Uninvolved (13 page)

"Hey, wanna play spin the bottle?" Becka said
,
suddenly making Tyler jump.

Becka thought that if she could just get Curt and Lucy to kiss that Lucy would relax. It took a couple spins, one of them being Becka
giving
Lucy
a
peck on the cheek that the boys thought was way hotter than it actually was for Curt and Lucy to kiss. Becka was awestruck
.
It
could have been a kiss out of a movie
.
S
o sweet but then turned pretty intense.
Lucy surpri
sed Becka by wasting no time,
pulling Curt
to her room after that kiss
.
Becka
and Tyler
were left
alone in the living room.
Becka felt a bit awkward since Lucy had been so aggressive with his friend
.
Would
Tyler just assume they were going to have sex?

Becka thought he was cute and maybe if she was less into
Nate
she might have
,
but she honestly just wasn’t feeling it.
They engaged in some clothes
-
on heavy petting until
Becka
had to
pass out
.
She
was so tired
.
They snuggled together on the sofa and fell asleep
.
Becka
regretted it the next morning when she woke up with a killer crick in her neck
.
Seriously, Lucy needed a better crash sofa.
The only thing that made her feel better was the certainty that Tyler's arm had to have been asleep most of the night.

Lucy
sauntered out of her room
,
looking
mighty pleased with herself not long after Becka woke
.
When Tyler wasn’t looking
,
she held up her hands to imply Curt had a giant dick
.
Lucy totally owed her for the spin the bottle idea
,
Becka
thought to herself
.
She
pop
ped a piece of gum in her mouth,
leaving before
any talk of exchanging
numbers with Tyler
could come up
.
She just wasn’t that interested in him
.
All she
really wanted at that moment was a
long
,
hot shower
.

Using her Bluetooth
,
she called Lilly on the ride home
.
After getting caught up on Mason's newest
genius level baby
abilities
,
Becka told Lilly about how she had run into
Nate
the night before
.
He was so frustrating
.
How
could he say he wanted her and then that he had to go
,
all in
almost
the same breath
?
Nate
was literally unlike any guy she had ever been interested in
.
Normally
,
guys were pretty easy to figure out, but
Nate
was a walking contradiction
.
Lilly didn’t have any clue as to his behavior either
,
but it felt good to vent anyway.

She
ended the call as she pulled into the driveway
.
Becka and Dave ended up getting home at about the same time, him from work though
.

"Coming home in yesterday's clothes
.
That’s
my little dirty girl
.
"

"Shut up
,
Dave
.
"
Becka
grinned.

"What'd you all end up doing?" he asked.

"Went to hear some bands, met a boy, made out, yay!"

"I thought you liked that guy we played poker with."

"
I actually ran into him there
,
and
I don’t like him
.
I just think he's hot
. Besides, I
don’t think he likes me."

"Want me to beat him up?"

"No
.
I just want to stop thinking about him."

"Good
.
That
dude is built
.
I'm pretty sure he would kick my ass
.
"

"You are such a dork
.
Staying up for a while or crashing?"

"I'll probably be up for a while
.
What's up?"

"I feel gross
.
I
just
want to take a shower
.
I will tell you
all about
last night
once I'm clean."

Becka
loved having a live
-
in guy
to get advice from
.
Dave
didn't think
Nate
's reaction at the club was a positive one
,
though
.
Pointing out the fact that if a guy was really interested in a girl
,
he normally would capitalize on the opportunity
.
Becka
figured as much
.
It
kind of sucked knowing that if
Nate
would have asked
her to go home with him
last night
,
she would have gone willingly.

Time to buck up
,
she
thought
.
With
any luck
,
she could just stay busy enough to not even
think about him
.
Dave wasn’t working that night
,
so they had big plans to sleep all day and drink way too much that night
.
Dave went straight to bed after their chat
.
Becka
did her best to be productive
,
doing the
laundry
and
dishes
.
She want
ed to vacuum but didn’t want to wake Dave.

Her
neck was still a bit stiff fro
m the night before
.
She popped some Advil and ate a bowl of cereal before crashing
.
She woke hours later to the distinct gunfire of one of Dave's video games
.
Ugh, she thought to herself
.
She
may have to kill him
.
D
ragging herself from her bed
,
Becka
walked into the living room.

"You're supposed to be wearing the friggin headset
thing
,
Dave
.
"

He just looked at her like
“
whoops.
”

"Turn down the volume
,
ass monkey
,
"
Becka
grumbled
,
throwing a sofa pillow at him.

"Did I wake you?" he asked innocently.

"Yes
.
"

"Good
.
I
t was about time your
lazy ass woke up
.
I did yo
u a favor
.
So,
important decision time
.
What
are we doing tonight?"

"I don’t
care
.
What do you want to do?"

"Paint unicorns and
look up at puffy
clouds."

"Dave, sometimes you really make me question why I am friends with you."

"Whatever
.
I'm rad
" Dave replied.

She
talked Dave into going to see a movie by letting him pick which one. It was an action movie, which was fun
,
but Becka noticed that she paid more attention to the bodies of the mor
e muscular actors than normal i
nstead of following the storyline, which thankfully w
as not that complicated.
She
sat there wondering why
Nate
hadn’t called her and if maybe he was with another girl
. After the movie
,
Dave talked her into a drink at the bar around the corner. She dropped off her car
,
and they walked over.

Dave and Becka were always the youngest people there when they showed up.
She
got to flirt with little old men who bought her drinks
,
and Dave
got to pick up pointers on being crotchety. They stumbled home in good spirits and went their separate ways to pass out.
She
loved that little bar. She thought about it as she drifted to sleep. There were never any expectations of her there. She could be a goofball with the regulars
,
and they still loved her. Why was it so different with people her own age
?
Her last thought before she fell asleep was of
Nate
calling her kid.

The next day Becka formulated a plan for
Nate
.
Eac
h time he would email her
,
she
would take just a little bit more time to email him back. Becka felt that maybe if she seemed
less responsive maybe he would do something about it. She was also terrified that the whole thing would back fire and then he would stop emailing
,
and she would never see him again.
She
figured it was worth a shot because
,
honestly
,
it didn’t seem like being available was doing any better.

On Monday
,
when
Nate
emailed her
,
she was not mentally prepared for it and wrote right back. Kicking herself, Becka swore that she would do better on the next one. It was so hard
,
though. Over the course of all of their emails
,
the actual conversation had turned somewhat flirty. It was exciting when he said something subtly hot
,
and
she
thrilled in being able to reply. When his next email came
,
she
waited five minutes before replying. When he responded almost instantaneously
,
she made herself walk away from her desk. Becka walked over to Lucy's desk just to say hello. Lucy had a pretty good bullshit radar and asked her why she didn’t just call.

Becka
con
fessed that she was just trying to keep from replying to
Nate
. Lucy rolled her eyes and threatened to revoke her friendship.
Becka laughed and changed the subject to Curt, who Lucy had started seeing. Lucy blushed and remained mum on the subject
,
which was huge for Lucy.
After killing enough time
,
she
went back to her desk to reply. It was hard
,
but Becka managed to keep this up the whole week. What sucked was
Nate
had not called
,
but at least he was still emailing.

It was Friday night
,
and all of her friends had plans. Dave had to work
,
and both Lucy and Crystal had dates.
She
wanted nothing more than to call
Nate
and invite him over. If that would not have ruined all of her progress in not seeming needy
,
she totally would have done it.
She
really did feel miserable about being all alone. Self
-
doubt
could
be
so
toxic
,
and Becka seemed to be wallowing in it. It was as though there
was
a loop that ran on repeat in her mind.
He doesn’t like me
.
He doesn’t want me
.
What is wrong with me?
Over
and over again.