Page 31 of His to Cherish
It’s crazy to think that the last time I was in this building, I’d been equally distracted. But that time it was because I was making plans to dress up and try to seduce my best friend. So much has happened since I put that plan into motion, it makes my head spin.
I get a few texts from Ollie throughout the morning. He asks me pointed questions designed to make me blush in the office—is your pussy still sore? How are the handprints I left on your ass?—and he succeeds. Alternatively, his more-benign texts affect me nearly as much. There’s something heart-melting about his causal check-in texts.Did you eat breakfast? Did you get the lunch I had delivered? How’s your day going?I could never doubt for a moment the way this man cares for me.
Shortly before lunch, he lets me know that he’s going into another meeting and won’t be able to text for a while. That’s when the day really starts to drag. Apparently, I can’t go morethan a few minutes without hearing from him. I’m so completely head-over-heels, and I can’t even bring myself to care.
“Hey, girlie.” I look up to see Trisha, a friend from my department, walking over to me, purse over her shoulder. “Jenni and I are going to grab wraps at that deli you like. Wanna join us?”
“Ooh, yes please,” I say. Jenni and Trisha are probably my closest friends at work and we grab lunch together several times a week. Jenni is currently in the middle of some serious relationship drama, so getting sucked into her problems will be a nice distraction from my ceaseless Oliver thoughts. Plus, the wraps at the deli down the block are to die for.
Fifteen minutes later the three of us are gathered in a booth with our ice teas. As expected, Jenni immediately goes into a long monologue about Dave, the guy she’s been dating for the past six months.
“So, I finally told him how I’ve been feeling.”
Trisha, one of the most pragmatic, no-bullshit people I know, raises an eyebrow. She’s been on Jenni to grow up and communicate with her boyfriend for ages. “And how did that go?”
Jenni sighs, absentmindedly stirring the straw in her ice tea. “I guess it could have gone worse. He said he was open to us getting more serious.”
“Hey, that’s great,” I tell her, even though I’m not totally sold. I’ve only met Dave a few times but he kind of seems like an asshole to me, the kind of guy who always has one excuse or another to keep him from committing.
“Yeah,” she says, face brightening a little. “It’s what I wanted. It’s just…”
“What?” Trisha presses.
“He said it would be easier to see a future with me if I was more willing to participate in his interests.”
I cast a glance at Trisha, knowing exactly what she’s thinking.
“So he wants you to spend more time at the bowling alley,” she says drily.
Jenni shrugs. “I mean, it’s nice that he wants me there, don’t you think?”
He wants you there to fetch him beer and ooh and ahh over how many strikes he gets,I think to myself.
“Yeah, but sweetie,” Trisha says, and I can hear how hard she’s trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice, “you don’t like bowling. You told us you hate going home smelling like stale beer and rented shoes.”
I smother my laugh in my glass of ice tea. I don’t want to be a downer, because I know Jenni is totally into Dave, but I’m with Trisha. I just don’t see it.
“But isn’t that what a relationship is?” Jenni asks. “Making sacrifices for another person?”
“You shouldn’t have to change your whole personality to be in a relationship,” Trisha says, and all of a sudden, the ice tea tastes bitter in my mouth. “I’m sorry, girl, but I think it’s totally ridiculous that this guy is putting these conditions on being with you. What does it say about his feelings for you if he requires you to change like that?”
It’s not the same,I tell myself, trying to counter the sick feeling in my stomach. That’s not what Oliver asked of me.
“It’s not really changing myself,” Jenni argues, but she sounds pretty weak.
Trisha raises an eyebrow. “Really? So what if you tell him you hate bowling and you don’t want to go anymore? Is he going to stop wanting to be with you?”
Well, shit. Is that what would happen with Oliver if I told him I wasn’t into the club and all the kinky shit he enjoys? He told me he’s had feelings for me for ages, but he didn’t want to say anything because he didn’t think I would like all that stuff. If Ihadn’t forced his hand by following him on Friday, he probably never would have let on.
He wanted me to take time this weekend to really think about what I wanted. If I told him it was too much for me, would that have been it? Would he have told me he wanted to go back to strictly being friends? Would he have gone right out to find another girl to take to Club Wyld with him?
He left me at home on Friday and went straight there,I remind myself. He made it perfectly clear that I got him hot and bothered at the restaurant and he planned to go take care of that itch with someone else.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Trisha asks suddenly, nudging my arm. “You just went white as a sheet.”
“Oh, I…just thinking about work,” I say quickly, making up some excuse about a report I didn’t turn in.
Trisha doesn’t seem like she believes me, but she drops it, going back to Jenni and her problems. I can’t bring myself to focus on the rest of their conversation. Our food is brought over a few minutes later and I concentrate on that while they talk, my mind spinning with doubts about Oliver.
