, as he said goodbye in front of my apartment door. The guy who made my body run a fever
every time he was near, on top of the prickling awareness when his eyes honed in on me. He was not just any football player. He
was
a star player. He was not just the son of regular parents. He
was
the son of a multimillionaire, software genius, and a doctor. To top it all, he had the face of a model, the body of a sinner, and the manners of a gentleman. And, he had paparazzi and tons of women attached to his name.

My phone started ringing. Without looking at the screen, I answered, “Hello?”

“I’ve been trying to reach you all day.” It was Brennan, sounding extremely annoyed.

“Why? What’s going on?” I shouldn’t have picked up. He was drama personified.

“Can we talk?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Is it because you’re dating Zander?! What the hell, Sedona? We’ve broken up for like 2 minutes and you’re all over another guy!” He was screaming on the other end. I guessed this was not a good time to mention that we’ve actually been broken up for a month.