Page 13 of Reaching Gavin

Chapter Six

Gavin had a girlfriend.A fact made all the more annoying by its alliterative qualities. It was also a fact that I shouldn’t be annoyed over—forget that, had no right to be annoyed over.

I was annoyed.

I was pretty sure I wasn’t imagining his subtle insinuations to me, which made him just another wannabe cheater. The rest of the work day went by in a haze of half smiles and wandering thoughts. No matter how hard I tried to redirect my attention away from Gavin and his lunch date, I kept finding myself thinking about him. She was pretty and nice and if a girl like her couldn’t keep a guy interested, what hope did a neurotic head-case like me have? And having Trevor around was proving to be a constant reminder that I wasn’t the girl that got forever. I was the in-between girl a guy settled on while he waited for a better investment. I was a lost cause. I should have it tattooed on my forehead.

When five o’clock hit I was more than thrilled to stop phoning it in and go home. I stood a better chance of being able to work there without the possibility of running into the walking distractions that haunted this building.

Today Seattle had given in and conceded to June. The skies were bright blue and cloudless, even Mt. Rainier was visible on the horizon. Back home, we would have been well into the season and preparing for the sweltering stickiness of a Texas summer. Here summer meant perfect 74 degree days and clear skies. Maybe I’d finally venture down to the condo’s community pool. I needed sun and a new attitude.

I’d parked in a lot a mile uphill from the office, and by the time I reached it, I was ready to dive into the pool fully clothed. My trusty, old Corolla was parked in the far corner. It was a hand-me-down from my mom who’d driven it halfway across the country so I’d have a car for my big internship. My parents couldn’t wrap their head around living somewhere where a car wasn’t necessary. Now I felt obliged to drive it, and I would as long as they kept funneling parking money into my bank account. Despite the breezy day, I’d managed to choose the sunniest spot in the lot, and when I opened the driver’s side door a wave of heat greeted me. After the hike up the hill, the last thing I felt like doing was waiting for the air conditioner to get going. Instead, I opened the back passenger door and slung my purse inside. Leaning against the car, I closed my eyes and turned my face upward to the sun.

It was the one thing I missed about Texas. Here I might go weeks without enjoying a sunny day. In the winter, it was sometimes months. Everything else about Washington suited me fine. I’d chosen my college based on scholarship funds. I hadn’t even bothered to visit before I took them up on their full-ride, but I’d been pretty happy with the hand fate had dealt me. Now that summer was here I could enjoy three months of uninterrupted bliss.

A car horn interrupted the happy thought. Maybe summer would be less chill on this side of the Puget Sound. I cracked one eye warily, unwilling to engage with a stranger, even for small talk, and then heaved a sigh. A stranger I could ignore. An ex-boyfriend I could not. Despite changing lots and parking much farther than necessary—all in an attempt to avoid him—Mr. Freshman Year had found me. Luka was overdressed in a suit that didn’t match his age or what I knew about his personality. With any luck he was selling used cars. I didn’t think to ask. He was really the last person I wanted to run into, especially right now.

“Didn’t want to deal with that parking meter?” Luka asked, glancing at my car.

“Lot was full.” Who cared if it was a lie. I wasn’t about to admit to being bested by a stupid credit card machine. Plus, it would be just like Luka to decide that I was going out of my way to avoid him. Sure, I might have been doing just that, but he didn’t need to know. “Good to see you. Gotta run.”

“Plans?”

Did he want a printed itinerary or was he calling bullshit on me? Because yeah, my hot date involved sitting by the pool, calling the girls for moral support, and digging into this Majestic Theatre project. It did not include wasting one more second of my life on him. “It was a long day.”

“I can tell.” His eyebrows knit together in concern that looked disconcertingly genuine. “Everything okay? You look tired.”

That was the last thing any girl wanted to hear. Of course I was tired, I had like decades of patriarchal male crap to move past, a corporate ladder looming overhead, and a starting gun that hadn’t gone off. In other words, I was an unpaid intern.

I started to tell him just that when he hit me with, “Actually, you look fantastic. I think catching you with your eyes closed tricked me.”

I clamped my mouth shut to keep the rant from spilling out. So here was the thing. Luka was bad news—I knew that. I’d also spent the day competing with Señor Douchebag and being disappointed in Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome. I was so not above preening over a compliment regardless of the source. Without my besties around to start my day with compliment showers, I’d been left wondering if I was overdressed at the office where people seemed almost surprised to see a woman in heels—as though I couldn’t dismantle the patriarchy in Jimmy Choos. Even secondhand ones.

“You know, I’ve been hoping to run into you again. It feels like destiny took a hand,” he continued, somehow managing to keep his eyes on my face.

If he’d known how far I’d gone to thwart destiny, he might truly believe that. “Really? Why?”

“I was a bit of a jerk the other day. I shouldn’t have laughed about the machine. That thing is screwy. But also because I meant what I said. We should hang out sometime. Catch up.”

Was Luka asking me on a date? “Maybe you need to check the ferry schedule, because that ship has sailed.”

“Not like that,” he said quickly before I could climb into my sufficiently cooled down car and drive away. “I was a kid when we dated, so were you. I’ve always wondered what you were up to since we moved out of the freshman dorm.”

He was presenting a compelling argument, and he’d softened me up with a compliment. Maybe I was wrong about him. I would hate it if someone assumed I was still the same person I was at nineteen. A lot had changed. Still, my focus needed to be on the internship. I couldn’t afford to divide my attention. “I’ve got to work tonight.”

“That’s cool. How about Friday?”

I hesitated just long enough to reveal my weekend was wide open. He’d know if I was lying, which led me to commit girl sin numero uno: agreeing when I wanted to say no. “Okay.”

“Here.” He grabbed my phone from my hand and began inputting his number. It felt like a violation somehow, but I was too shocked to stop him. “I’ll text you.”

“Great.” I managed a half-hearted goodbye before ducking into the safety of my mom’s Toyota. It took a second to adjust the radio and the AC. Luka waved as he pulled out in a BMW. A BMW? Maybe I did want to catch up with him.

“Nooo!” I banged my head on the steering wheel hoping to dislodge the number of terrible ideas that had passed through my brain today. First, I had flirted with Gavin, challenged Trevor, and now I’d agreed to go on a non-date with Luka. The axis of idiocy was complete. Not for the first time I considered how much easier the world would be if it was all women. The trouble was that I cared too much. I’d grown up with overly affectionate parents. I’d watched my best friends find the one. There was far too much proof that true love was real for me to ignore it. I wanted to, because I hated feeling like I was waiting around for some prince to knock at my door. In real life, all the good princes were taken. I just didn’t know how to make peace with being single and waiting for Mr. Right. I liked my life. I liked myself. That should be enough, but it clearly wasn’t because I’d just agreed to go out on a date with a guy that was a walking mobius strip of hormones. Maybe he wouldn’t text and I would stop driving to work and we’d both live happily ever after—without ever seeing one another again.

I let the fantasy unfold as I put the car into drive, just as Luka’s first text came through. Or maybe I’d have to slay the ex-boyfriend dragon first.

It was2 AM in Scotland, and I didn’t care. Somehow I managed to dump the entire contents of my closet onto my bed while Face-timing with Jillian over the phone. I’d made a mess of my room, my life, and wrecked her chance to get enough sleep. Dipping my toe into the real world with an internship was proving a complete failure.