AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But that can’t be it, right? I didthe right thing by not sleeping with her. I didn’t want that to beyet another meaningless fling. It was the right thing to do. Right?Right?
****
A bunch of people from Joe’s workare at a happy hour at The Old Fashioned bar. Joe invited Liz andme along, and right now Liz, Joe, and I sit together with two othercoworkers of Joe’s. Roxie, who’s at the same company as Joe but ina different division, arrives straight from work a bit later. Shewears a simple blood-red top that goes great with her dark brownhair and eyes, and form-fitting black slacks. She has the best legsand ass. I had my hands on that ass. A mixture of excitement andregret swirls in my stomach.
I wave her over and she smiles areal Roxie smile, the kind that lights up her face. It lasts only asecond, because she realizes she’s smiling at me when sheshouldn’t, and her face falls and stiffens.
She sits opposite me, next to Barband Jessica from Joe’s work, gives me a small nod ofacknowledgement, and smiles broadly at Liz and Joe, who are seatedbeside me. She is very polite to everyone, and engages in smalltalk with Barb and Jessica, oohing and aahing appreciatively attheir pictures. I don’t know if she’s really interested in thewomen’s families or if she’s putting on a show.
I glance at Joe and Liz, whoregard Roxie with a mix of confusion and amusement. As I suspected,Roxie being this effusive about random women from Joe’s work is notin character.
Also not in character is heravoiding my eyes, whereas I can’t stop staring at her.
Joe is saying something, but it’snot until he shakes me by the arm that l realize he’s actuallytalking to me.
“Chris, dude, where did yougo?”
“Nowhere. I’m right here. Just …thinking.”
“I can see that.” He smiles andtakes a sip of his beer.
Liz scoots over to join Barb,Jessica, and Roxie. It’s hard to hear what they’re saying, but Idon’t really care. I lean back and sip my beer, and I stare atRoxie because she looks incredible. She has discreet makeup, themost she ever wears, and her hair is down, voluminous andshiny.
The women all get up, and thenit’s just Joe and me. Barb and Jessica seem to join a party atanother table, while Liz and Roxie stand at the bar, laughing andtalking. They don’t seem to be in a hurry to come back.
“So what’s going on with you andRoxie?” Joe asks.
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve not spoken a word to eachother. She completely ignores you, and you can’t stop staring ather.”
I sigh. “That obvious, huh?”
“Yep.” He takes a sip. “So, what’sup?”
“I don’t know, man.” I tap my beerwith my fingers. “I think I messed up.”
Joe snickers. “That much is clear.How long since things were normal?”
“A couple of weeks.”
“Damn. Tell me what happened.”
I might as well. It's not like Ihave anyone else to tell, since Roxie used to be my confidant.“Okay, fine. You know Roxie and I hung out nonstop. Every day afterwork and most weekends, we ate dinner together. It was great.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Then one night, she asked me whyI hung out with her all the time instead of going out to look forsex. She asked me to explain why I was around so much if I didn’twant to fuck her.”
Joe laughs. “I can totally seeRoxie asking that.”
“I snapped and said I did wantto—which is true, by the way, I totally do—but that I didn’t wantto jeopardize our friendship because I knew she didn’t really wantto be in a relationship with me.”
Joe nods, and I continue.
“I was about to leave becausethings were getting weird, but then she kissed me, and we made outpretty furiously until I came to my senses and put a stop to itbefore it went too far, and then I went home.”
Joe slams the table with his bighand. “Chris, you poor son of a bitch. Let me guess—she’s beenaloof ever since.”
