Page 5 of Third Time is the Charm
What happened next was embarrassing, awkward, and yet hysterical.Because that’s what you do when you have no tears left to cry – you laugh.
It had taken a second for his words – or rather their implications – to register, and when it did, she inhaled her mouthful of coffee down the wrong pipe, bursting into a coughing fit, her lungs trying to rid themselves of the unwanted liquid invasion. She hadn’t inhaled all of it though, which meant the rest of the coffee that was still in her mouth had sprayed over her desk and onto her white blouse.
Colin had stood up the second she began coughing, rounding her desk and gently patting her on the back, asking her if she was ok.
Trying to talk while you are choking is never a good idea.
But, she had; her attempt had made the irritation to her throat worse, so she’d just frantically nodded her head trying to make the situation less embarrassing. Col began to grab tissues cleaning up the coffee off of her desk and the papers on it.
And then came the awkward part.
In an attempt to continue to help her while she struggled to regain her breath and her voice, his hands moved to wiping the coffee, first off of hers, and then off of her shirt; which was fine, until he got to the last few spots that had landed on the top of her right breast. He began to rub over them, determined to clean her shirt before it stained, only realizing after about thirty seconds that he was really just rubbing her chest.
Beth, on the other hand, had frozen the second his hand had moved there. She knew he wasn’t trying to put any moves on her. Well, no, he was – but only in that he was trying to ask her out to dinner.
As soon as Col realized what he was doing – where he was touching her – his hand pulled back and his gaze turned to hers. The mossy green of his familiar and friendly eyes staring into hers, waiting and wondering if he just completely blew the slim chance that he’d had of her saying yes.
“Sorry,” he mumbled sheepishly, his embarrassed grin softening his face.
Beth started for a moment and then she’d started to laugh. Her desire to keep coughing made the effort even easier, but the entire situation had triggered so many emotions that she’d tried to shut off; the stress of their release forcing her to laugh in order to cope.
She also had no intention of making Col feel any more uncomfortable.
His grin turned into a laugh to match hers, and soon they both had tears in their eyes from the seemingly uncontrollable laughter. Their mindless hilarity lasted for a few minutes before they both began to calm down, wiping their eyes with coffee-stained tissues since Col had used what was left in the box to clean up the spill.
She didn’t know if it was the rush of endorphins and emotions to her brain or because of the way Col’s genuine and dazzling smile seemed to calm her instead of setting off warning bells, but without a rational thought to prompt it, as soon as she regained breath enough to speak, Beth caught his eyes and said, “I would like to go to dinner with you on Friday.”
What had she been thinking?
Between yesterday and today, she’d replayed the scene over and over again, wondering that exact thought numerous times.
Why had she said yes?
She’d left New York because of a relationship, one that had completely shattered her heart. Why had she said yes and let Colin think that four months was enough time for her to want to move on? Forget about what she was setting herself up for… what was she setting him up for? He was her friend – she would admit that much, and she’d just willingly volunteered to hurt him.
Beth traced the lines of the font on the invitation again, wondering if this was why she’d said yes. Maybe the stupid thing still somehow beating inside of her chest wondered if it could still care? Or, more importantly, wondered if she would let it?
Her phone buzzed signaling that the Uber had arrived to take her to work. Normally, she would bike since the center was a few miles from her cozy apartment on the border of Brookline and Allston – a good distance from the downtown Boston area, but today it was absolutely pouring outside. She’d have to face Colin again today, and after everything that had happened yesterday the last thing that she needed was to do it looking like a wet dog disaster. Running from the entrance to her apartment building out to the car, she hopped inside, trying not to make any more out of tomorrow’s dinner than she already had.
Chapter 2
Beth dumped her purse and laptop bag onto her desk chair Friday morning, grabbing a handful of tissues to try and dry off her right pant-leg. She’d managed to step in a giant puddle on the way inside; her shoe and about two inches up her pants were completely soaked. Grumbling to herself, she tried to wring out all of the excess water.
It was miserable outside. Hopefully not a premonition for how dinner tonight was going to go.
It had been miserable yesterday, too, and was supposed to continue throughout the weekend. Thankfully, Col hadn’t been at the center yesterday morning so all of her worries had been unfounded; she’d had the whole day to try to figure out how to not be awkward around him – how to not ruin the friendship that they’d built and that she’d begun to cherish. In spite of that reprieve, she wasn’t sure she had a good solution which only added to today and all the troubles of its own.
Beth hadn’t slept well, anxious about what tonight had in store. She didn’t do dates – and neither had Darcy, really.
Stop thinking about him.
That was the worst part about the fact that she had said yes; not that it might hurt Colin, not that it suggested that she wanted to open her heart again, not that it might even hurt her…it was the fact that it allowed memories of Darcy to slip by the intricate wall of defenses she’d constructed to keep him caged in her past and locked safely away from what remained of her heart.
Frantically rubbing the now-damp material, Beth sighed and gave up as the familiar light rap on her office door sounded. Her head darted up as though she expected to see someone other than who sheknewit was.
“Hey,” Colin said quietly, looking at her position curiously from the doorway; she had her wet foot propped up on her chair and was bent over trying to dry the fabric, but none of that was visible over the desk. He didn’t ask questions though, just raised both hands to indicate that her coffee delivery had arrived.
A light blush stole over her face as she smiled and returned, “Good morning.”
