Secondhand Boyfriends (9 page)

“I wanted to introduce you to my stepdaughter,” she said as she stepped aside.

Towering behind her was Ayla Giovanni. Her long, dark hair was thick and lustrous and framed her face perfectly. Her wide set, dark eyes were framed with the longest eyelashes I’d ever seen, and her skin was the perfect shade of flawless bronze.

“Hi,” she said as she extended her right hand.

I shook her hand, which was softer than a baby’s bottom, and realized that I was speechless. I wasn’t expecting to see her, let alone talk to her or even touch her.

“You two are about the same age,” Julianne said with a smile. “I bet you just have loads in common.”

I smiled, trying to be courteous, and Ayla said nothing. She seemed annoyed.

“Sam,” Ayla said as she turned around.

Several steps back from Ayla was Sam, standing with his hands in his pockets, probably keeping a safe distance from me.

“What kind of dessert do you want?” she called back. “I’m going to get us something. Want to share it?”

“Whatever you want,” he said back.

“Excuse me,” she said as she squeezed between us to grab a plate of tiramisu.

“Sam,” Julianne called over to him. “Come up here. I want you to meet Olivia.”

Neither Sam nor I had the guts to tell her we were already very familiar with one another. It was probably in both of our best interests to pretend like we were complete strangers.

“Mmm,” Ayla said as she squeezed back into our little circle and stood next to Sam. She held a forkful of tiramisu up to his lips and fed him like a little baby.

Sam seemed a little embarrassed, but he went with it.

“Oh, you two,” Julianne laughed. “Olivia, you haven’t introduced me to your date yet.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said as I placed my hand on Bennett’s arm. “This is Bennett Townsend.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said as she shook his hand. She didn’t let go though as she peered at him through the corner of her eye. “You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?”

I recalled Bennett’s story about helping Ayla move some furniture, and I thought for sure he was going to bring it up, but he stood there in silence. The cat had his tongue or something.

“Anyway, you four should get out of here. Go get some drinks or something. Get to know each other,” she said. I could tell she’d had a few too many goblets of wine, and she was clearly still reeling from winning her big award.

I looked at Sam and we exchanged awkward looks. I could tell he didn’t think it was a good idea.

“On me!” Julianne added. She could sense the hesitation. “Tonight’s a night to celebrate, and you don’t need to stick around with us old fogies.”

She reached down into her sparkly lavender clutch and pulled out a crisp hundred dollar bill and handed it to Sam.

I looked over at Bennett, who was staring at Ayla. Ayla scrunched her nose at him, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell that meant.

“Go, go,” Julianne said as she pushed Sam and Ayla towards the door. “Get out of here. The night is young.”

I grabbed Bennett’s wrist and pulled his sleeve up to look at his watch. It was only nine o’clock. It was going to be a long night.

“There’s a bar next door,” Bennett said as we four made it outside. “Maybe just a drink and then we can call it good?”

We all chuckled nervously. None of us wanted to get drinks together. Julianne had good intentions, but she was clearly from another generation.

The bar next door was some sort of martini lounge, and we looked a little overdressed for it, but it wasn’t that bad. We stood around a tall table and perused the drink menus until a server came up to take our orders.

We stayed mostly silent until the drinks arrived, and then it seemed like we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. The sooner we downed our drinks, the sooner we could split up and go our separate ways.

Ayla ordered some sort of lemon drop martini, a sour drink for her sour puss expression. Her personality was flat, at least around me, and I hadn’t really seen her smile the entire night besides when she was congratulating Julianne for her award. I remembered hearing that Eric thought Ayla was a great girlfriend. I couldn’t see it. She was painfully ordinary in the personality department.

I watched as Sam and Ayla whispered back and forth to each other. It couldn’t have been more juvenile, but I wished more than anything that Bennett and I were as close as Sam and Ayla were. If I were to whisper anything into Bennett’s ear, he’d probably think I was a giant weirdo. We so weren’t there yet.

“So Ayla,” Bennett said to her.

“What?” she replied. She was so rude.

“How are you liking the apartment?” he asked. His green eyes seemed to pierce hers, and she seemed bothered by him.

“It’s fine,” she said. “Sam’s really made it feel like home for me.”

“That’s good,” Bennett said as his eyes traveled to Sam.

Good old Sam was oblivious to what was going on. He was hanging on Ayla with his arm around her waist and sipping his drink as he tried to avoid looking anywhere near me.

There was something going on between Ayla and Bennett, but I hadn’t the slightest clue what it was about.

“How’s the station?” Bennett asked.

“Good,” she said. “Can’t complain about the early spring we’re having. Makes my job a lot easier.”

She leaned over and whispered something again to Sam. He nodded and whispered back.

“Excuse me,” Sam said. He sat his glass down and made his way towards the restrooms in the back of the bar.

Against my better judgment, I decided to follow him. There was a line, and it was going to be the perfect opportunity to talk to him and see if he noticed the weird dynamic between Ayla and Bennett.

“Hey,” I said as I got behind Sam in line.

He spun around, shocked to see me, and all but rolled his eyes. “Hi.”

“Don’t act so excited to see me,” I teased as I swatted his arm. Then I bit my lip. “Um,

have you noticed anything weird between Ayla and Bennett tonight?”

Sam guffawed and shook his head no, treating me like some sort of crazy lunatic.

“Like she seems really annoyed by him, and I just don’t understand because he’s such a nice guy,” I explained.

“I haven’t noticed a thing,” Sam said as he refused to make eye contact with me. “Olivia, you’re being ridiculous.”

The line moved forward. I was just a few minutes away from losing my one-on-one time with Sam.

“You’ve not been paying attention to anything,” I said. “It’s really obvious. Did they date before or something?”

“I don’t know,” Sam said in a staccato tone. “I don’t want to fight with you.”

For a brief moment, it was like we were back together, arguing about something stupid and piddly. It was both oddly familiar and comforting. I wondered if he felt it too.

The line moved forward again. Just a couple more minutes.

I glanced over at the table to see Ayla and Bennett deep into a conversation. If I didn’t know any better, it looked like it was some sort of heated argument. I saw him slap his hand on the table and turn his face away from her. I’d never seen him lose his cool before. Ever.

“Look, look!” I said as I tugged on Sam’s arm and pointed to the table.

By the time Sam looked, Ayla and Bennett were just standing idly, sipping their drinks.

“Oh, forget it,” I said as I walked away. I turned back to look at Sam, but he was already walking into the restroom. He didn’t see what I saw. Not at all.

Bennett turned towards me and took a step closer. It was so unlike him. Within minutes, Sam returned and took his place by Ayla’s side.

“Are you ready to go?” Bennett asked as he looked down at my drink. It was still half full.

I placed the martini glass to my lips and downed that sucker.

“Now I am,” I said with a buzzed smile.

Bennett leaned over and kissed my cheek.

“We’re going to take off now,” he said. “It was great meeting you Sam. Ayla, nice seeing you.”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of there before I even had a chance to process any of it. It had happened so quickly.

“What the hell was that about?” I asked him the moment we stepped outside.

The night had turned chilly, and I immediately began to shake and shiver despite donning a little black, satin shrug. We were a long walk from the parking garage yet.

He yanked his jacket off and threw it around my shoulders.

“Let’s walk,” he said.

“Okay,” I replied. He was walking faster than usual, and I struggled to keep up with him in my high heels. “Are you going to explain why you were acting so weird back there?”

He scrunched his face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I rolled my eyes, though I was a couple steps behind him so he couldn’t see me.

“You and Ayla just had some kind of weird thing going on,” I said. “Like she acted annoyed with you or something.”

“She’s just not a nice person,” he said. “I think she’s let her local celebrity status go to her head. I was just trying to make conversation.”

It made sense, though again, I wasn’t sure I was buying it. Bennett always had a perfectly logical explanation for everything, but I didn’t know him well enough to know if it was all a bunch of hot air. I had no choice but to file it away for future reference and believe him for the time being.

As we hurried to the parking garage, I heard some giggling behind us. I whirled around to see Sam and Ayla, walking hand in hand and laughing just a mere ten or fifteen steps or so behind us. They must have left at the same time as us. It was definitely a consensus between both sets of couples that no one wanted to be there together.

Bennett and I walked in silence until we reached the elevator to the parking garage. It was only a matter of time before Sam and Ayla caught up to us.

“Great,” Bennett mumbled under his breath as they approached the elevator. “Going up?”

Ayla shot him a dirty look, like he was some sort of idiot, and oblivious Sam nodded.

The four of us crowded into the elevator and rode it to the top of the parking garage in pure silence. As we filed out one by one, I couldn’t help but notice Sam’s car parked a few spots down from where we were parked.

Geez, we just can’t get away from them, can we?
I huffed silently.

I watched from the corner of my eye as they climbed into Sam’s old Jeep and listened as it refused to start. The engine turned over several times, but nothing came of it.

Bennett gripped his steering wheel and banged his head against it. I’d never seen him act that way.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“As an officer of the law, I’m required to offer my assistance,” he said.

I shrugged. “Okay, that’s nice, so do it.” I shrugged. It was the right thing to do regardless of how we felt about them.

“I know they won’t take it,” he said. “
She
won’t take it.”

“Offer it anyway. They say no, and then we can be on our way,” I said. “Easy enough.”

Bennett stepped out of his car and walked over to them. I watched from afar as Sam seemed a little flustered and embarrassed and Ayla looked annoyed.

“Can I help you guys?” Bennett said as he approached Sam’s window. “Need a jump?”

Sam climbed out and popped his hood. He’d had that Jeep since long before we ever got together. It was easily ten years old, but he loved it to pieces. He had always vowed never to get rid of it until it was absolutely dead.

“Sam,” Ayla whined. “I told you to get rid of this thing. We’re going car shopping first thing next Saturday.”

Sam said nothing as he inspected random things under the hood and checked fluids and who knows what else. He was a smart guy, but he was never that great with mechanics. His talents were always best utilized for computers and video games. The guy hated to get his hands dirty.

“Would you like a jump?” I heard Bennett ask them once again.

“I think Sam’s got it under control,” Ayla said to Bennett. From far away, I could hear the irritation in her voice. “Sam, I’m calling triple A.”

She raised her cell phone to her ear and waived her hand towards Bennett to leave.

He turned back towards me, shrugged, and made his way back to his car.

“She’s so freaking rude,” I snipped as he got back in. “What’s her problem?”

“No clue,” Bennett said before reaching down and turning on the radio.

Exiting the parking garage felt like some sort of maze, but several minutes later we made it to the ground level and were back on the city streets of Harrisville. Bennett was quiet, almost too quiet, as we drove back to our neck of the woods.

“Thanks for coming with me tonight,” I said as I playfully rubbed his thigh. “I know it wasn’t exciting. Or fun.”

Bennett said nothing.

“I appreciate it,” I continued. I just wanted him to say something. Anything.

I glanced over at him and he shrugged his shoulders, still saying nothing.

“Can I just say something?” I asked. I was growing more and more irritated at his silence. I didn’t deserve it. I’d been nothing but sweet to him all night, at least in my mind.

“What the hell is going on between you and Ayla?” I asked. “Why does she seem so annoyed with you? I’ve never known anyone to treat an acquaintance that way.”

“Beats me,” he said as his eyes focused on the street and late night traffic. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“No,” I said as I turned my whole body towards him. “I don’t buy that.”

We came to a stop at a red light. Sitting a good nine or ten cars back, we were probably going to have to sit through at least two green lights.

“What don’t you buy?” he asked with a nervous chuckled as he turned to me.

“The way you two talk to each other,” I said. “There’s animosity there.”

He shook his head.

“Did you date her?” I asked him point blank. “I don’t care if you did. I just want some of this to make an ounce of sense.”

“I don’t talk about ex-girlfriends,” he said. “Not saying I dated her. I’m just saying, my past is my past. I don’t talk about whom I’ve dated or any of that.”