Meeting The Unpredictable (8 page)

“Thank you, Carla.”

Thank you for being the voice of reason in my hectic mind, for reminding me not to change...for anyone.

***

I TURN THE KNOB ON TYLER’S
door and smile when I once again find it unlocked. He can say whatever he wants, but if he truly didn’t want me here, he’d lock his door. Then again, maybe he just doesn’t want me to get Frank and stir up more trouble.

I quietly wander in only to find him at his computer with his back to the door and his headphones on. He’s worried about everyone else’s security but apparently not his own.

I crash on his couch and flip the TV on and still nothing. For the next half hour, I find myself watching Tyler more than the TV.

Tyler is the kind of guy who’s sexy without even trying. I bet if I strip him of his clothing and took away his computer, he’d be fucking hot. His dark hair is short but messy, and when he goes a few days without shaving, that scruff starts to do things to me. In the last couple of days, I’ve started to wonder what kind of kisser he is. Soft and sweet or hard and dirty? If I had to guess, I bet he’s a combination of the two, and the need to know is stronger than ever.

He finally pushes his chair away from his desk and groans in frustration about two seconds before he spots me.

“When did you get here?”

I shrug. “A while ago.”

His eyes narrow. “Why didn’t you tell me you were here?”

“Because I was waiting until you were done. I have a surprise.”

His eyes darken. “A surprise?”

I can’t contain my laughter from his worried expression. “Yes, and I was patiently waiting for you to finish.” He can try to pretend he’s mad, but I can tell he’s fighting a smile. “Grab your stuff and let’s go.”

“Maybe you should tell me where we’re going.”

“Relax. I promise you won’t come back in a body bag.”

Tyler exhales a long breath while he shakes his head, but for a guy who doesn’t want to leave, he’s not putting a lot of effort in to fighting me.

***

“WHAT THE FUCK?” TYLER GROANS
, shaking his head no. I grab his hand and start dragging him with me. “What the hell kind of place is this?” His face is grim as he looks around.

“It’s a hoverboard park.”

“I thought they outlawed these things.”

I laugh. “Nope. They just made rules about where you could ride them.” I walk up to the ticket counter and purchase two adult admissions. I walk back to Tyler and hand him a hoverboard.

“You actually want to ride these things around?”

“We should enjoy being here. Hoverboard parks are very rare.”

“For a good reason,” he fires back, shaking his head.

“You aren’t scared, are you?”

Tyler’s head rolls back as he laughs. “Oh, you’re good. You think calling me a chicken is going to get me to ride this death trap?”

“What will happen if you die?” His smile fades as he processes my question. “I’m being serious. More people will get away with corporate espionage but what else will happen?” Like normal, his face darkens when I push him out of his comfort zone. “Other than Chad, who I might add is working on a life of his own, who will miss you when you’re gone?”

Tyler looks away and swallows. “My parents. My...brothers.”

“How often do you see your family?”

“Why do you care?” he snaps.

“Because we’re friends.”

He huffs and rolls his eyes. “Really? If we’re friends then what’s my last name?”

I grin. “Aw, you’re being cheeky. I don’t know your last name because you’ve never told me.”

“You’ve never asked,” he scolds.

“Because I don’t need to know your last name to like you.” He almost looks shocked by my comment.

“Then tell me, Lennie, exactly why do you like me?”

I smile with the knowledge that he’s still avoiding my question, but I give in and answer him. “Because we’re a lot alike.” My voice unexpectedly shakes.

“Lennie, we couldn’t be more opposite if you tried.” I nod my head in silence. I can’t make him accept something he’s not ready for, but that doesn’t mean I can’t offer him a healthy dose of reality. “The way we express ourselves couldn’t be more different.” He swallows as he watches me closely. “But we’re both suffering right out in the open for anyone to see, but they...don’t.” He casts me a meaningful look. “With people like us, you have to dig below the surface to see what’s wrong.” A tear pools at the corner of my eye. “I can’t fix you, Tyler, because you’re not broken, but for a short period of time, I can offer you my friendship. And today’s offer comes with a hoverboard. Take it or leave it.”

I step up on my board and start down the trail without looking back to see if he’s following me. Outside of my father, I don’t think I’ve met anyone who’s as stubborn as Tyler Whatever-His-Last-Name-Is.

RIDING A HOVERBOARD IS A
thousand times easier than I imagined. Catching up with Lennie, however, isn’t, but once I do, I give her a weak smile.

When she first road off, my anger was at an all-time high, but if I’m being honest, she’s right.

“I keep everyone at arm’s length. Life seems safer that way.”

Lennie laughs. “Same here. You want to tell me why?”

I nod my head towards a bench not far from us. Riding one of these things might be easy, but having a deep conversation on one is more than I’m capable of. We slow down and hop off. When we sit down, Lennie wraps her arms around one of mine and snuggles into my side.

We peacefully sit on the bench for close to ten minutes, watching people travel by. Most of them are laughing and enjoying their day while a war is surging in my mind. I haven’t allowed my past to take up much space in my head, but it still controls how I’ve lived for the last six years, and so far, Lennie is the only one who’s noticed, or at least the only one who’s been brave enough to call me out on it.

I breathe out a deep sigh. “I fell in love with a girl I met as a teenager. She was my world for over five years.” I take a deep breath. Thinking about Amber is already wreaking havoc on my mind.

“I thought we were happy. Things seemed perfect. We were engaged, but we planned to wait until we graduated college to get married. A couple of years later, the details were set. We’d picked out our dream house and our big day was around the corner.”

I keep my eyes focused on a tree off in the distance. “I stopped by her apartment one day at her request, only to find her bawling. She told me she loved me, but she wasn’t in love with me and hadn’t been for a while.” Lennie squeezes my arm. Drawing strength from her, I continue. “She’d been seeing someone else for some time, and she was in love with him, but her parents didn’t want a scandal. They wanted her to marry me and get over this other guy.” I grit my teeth as anger—even six years later—consumes me.

“She couldn’t go through with it. At least she saved me from marrying someone I didn’t really know, but she waited until two weeks before our wedding to break the news to me. I felt like a fool to my friends and family, especially after I learned a lot of them already knew she was cheating on me. It...it makes you stop and reevaluate who has your back.”

“You weren’t a fool,” she quickly says.

I laugh without any humor. “Oh yeah, and how do you know that?”

Lennie lets go of my arm and turns to look at me. “Because that story speaks more about your ex’s character than anyone else. Only a fool stays engaged to one man while she sneaks off with another.” She gives me a small smile. “The only action or reaction you can control is your own. It took me a lot of years and wasted tears figuring that out. Now I live my life for myself and what makes me happy.” Her eyes are bouncing back and forth between mine. “Do you still love her?”

My breath catches in my throat. No one in my family questions me about Amber. They definitely don’t ask me if I’m still holding a torch for her. I look away for a moment, trying my hardest to find my voice. “No. I don’t love Amber anymore. I don’t think I was in love with her the day she broke our engagement off, but I didn’t know that at the time. All I saw was how embarrassed I was dealing with the aftermath of her actions and calling off our wedding so close to our big day. A few years later, I started to see the signs I missed at the time.”

Lennie leans into my arm again. “Your perspective on a situation can definitely change over time. As shitty as it was, that girl did you a favor, but it shouldn’t mean you’re not willing to trust again, especially if it means you don’t trust yourself.”

Lennie just hit the nail on the head because I often wonder how I didn’t notice what Amber clearly did. Since then, I found it’s easy...safer to just steer clear of relationships altogether.

Lennie tugs on my hand. “Let’s ride around before our time is up.”

Without waiting on me, Lennie steps on her hoverboard and starts riding down the path. As I watch her ride away, I start to wonder what it would be like if Lennie were a normal woman, someone I could see a possible future with. I shake off my thoughts about the same time I see Lennie laughing with a couple of teenage girls. Normal or not, Lennie’s carefree attitude is contagious.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, there’s a voice whispering to me to grab ahold of Lennie Jacobs and take whatever she’s offering for as long as she offers it.

***

“
I’M STARVING,” LENNIE GROANS AS
we walk into my apartment.

“Why didn’t you tell me to stop somewhere on the way home?”

She throws herself down on my couch. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was until now.”

I open my fridge, but we don’t really have anything to fix. “I can order a pizza.”

“Oh, I love pizza.”

I dig out my cell phone. “What do you want?”

“I don’t care. Surprise me.”

I dial my go-to place and end up ordering my usual. “Pizza will be here in about thirty minutes.”

“Thank you.”

I glance over at Lennie, who’s still on the couch, and spot a tattoo on her lower stomach, one I haven’t noticed before. Including this one, I’ve counted thirteen. “Why do you have so many tattoos?” She turns to her side and studies me. I put my hands up. “I’m not judging. I’m only asking.”

Her mouth turns up with a small smile. “I like capturing a moment or a feeling and having a way of keeping it with me forever.”

Her answer sounds exactly like something Lennie would say, but I’m still surprised. Amber got a tattoo after I clearly expressed I didn’t want her to, but I know now she only did it because I told her not to. At the time, I was worried about what my mother would think if she saw it.

“The flower on your arm? Why do you have it?”

“That’s my piece of Jill.” Lennie sits up and grins. “Jill owns a flower shop in San Francisco. She gave me a job and a place to live for about six months. That was during a time when I really needed someone and that someone ended up being Jill.” Lennie is lost in her own thoughts.

“I stayed with Jill longer than anyone else. When I left, we were both hurting.”

“Then why’d you leave?”

Her eyes snap to mine as a sad smile spreads across her face. “Life moves forward, Tyler, even when we don’t want it to.” Her fingers softly run over the flower on her arm. “Some people aren’t meant to stay in your life for long.”

Her comment causes my heart to start thumping in my chest. “Tell me about another one,” I say, hoping to distract myself.

She lifts her leg and points to an arrow on her ankle. “I worked at a club called the Broken Arrow. I met a few people there that I’ll always remember.”

“Do you have a tattoo that reminds you of your family?”

Her mouth parts as she stares at me. “Yes,” she breathily says, but she makes no attempt to show me. She’s purposely being evasive, and after everything I’ve told her today, I should ask her to show me, but I can’t make myself ask.

“Do you always get a tattoo when you move?” I’m suddenly wondering about the boss she was sleeping with.

“No.” My eyes dart to her mouth as she licks her lips. “Every tattoo on my body is important. Each one of them holds a small piece of my heart.”

Until this exact moment, I’ve always deemed tattoos as trashy. Before Lennie, I didn’t know anyone who has one except Amber, but I know she wanted one for reasons that are very different than Lennie’s.

My eyes lock with hers again, and we stare at each other longer than we should. Her brown hair is pulled up on her head, exposing her soft neck. Her breasts rise and fall with every breath she takes. Her tongue darts out as she licks her lips again. I want to reach out and touch her, to know if her skin is as soft as it looks. The room feels hot as I slowly stand up, still staring at her with every intention of going to her when I hear a knock at the door.

“Pizza.” She smiles at me as I take another step closer. When I hear a second knock on the door, I blink out of my thoughts. I’m not sure what I was about to do, but I’m thankful for the interruption.

“Let’s eat,” I mumble before pulling my wallet out and walking to the door. Whatever lust I’m feeling, I need to shut it down and remember Lennie is just a woman who’s suddenly my friend—a woman who has no intention of sticking around.