Uninvolved (32 page)

"Sure
.
Where
are you going?"

"
I think that yuppie coffee place around the corner has something going on tonight
.
I'll go check it out
.
When
is he coming?"

"I don’t know
.
Probably
in like
thirty
."

Becka went to her bathroom to check what damage her nap had done to her hair and makeup
.
She brushed her teeth and grabbed a cute red pea coat before shouting bye to Dave and heading out the door
.
Becka was at the stop sign at the end of her street when she saw Kyle's car pull in
.
Whew, she thought to herself
.
She
had just missed him.

The coffee shop wasn’t that bad
.
Becka was actually happy she had gone onc
e she was settled with her smoothie
and a café sandwich
.
It was an open mic night with a variety of presenters
.
Becka's favorite of the night was a singing duo
.
Just a girl and a guy with a guitar
.
They were really good
.
It was after
ten
by the time Becka got home
.
She wasn’t tired
,
so she was watching a movie when Dave stumbled in
.

W
ith Kyle.

Dave was pretty drunk
,
and
Kyle was just seeing making sure he got in okay.

"Hey
,
" Kyle said
,
looking down
at the floor
.

"Hi
,
" Becka
said, fidgeting awk
w
a
rdly
.

Dave headed
into his room
,
mumbling a goodbye over his shoulder towards Kyle
.
Becka contemplated different ways to punish him for leaving her alone in a room with her ex
-
b
oyfriend.

"Sorry about Robin
,
" Kyle said
,
breaking the silence.

"I really don’t want to talk about this
,
" Becka said
,
putting her head in her hands.

"You're right
.
I should go
,
" Kyle said
,
turning.

"I hate this
.
"

"You hate what?"

"I hate how awkward this is."

"What
did
you expect
,
Becka?"

"I don’t know."

"I guess you do now
.
Bye, Becka."

Becka could not get Kyle's words out of her mind
.
She had knowingly been such an asshole to him
,
and for what?
Had
Nate
even talked to her since they went out to lunch? Nope
.
That's it
,
she thought to herself
.
She
was swearing off men for good.

Picking up her phone
,
she deleted
Nate
from her contact list
.
Fuck him
,
she thought to herself
.
Becka stood
,
suddenly thinking of the empty beer bottle still sitting on the shelf in her closet
.
She should throw it away
.
She
did not need it
.
She marched over to her closet, reached up
,
and
pulled it down
.
As quickly as Becka
had taken it off the shelf
,
she put it right back up.

Not willing to
evaluate what not being able to throw away a fucking empty beer bottle meant
,
Becka went to the kitchen to make herself a bowl of ice cream
.
She was thinking about making herself another one when Dave walked out of his room.

"Sup
,
" he mumbled on the way outside.

"I am so pissed at you
,
" Becka said
,
getting up to follow him.

"Rad
,
"
Dave said
,
opening the back door
to go out for a smoke
.

"I can not believe you would get so drunk that Kyle would need to walk you in."

"I take it you saw Kyle last night."

"Yep."

"My bad
.
It
wasn’t like I planned it."

"So how is he?"

"You saw him
.
Why
do you need me to tell you?"

"It's not like we talk talked
.
Did he say anything about me?"

"Nope."

"Really? Nothing at all?"

"
Why do you even care?"

"I don’t know why
.
I just don’t want him to hate me."

"Kyle's a nice guy
.
I don’t think he hates you, but I also don’t see him being
overly
friendly with you anytime soon."

"I hate men."

"That's a nice thing to say while I'm standing right here."

"You don’t count."

"Well
,
that makes it better
.
Shit
,
Becks
.
Y
ou have a fucking way with words
,
" Dave said
,
putting out his smoke and going back inside.

"I deleted
Nate
from my contact list today
,
" Becka said
,
following him inside.

"That's a pretty pointless gesture."

"Why do you say that?"

"Isn't he the one that always initiates contact? As long as he still has your number
,
nothing has changed."

"Are you saying I should change my number?"

"No
.
T
hat would just be a pain in ass
.
What I'm saying is we will have to see if the next time he calls you if you turn him down or go."

"I can say no to him."

"If you say so."

Becka went to the kitchen for more ice cream.

"If you get all fat
,
maybe you won't have to worry about him calling at all."

"Fuck off
,
asshole
!
" Becka shouted from the kitchen
,
making herself a plate of baby carrots instead
.

Dave sat down and changed th
e channel to reruns of The Big B
ang Theory
.
Becka leaned against the kitchen counter
,
wondering
:
if
Nate
called this second
,
would she really turn him down
?
Wanting some retail therapy after
she showered and got changed
,
Becka
went to the mall
.
Aimlessly wandering in and out of stores
,
Becka struggled to find the point of it all
.
As much as she loved to read and see chick flicks
,
she wondered if it all just set her up for this unrealistic
expectation of dating and happily ever after
.
It had been easier when she had avoided feeling anything.
Who would pay to see a movie where the girl didn’t end up with the guy at the end
?
Maybe that was why they were so popular
.
Because
they were absolute fantasies.

Becka didn’t think she was alone either
.
With the exception of her sister and Lucy
,
who still seemed to be going strong with Curt
,
all of her friends were single
.
Some of them had not had a serious boyfriend in months
.
Sure they dated
.
Crystal had even set up a profile on an
Internet
dating site
.
They had all been out on plenty of dates, some with total whack jobs
,
but others with really nice guys who never friggin called for a second date.

If she was the only one that was single
,
Becka could consider that she was the problem
.
But
since she wasn’t
,
she had no problem blaming the entire male population
.
But what about Kyle? He was an exception to the rule, but at the end of the day
,
no
matter
how much Becka liked him
,
she never did love him
.
So what was worse? Being with someone you didn’t love or being all alone?

Unfortunately for Kyle
,
Becka knew the answer to that question
.
The bigger current question, deleting his contact info aside
,
was could Becka be happy being whatever she was to
Nate
? Becka did not know the answer to that because
,
while she had not heard from
Nate
in a while
,
Becka was pretty sure he would call her
.
What would she do when he did?

Chapter 15

Becka was zoned out
,
doing some data entry
,
when her desk phone rang. Glancing down
,
she raised a brow when she saw it was her boss.

"Hi
,
Chip."

"Hi
,
Becka. Can you
come to
my office
,
please?"

Oh shit
.
"Sure
.
Everything
okay
?"

"Yes
.
Just
wanted to talk to you about something. Do you have a moment?"

"Of course
.
I'll be right there."

Becka's hand shook a little bit as she hung up the phone. Why did it f
eel like she was
being called to the principal's office? She racked her brain
,
trying to think of anything she may have done
,
any
thing
she
would have gotten
in trouble
for
. Becka stood, smoothing out her pants
,
and headed over to Chip's office.

"What's up?" she said
,
peeking her head into his office.

"Come in and sit down
.
Oh,
and
would you shut the door?"

SHIT
,
h
er brain scream
ed.
Chip only asked people to shut the door when he was going to fire them
. She eased herself into one of the two chairs that faced his desk
,
putting on her best calm face.

"So what did you want to see me about?"

"Well
,
Becka
,
, you have been with us for just over two years
,
and upper management wanted recommendations of good people for this start
-
up team they are forming. I wanted to let you know you are under consideration and
,
if you are interested
,
you just need to let me know."