Page 50 of Rebound With Me
I can control a room full of six year-olds, I should be able to get one twenty-eight year-old man to behave himself.Here’s how it is, here are the rules.Rules bind our anxiety so we don’t have to worry about what weshouldbe doing. I learned that while I was getting my degree. And while I was dating Russell.
I let go of his hand when we’re on the sidewalk. No one else is around. I put my hands on my hips. Vince looks defiant, but also a tiny bit ashamed.
“You can’t talk to people like that. Isn’t everyone a potential client for you?”
“We have a strict no douchebag client policy.”
“Well it makes me uncomfortable when you talk to someone like that just because he was talking to me.”
“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were so into him.”
“Vince. I was not into him. I’m here with you. I’m not going to ignore men who talk to me, especially when I have no idea if they know you or not, but I have no interest in getting to know them. You can trust me.”
“I do trust you, it’s that guy that I don’t trust.”
“Well, I can’t make you trust someone, but please try not to let your feathers get ruffled. This is our first time out on a real date and I’d prefer it if there were no bloodshed.”
He looks at me like I’ve been speaking a foreign language, and then a smile spreads across his face and he lowers his head, laughing. “’Try not to let your feathers get ruffled?’ What are you—ninety?”
“Well now you’re just trying to rufflemyfeathers,” I say, putting up my dukes.
He grabs my hands and pulls my arms around his waist. “Baby, I want to ruffle your feathers until you’re too exhausted to fly away.”
“Yeah?”
“Hell yeah.”
“Is there anyone else whose feathers you want to ruffle any time soon?”
“Hell no.”
“Well, we’re on the same page, then. You asked me to give you the summer. How about we officially agree that we will only be with each other this summer? To eliminate anxiety.”
His face gets so serious, and I almost regret my approach. “What if I still want you when the summer’s over?”
It’s difficult to get your facial muscles to form a smile when you’re completely melting on the sidewalk, but somehow I manage. “We can revisit this issue in September.”
“Plan on it. Deal.” He puts his hands on my face and kisses my mouth. “I’m all yours this summer.”
“I’m all yours this summer.”
Even under the dim streetlight, I can see that his eyes are sparkling. “You are something else.”
“Thanks?”
“Thankyou. I hope you don’t have plans for tomorrow morning, cuz I’m gonna take you to brunch.”
“Really?! I love brunch!”
“I had a feeling.”
“Shall we go back to the party now?”
He cranes his neck, looks around over my shoulder. “There’s an alley over there. I could ruffle your feathers a little more first.”
I spank his perfect butt. “Back to the party, sir. That will have to wait until we’re back at your place.”
He groans and takes my hand as we head back to the front door of the bar. “You’re mean, Miss Parks.”
“It’s for your own good,” I say, and then lean in to whisper in his ear: “Trust me, you’re going to want to see me in the bonkers lingerie I have in my purse.” Words I have certainly never uttered before in my life.
I hold up my tiny purse and he stops in his tracks, pulls out his phone and opens up his Uber app. I take his phone away from him. “No we have to say goodbye to everyone first.”
“You are slowly killing me, Miss Parks.”
As we make our way through the front of the bar, I notice a young woman who’s watching us. Vince doesn’t see her. In one second her facial expression reveals so many things when she watches Vince—lust, hope, anger, bitterness, wistfulness. I know in the pit of my stomach that she has probably slept with him, and because she doesn’t approach him, he probably hasn’t seen her since.
Finally, after he has passed by her, she calls out: “Vince.”
He looks back at her, still holding my hand, and I see no hint in his face that seeing her causes him to feel any emotions at all. “Oh hey, good to see you. Have a good night.” Polite, pleasant, and not at all personal. He puts his arm around me and we retreat into the private room. I don’t look back to see the woman’s reaction, but I know how I would feel if I were in her shoes. I try not to think about whether or not I will be in her shoes, or when. For now, I believe him when he tells me he’s mine. All I have to do is get through the summer without losing my mind.
