The next morning, Claire drops me off at the hotel with ten minutes to spare. Last night was incredible, starting with shower sex. I put several of those errant condoms to good use before dawn. Two nights and I’m miserably in love. I say miserably because now I’m expected to leave her behind to return home.
Pinning her between the car and myself, I do my damnedest to kiss the memory of me into her. How can I be expected to live without her taste in my mouth every day?
“Get in the damn car, lover boy!” Tim growls out the window at me. I ignore him for one more minute before pulling away from her. Getting into the car, I watch her in the rearview mirror until she fades from my view. Slumping in the seat, I glare over at Tim.
“This fucking sucks, mate,” I tell him in case he didn’t know from my shitty attitude.
“I know. What are you going to do about it?” he finally asks, pulling into the rental return.
“I dinnae bloody well know. I’ll figure something oot though. She’s naw someone I can just write off. I think I might already be in love.” Tim just pats me on the back as we walk through security before finding our gate.
5
Claire
“Earth to Claire, come back to us, sweetheart.” Somewhere in the fog of my brain Izzy’s words manage to penetrate. When I look around Lily’s living room, everyone is staring at me.
It’s ladies’ night again with my four best friends from college. Izzy is a nurse who just found out she is pregnant with her fiancé, Grayson’s, baby. They are getting married at the end of December.
Maggie is an English teacher at one of the local private schools. Lily’s brother, Colin, has sniffed around her since they were freshmen but never has had the guts, until now, to do anything about it.
Dia married Marcus one drunk spring break in Las Vegas our senior year. They had met when he was a star college basketball player and she was a freshman cheerleader.
Then there is my best friend, Lily. She was still trying to navigate the complicated relationship she had with Matt. Nobody could figure it out, including his boss, Grayson. It all sounded like a plot from an afternoon soap opera.
“Sorry. I’m here, just checked out for a second. What were we talking about?” I ask.
“We were discussing wedding plans, but now you have us all curious. Lily caught us up to speed on your pretty wild Thanksgiving. Any word from the library boy?” Izzy asks. When my face turns red, she turns to Lily.
“Speaking of library boy, we had an interesting week,” Lily tells everyone about the entire three days starting with Alex’s surprise appearance through last night.
“You’re telling us that the library boy is actually Xander Ross. Like uber-famous superhot Scottish soccer-playing Xander Ross? That Xander Ross? You know Xander Ross?” Maggie asks.
“More importantly,” Dia adds, “you fucked Xander Ross? Repeatedly? Holy shit!”
“Yeah, then he got on an airplane this morning to fly back to LA. So end of story, nothing else to tell. I didn’t really expect anything to come out of it. It was fun while it lasted though, right?” I look around at my friends with a fake smile in place right before the tears start to flow.
I shouldn’t be upset over this, I knew he would never stay. After all, he’s famous, gorgeous and rich. I’m, well, not. I’m just the same average person I’ve always been. It was a nice fantasy for a little while though.
“Oh Claire,” Lily says, wrapping her arms around me. “I’m sure you’ll hear from him again. He wasn’t such a bad guy. He really seemed to like you too.” It’s sweet that Lily is trying to sound encouraging but I can tell she doesn’t quite believe I’ll see him again either.
“I’m good,” I say, snuffling. “I knew this is how it would turn out.” It’s why I didn’t go back to the library. “You know what? Screw it. Let’s get back to all things wedding.” The rest of the evening was perfect.
We drink way too much wine, everyone except a pregnant Izzy that is. I don’t even flinch too bad when Alex text me to say they had made it back. When I don’t respond, my phone begins to vibrate again. I knew he had put his number in my phone, but I was surprised when a photo flashed up with a picture of us lying in bed grinning at the camera. I barely remember taking it, much less him saving it as his profile picture.
“Oh, for the love of Christ. Give me the phone.” Lily snatches the phone out of my hand when the next text comes in. “He wants to know if you are already ghosting him?” she says, looking at me. “I got this. What are your intentions precisely with our girl, Xander?” she says, texting.
I make an attempt to get my phone back but give up quickly, opting for more wine instead. “He says, 'You know my name is Alex, Lily. I didn’t know my intentions were in question. Can I speak to Claire, please?’”
“My turn,” Izzy says, taking the phone. Typing, she says, “This is Izzy. Our Claire deserves more than a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am experience. What’s your excuse for leaving, library boy?” She giggles, “I’m not even drunk! Wow, he types fast. He says, ‘Library boy? I had to report in for medicals, etc. I’ll be back as soon as I’m cleared by the club. What is with your crazy American phrases? I’m begging you, let me speak to Claire!’”
Dia takes the phone this time. “My question is, are you better at scoring goals or orgasms?” My friends all burst out laughing. “He just says, Umm... what?” There is another round of laughter before Maggie takes the phone.
“That was Dia. I’m Maggie. When Claire ignored you for being a manwhore, did it make you hotter for her?” Oh my God, they are all drunk! My face is blazing red when my phone starts to vibrate again.
“Holy shit, Claire. Is this him?” Maggie asks, turning the phone around so everyone can see the picture. “Doesn’t look like he’s wanting to ditch you here.” I manage to grab the phone away before answering it.
“Hey.” Everyone gets quiet so they can hear the conversation. “Hang on, let me go into the other room, I have too rapt an audience.” Walking into the guest room, I close the door behind me before speaking again. “I’m sorry.”
