Winning Back Ryan (11 page)

             
As we walked out of the store, Brian’s phone rang. I watched him leaning against the guardrail talking, his mom on the other end again. Apparently, Brian’s second cousin was also coming with her two children to the Fourth of July celebration. We needed to pick up toys for the kids. Since we’re already at the mall, he wanted to pick the stuff up today.  I told him it wasn’t a problem.

On the way there, I couldn’t help but wrap my arm around him and lean into him. I just wanted to burst out crying.

              “Are you alright?” he asked.

             
I nodded. “Sorry, just feeling a little…” I didn’t know how to finish my sentence.

             
He turned towards me in his graceful, lithe motion, stopping me in my tracks. “Hey, what’s up?”

             
I held back the tears. “I’m sorry. I just really needed a hug.”

             
He smiled, a little surprised by my words. “Why didn’t you just say so?” He wrapped his arms tightly around my body, squeezing me tightly. I hugged him just as fiercely back.

***

              “The blue ones, not the purple ones. Yeah, mom, I understand. We got everything you asked for,” Brian said into the cell phone while I slurped on a fountain soda, lingerie bag hanging from my arm, the other hand playing with a paddle ball. I was up to fifty-nine consecutive hits.

             
“He did get everything, Mrs. A, I’m right next to him,” I yelled into the receiver.

             
I couldn’t hear his mother’s reply, but I could hear Brian say, “Yeah, mom, she’s right next to me playing paddleball.”

We waited on the register line of the toy store, two kids next to me playing with
lightsabers.

             
“Alright, I’m going now. I’m hanging up….Goodbye!” He pocketed the phone and we moved up in line. “Think she’s going to call back and want us to get more stuff?” I asked, sipping more of the forty-four ounce soda I just purchased on the way to the toy store. Hey, you know what they say: Go big or go home.

             
“If she does, she’s just going to have to buy it herself.” I had been thinking that from the beginning, but decided not to say anything. “She did tell me something interesting, though.”

             
Still slurping on my soda, I glanced at him, brow raised. “Your brother is coming. And your mom is upset you haven’t called her yet.”

             
I rolled my eyes, and groaned inwardly. Just what I needed. “I’ll deal with it later.”

             
My mom and I have a good relationship, but I was bad at calling her. Namely, because once she was on the phone, I couldn’t get her off. Three hours later, and I still couldn’t get her to hang up. So, I limited my phone calls. In all the chaos of the weekend, I didn’t know how to tell her that Ryan wouldn’t become her son-in-law.

             
“I can’t believe your brother is coming. This is going to be one heck of a weekend.” I could hear the excitement in his voice.  I smiled tight-lipped, unsure if I’d be going to his house for Fourth of July.

             
The attendant called for the next in line and Brian pushed up the shopping cart, dumping everything out onto the counter. Water guns, super soakers, blow-up pools, slip-n-slides, bocce ball, and volleyball net. I already gave my two cents that bocce ball around two young kids was just a disaster waiting to happen. Mrs. A was adamant about it, so I just hoped no windows break.

I tried taking some of the bags to help out Brian, but he took them from me.

              “You’re not carrying them.”

He took all of my bags as well, leaving me with nothing but my drink.

              “You can’t carry my bags,” I protested.

             
“Are you saying that I’m too weak to be able to carry all of these packages?” he asked as he walked around a woman not paying attention, standing in the middle of the walkway. I could tell that he was teasing me.

             
“No, I’m saying there’s no reason for you to carry my packages. I’m fully capable.”

             
“Humor me,” he replied as we made our way towards the parking lot.

We loaded everything into the trunk, and he opened the car door for me.

              “Look at you, holding doors open for me.”

             
He smirked. “I have my moments.” Brian closed the door, walking around to the driver’s seat.

             
“Where are we going now?” I asked, sipping on my soda.

             
“You’ll see,” he said, turning the key. The car’s engine roared to life.

             
“You’re not going to tell me?” I pouted.

             
“A little surprise is good for you.” Brian shifted the car into gear and we pulled out of the parking lot.

**

              Ten minutes later, we’re parked in front of a Johnny’s Steak House on Thirteenth Street, the best in town.  I stepped out of the car, shaking my head as I planned my counter-attack from the whole spider/tickling debacle. I couldn’t let that transgression slide without payback.

             
We have eaten at this restaurant many times before, so we have nearly eaten everything on the menu before. We’re a little head of the dinner rush hour, which we needed to be if we even wanted to be able to eat here on a Saturday night. The place normally had a line out the door all night long.

As we browsed the menus, Brian looked over at me. I felt his gaze and met his eyes.

              “You better have whatever you’d like now, because on Monday, it’s a whole new game.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but I decided he was right. I was like a smoker who inhales a pack of cigarettes right before quitting cold turkey. I better eat all the delicious, fattening food this weekend.  I would work out with him as long as he let me…for as much time as I had left with him.

It made my decision on what to order much easier.

             
After the waitress came over, taking our order and ogling Brian, I fought back a smile because my revenge had been planned.

The blonde, thin, twenty-
ish, waitress came back with the drinks, and I could tell she was eyeing us trying to figure out if we’re a couple. If I had a dollar for every time I’d witnessed that, I would be a millionaire.  I decided to help her out.

             
“We’re best friends. He’s single.”

She blushed, embarrassed at being caught, and made a quick retreat. Brian turned in my direction after watching the woman run away, looking highly amused.

              “Oh, by the way, can I ask a favor?” I asked before taking a sip of my Coke.

             
“Another one? Geez, Annie, you’re making a real habit out of this.” He sighed theatrically. “I suppose so.” His smile let me know he was joking.

             
“Can I crash at your place tonight?”

             
“Sure. Now that we have that settled, what do you think about going to Harvey’s tonight?” he asked as he perused the dessert menu.

             
“Eh,” I replied, shrugging. Harvey’s was a bar where yuppies liked to go and congregate, flashing around all of their money.

“Too pretentious?” he asked.  It had been the last four times I went there. I couldn’t stand people who were in love with themselves.

              I took another sip of my drink. “I’ll let you decide where we go. I’m just glad we’re spending time together.” It was true. Hanging out with Brian meant it really didn’t matter what we were doing, we’d find a way to have fun.

             
“In that case, we’re going to a strip club,” he glanced up, smiling, reading my expression.

             
“Is that supposed to scare me? I have breasts. They don’t get me all flustered,” I said before taking another sip.

             
“Annie in a strip club. Now that I’d pay to see,” Brian said. I cringed, aware of what was coming next. “In fact, I dare you to come with me to a strip club.” I closed my eyes, shaking my head. He knew I couldn’t resist a dare. I just couldn’t say no.

As I opened my eyes, the waitress was staring at Brian while placing down my plate of food. I should have just said yes to going to Harvey’s. I’d never learn.

              There was one good thing about going out to dinner with Brian. The waitresses normally thought that he was sexy, so they were very, very attentive. I never had to wait for refills. When we were nearly finished with our meal, I stood up, telling my unsuspecting friend I needed to use the restroom.  Rounding the corner, so he was unable to see me from our booth, I tracked down our waitress. She was easy to find, going on and on about how hot Brian was to two other waitresses.  She jumped seeing me.

             
“Hey,” I said, “my friend, Brian, the good-looking one…” The waitress nodded eagerly. She was putty in my hands. “It’s his birthday today. Could we bring him out dessert with candles and have everyone sing? You know, make a real big deal out of it?”

             
“Absolutely!” she exclaimed, clasping her hands. The other two waitresses joined in on the excitement. Apparently they were pleased that they would have an excuse to see ‘Brian, the hottie.’  “I promise, he won’t forget it! It’ll be fantastic!” the waitress exclaimed.

             
I smiled brightly. “You’re right. I bet he won’t.”

Running back to the table, I sat down, trying to remain casual.

              “Is everything alright?” he asked.

             
I gave him my most casual smile. “Everything’s awesome.”

             
“So,” I said after taking another sip of my soda. “What club do you have in mind?”

             
“You’re serious? You’re going to go?” he asked, shocked.

             
“You dared me, didn’t you? You know I can’t say no.” I crossed my legs.

             
He chuckled, pleased with himself. “I know. Works every time.”

             
“Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! We heard it was someone special’s birthday today!”

I covered my mouth to keep from laughing out loud, as Brian stared up like a deer caught in headlights. Every single waiter and waitress in the entire restaurant had come over, singing loudly, clapping, holding a huge slice of cake with sparklers in it, and somehow they had found a balloon too. Everyone in the restaurant craned their necks to look at Brian and the commotion. He glanced around for a place to hide, and I watched as he contemplated sliding under the table. I kicked his shin gently.

              “Don’t you dare,” I mouthed to him and when he glared back, I laughed louder.

I didn’t know the story behind it, but I knew that something happened during Brian’s childhood that made him freak out if anyone tried to make a big deal out of his birthday in a restaurant. He just totally lost it. I had always behaved and had never made a big deal out of his birthday…until today, even though it was not his birthday.

              The song went on and on as our sweetheart waitress thoughtfully added more rounds of chorus to make the song last longer. By this point, Brian was pale, and tears were streaming down my face from laughing so hard. Finally, she put the cake down before him, leaning over seductively. “Happy Birthday, Brian,” she breathed out.

He forced a smile as she handed him the balloon. I was just trying to sit upright from laughing so hard. Miss Considerate Waitress waved goodbye before walking away, and he turned on me.

              “You had it coming between the spider, the tickle fest, and the strip club,” I told him in between laughs.

Now that everyone was gone and the other patrons returned to their own conversations, he chuckled.
              “Well played.” I bowed theatrically as he clapped for me.

             
He handed me a spoon. “I can’t eat all of this by myself.”

The waitress had brought him a mountainous slice of red velvet cake. I slid closer to him in our booth so I could dig into the sugary goodness, still impressed with my come-back.

The check finally came, and I grabbed my wallet.

             
“How much do I owe you?” I asked.

He waved me off as he leaned over, taking his wallet out of his back pocket.

I used his distraction to grab the bill off the table that the waitress had handed to him. I glanced down seeing that she had kindly penned:

Carly

732-111-2222

Call me! ;)

              “Aww. Isn’t that sweet? Brian has a new member to the ‘Brian’s So Dreamy Fan Club.’ Have they had the shirts printed up yet?”

             
He grabbed back the check, ripping it out of my fingers. “No, they can’t decide on a color. Half want purple, the other half want pink. The last meeting ended in a vicious cat fight. I tried explaining that there was enough of me to go around, but they wouldn’t hear it.”