Uninvolved (5 page)

"Good to know
.
" Dave winked at her as he headed back out to the garage to retrieve his now warm work shirt.

Becka
had gotten up to make herself some nachos when Dave came
into the kitchen.

"Want any?" she asked
,
turning to him.

"Sure
,
" Dave said
,
moving past her to grab another
C
oke
.
He tugged on
her ponytail as he walked around
the breakfast bar
,
pulling out a stool.

"Hey
,
"
Becka
huffed
,
tightening her ponytail
.
"Be good or I'll lick your chips
.
"

"You can lick my chips anytime
,
Becks
,
" Dave teased.

"Ew
,
gross
,
"
Becka
groaned as she
pushed his plate towards him.

She poured herself a glass
of
cranberry juice and ate her
nachos
while leaning on the kitchen counter
.
Once Dave was done
,
she took
both of their plates, rinsed
them,
and put them
in the dishwasher
.
She had taken over dish duty after Dave flooded their kitchen with bubbles
,
mistakenly using liquid dish soap in the machine
.
It had happened
over a year ago,
wh
ile she was at work
,
and Dave had
spent all day
trying to clean up the mess
,
still mopping up suds
when she got home.

"I’m going to go hop in the shower
.
"

"About time
‘
cause
,
man
,
you reek
,
Bec
k
s
,
" Dave said as
he slumped onto the sofa.

Becka
stuck her tongue out at him as she went to her room.

Before getting in the shower
,
Becka called Lilly to let her know how things had gone with
Nate
.

"He has a girlfriend?
I'm sorry
,
sweetie
.
That
sucks
,
" Lilly consoled her.

"It was so awkward
,
" Becka groaned.

"Don’t even think about it
.
Just have a fun night out with the girls
.
I need to live vicariously through you
,
so make me proud."

"You are the bestest cheerer upper ever"

Her friends were going to come over to have a drink or two before they headed out
.
Becka
was in a robe eyeballing her closet when Crystal arrived.

"You aren't even dressed yet
,
" Crystal exclaimed
,
walking into her room.

"You're early
,
"
Becka
grumbled
.
"I don’t know what to wear".

Crystal almost always wore dresses
,
and tonight was no different
.
She wore a
maroon
,
one
-
shouldered
,
Grecian
-
styled
frock that was scandalously short.

"How can you sit down in that?"
Becka
asked curiously
,
motioning for Cr
ystal to spin so she could
see the back.

"Very carefully
.
Plus,
you've got my back
,
so you'll let me know if I'm showing my ass
.
" Crystal laughed.

Becka laughed, remembering the picture from last weekend of Crystal
’s
ass in the air, being carried to Lucy's.
Crystal wore dresses, mainly short ones
,
all the time
.
Crystal's mother was originally from
Colombia
,
while her dad was a very pale Brit
.
She
had
luckily inherited her caramel
-
kissed skin tone from her mom
,
so dresses played off her awesome
legs that always looked tanned
.

"So did Dave let you in?"
Becka
asked.

Crystal
nodded
,
blushing
.
She
had a soft spot for Dave but was trying to not like him anymore
.
She had spent the night a couple months back
,
and they had made out, but Dave wasn't much for pursuing girls
,
so nothing had happened with them after that
.
Crystal was also aware he had no qualms about sleeping with almost any willing girl.

"Is he coming with us tonight or working?" Crystal asked nonchalantly.

"Nope
.
He’s
gotta work
.
So, what should I wear?"
Becka
pleaded.

After some deliberation
,
Becka
went with a
floral printed dress with a wid
e brown belt and some cowboy boo
ts
and was almost ready
by the time
Lucy arrived
.
Crystal was curling
Becka
's hair when Lucy walked into her bathroom with beers
.
Lucy was wearing a pair of teeny black shorts and a sequined white tank
.
Her short blonde hair was styled straight in an angled bob
,
ending just below her chin.

"Beer?" Lucy offered
,
carrying a six
-
pack.

"Sure, and
,
guys
,
please no shots tonight. I was so sick last weekend
,
" Crystal said
,
reaching for a beer.

"Yes
,
you
were!" Lucy grumbled.

"Are those Dave's?"
Becka
laughed
,
seeing the brand.

"Maybe
,
" was all Lucy would say.

Lucy had
made out with Dave
after a party more than a year ago
.
Afterward
,
he promptly passed out
and never really talked to her again.
Lucy was not expecting to get ignored
the next day. Dave was a bit of a tool when it came to girls.
She swore she was over it
,
but
Lucy
had never really forgiven him and passive aggressively did anything she could to annoy him ever since.

"Your funeral
,
"
Becka
grinned
,
grabbing a bee
r
.
"Bring a bottle opener too?"

No cheap twist
-
o
f
f caps for Dave.

Chapter 2

Their night out was fun but uneventful
.
There were some really cute guys out
,
but Becka felt preoccupied and did not make much of a
n
effort to talk to any of them
.
She felt her mind drifting to
Nate
. None of the guys at the bar interested her enough to think of anything else.
Crystal spent the night on their very comfy couch. When Dave got off of work
,
he showered and was hanging out with Crystal when Becka woke. Becka didn’t want to interrupt anything
,
but her stomach overruled her.

Crystal thought Dave was cute but was hip to his game and left not long after. Dave was bummed but not deterred, confident since
he
knew she would be back.
Becka could not fault his logic. With no girl to woo
,
Dave went to sleep not long after Crystal went home.
Becka
spent the rest of her weekend sleeping, reading a novel
, becoming addicted to Pinterest
,
and doing laundry
.

When Becka
got to work on Monday
,
s
he pouted when she saw
Nate
's
now
empty cube
.
Work had been so much fun when she had someone around to crush on
.
While her computer started up
,
she went over to the break room and made herself a cup of
hot
cocoa
.
In her office
,
Becka was t
he
rare
non-coffee drinker
.
She
loved the smell of coffee but not the taste
, unless it was a
caramel
Frappuccino
.

Back at her desk
,
Becka
got to work
.
She spent most of her days on autopilot, depending on the type of document she was filing.
Mid
-
morning
,
an icon popped up
,
informing her of a new email
.
Various corporate emails went out on a daily basis
,
so she wasn’t expecting anything interesting whe
n she went to check it
.
The last thing she
expected was an email
from
Nate
Parker.

Becka
gasped
,
unable to open it
right away
.
Que
stions raced through her mind
.
Was
the email just
to her or to the whole team
?
W
hat did he write?

Taking a deep breath
,
she opened it.

Miss me yet?

That w
as all the email
said
.
It was one sentence of three words
,
just to her
.
Becka
was thrilled
,
even though she thought his message was a bit snotty
.
Two can play at that game
,
she
thought
.

Oh, you aren’t here?

Ouch, that hurts
.
Have a fun weekend?

Becka
's
mouth hurt
,
she was sm
iling so hard
.
He emailed her
.
T
hat had to mean something.

It was fun
.
Went
out with the girls. You?

Didn’t do much
.
I had a soccer game.

They went back and forth like this the rest of the morning
.
Around lunchtime
,
he emailed.

Heading to Quizno's for lunch
.
Want
to come?

Sure
.
Right
now
?