Page 9 of The Chance
He pressed his elbows into the table, steepled his fingers and stared at me. It was at that point I noticed he had grey eyes. It had only taken me one second to notice Seb's dreamy blue eyes and the entire dinner duration to latch onto Blake's.
"No problem. I'm going to go out by myself then. I’ll not waste a good night. You won’t mind getting a taxi home on your own, will you?" He had no intention of escorting me home, not when sex was scratched off his list of activities. He knew it, and I knew it.
"Of course not," I replied politely, but my response was missed. He’d already given the bar girl a knowing nod. She was next in line tonight. One out and one in like a revolving door.
He paid the bill, even though I offered to cover my half. It didn't feel right to let him fork out for a meal that was eaten quickly to make the date end sooner. I stood and shunted the chair back. In a heartbeat he was by my side, with his arm snaking my waist. Blake guided me to the exit and ushered me into the low evening sunlight.
"It was really nice to meet you, Lexi.” He stepped closer, and I hitched back a fraction at the hips. "I'll wave down a taxi for you."
I nodded, thankful for his rapid removal from my personal space as he sauntered away. Luckily, there was a taxi waiting at the corner of the street. After he chatted with the driver for a few seconds, Blake raised his arm and whistled over to me. "He'll take you back," he yelled.
I pranced across the cobblestones in my best attempt to act like a lady, after one too many Captain Morgan’s. He opened the door, moved into me with an uncomfortable closeness, and before I could say ‘chunky chicken sticks’, he planted his thin lips down on mine. It was a cross between a rinse cycle and a tooth inspection by the dentist. My head jerked back, and my palms pushed into his shoulders. His fingers trailed through the hair above my ears, and trapped me in what he thought was a provocative clinch, but to me it was an unstimulating head lock. I thought he could tell I wasn’t enjoying the moment because my lips were puckered and closed, but when he pulled away, he had the nerve to wink at me.
"Night, babe." He actually lifted his wrist and wiped away the excess saliva from his own mouth.
The pasta I ate for dinner tossed in my belly. I couldn't speak or the sentence would be filled with expletives and in any case, the words were stuck in my throat behind the mushed up rising pasta.
Closing the car door, he waved at the window as the taxi pulled away. I closed my eyes and immediately Seb’s striking face came into my mind. I bet he knew how to kiss.
The journey home was like an arduous long-haul flight instead of the thrilling car ride into the city with Seb earlier in the evening. The taxi smelled like the driver ate a bowl of sprouts and tried to disguise the fart aftermath with cheap deodorant. I willed myself not to dry heave. The repulsive vapour was in my hair and up my nose.
Chucking a twenty-pound note over the driver's shoulder, I half fell out of the car in a hurry to escape. The door unintentionally slammed behind me, but I didn’t care. I was free. Free from Blake and the toxic taxi. Outside the breeze was fresh and clean, good wholesome country air. I was glad to be home and had the sudden impulse to let Seb know I was back early too. I didn’t have his phone number - which was probably a good thing having polished off too much alcohol.
Reaching the porch, I fumbled through the crap in my bag, stabbing the lock a few times before inserting the key. "Is that you, Lexi?" Dad called from the back of the house as I clip clopped inside.
"Yeah," I replied, kicking off my heels.
My father peered around the doorway. His rectangular frameless spectacles rested on the tip of his nose. His usual disapproving expression was lightened with raised brows and a weird smile. "Are you being sensible for once? I think this is the first Friday night you've been home before midnight."
"I was tired. It's been a long week, Dad." I padded to the staircase.
"Glad to see you’re giving your best, Lexi. Do you enjoy working there?" he asked.
I hate it. My boss is a bitch spawned from the belly of hell, and my soul is slowly withering under the heat of her flames. "It's fine."
My father hummed low in his throat. "That's good. Your mother and I are going shopping tomorrow morning."
Whether he believed I was happy working for Mags or not, wasn’t important because in his eyes I was obtaining experience, earning a salary and broadening my skills for the future. He pottered back into the kitchen like the world was simple.
Before I pulled back the bedsheets, I doused myself in hot water with soapy suds, getting rid of the slobbery saliva left in the wake of my repellent date. I suddenly wondered if my reaction to Blake would've been so strong if I hadn’t met Seb before him. It didn’t matter anyway. I fancied Seb and that was that. That was the big fat problem I faced.
When my head hit the pillow, I squeezed my eyes shut and let the kick of rum slow me down. The morning would bring Sebastian Cooper to my doorstep, my hotter than hot neighbour.
Five
I didn't hear my parents leave before 9 because I was unconscious, dead to the world and dreaming about tractors that were driven by cows. I also didn't hear the first knock on the door, or the second. The loudest of the three bangs, however, was similar to a sledgehammer. I jack knifed in bed, gripping the quilt to my chest. Glancing at the clock, I realised the first big mistake of the morning. I’d slept in. The second was more of a mishap and became apparent when I scooted off the bed as bare as the day I was born. I grappled with the chintzy material that my mom thought was cute, hiding my chest in sprawling rose buds curtains. The bay window had the best view of the rolling hills and Seb’s rusty Range Rover.
Sebastian Cooper was leaving. Self-assured strides carried him away from the front door, seemingly angry as his hands fisted and he glanced back repeatedly as if hoping the door would crack open.
I quickly unhooked the window latch and heaved the sash window upwards. "Hey!" I yelled. "Up here, Seb. Did you think I’d stayed out all night with ‘ripped as fuck’?”
His head snapped up and his eyes instantly met mine. He dished out a grin that sent my heartbeat skyrocketing into the clouds.
"You gonna put something on before I come inside?" he drawled.
I had no idea how he could tell I was naked because I was swathed in satin fabric with my head poking out the side. "How did you guess? I've just woken up.”
“I’m sure you don't make a habit of sleeping in curtains?”
