The Boyfriend List (6 page)

“So I’ve been told.” The
soft rumbling of the chuckle that followed was like a vibration running through
his chest, and it was just enough to noticeably quicken her breath.

In a moment of clarity,
Reagan vowed never to drink again and shook herself from the enchantment that
was Ian, from the spell she was beginning to fall into. In an effort to free
herself of the embrace she’d forced on him, she took a step back, but stumbled
over the entanglement of her own feet. In a juggling act worthy of the stage,
Ian managed to balance the pizza box while wrapping his arm tightly around her
waist, and catching her weight before she fell to the ground. With a little
squeeze, he drew her effortlessly back into his chest. His eyes lingered on
hers, the intensity building with every second that passed, until she was
forced to look up at him. And when she finally did, he held her gaze steady for
far longer than either had intended.

But the moment had passed
as quickly and unexpectedly as it had begun. As though they’d both suddenly
become aware of themselves, they released each other simultaneously and took a
determined step back, though it did little to resolve the initial awkwardness
that they tried to cover behind forced smiles.

“Come in?” Reagan
suggested, recognizing they’d been standing in the hallway for far too long. If
they stayed that way much longer, their freshmen neighbors would begin to make
comments.

“Where do you want this?”
He was gesturing the pizza box as he stepped over the threshold.

 
“Anywhere!” She twirled her hand above
her head, encompassing the entire living area as she disappeared behind the
wall to retrieve some napkins. It was then she noticed with horror that the
margarita mess was still lingering in the kitchen, as was the empty tequila
bottle. Reagan wasn’t exactly an OCD neat freak, but she appreciated a tidy space
when she was entertaining guests, and the kitchen was far from tidy as Ian came
striding through. But there was no time to fix the situation.

“Whoa...I thought I smelled
tequila.” His comment was more to himself than to Reagan as he set the box down
and picked up the sticky pitcher to examine it. “Having a party?”

“Something like that.”
She winked.

Where was all this flirtation coming from?
She asked herself, her panic
suddenly rising. It was as though she was having an out of body experience, and
was watching someone else – an alter ego she didn’t even know she had -
take over. She couldn’t do anything to jeopardize their friendship, and if this
continued at the rate it was, despite her best intentions for it not to, Ian
might start to get the wrong idea. As the thoughts and worries swirled around
her head like the margaritas in the blender, her heart started to pound against
her chest.

And then she glanced over
at the empty tequila bottle.

And then she remembered
the checklists she and Petra had made.

And then she could hear
Petra’s voice echoing in her head...
Just
a little insight.
And suddenly, she felt almost completely relieved.

Right! She
was
having an out of body experience.
Petra had penetrated her thoughts with her devious subliminal messaging and
that’s
why she was acting so weird
around Ian right now. Reagan blamed it all on Petra and her ridiculous attempt
at matchmaking. And the tequila. She still blamed the tequila.

Gulping down a bottle of
water, she regrouped her thoughts.

“You okay?” Ian was
looking at her with concern etched into his brow.

“Better now.” She nodded,
though it’d been a close call for a minute there. “I might be a tad bit drunky
already.”

“You think?” And when he
chuckled again, Reagan remembered this time how it had felt when the laughter
moved through her body. She pressed her eyes closed, pushed it from her mind,
then hit him playfully as she moved around in the kitchen. What she didn’t know
as she occupied herself with her quick tasks, was that Ian had begun watching
her, his fascination growing at this new side she was letting slip through.
Despite himself, his eyes fell below her waist, lingering at her sensuously
full hips as a hint of a smile wrapped its way around his lips. When he caught
himself, he immediately turned around and tried to change the subject. “When
were you going to tell me about Justin?”

Reagan spun quickly,
nearly knocking over everything she’d placed on the counter in the process.

“You’ve heard already
too?” She groaned in frustration as Ian looked back and nodded sympathetically.
“Have you seen the pictures?” Without waiting for an answer, she whipped her
phone out and stuck it in his face.

“Your battery’s dead.” He
stated calmly.

“Great. Perfect.” She
sulked. “Anyway, it’s a picture of them at his lake house. The very same lake
house he was supposed to take
me
to!”
Reagan slammed her phone down on the counter with considerable force, then,
having realized what she’d done, checked to make sure she hadn’t cracked it in
the process. She had. Of course. “And on top of all that, apparently I just cracked
my phone, and my transmission in my car is broken. Just blew out for no
apparent reason.”

“Ouch.” He was scrunching
up his face at the thought.

“Yeah, that’s what my
credit card said too.”

“You’re too good for him.
I’ve been telling you that the whole time.”

“Yeah, but you
always
say that about the guys I date.”

Ian chuckled, it was a statement
he couldn’t deny. “Well, it’s true. You always are.”

“I know.” Reagan’s voice
was filled with reluctance. “I just feel so stupid I guess.”

He could see her lip
threatening to tremble. “Come here.” He demanded just a split second before
pulling her into a tight hug. His cologne was once again enveloping her still
fuzzy head; and that’s when she realized she could’ve stayed like that in his
embrace all night. It was the first time she’d felt content in a week.

“You’re not stupid.” He
muttered low into her ear. “You’re intelligent and beautiful, and you’ll find a
guy who treats you the way you deserve.”

“I think I know that too.
Maybe.”

Laughing, Ian gently
kissed the top of her head before pulling away. “Let’s eat, drunk one. This is
gonna get cold, and the game starts in five.”

Reagan nodded in
enthusiastic agreement. Occupied solely with bringing her drink into the living
room, Ian followed closely behind her - pizza box in hand - balancing the
plates, napkins, water bottles and everything else they needed on the top of
the box. Plopping onto the springy cushions of Petra’s expensive sofa, they
settled in comfortably close to each other. Ian opened the box and handed the
first slice to Reagan. It was warm, perfectly chewy and absolute heaven. The evening
was already getting better.

“Hey Ian?” She said
through bites of pizza, her full focus on the television in front of her.

“Yes?” His eyebrow raised
high with the question, yet another charming move, Reagan thought herself to be
immune to.

“Thanks for this.”

Then he smiled warmly,
and kissed her in a friendly gesture on her cheek. “Any time beautiful.”
Settling in for the night, his expression filled with contentment, he lifted
the remote and flipped the channel.

Monday

Gearing up for the first
day back to classes after a long spring break was never an easy task. But never
had it been more difficult for Reagan than it was this time around. Her alarm
went off promptly at eight, an ungodly hour for most college students, though
she preferred to get her classes out of the way early and get on with her life.
Yet
this
morning found her willing to
change her philosophy. The strange sound coming from her phone – a cross
between a foghorn and a strangled mechanical rooster – was barely recognizable
through the dense throbbing that had taken over her head. She groaned at the
smallest hint of light that slipped between the slits of her eyes, and
instinctively gauged the distance from her bed to the toilet. Just in case.

Damn those margaritas
.

As she fumbled with the
sensitive touch screen, she willed her dry eyes to focus and clear, though all
she really wanted to do was burry her head under her pillow and go back to
sleep until the hangover had subsided. And though it was a tempting solution to
a perceivable problem, she knew the real situation she was avoiding had nothing
to do with the suffering she’d brought on through massive amounts of tequila,
but more with the suffering her heart was feeling as all the memories and
thoughts about her break up with Justin, her strange encounter with Brett and
her pleasant evening with Ian came rushing back to her, punching her right in
her already queasy gut.

It was almost too much to
deal with at once. But Reagan was strong, and a master at categorizing her
issues to keep them separate, which had no doubt served her well in the past. And
she’d utilize the skill as best as she could to get through the day. But there
was something different about this time, something that had left her uneasy and
exhausted and just unwilling to deal any longer. She wasn’t sure what to chalk
it up to – surely not the tequila this time – but she knew she was
going to have to figure it out sooner rather than later.

This was going to be a long day,
Reagan decided as she made her way
into the kitchen to search for ginger ale and crackers.

Disheveled though she
looked, Reagan made it to her first class on time, though barely, and spotted
Ian in his usual seat. Fully occupied with his phone, he hadn’t glanced up when
she entered the room along with all the other students who were quickly filing
in last minute. But she’d expected as much, his popularity was daunting, and
he’d spent the evening before chilling with her instead of catching up with all
the rest in his circle. If he came unglued to that phone any time during the
course of the week, she’d be surprised.

Fortunately for her, he’d
at least thought to save her a seat next to him, and she made her way over to
the desk that was decorated with his bag. Looking around, she noticed she
wasn’t the only one who appeared exhausted and hung-over, she thought with a
satisfied smirk as all the zombie-like students began to quickly fill the seats
in the large, auditorium style classroom. She slipped into the chair and
returned the warm smile Ian had flashed at her as he put down his phone and
moved his bag out of her way. For an instant, she forgot the dark circles under
her tired eyes, the queasy sensation that was still wrestling around in her
stomach and the myriad of regrettable events that had lead her to that position.
Somehow, with just one dimple-filled smile, Ian had managed to erase all that,
and make her feel like the most beautiful person in the room. If only she
could’ve bottled up that feeling to pull out again whenever it began to wear
off...

“Good morning, Sunshine.
How’s the head feeling?”

Reagan managed a polite
groan before putting her head on the desk. “Wake me up when this is over.” She
pleaded. Instead of agreeing to her request, however, he pulled a red Gatorade
from his bag and placed it, along with two aspirins and a toasted everything
bagel, on the desk beside her. A thankful smile escaped her. “You’re awesome.
How’d you know?”

“I saw the dent you put
in that tequila bottle, remember?” His words rolled out on a laugh.

“For the record, it
wasn’t all me. Petra helped.” Then Reagan scrunched up her face as she swallowed
the pills and reconsidered. “Some. I think.”

After she’d successfully
gotten the pills down and had enjoyed her first couple bites of bagel in peace,
he deemed it safe enough to hit her with the latest development in the ongoing
story that had become her very public breakup. “You should probably know the
breakup story’s out everywhere. And whoever this chick is, which no one really
seems to know, she has some weird, jealous vendetta against you.”

“Me?” Reagan’s voice
squeaked from her throat. “She slept with
my
boyfriend, shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

But Ian merely shrugged.
“It is what it is, I guess.”

“What does that even
mean?” Reagan questioned rhetorically before taking another bite of bagel. “And
why do people even care what goes on in my relationships anyway? I’m no one
special on this campus.”

Even as the words were
escaping her lips, she noticed the incredulous look Ian was casting her way.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit. Your realize that right?”

It was Reagan’s turn to
shrug.

“Well, I’ve heard it from
four different people already,” Ian continued, “so I’d lay low for a while if I
were you. Just give it some time and it’ll all pass. ”

 
“Great.” Was her non-committal answer.
She couldn’t pretend she hadn’t entertained accosting the bitch, but she was
such a non-confrontational person that the idea was dismissed as quickly as it
had been contemplated.