Second String (In Too Deep #3) (8 page)

Ethan: "Why don't you bring yourself to
San Diego?"

I answered with a laugh as if his question had to have been a joke.

Ethan: "What?" It's not like it's a long trip. Just get in the car and come on down."

Me: "That'd be great… if I had a car I thought could make the trip."

Ethan: "Your car won't make it to San Diego?"

Me: "
No, I'm just joking. My car would make it fine."

That was a lie.
I was just too embarrassed to tell him the truth. In the weeks since Christmas, my car trouble had gone from bad to worse. My car, which had an automatic transmission, refused to shift any higher than second gear. This little problem meant I couldn't get on any roads where I needed to go any faster than 40 miles per hour. (I could go 45 if I had to, but that was really pushing it.) I'd brought the car to three different mechanics, and the lowest quote for the job was just over two thousand dollars. My
whole car
was barely worth two thousand, so I wasn't about to sink that kind of money into it. It worked fine for getting me around town as long as I stuck to slower streets.

There
was no way I was going to share my car troubles with Ethan so instead, I said,

Me: "
I'd love to, but I have Sal to think about, and work at the studio."

Ethan: "All right,
I get it. I'm just gonna have to drive to L.A. if I want to see you. I'll make it up there sometime soon, Unfortunately, I can't just drive up there anytime I feel like it."

I told Ethan I was proud of him for the hard work he was putting into his training, and I'd never want him to sacrifice practice time to drive up here. I
encouraged him to keep pushing his hardest, assuring him that we'd get to hang out soon. I didn't tell him that I'd be there in a heartbeat if I could drive my car on the freeway.

Chapter 10

Ethan

I
was at the pool for at least six hours every day, so fitting in a trip to L.A. was out of the question, and as far as I could tell, Emily had no interest in making the trip down to San Diego. She told me herself that she had a few days off work, but then turned around and said she couldn’t come.

I really didn't know what to make of the mixed signals I got from her. I
enjoyed being around the girl. We had a similar sense of humor, and were constantly joking and smack-talking. Not to mention (in spite of it being the
only
thing she let me do) I really enjoyed kissing her. Her pillowy mouth just begged me to put my lips on it. I just couldn't get enough of that thing. Maybe it was the fact that she was such a challenge compared to other girls, but something about Emily stuck with me even when I did my best to forget about her.

It was the first Friday night of the
new year, and even though she had the night off, and
I invited her
, she wouldn't drive down here to see me. Some guys might be patient enough to wait around for a girl they really like to come around, but I've never been the patient type. A man has needs, and mine include female attention. If Emily didn't care about making an effort to come see me when she had the day off, then I was certainly going to take her up on the offer to keep our relationship on a casual level. To a guy, this is the same as a free ticket to sleep with other girls. That's exactly what I planned on doing tonight. I needed to be asleep by 2AM to get a decent enough night's sleep to train in the morning, but the night was still young, and I was about to take out my
Emily
frustration on some lucky (or
unlucky
depending on whether or not you're into that sort of thing) lady.

"Oh shit," Josh said, as he came into the living room.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You have on cologne," he said.

"Why would you even notice something like that?" I asked.

"Because every time you wear cologne
, you bring a girl home," he said.

"Yeah? So?"

"Who do you think has to talk to the girl when you get up and leave for the pool in the morning?" he asked. "I mean, most of the time they're well aware of the fact that you won't be calling them again, but that doesn't make the conversation any less awkward."

"You've talked to girls I've brought home?" I asked. That was news to me.

"Of course I've talked to them. Think about it. It usually happens on a Saturday or Sunday morning, and I'm off on those days. It makes sense that I'd be in the apartment when they leave."

"Shut up, dude. Don't act like I
bring girls home every weekend," I said.

Josh smirked and cocked his head as if I were trying to pull a fast one on him.

"Do you seriously have yourself believing you
don't
bring home girls almost every weekend?" Josh asked.

"Please!" I said, laughing. "But let's get out of here because tonight's one of the nights when I
will
be bringing one home."

"
Fuckin-A," Josh said. "I hope she's got a friend."

****

Her name was Avery, and she had a friend all right. She had a few of them, and one of them was willing to come with Avery to my apartment to take part in the night's festivities. I knew Avery through a mutual friend. She's a tall drink of water that I'd met a few times at college parties during the past few years.

There was just one tiny little problem.

Emily.

For some reason, I
couldn't shake the feeling that having a good time with Avery meant I was doing wrong by Emily. No matter how much I tried to convince myself that I had no commitment with Emily whatsoever, I still didn't feel right about everything that was about to go down with Avery.

"You said you wanted to get out of here by midnight, and that was thirty minutes ago," Avery
said. I was sitting on a barstool, and she was standing next to me. Her hand was on my thigh, creeping closer and closer to my Johnson. I turned slightly, and her hand fell away an inch or two. She stuck out her bottom lip and looked down at my lap. Josh was sitting on the barstool next to me, talking to one of Avery's friends. I hated to spoil the party, I really did, but I just wasn't feeling like I could do anything with her tonight. I found myself wishing I knew what happened during the past couple of hours to change my mind, but somehow my interest in meaningless sex had diminished completely.

"Hey," I said, leaning over to talk to Josh, "I have to be up in the morning. I'm
gonna go ahead and take off."

Josh looked at me as if I'd just said the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard, then his gaze shifted to the lovely ladies standing around me.
"You must be kidding," he said. He smiled, thinking for sure I was joking around.

"I'm serious," I said. "I'm leaving.
Coach has been tearing me up this week, and it's catching up to me." I handed him two twenties from my pocket. "You're gonna have to take a cab if you want to stay." He pushed my hand away.

"
Christ, Ethan. You're seriously leaving… by yourself?" He asked the question loud enough for Avery and her friends to hear. They stared at me with expectant looks on their faces.

"I'm
sorry," I said. "I didn't realize how late it had gotten, and I really need to get some sleep for work in the morning."

Avery
ran her hands from my shoulders down my back in an effort to tempt me to change my mind. "I can make you feel nice and relaxed for work in the morning," she said. She was whispering in my ear, and the feel of her breath was enough to stir that male need I'd been ignoring. It wasn't like I didn't want Avery. In fact, until just a few minutes ago, I had every intention of sleeping with her (and perhaps one of her friends). The problem was, I
only
wanted to sleep with her. I didn't want to talk to her, or joke with her, or even kiss her. Normally, I'd just go with my sexual instincts. Tonight, for some reason, I wasn’t feeling it.

I
had to physically take Avery's hands off of my waist before I could start fishing in my pocket for my car keys. The girls I'd been talking to had their pouty faces on, and Josh was staring at me, confused. Josh's lady was just looking at him like none of the rest of us were even there.

"Sorry about the ride," I said, looking at Josh. You can ride with me now if you guys are ready
to get out of here." I smiled and gestured to the girl he'd been talking to. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows in question. She answered with a shy smile and a shrug. He smiled broadly and stood up, offering her his arm. Without a word, they decided to come back to our apartment for some privacy, and I was apparently going to be their chauffeur. Avery and her friend must have realized I was serious about leaving because, aside from the disappointed expressions, they didn't attempt to get me to stay.

I ended up
literally
chauffeuring Josh and the girl to our apartment. Josh offered her shotgun, but she said she'd rather ride in the back with him. He gave me a look from over the car that said, "What am I gonna say to that?" and I smiled and rolled my eyes, telling him to go ahead and sit in the back.
How the heck did I go from making plans to get nasty with a couple of girls to dateless driver?
I blamed a dancer named Emily for the demise of my perfectly good Friday night, and I was planning on giving her a piece of my mind about it the next time I saw her. I wanted to give her a piece of something else, but God knew that wasn't likely to happen.

I went directly to my room, thankful for the private bathroom. The last thing I wanted to see was Josh and the girl making out on the couch all night before he got brave enough
to take her to his room. I poured three fingers of scotch into a glass, which was partying for me, and went to my room for a not-so-hot shower. I put on my over the ear headphones to listen to some music before bed. I was using my phone to listen to music, and after I chose an album I liked, I decided to give Emily a text.

Me: "You up?"

It was after one o'clock in the morning, and I was almost certain I wouldn't hear back from her. I stretched out on my bed, laying my phone on my stomach while I continued listening to the music. Seconds later, my phone vibrated.

Emily: "Yes, but what are you still doing up?
Records aren't going to get broken by themselves. I thought you'd be sleeping."

Me: "I almost
had sex with some random girl tonight."

Emily: "
Jesus Ethan. What about that statement did you think I wanted and/or needed to hear? Are you drunk?"

Me:
"No, and I'm telling you that because I didn't do anything with her."

Emily: "And
you want a pat on the back?"

Me: "Sort of. I thought it might count for some points in that little game of yours."

Emily: "What game?"

Me: "You know, the one where I collect points and eventually you like me."

Emily: "I already like you. I think you meant to say you get points and I eventually have sex with you. Are you sure you're not drunk?"

Me: "I'm not drunk
, and I'd like to see you. I take every other Sunday off. I'm thinking about coming to see you in L.A. this weekend."

Emily: "I think I'd like that."

Me: "I think I like you."

Emily: "Why are you getting all soft on me? You must be at least buzzed."

Me: "I don't have to be intoxicated to say I like you. I just thought you should know that I had a willing partner tonight, and I couldn't bring myself to screw her because she wasn't you."

All right, so maybe I was a little buzzed, but mostly I was
just trying to push her buttons because I wanted her to come see me tonight. I was pissed that I had all this pent up sexual frustration and, because of Emily, I was unable to take it out on Avery.

Emily: "OMG, Ethan. At this point, I hope you're drunk. Otherwise, I'd have a hard time not hating you for telling me about your willing partner or how you came so close to screwing her."

Me: "Thank God you're jealous. I was starting to wonder."

Emily: "
Happy now? I'm jealous. Please delete this conversation before you go to bed. I'm sure you won't remember any of it."

Me:
"I'm not drunk. I just fucking want you."

Emily: "That's no way to talk to a lady."

Me: "I didn't say I want to fuck you, I said I fucking want you. There's a big difference."

Emily: "There may be a difference, but you don't say either of them to a fucking lady."

Something about that response made me want her even more than I already did, which was saying a lot because I was more sexually frustrated tonight than I had been in a long time.

Me: "I'm coming up there in two days."

Emily: "
If you remember any of this."

Me: "I'm not drunk, and to prove it, I'm going to stop texting you now so I can get some sleep. I have to
be at the pool in the morning."

Emily: "Now that's more like it.
Sleep well. And thanks for not having sex with every girl you laid eyes on tonight."

Me:
"You're welcome, and I'm glad you care."

Emily: "Rest assured, I care."

Emily's last text made me smile, but I didn't respond to it. I figured I'd quit while I was ahead. I closed my eyes and listened to my favorite playlist for a few more minutes before I fell asleep.