Page 68 of The Alternate Captain
My attention is snatched to my phone when it vibrates in my pocket.
Bettsy.
And there he is. Standing right outside the restaurant with his phone pressed up against his ear as my phone rings in my hand. I swallow hard. I bet he saw my car.
“Grab your stuff,” Kelly says, indicating for me to slide out of the booth. She shimmies across and grabs my hand. “Follow me.”
She leads the way, right towards the back of the restaurant, towards a patio door that opens out onto a terrace. A string of large, bare lightbulbs decorates the veranda overhead.
“Oh, we should have sat out here. It’s lovely.” She turns to face me, just as a server comes rushing through the door, knocking Kelly forward into me. I stumble to catch her as the server makes a half-assed attempt at an apology, but neither of us is listening.
She’s right here in my arms, her body pressed tight against mine.
“Shit, sorry,” she says, straightening up. Turning towards me, we lock eyes for a second and I lean down, pecking at her lips.
“You are so beautiful. I mean, you always are beautiful, but tonight—that dress is something else.”
Her jaw drops just a little, as if she’s going to say something, but she leans in and kisses me, lingering her lips on mine for a moment, before tickling my bottom lip with her tongue, sending a shiver down my spine.
“Thanks,” she says.
And before I can consider what I’m doing, I’m pushing her hair away from her ear so I can lean down and kiss her neck, just the briefest of touches, before I whisper into her ear.
“Do you want to come back to mine? I mean—that fucking dress is killing me.”
She giggles, sending a delicious swell of excitement all the way through me. Then a familiar drawl slices through the air.
“Johnny?”
Kelly and I both turn our heads towards the caller, and I’m not sure if it’s the shock or the jelly legs that Kelly has given me, but I lose my balance when Sarah’s face comes into view, knocking both Kelly and me to the floor.
“Oh my God,” Kelly laughs and because she’s got such a huge grin on her face as she flails underneath me, I laugh too.
“Oh, shit. I’m sorry,” I say, trying to right myself.
I get to my feet and pull Kelly up so she’s flush against me again.
“Did you hurt yourself?” she asks, brushing at my shirt.
“Fuck. No, but did I hurt you? I’m sorry I—”
“Aren’t you going to say hi?” Sarah’s voice fills the air again.
I haven’t encountered Sarah once since we broke up, and now, here she is, popping the bubble on my date. She looks the same. And when I lock eyes with her, I feel sick to my stomach.
“I’m Sarah, Johnny and I used to—”
“Kelly. How’s it going?” she says.
Then, to my surprise, Kelly leans in and whispers in my ear, so close that she has me giggling as her breath tickles me. “Do you need me to be your fake girlfriend still?”
But the look on Sarah’s face tells me that Kelly doesn’t need to say or do anything else, because seeing me standing here with another woman is enough to make her angry. And the giggle probably didn’t help.
“Weneed to go,” I say.
I take Kelly by the hand. I pull her away as Sarah calls out again.
“Johnny, wait. Could I talk to you for a moment, please?”
