Someone Like You (10 page)

“You – you look fine.” I manage to mumble.

Fine? Just fine?

That’s the best that I can come up with?

Smooth
, real smooth.

And I wonder why she thinks I’m
an asshole?

Way to make a dickhead move …

***

Temperance

Okay, I would have preferred something a little bit better than ‘fine’ but whatever. It i
s Priestly after all – womaniser extraordinaire – the guy who is used to girls showing a little more skin.

I throw Priestly a small smile, heave a sigh and pull on a jacket just as my phone rings.

I glance at the caller ID – Nixon.

Shit. I really can’t handle this right now.

“Let me guess … it’s him, isn’t it?” I hear Priestly say.

Glancing up at him, I nod.

“Don’t answer it.” he tells me. “Better yet, give me your phone.”

He walks into my room and holds out his
hand expectantly.

I hand it over just as it stops ringing. Priestly turns it off and then starts to walk away.

“Hey!” I yell. “Where the hell are you going?”

He glances back over his shoulder. “I’m holdi
ng it hostage for the entire weekend. Your phone is going to stay locked into my room so you won’t be tempted to call that asshole.”

I stare after him, wondering why he’s going to all this trouble.

“Why are you doing all this?” I suddenly blurt out.

Priestly pauses and turns to look at me. “
Nobody deserves to treat you like shit … even if you are a Nerd Girl.” he adds with a wink.

I roll my eyes. “Whatever … Man Whore.”

He clutches his heart dramatically. “Ouch, you’ve wounded me. And here I was trying to be nice for once! Well, I think you owe me a drink for that
shocking
accusation.” he tells me with a smirk.

I bite back a laugh but throw him a genuine smile and he grins.

“See, I’m not all bad, am I?” he says. “I got you to crack a smile.”

I shake my head in amusement. “Well, you’re the one who said I needed to have some fun. Come on, before I change my mind.”

He grins and then quickly hides my phone in his room before grabbing a jacket and yanking me out the door.

“Come on Nerd Girl, tonight I educate on the delights of binge-drinking, flirting and drunken dancing.”

Chapter Fifteen

Priestly

We enter the club and I notice that Temperance looks terrified.

“Hey, relax.” I say, leaning in so she can hear me over the music. “We’re going to have fun tonight, remember?”

She glances up at me and nods.

I throw her a charming smile and drag her over to the bar. “Come on Nerd Girl, you owe me a drink.”

She laughs and I signal the bartender over.

“Two shots
and make the lady’s a double.” I say as Temperance shoots me a wary glance.

The bartender slides two shot glasses across the bar and I hand one to Temperance.

“What is it?” she asks, wrinkling her nose.

“It’s better if you don’t know.” I assure her as I knock my glass against hers. “Cheers!”

She smiles, declares, “To new beginnings!” and downs the shot in one.

I watch as she coughs at the burn of the alcohol and
then I order another round.

She throws me a dubious look but knocks it back in one.

“Not bad!” I say. “For a Nerd Girl.”

She grins and then faces the bartender. “What else you got?”

Damn. I didn’t think she had it in her!

I watch, mesmerised, as she takes a long drink of Vodka and Coke and then grins at me.

Fuck.

That smile.

It’s going to be the death of me.

Wait.

I’m just doing this to cheer her up. Nothing else is going to happen here, right?

I shake those thoughts from my head, order a beer and then steer Temperance towards an empty table.

As soon as we sit down, I notice that she’s a little tipsy.

“You okay?” I ask, eying her curiously as she smiles lazily at me.

I’ll admit it, I am a little worried about her since this is her first time clubbing.

She nods. “Uh huh. Just nervous.”

I frown. “Why are you nervous?”

She shrugs. “I’ve spent most of my life studying, living in the world of books. This is all new to me.”

I eye her curiously. “Well do you like it?” I ask, wondering what she’ll say.

She knocks back the rest of her drink before saying, “I could get used to it.”

“That’s the booze talking.” I tell her, suppressing a laugh.

She grins. “Well, I do feel pleasantly relaxed.”

Ha! Leave it to her to sound perfectly eloquent, even when she’s half drunk.

“Well, I hope you’re not too comfy!” I declare as she looks at me curiously.

“Why?” she asks, looking afraid.

I throw her a lazy smile and hold out my hand. “Come on Nerd Girl,” I whisper in her ear. “Dance with me.”

***

Temperance

“
So, I put my faith in something unknown

I'm living on such sweet nothing
…”

Oh how apt Ms Florence Welch can be!

I certainly am putting faith in the unknown – the unknown being dancing with Priestly Sawyer. However, the weird thing is that I’m actually having fun!

I mean is this some sot of parallel universe?

Shouldn’t we be trading insults or something?

Although, dancing about with him has really cheered me up.

Okay, maybe
that
is the booze talking but I’m seriously dumbfounded that this is actually happening.

Priestly Sawyer is capable of being a somewhat decent guy.

I know I’m travelling into uncharted territory here but I think I could actually grow to like him.

Okay, that’s
definitely
the booze talking.

Mostly.

I think.

Oh God I don’t know anymore.

I can’t deny the fact that I find him attractive – especially tonight when he’s looking all yummy in his grey shirt and dark jeans and –

Okay stop!

I can’t fall for someone like him. I can’t and I won’t.

Except now he’s pulled me into that weird hug-jump-up-and-down-thing that guys do when they’
ve had a bit too much to drink and he smells so good …

Oh God, my head’s spinning.

He grins down at me and then seems to notice my wobbly legs since he abruptly steers me back towards the bar.

“C’mon, we need another drink!” he declares, signalling the bartender.

Not what I had in mind – but what the hell? As Priestly keeps telling me, it’s time for me to have some fun.

Besides, I’m pretty sure my light head has nothing to do with the alcohol …

***

Priestly

Colour me shocked. Nerd Girl can hold her drink!

Well, that’s not to say that both of us are fairly drunk. Nevertheless, she’s surprised me.

Sneaking a glance in her direction, I find her knocking back a shot of tequila …

Oh boy, she’s going to regret that in the morning.

I order a whiskey and Coke and am just about to take a sip when I hear her blurt out something.

“What’s the deal with you and Nixon?”

I reluctantly turn to face her.

Shit. Do I want to get into this now?

She glances up at me, with tears in her eyes and I start to panic.

Please don’t cry. Please don’t cry.

“I just … I don’t understand it.” she sniffs, looking at me sadly. “I thought he was really great.”

I’m so close to caving and telling her the truth about him but I can’t.

“Well, all I can say is that for such a nerdy bloke, he can certainly charm the ladies. But he’s a slimy little bastard.” I say vehemently.

Temperance nods, looking dejected. “I thought he was a good choice since he was kind of a nerd – like me. Now, I don’t know what to think. Everything’s not what I thought it was and it scares me. What if I’m wrong about everything?” she asks, sounding a little hysterical.

Okay, quick, say something to calm her down.

Now, jackass!

“Hey,” I begin soothingly. “It’s okay. Shit happens. Don’t sweat it.”

That’s the best thing I can come up with?

Fuck this chick can really mess with my head.

She sniffs loudly and then says, “But I can’t! What if Carter was right? Not even a nerd like Nixon liked me enough to stick around! Am I really that unlikeable? I must be because Carter doesn’t like me, Nixon certainly doesn’t either and you clearly
never
even liked me to begin with. So, the questions is, why are we even doing this?”

Fuck.
I know we’re both pretty liquored up but neither one of us is drunk enough for
this
conversation.

“We called a truce, remember?” I say, throwing her a grin and praying that this discussion comes to an abrupt end. I don’t even know how it was brought up in the first place.

“Only ‘cause you need tutored.” she replies flatly.

Okay, that’s mostly true … sort of.

“Well, you’re not all bad Nerd Girl.” I tell her honestly.

She lets out a little laugh. “Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself. Although, I have just one more question for you.” she pauses and I have to prompt her to continue.

“Oh yeah? What?”

“Why do
you keep moving about like that?”

I am momentarily confused until she starts to gag.

Okay, I guess it’s time to bail.

I quickly wrap my arm around her and usher her through the crowd until we reach fresh air.

***

Temperance

Don’t vomit. Don’t vomit. Please don’t vomit.

Priestly sits us down on a shop window ledge, as I will myself not to regurgitate the contents of my stomach everywhere.

He gives my back a few quick rubs and asks, “You okay?”

I don’t trust myself to speak so I just nod, slowly breathing in some fresh air.

Thankfully, it seems to be helping. The nausea is starting to pass and
I think I might be able to stand.

“Can we go home?” I ask, my teeth chattering as I now realise that is beyond freezing.

Priestly throws me a half smile. “Sure thing. C’mon, I’ll phone a taxi.”

The journey home, I feel much better – nothing to do with the bag of chips Priestly bought for me of course!

As we make our way into the flat, I start giggling at Priestly’s attempt to be quiet.

He’s banged his elbow on the doorway and has dropped his keys about three times and told them to ‘shush’.

I stifle a giggle as he takes two attempts to unlock the door due to it being pitch black in the hallway.

Finally, he flings the door open and drags me in behind him while I try to stop giggling.

He flicks on the light, takes one look at me, and starts to laugh.

“Man, you are so drunk Nerd Girl!”

I attempt a serious face. “No, I’m not!” I protest as another giggle escapes.

I throw him a sheepish smile as he ushers me to the couch and flops down beside me.

“Uh, yeah, you are.”

I shrug and say, “Well, so are you!”

He grins. “Nope, I’m not. You forget that I have a high level of tolerance for alcohol.”

I nod. “Yeah, I did consider warning you about the dangers of alcohol poisoning once.” I declare.

Shit. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.

I watch as Priestly throws his head back in laughter. “That sounds like something you’d do Nerd Girl. That’s cute. You’re funny when you’re drunk.”

“Well, I do try.” I reply dryly as I hiccup loudly.

Priestly laughs again and throws me a wide grin. “Well, at least you’re the best kind of drunk.”

I frown. “What kind is that?”

“The lovable one.” he tells me with a smile.

“Yeah, right.” I say, suppressing another hiccup.

Ugh, I really hate the hiccups.

“I’m serious!” Priestly
says. “You’re actually kind of adorable.”

I roll my eyes. “You
are
drunk!”

No way he’s going to say shit like that sober.

Someone like Priestly Sawyer knows how to charm the ladies – and that’s exactly what he’s doing right now – but, the question is why?

He grins at me guiltily. “Okay … maybe a little.” he admits as I gaze at him, noting that his grey eyes look full of mischief.

What’s he up to?

“What are you thinking?” I ask, curious.

He smirks. “About something I shouldn’t.”

Ooh, now I’m intrigued.

I nod. “Me too.”

No need to tell him that I’m currently thinking about how freaking hot he looks right now. After all, that’s the alcohol talking.

Priestly grins. “Really? What’re you thinking about then?”

I shake my head. “You first.”

He inches closer to me and I freeze.

What’s he doing?

Why’s he looking at me like that?

Why is he leaning in?

Oh God, is he going to kiss me?

Why
is he going to kiss me?

Do I
want
him to kiss me?

I hold my breath as he leans in closer and then shifts his lips to my ear.

“I’m thinking about doing something really, really stupid.” he tells me, his warm breath tickling my neck.

“Such as?” I squeak out.

Please God, make him sit back. I can’t handle him being this close to me. My inhibitions are lowered and I too, might think about doing something really, really stupid.

He chuckles softly and pulls back to look at me. His
grey eyes hold my gaze and then travel to my lips.

I gulp as he starts to lean in again and that’s when I freak out.

“Don’t!” I shout, startling him.

He
throws me a curious look so I throw him an apologetic look and say, “Please don’t.”

***

Priestly

“It’s a bad idea. A very, very bad idea. It would just make the whole thing very, very awkward. Plus Nixon totally ruined the whole first kiss thing for me.”

Somehow, I don’t think she meant to say that out loud.

Wait a minute.

First kiss ever? I guess she wasn’t kidding that time when she called herself the ‘Nerd Girl who’s never been kissed.’