On The Floor (Second Story) (11 page)

Wow. What is his problem? I know I was kind of a bitch last week, but I had a reason to be. Even though he didn’t understand the reason. Now he’s being a total dick. Maybe his reason for being a dick is because I was a bitch to him for no reason, at least that he knows of.

Um, what?

This is turning into one big misunderstanding and I hate that things are so weird with us now. Maybe Jenna is right? Maybe I should talk to him about the kiss while we’re in LA?

***

The drive up to LA is long. There is a ton of traffic and we don’t make it to the hotel until almost noon. We grab lunch on our way to the art show and eat in the car.

Everyone is having a blast exploring all the different booths and galleries. They’re talking to the artists and gaining a ton of knowledge on how to sell and market their art. It’s really a great experience.

Jake avoids me and only talks to me when I prompt him, and even then it’s brief. He is great with our group though. He listens to their critiques of the art on display, and has opinions himself. I love listening to his interpretation of the artists’ works.

Before I know it, it’s six o’clock and we’re heading back to the hotel. All the freshmen are planning to go to an eighteen and up club two blocks west of the hotel. I overhear some of the girls giggling as they invite Jake. He declines. I wonder what he has planned.

***

It’s eight o’clock and I am bored out of my mind. I forgot to bring any of my homework, and there is nothing on TV. I’m about to spend ten dollars on a movie, when I decide that I should call Jake.

It rings three times before he picks up.

“Hello?”

“Hey Jake, it’s Rachel!”

His voice cools down a bit. “Hey Rachel.”

“What are you up to?” I ask smiling. My mom used to tell me that people can hear a smile in your voice and I want him to know that I am trying to be friendly.

“Just doing some homework,” he says. I hear no smile in his voice.

“Oh, well I was wondering if you wanted to go grab a drink downstairs. I have something I wanted to talk to you about.” I’m really nervous because with the way things have been going, I’m worried he’ll straight up deny me.

“Is this about why you went all cold on me last Sunday?” How did he know?

“Uh, yeah, actually.”

“Cool. I’ll meet you down there in thirty minutes. I just want to finish my paper. See you soon.” His voice is a little less cold, but he doesn’t sound enthusiastic to be meeting me.

I decide to go down to the bar now and get a drink or two before he shows up. Hopefully that will give me enough courage to talk about what happened between us last weekend.

I take a seat at the bar and order two shots of tequila. How appropriate.

After the shots, I order a beer and wait for Jake at the bar.

I’m in the bar for forty-five minutes when he shows up. “Hey,” he says sitting on the stool next to me. “Sorry I’m a little late. I got stuck on my sources. But I’m done, so I’m free for the rest of the night.” He gives me a smile.

“That’s good.” I smile back. He signals to the bartender that he wants the same as me, and he brings it over.

“I’m glad you called. I’ve been wanting to talk to you too,” he says taking a drink of his beer. He looks me right in the eye and the butterflies start. This is what I was missing with Nate.

“Yeah. Why don’t we go over to one of the tables back there?” I indicate a quieter corner of the bar.

“Sure,” he says as we stand. He puts his arm out, letting me go first and pick the table. As I start to walk away, he puts his hand on my lower back and guides me through the bar. His touch sends tingles through my body. We find a booth that is pretty secluded and take a seat.

“So, you go first,” he says looking at me with a nervous smile on his face.

I take a deep breath. “So about Sunday. I’m sorry I turned so cold. I should have told you the reason.” I pause and take another deep breath. “When you got home from going out on Saturday, you stopped by my room and you told me all sorts of things. Then we kissed.”

Now it’s his turn to take a breath. “I kind of thought that was a dream. I vaguely remember something like that happening, but I was sure it was a dream,” he says looking down at the table and running a hand though his hair. “No wonder you were pissed at me. I maul you and then don’t even have the decency to remember or apologize.”

A small smile starts to spread across my face. Now it’s time to tell him how I feel. “It’s okay, Jake. I actually…”

He interrupts me before I can get out anything else. “Here we are trying to be friends and I come in and try to ruin all that. I’m sorry. I hope we can we still be friends, even though I would understand if you only want to deal with me when it comes to work, now.”

He apologized for the kiss. This might be worse than him forgetting it. And he still wants to just be friends. I am so glad he interrupted me. If I would have told him how I feel, only to be shot down, I might have died of humiliation. He may like me, but not enough to try to be with me. Should I suck it up and be friends, or throw my drink in his face and tell him to suck it?

“Of course we are still friends, Jake!” I say smiling, even though I feel trampled on all over again.

“Oh, good!” he sighs with relief. “I really value our friendship and I would hate to have ruined it because of a drunken mistake.”

Mistake
.

“Plus, I never would have been able to give you more than a few nights together anyway. You know I don’t do relationships.”

Stomp. Jump. Crush. Trample. All over my heart.

This is the worst. Apparently, when he said he wanted to try and be good enough to be with me, it was the tequila talking.

“You’re good, Jake! Don’t sweat it!” I toss my hand in the air and shake my head smiling.

We spend the rest of the night talking about the art show. He does most of the talking and I just nod my head, trying to keep the hurt off of my face.

“So, you had a date last night right?” he asks, hesitantly. “Was it as bad as the last one?”

I smile thinking of Nate. A guy who actually wants to be with me. “Actually, he was pretty great. I’m going out with him again on Saturday.” Now that I know how Jake feels about me, there is no reason for me to hold back with Nate.

“Saturday?” he says crestfallen.

“Yep,” I say smiling. I am definitely excited to see Nate again.

“Oh. My band is playing on Saturday and I was hoping you could come. Maybe next time?” He looks at me, hopeful.

“Absolutely!” I say with enthusiasm.

“Cool.”

We look at each other for a minute and I see something in eyes, but I can’t place his feelings.

“We should get back to our rooms,” I say. “It’s getting kind of late and we have an early morning.”

“Yeah, sure,” he says looking down at his hands.

We make our way to the elevator and up to our floor. My door is closer to the elevator than his and when we get to my room, he pauses.

“Hey Rachel?” I look back at his worried face. “We’re good?”

“Of course. Water under the bridge, Jake. We’re still friends.” I smile at him reassuringly.

“Yeah, friends,” he mumbles, giving me a sad smile. “See you in the morning.”

Why are boys so confusing? One minute he seems relieved that he’s still my friend, the next he looks sad about it. At least I know where I stand with Nate.

I go to sleep thinking of Nate, but I dream of Jake.

Chapter 8

My week goes well. I have an easy week in all of my classes. No tests, papers, and little reading. I get to spend lunch everyday with Jenna, Jimmy, and Dan. I have lots of friendly conversations with Jake and it seems to be getting easier to hide my hurt feelings. Yet no matter how hard I try to stop them, every time we look into each other’s eyes the butterflies come alive.

And then there is Nate. We’ve texted back and forth all week. He is just as funny and charming in text as he is in person. Every once and a while he says something that makes my stomach drop and brings the butterflies to life. I’m starting to think that things between us will work out.

It’s Friday night, and Jenna is finally getting the girls night that she wanted. We paint each other’s nails, gossip about our boys, and decide to watch
The Notebook
.

After the movie is over, Jenna sits up in her bed and looks at me like she has something on her mind.

“What is it Jen?”

“Well, I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I’ve been wondering how it went last week with Jake? Things seem a lot less cold between you guys. Did you work everything out?”

“Um, we talked.” I pause. “I told him about the kiss. He apologized and asked if I would still be his friend. So I would say that things went… eh.” I say making a face.

“He’s still sticking with that
friends
thing?” she asks annoyed.

“I don’t know what you mean by
friends
thing. I honestly think he just wants to be friends with me. I mean, look at how awkward it was between us after one kiss. We work together. If we got together and things ended badly, it wouldn’t be good for anyone. Plus, it would be a purely physical thing. Like he said, he’s not going to be my boyfriend,” I say sadly. Even though I am trying to move on with Nate, I always seem to come back to Jake.

“I guess. But I still think he wants to be with you. What he said to you that night, I think he meant it,” she pushes.

“Jenna, honestly, I just want to be friends with him. It is much easier this way. And I have a date with Nate tomorrow and I really like him. Please, let’s stop talking about Jake,” I plead with her.

“Easier isn’t always better,” Jenna says, doing the best friend thing, when I really just wish she would drop it.

“Jenna,” I warn.

“Okay, fine. I get it. Jenna is now on Team Nate!” She smiles at me.

“Thank you,” I smile back. “Now your turn to dish. How is it going with you and Will?”

Her smile widens as she goes into all the dirty details that I really never wanted to know. “So remember how I told you about the thing he does with his tongue? Anyways, he put his tongue piercing back in this week and oh my god! It got even better! So, he did a little of that, then he took his finger and…”

At least we stopped talking about
my
love life.

***

Nate told me that we are going to The Grove for our date. I’ve never been, so I ask Jenna what I should wear. She’s been there almost every night this week to see Will.

Jenna decides to play Barbie with me and dresses me in a pair of tight jeans and a white Henley with three quarter length sleeves. She loans me her black leather jacket, and puts me in my black suede slouch boots. She curls my hair into loose waves and leaves it down and my make-up is minimal and bright. I look pretty good.

“Damn girl! You look bangin’!” she says, very seriously. We look at each other in the mirror and both start laughing.

“You look pretty
bangin’
yourself, Jenna!” I say back.

“So you’re sure it’s cool if Nate drives me too. I’ll leave with Will, so you can have the end of the night to yourselves,” she says winking at me.

“It’s fine Jenna. And I’m not going to sleep with him. But I may be down for a little making out, over the shirt action,” I wink back.

Nate gets here at eight o’clock and sends me a text that he is outside waiting. Jenna and I leave my room and even though I try not to, I look and see that Jake’s lights are off. I wonder how the show he is playing tonight is going.

Argh! Stop it! Last Jake thought of the night, Rachel. You’re going out with Nate. Keep your mind and body, on Nate. We’ll see about the heart later.

When I get to the car, Nate comes around to open Jenna’s door and then mine. He’s wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt. He has on a pair of black Converse and he looks absolutely amazing.

Before I get in the car, he gives me a kiss on the cheek. “You look beautiful,” he whispers, and I smile.

“Thank you.”

We get to The Grove around eight thirty and Jenna breaks away from us to go say hi to Will. The bar is pretty full, but not with the young college crowd I’m used to. Most of the people here look to be mid-twenties. Everyone is dressed casually, and the music is at a level that allows for more conversation than the places by campus. There is a stage at the back of the bar and it looks like some people are setting up.

I look over at Nate and ask, “Is someone playing tonight?”

“Actually,” he smiles, “I wanted to surprise you. It’s my band that’s playing. I wanted you to see me play. I’m really passionate about my music and I wanted to share it with you.” He looks nervous and so I give him a reassuring smile. “It’s ok that I’ll be up there most of the night?”

“I’ll miss you being next to me, but I’m really excited to see you play.” And surprisingly, all of that was the truth. I am really starting to like this guy.

“Cool, we don’t go on for another half hour. So we can sit and have a few drinks and hang out until then. Plus, I wanted to introduce you to the rest of the guys in the band. I mentioned that I was bringing someone, and they really want to meet you. It’s not usual for me to bring someone to watch me play this early into a relationship.” Relationship. He’s opening up to me, and it makes my heart flutter.

“I can’t wait to meet them!” I say smiling up at him.

We grab a table that is big enough to fit the three of us and the rest of his band, and Jenna brings over a few beers. “Apparently, since you’re playing tonight, Will says the owner pays for your drinks. And since we’re ‘with the band’ we get free drinks too. Yay!” she says smiling at us and handing us a few bottles of beer.

“Don’t you have to go help your band set-up all your stuff?” I ask Nate.

“Nah, the guys said they would handle my kit so I could spend more time wooing you,” he says smiling over at me.

“Aw! How sweet! They sound like great guys,” I say smiling and looking over at the stage where his band is setting up. And that’s when my heart stops.