Page 10 of His Christmas Gift

DEAN

Ineeded a drink.

A strong one.

Running my hand over my face, I walked down the sidewalk toward Wilde’s Lounge, a more low-key bar in town. I called Ethan after the intense encounter I just had with Autumn, needing a drink and someone to talk to so that I could get almost kissing Autumn out of my mind. I still couldn’t believe that almost happened.

When I got close to her, I didn’t have the intention to be so close to kissing her. I just got lost in her gaze, and then her lips looked so soft. Kissing her crossed my mind, and I found myself leaning closer. Then, her phone rang. Maybe that was for the best. I didn’t need to be getting that close to her. I just wanted to get to know her outside of the girl I used to know.

I headed straight to the back of the dimly lit building to sit at the bar, lifting my hand to flag down the bartender.

“Whiskey. Neat,” I told him before settling on the barstool. I drifted my hand into my hair, still feeling my heart rate try to slow down back to normal. I didn’t know why I was acting like this. I had kissed plenty of pretty girls without developing any sort of attachment. This wouldn’t be any different.

“Damn, going for whiskey tonight? What happened?” Ethan’s voice sounded behind me as he walked up to the barstool next to me and took a seat.

I shook my head, not even knowing what to say. I didn’t want him to think that I was catching feelings or anything. That moment with Autumn was just strangely intense. I just started being around her again, but then again, I always had been somewhat drawn to her. That was why I singled her out in high school. Being a teenager, I didn’t know the right way to approach a girl other than to tease her, and my friends certainly egged me on.

The bartender placed my glass of whiskey in front of me before taking Ethan’s order and walking off to prepare it.

I took a deep sip of my whiskey, downing a quarter of it before setting the glass back down on the surface of the bar.

“Autumn has been working for me for the past two weeks,” I told him.

Ethan cocked an eyebrow at me.

“How’s that been?” he asked me.

That was hard to answer. Working with her was confusing. It was fun, but she made me feel things and react in ways that I didn’t understand. I guessed she just struck me in a way that other people didn’t.

“Interesting,” I said.

“Interesting?” Ethan repeated, looking more perplexed now. “I suspect that she holds a grudge against you for messing with her in school.”

“Yeah, she’s not happy about that, but I’ve been kind of giving her a hard time now too. She’s definitely not happy about that,” I said with a wavering smile. The way her face wrinkled up in annoyance made me feel a certain way.

I dealt with a lot of people day-to-day. It was my job to be personal and to make connections. Only so many people grabbed my attention, and she was one of them. She caught my attention before I even opened my first gym.

“Still can’t leave her alone, can you?” Ethan smirked at me like he knew something that I didn’t. He sipped on his beer while I gave him a confused look. When he set his bottle down, he shrugged. “You were all about her in high school.”

“All about her?” I asked him.

“You made every excuse to see her all the time,” Ethan replied. “Seems like you’re doing the same thing now.”

“It’s not like that. It’s just fun messing around with her. She fights back now,” I said with a light chuckle.

“Good. She needs to stand up to you,” Ethan replied, giving me a light nudge. “She’s changed.”

“I don’t think she believes I’ve changed a lot. I guess I can’t blame her,” I muttered as I stared down into my glass. Maybe I was playing around too much. I was an adult now. I couldn’t be acting like some childish high schooler. I didn’t want her to hate me. I didn’t want anyone to hate me.

“Maybe you should just have a normal conversation with her. I bet if we did that back in school, we’d probably all be friends,” Ethan pointed out before laughing faintly. “Man, we were punks.”

I joined in his laughter, shaking my head. Those were good times, but I was glad we learned some things while growing up. The world looked a lot different through aged eyes. Everything wasn’t as simple as it used to seem.

“I think I almost kissed her today,” I said once our laughter died down.

Ethan’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Really? How’d you end up in that situation?” he asked me.

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