Seven Days (2 page)

In a room full of people, Milan was all alone sitting at
the bar and feeling like a fool while her fiancé was having way too much fun
dancing with someone else.

“I hate this place.” Taking one last look at Julian, she
got up and walked out the door.

Milan got as far as the entrance doors before she
realized she had no transportation. She had driven with Julian and God knows
she was not about to go back into that place. In the vestibule between the two
sets of doors, Milan looked through the frosted panes into the bar. Even with
this crappy view she could make out the silhouettes of Julian and Rhys, who
were now both huddled over her boyfriend’s Dancing Queen at the bar.
Apparently, the little dancer said something funny because she heard both Rhys
and Julian’s loud laughter.

The scene caused the back of her eyes to sting. She
caught her breath as her throat tightened and she tried to stave off the
unfamiliar urge to cry. How did I end up on the outside?

Unwilling to be That Girl, Milan would not let herself
cry, but she couldn’t keep the tears from pooling up in her eyes. Inside, the
guys were laughing again and she felt a chill descend down her back. It took
her a moment to realize that it wasn’t the scene she was witnessing that had
made her shiver. The door behind was open and a cool breeze was swirling around
her. A familiar voice filled the close space.

“You can always hear Rhys’ laugh, can’t you?” 

Milan turned her face away before Luke could see her.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked. “Are we leaving already?”

She shook her head and turned so that Luke could only see
her profile. She hoped he wouldn’t notice her awkward stance.

“Oh,” Luke reached for the inner door, “Why are you out
here?”

It was as if life had it in for her tonight. The moment
that she least wanted to show any vulnerability was the moment when she lost
the strength to keep it all together. Milan tried so hard to keep her
composure, but a single tear escaped her lashes and drifted silently down her
face to the corner of her mouth.

“Milan...what’s the matter?”

Various solutions crashed through her head as she tried
to determine her best response. She could play it off as if she had an eyelash
in her eye. She could be tough—nothing’s wrong. She could—

But she couldn’t. At that moment, Milan did not have the
strength to cover up her feelings and pretend that everything was alright. She
looked Luke in the eye and in a halting voice said, “I just feel like I’m all
alone tonight.”

In Luke she saw sincere concern for her and also
confusion—as if the thought of seeing her in such a state was incomprehensible.
That bewildered look in his eye was embarrassing; people never understood her.
This was why she kept her walls up. Immediately, she started to rebuild.

“I don’t like it. I don’t like that feeling at all,” she
said and stepped away.

Luke wouldn’t let her go, though. With a gently confident
tug, he pulled her close. Being a shoulder to cry on was something Luke was
good at. This she knew. Milan let herself release the tension that was holding her
together and keeping her body so rigid. She leaned into Luke’s embrace and
allowed herself the luxury of letting someone else take care of her for just a
little while.

“You’re not alone, you know,” he said into the softness
of her hair. Milan’s head fit just under his chin. “We’re all here for you
whenever you need us. You just have to let us know that you
do
need us.”

“That’s hard to do. Especially for me,” she said into the
vee of his shirt. His skin was warm—hot actually.

“I know. I could sorta tell that about you.”

She smiled and her cheek pressed into his chest. It felt
nice, this moment of leaning on someone, drawing strength from someone. When
she felt like she was together again, Milan pulled back and looked up at Luke.
What she saw surprised her and she quickly dropped her eyes.

Why hadn’t she ever noticed it before? She was not one of
those women who couldn’t tell when a man was interested in them. The fact that
Luke had kept his feelings hidden from her—either she was losing her focus or
Luke was
that
good at hiding his emotions.

She’d always enjoyed knowing that she had attracted a
man’s attention, but tonight Luke had picked up the pieces of her rejection by
the man she was to marry in seven days. He’d done it not because he thought she
was “hot,” but because he really cared.

Knowing that truth made her feel whole again, and Luke
deserved to know it. She locked eyes with him, “Thank you,” she murmured, and
then she slowly lowered her lids, went up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips
against his.

Luke’s eyes had followed that one tear along its crooked
path until it rested on Milan’s bottom lip. All the while, he felt as if he was
witnessing the collapse of a bright star—an event so rare and so wonderful that
all you could do was watch in rapt wonder.

Could this be Milan, the girl who always had it together?
The woman who never let ‘em see her sweat? He had been so surprised he couldn’t
think. He was jolted back to life when she reached her hand up and
self-consciously wiped the tear’s track from her face.

He was struck dumb once again when she kissed him.

Oh, he’d imagined this before alright, but his fantasies
had never come close to the real thing. Her lips were softer, her breath
sweeter. The woman of his dreams was in his arms and not once had he ever seen
this happening.

He had never seen this side of her, either. To him, she
had always sparkled like a cut diamond, and she had the cold, sharp edges of
the gem as well. This sudden softness only added to his attraction for her. And
it was an attraction that he could never reveal to anyone. Besides, it had
always been Julian for her anyway.

Julian.

Luke pulled back and glanced quickly through the inner
doors’ glass. He would not make this awkward. It didn’t mean anything. It was
just a kiss. She didn’t even know how he felt about her. He would be cool and
just go back to admiring her from afar.

“I guess you don’t want to go back in there?” He stepped
back and she let her hands drop from his chest.

“No, not really. Not right now.”

She was so self-possessed, as if a moment ago she hadn’t
been crying. As if that kiss had never happened. Meanwhile, his insides where
churning like a blender on pulse.

Luke licked his lips and inhaled deeply, “Well what do
you say we hang out, out here? I’ll go get us some drinks—now that I can—and we
can sit right over there and have our own party.”

“Now that you can?” her eyes were alight with
inquisition.

“Yeah. Can you believe I was carded? There’s a new girl
in there and she wouldn’t believe this sweet baby face of mine was over 21. I
just went to the car to get my wallet. I guess I should be flattered, right?”

Milan smiled and his heart, which had started to return
to its normal rhythm, sped up again.

“So what are you drinking?” he asked.

 “I don’t know. Surprise me. I’ll be waiting right
here.”

* * *

Inside, Rhys and Julian were doing what they did best:
meeting women. Ordinarily, Luke would hover in their zone and try to benefit from
their bounty, but he had no interest tonight. No other woman in this place
could compare to Milan. Julian had to be crazy.

Luke had no idea what had happened between the two of
them, but clearly there was some rift because Julian was surrounded by girls
and acting like he used to long before he’d met Milan.

Whenever they had gone out, Julian and Rhys always ended
up encircled by women. With the wedding only a week away, Luke thought those
days were over. Clearly, that was a wrong assumption.

Luke headed to the smaller bar on the other side of the
seating area. He had no desire to have to explain why he was getting drinks for
Julian’s girlfriend. Then again, why was Julian dancing with some chick while
Milan was outside crying? Same old Jules. Avoid the issue and it will work
itself out.

“What can I get ya?”

Luke dragged his attention away from the guys’ antics and
frowned. Their waitress from earlier was now tending bar. She looked at him
like she’d never seen him before. Luke placed his drink order.

 “Can I see some ID please?”

 “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Luke looked at her
like she was crazy. She stared back at him, all five foot two inches of her.
She was unmovable. He reached into his back pocket and extracted his license.

“What? Is this your first day on the job? Are you carding
everybody or is it just me?”

She gave him a once over and inspected the plastic card
closely, “Alright, Luke. Coming right up.”

He watched her as she mixed the drinks. How long it had
been since he’d been here last? Did the wait staff not know him anymore? Rhys
bellowed his name from across the room and Luke waved at him. His brother was
home and happy.

 “Here you go, Luke,” she slid the drinks across the
bar, seemingly peppy now.

He looked suspiciously at her and handed her a twenty.
While she made change, he took a sip of his drink and thought of the woman
waiting outside for him. Milan had kissed him. Hell, he was happy too! If this
girl hadn’t made him go get his license, that kiss would never have happened.
He looked at her with new appreciation.

“Keep the change.” Luke grabbed Milan’s drink and made
his way to the exit.

His blankets rose and fell with each deep breath.
Somewhere hidden underneath all those coverings lay Luke, slowly coming to
consciousness. He opened the one eye that wasn’t mashed into his pillow and
stared straight ahead until the forms in front of him began to take shape. He
didn’t blink. His mind hadn’t quite recognized the fact that he was awake yet.
He just lay there. But then it happened: He heard a sound he recognized. There
was no going back now. He was awake.

Inhaling through his mouth, Luke found an arm and
extended it through the knotted sheets and over his head in his first attempt
at a morning stretch. He continued to lie there—half on his stomach, half on
his side—listening to the hushed sounds of padded feet on the wooden steps in
the hall outside his room. He closed his eyes again and waited for the
sound he knew would come next.

The slight clang of metal dragging along the floor was
almost muffled by a rhythmic thumping that could be a rolled up newspaper
beating against a wooden door post if one didn’t know better. Luke knew better.

He rolled onto his back and thought of his sister’s
morning ritual. Where does she get the energy to go running every day? It’s
Sunday and she has that poor dog up and running at this time of day. Rhys was
probably with her. They were the morning people in the family. Surely, he must
be adopted.

Through the open window, the sound of Carolyn’s footsteps
receded as she and Max took off down the street. This would be the moment for
him to fall back asleep, but his mind wouldn’t let him. Thoughts of last night
chased themselves through his head. The unexpected had happened to him, and he
wasn’t likely to forget it so quickly.

He and Milan had sat on the wooden park-like bench in
front of Ragtag’s and talked for a while about all sorts of things while they
nursed their drinks. He knew that at first she was waiting for Julian to come looking
for her. However, as time passed their conversation grew more engaging, until
finally they were just two people enjoying each other’s company on a
late-spring night in June.

Luke took Milan’s empty glass and rested it next to his
own on the sidewalk beside the bench. “You know, I don’t really feel much like
going back in there.”

Her laugh was a soft tinkle, “Me either.”

He watched her smooth imaginary wrinkles from her skirt.
Her head with its short, stylish haircut was bent over her lap. When she stopped
fidgeting, he stood up and extended his hand to her. Milan had grown up in the
suburbs west of the city, but now she lived in an apartment in Center City that
was within walking distance.

“Come on. Let’s get you home.”

She hesitated and glanced toward the doorway, even though
she couldn’t see inside from her position. Reality had returned. Luke knew she
was debating leaving, and he worried that she would go back inside to Julian.
He expected it, but Milan was full of surprises this night. She took his hand
and eased off the bench with fluid grace.

He walked her safely to her building, returned to his car
and drove home. Ragtag’s had suddenly become too loud and crowded for his mood.

He fell into his bed and replayed the night over and over
in his head until Rhys and Julian stumbled into the house. He heard their
not-quite-muted voices for a while until they drifted off to sleep on whatever
piece of furniture they had managed to make it to.

Mark brought Carolyn home not too much longer after the
guys. She had walked quietly down the hall to his room and lightly knocked on
the door.

“Yeah,” he said in a muted voice.

She poked her head through the doorway. “I just wanted to
know if you were home,” she said and closed the door as she disappeared.

He listened to her walk to her room. Then the house grew
silent again and as Luke finally drifted off, for the briefest of moments, he
saw Milan’s face.

***

Downstairs Rhys and Julian were watching old cartoons on
cable from opposite ends of the sofa. They looked as bad as anyone their size
would if they had spent the night crammed into a love seat or arm chair.

Luke dropped into the rocker across from the guys and
stretched his long legs out in front of him. He stared at his bare feet,
wondering what Milan was doing. Was she thinking about him? Or Julian?

“What happened to you last night?” Rhys asked his
brother.  Julian’s eyes darted to Luke then back to the television. Bugs
Bunny was torturing Elmer Fudd on-screen and Luke took his time answering.

“Nothing special.”

It should not have been, but the mood in the room was
awkward.

“You disappeared after Milan left. Do you know what
happened to her?”

Luke was amused by the way these two worked together,
Rhys asking the questions that Julian should have been. He embarked on a
fishing expedition of his own. “You didn’t talk to her last night?”

Coming up empty, Luke sighed and explained. “I ran into
her in the entrance. We ended up hanging out outside for a while.”

“You did?” Rhys sounded surprised. Luke nodded, watching
Julian out of the corner of his eye.

“I walked her to her apartment and then didn’t feel like
going back to the bar so I came home.”

“How was she?” Julian finally spoke.

Luke couldn’t help but feel the zing of power at knowing that
in that moment, he was the only man in the room who knew anything about Milan.
He looked directly at Julian and tried to figure out exactly what it was Julian
wanted to hear. “She’s alright.”

They locked eyes for a second letting each other know
that there was more to that statement than what was said.

“So what’d you do to Milan, man?” Rhys smacked Julian on
the back of the head.

Julian took a deep breath and stretched his arms above
his head. “Milan was being Milan last night and I just was not up for playing
along. That’s all.”

“Uh-huh. What’d she do?” prompted Rhys.

“Naw, nothing. She was just, you know…” Julian trailed
off.

“Now you know we’re not going to let it go.”

“Rhys, aka Columbo,” Julian mumbled.

Normally Luke would have gotten Rhys off Julian’s back,
but he was curious, too. Milan never explained what happened and now he really
wanted to know.

“Geez!” Julian huffed in mock annoyance and took a moment
to collect his thoughts. “You know, I just wanted a little peace.  I
wanted to relax, hang out, have a good time. I've got a beautiful woman on my
arm, I’m out with my friends, everyone’s having a nice time and then—BOOM!
She’s not having a good time and wanted to make everyone else miserable. I
wasn’t having it,” Julian looked to his friends for support. He didn’t find
much.

“That’s it, Jules? Man, she walked out!” Rhys started,
“and you guys looked a little intense before you started dancing with that
really cute—”

“Yeah, she was cute wasn’t she?” Julian grinned and Rhys
reached over to high-five him. “But that had nothing to do with it,” Julian
continued, sobering up. “Look, Milan just felt a little left out of you guys’
conversation and made some comment about Carolyn not sharing you enough or
something and—you know, just women stuff. It’s stupid, stupid stuff.”

“Oh,” Rhys’confused expression matched Luke’s. “Really?”

“What did she say?” Luke pulled his legs in and leaned
forward in the rocker.

“What Luke, she didn’t tell you?” Julian countered,
probably more vehemently than he’d intended, “Big surprise. Had you going,
didn’t she?  The old victim routine, eh?” Julian raised his eyebrows at
Luke. “Look guys, I know Milan. I know she has faults. We all do. But she has
issues with other women—any woman—getting attention when she’s around, regardless
of who it is. Carolyn, Cera, whoever,” he stopped and looked at the brothers.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t know this, ‘cuz I know you do.”

“Hey, I’ve been out of town…”

“I…don’t think I ever…really paid that much attention
before,” Luke hedged, speaking over Rhys. “I mean, I guess so.”

“Exactly,” Julian said, vindicated.

“So you came to Carolyn’s defense? No wonder she was
pissed.” Rhys smirked.

“Ah-ha. Funny.” Julian shook his head, “Look, I did not
come to Carolyn’s defense. I just told Milan to stop it and that if she didn’t
want to have good time that I could find one with someone else.”

It was Rhys’ turn to raise his eyebrows.

“Not forever!” Julian added quickly, “just for the time
we were there. That’s all. I was a little surprised that she took off but I’m
glad you took care of my girl. Thanks Luke. Always can count on you.”

Luke shook Julian’s outstretched hand briefly, feeling
more like a traitor than a hero.

“So what’d you think of Mark?” Julian leaned back in the
sofa, clearly signaling that he was done with the subject.

Rhys rolled his eyes. “I don’t know. What’s there to
think? He’s a guy.” Rhys had leaned back in his seat so that his head
rested on the edge of the sofa’s back. He rolled his head toward Julian. “I
should be asking you. You’ve been here. You’ve seen him. You tell me if I
should trust him around my sister.”

“Ask your brother,” Julian dodged the question, “What do
you think, Luke?”

“I don’t know. He’s a good guy. Carolyn seems to like
him. So I guess that’s good. What? You don’t like him?”

“I don’t know him. One night of ‘Mark plays soccer on the
weekends’ and ‘Mark also plays the piano’ does not an opinion make.

“Aww, she was trying to sell him to you. How cute. She
never tried to sell him to me,” Luke chuckled, “but then again, I’ve been here
and I got to know him firsthand, so that makes you judge and jury big bro.”

“Mark’s fate lies in my hands?” Rhys asked, looking as if
he were mulling it over. “What do you think Jules? The axe?”

Luke started bouncing his knee and the rocker started to
move. Rhys had been back one night and he and Julian had fallen right back in
line with each other. They were so at ease. They shared an unspoken rhythm that
had always kept them bouncing on the same beat, never having to catch up to
what the other one was thinking.

When Julian finally spoke all humor was gone from his
voice. “Carolyn will choose the man she wants to be with. I have every
confidence that she will choose the right man.” Julian flashed a huge grin and
winked at Rhys. “I’m hungry. What do you guys have here to eat?”

Julian was going through the pantry, trying to decide
between Honey-nut Cheerios and Raisin Bran, when Carolyn returned home from her
run. She entered through the back door and followed the dog straight to his
water bowl without seeing Julian. While Max lapped up water, Carolyn stretched
out her hamstrings and then pulled her tee shirt over her head and hung it on
the chair back. In only her sports bra and running shorts, she headed for the
fridge, poured herself a glass of juice and gulped it down.

Julian didn’t know why he didn’t make his presence known,
but he was acutely aware that the moment she’d started disrobing, he’d crossed
into lurker territory. A quick shake of a cereal box would let her know he was
there, but he was struck by this opportunity to observe her candidly, so he
remained motionless.

She was different from Milan—unaffected and natural.
Milan was soft curves where Carolyn was lean with taut muscles and though
Milan’s hair was short, he could never picture her sporting the casual ponytail
Carolyn favored. Milan’s looks were a practiced piece of art, stunning to
behold. Carolyn, though always practical and simple, was just as beautiful.

The dog gave him away.

Carolyn turned to find him double-fisting cereal boxes.
“You surprised me. I didn’t think anyone would be up yet.”

“Sorry,” he emerged from the pantry. “I was just looking
for something to eat when you came in and started stripping, so I figured I’d
stand here and see how much of a show I’d get.”

 “This is why a dog is a girl’s best friend,” she
leaned down and rubbed Max between the ears.

At the cupboard, Julian took down two bowls and set them
on the table. He reached in the silverware drawer and then joined her at the
table where she was already pouring flakes into her bowl.

“You should have woken me up this morning. I would have
gone running with you.”

“Oh Jules, I figured you’d be more than happy to be off
running duty with me now that Rhys is back,” She smiled at him over her bowl.
“Plus, you’re not really dressed for the activity.”

It had never been a duty, he thought as he inspected his
rumpled shirt and black pants. “Nah, I actually got into it.”

Carolyn raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Once my muscles stopped aching, I started to enjoy our
mornings together,” he grinned and attacked his bowl. “You ditching me now that
that goof is back?”

She eyed him as if checking his sincerity, “Of course
not, the more the merrier. Just watch out. Rhys and I tend to get a bit
competitive and end up sprinting most of the time.”

“You don’t think I can keep up?”

“I know you can keep up,” she reassured him, “but it’s up
to Rhys.”

They’d been running together almost every day since Rhys
had left. Suddenly he needed Rhys’ permission. The thought rankled and he
couldn’t let it go. “Why is it up to Rhys?”

He could have kicked himself the moment he said the
words, but he didn’t look away from Carolyn’s questioning glance.

“I don’t mind. I’d love for the three of us to go running.
What?”

Julian stared into his bowl. He knew he was overreacting,
but his mouth was acting on its own today.

“I don’t know. How long has Rhys been gone, a couple
years? Now he’s back and I’m relegated to asking Rhys If I can run with you
guys. I didn’t realize I was so poor a substitute.”