That Boy (39 page)

What? Am I no longer Princess?

That's three JJs in a row and no one is even around.

“I'm not going to fight with you,” he continues.

Doesn't he know that I don't want to fight with him either? In fact, I want to do the exact
opposite
of that tonight.

But I don't tell him that because he's being a jerk.

“Why? Might you have to show some
e-mo-tion
?” I yell.

I get up and try to brush the sand off of my dress. “I'm through with this,” I say.

“Yeah, well I'm through with it too. This is your fault. I understand you wanted to have fun, but you're supposed to want to have fun with me, not other guys. You didn't even try. In fact, I think you were purposely trying to push me away. I'm the one who gives up.” He throws his hands up in the air.

He's very upset with me, I think.

And he's fighting with me.

Didn't he just tell me that he wasn't going to fight with me?

Is he drunk?

“You ever decide you want to try this for real, you know where to find me. It's your move,” he says, acting very crabby.

Then he walks away.

Hey! Wait! He's not supposed to leave me, he's supposed to kiss me!

I watch him walk further and further down the beach and notice that not once does he look back.

Oh, this is
so not at all
how I wanted this night to go.

I sit in the sand and sob.

Phillip comes back, either a few minutes or a few hours later. I'm really not sure.

I look up at him through mascara filled tears.

“Come on, Princess,” he sighs, as he scoops me up off the sand and carries me to my room. “I'm not going to be able to sleep, unless I know you're safe.”

My God!
What
is that noise?

I think someone is slamming a sledgehammer against my door.

Why are they doing that?

I practically fall out of bed and when I do, I am genuinely surprised to see that I'm still wearing my dress from last night. And it's all freaking sandy. What the hell did I do in the sand?

Whew. I feel a little fuzzy, but I
must
make that noise stop.

I look through the peephole in my door and see Danny. I fling open the door, let him in and crawl back into bed.

“Jeez, Jay, you look like shit,” he says in a booming voice.

It hurts my head.

“Why are you still wearing that dress? Oh wow, did you just get back from Phillip's room?”

“Danny, could you
please
talk a little bit quieter?” I beg and bury my head under the sandy pillow.

“Ok-ay,” he says more quietly, quickly appraising the situation and taking charge. “Go wash your face and get dressed.” He looks at my dress and says, “As in, not the dress you wore last night. I'm taking you to breakfast. You need to eat, take some Advil,” he looks at me with real concern, “and I hate to say it, but you may even need a drink. We've got less than an hour to get you ready to meet Lori.”

Oh God. I feel awful, but I do as I'm told, drag my butt out of bed and go into the bathroom.

I wash my face, brush my teeth and pull my hair back into a ponytail.

I have a sudden feeling of déjà vu. It's all very blurry, but I vaguely remember being in here last night with someone. Was it Phillip?

Was someone throwing up?

Was it me?

I think it was, and I think Phillip helped me get here.

So why am I wearing my dress?

Why isn't he here in bed with me?

I have a feeling that things didn't go exactly as I had planned.

But wait, I remember!

I think he was mad at me.

Then I remember the not so gay guys and arguing with Phillip.

Me, crying on the beach.

Oh, not good.

The only good thing I remember is I'm pretty sure it was me who threw up last night.

That means I may actually survive this day.

I open the door to the bathroom and am startled.

Danny is standing right in the doorway with my yoga outfit in his hands.

I had forgotten he was here.

“Put this on,” he bosses.

I do, and after sliding my feet into a pair of flip-flops, we head to breakfast.

Just my luck, when we get there, Phillip is there.

He shoves his remaining food into his mouth and says to Danny, “I gotta run. See you on the golf course at ten.”

He doesn't say a word to me.

Didn't even acknowledge my presence.

I frown.

Danny, who can't help noticing the frigid climate between Phillip and I, asks, “What's up with you two?”

“Nothing,” I say, putting on my sunglasses.

Where
is Manuel?
Someone
really
needs to get him to turn down the sun out here.

It is
way
too bright. It's making my head hurt.

“Stay here,” Danny bosses, leaves and comes back with a huge plate filled with all of my favorite things for breakfast.

None of it looks very appealing.

“Eat something, Jay. And drink some water.”

Shall I tell him that I'm not really in the mood to be bossed around? Probably not, it's his wedding day. I should try to be nice.

So I pick up a triangle of toast and take a teeny bite.

Danny hands me a mimosa and commands, “You better drink this.”

Yuck.

“I can't Danny, I am so never drinking again.”

“Like I've never heard
that
before.”

Danny is teasing me. He seems to think this is hysterical.

Yeah, cuz it's not him, for once.

So I go against my better judgment and do as he says. I drink the mimosa and am surprised that after a few sips, it's not half bad.

But then Danny makes me feel sick again, when he asks slowly, “J-a-y, what did you do to Phillip?”

Me?

“Nothing Danny, I swear,
absolutely
nothing.”

He is shaking his head up and down in apparent understanding.

“Ah, well that's the problem then.”

“Danny,” I cry, “the night was a flipping disaster.”

“Why?”

“It's not my fault Danny, really it isn't. We were dancing and having a great time, and in my mind, I pictured us dancing, and then I was going to invite him back to my room. I had such great plans.”

“I'm
proud
of you. So what went wrong?”

“Well, then those cute guys that we killed in volleyball yesterday came over and started dancing with us.”

“I thought they were gay,” he interrupts.

“Me too, but they didn't act like it last night,” I say raising an eyebrow and shaking my head, even though it hurts to do so.

“Anyway, we were all dancing together, drinking and having fun. And Phillip didn't say a word. He just left me. I thought he had gone to the bathroom or something, and I kept waiting for him to come back, but he never did.”

Danny looks at me with a shrewd eye, “So you were dancing and drinking, and knowing you,
flirting
with these guys, and you're
surprised
that Phillip left you. What are you, stupid, Jay?”

Hey, that's not very nice!

“No wonder he's mad at you. It was supposed to be a date. You were supposed to be with
him
, not other guys.
I'd be pissed at you too
.” He gives me a disgusted look.

Hey, you were just complimenting me on my plan.

Traitor.

“I'm a flirt. You know it. Phillip knows it. It's never bothered him before because he knows I'm harmless. Maybe
he
needs to loosen up.” I pause, thinking. “But honestly, Danny, even though he says it's what he wants, I'm not convinced Phillip really wants this either. I mean if he did, he wouldn't have given up so easily.” I shake my head at Danny. “Regardless, now I give up.”

“Can you honestly tell me you gave it your best shot with him?” He looks at me with squinty looking eyes, and I have a sneaking suspicion he doesn't believe that I did.

“Over the years, I've seen the
many ways
you can wrap a guy around your finger.” He rolls his eyes at me, “I should know. Phillip is not immune to you. I think that if you
had
really tried with Phillip, he'd probably have married you last night.”

I sigh.

“Did you try, Jay?”

“Yes. No.
Oh, I don't know
. I know he expected things to progress, but I was very clear that I wanted to take things slow. That I didn't want to be pushed. I hate being pushed.”

“It doesn't sound like he was pushing you at all, it sounds to me like you were pushing him away.”

I take off my sunglasses, so Danny can see
just
how miserable I am. “Look. I did try. I told you, I had big plans for last night and now I'm miserable. And not because I drank too much, but because I think I am in love with him. And I've probably already lost him. I want things to work out so much, but at the same time I find myself holding back. I'm so afraid I'll screw things up.”

“And I think that's
exactly
what you need to do. Screw things up.”

“What?” I ask, completely missing the double entendre.

Give me a break! I'm having a rough morning here.

“Sleep with him, Jay,” Danny says very seriously, “Get it over with, before you lose him.”

Somehow I manage to get through the day. I do yoga with Lori without throwing up, although my instructor makes some snide comment about me looking a little green.

I make it through the massage, which normally is really relaxing, but it made me nauseous. After the massage, we break for lunch and they bring us some healthy and crappy looking spa food. I beg them for a cheeseburger and fries and, yay, they bring me some. Lori and I have champagne with lunch, and I'm starting to feel almost normal.

After lunch, we're both getting pedicures and manicures, and then I'm scheduled for a detoxifying body wrap.

Now
that
is something I need.

Suck all the alcohol out.

How much do you want to bet the yoga instructor set that one up?

During our pedicures, Lori finally breeches the subject of Phillip. She doesn't know about the disaster last night, and I have no intention of telling her.

“I saw you at breakfast the other morning,” she says, like she knows some big secret. “When Phillip whispered in your ear, you just melted. Your eyes got all dreamy looking. You know, I have NEVER seen you react to
any
guy like that.” She does an imitation of how my eyes looked. She looks ridiculous, and I'm sure she over exaggerates.

“You're a smart girl. You always amaze me with your ability to see the world as your great big playground. You can see miles into the future, so why can't you see a good thing when it's
right
in front of your face?”

“Phillip.” I state, knowing full well what she means.

“Yeah, Phillip. You know, Danny thinks so too.”

“I know, he told me once after he dumped me.”

“He didn't dump you.”

“Oh, I know,” I say with a wave of my hand, “but it bugs him when I say he did. Sorry, it's an old habit.”

“You know, I know
all
about the flag bikini, Jade. I've even seen that sad, tattered little picture.”

“He still has it?” I'm surprised. “You know, I love it that it doesn't bother you. A lot of girls would have a problem with it.”

“Well, I think Danny has kind of a
been there
,
done that
attitude towards you.”

“
Been there
, maybe,” I say, “but never done
that
.” I grin at her and then frown and say, “Unfortunately.”

“No. Fortunately. Because if you had, he's right, you probably wouldn't have stayed such good friends.”

“Why? Is he that
bad
at it?”

“Well, I think you could expect that he approaches
it,
the same way he does everything else in his life,” she says cryptically.

But I understand completely. “100 percent focus and full out energy.” I sigh and shake my head.

Figures.

“Jadyn, end result is, I'm not jealous. Whatever works. He signed a six year, $48 million dollar contract. I don't care if he visualizes himself playing football with a donkey and a naked clown. Hell, I'd blow the picture up and hang it on the living room wall if I thought it would help his game.”