More Flirts! 5 Romantic Short Stories (The Flirts! Short Stories Collections) (7 page)

The door swung open and Dane’s eyes widened. Then he blinked. “Aubrey?”

She waved at him. “Hi, Dane. Can I come in for a minute?”

He scrunched his eyebrows then shrugged. “Uh, sure. Just for a minute, I’m expecting the electrical crew soon.”

She followed him into the tiny mobile office. “How have you been?”

“Good. Real good. And you?” He walked back behind his desk.

“Great! Super.” She hoped it sounded convincing.

He looked down at the papers spread in front of him.

“You need an accordion file for that, my friend,” she said.

He sighed. “Yep. That’s the Aubrey I remember. So, what are you doing here? Selling office supplies?”

“No.” She sat down across from him and pulled a packet of papers out of her purse. “I’m doing a soul-searching, relationship-investigation kind of thing, and I’m asking all my exes to give me some insight into what went wrong so I can have healthier relationships in the future.” She nodded, like this was something people did every day.

“Really?” Dane stared at her and she thought he looked handsomer than ever, but he didn’t send her heart racing at all. Not like Ian had.
Bad Aubrey. Ian’s married
.

“I have this fifty-part questionnaire for you to fill out and return at your leisure, but hopefully within a week.” She plucked an envelope from her purse. “And a self-addressed stamped envelope to return it.” She pushed the paperwork across the desk towards him.

He leafed through the papers, and then set them down with a sigh. “Aubrey, can I be honest with you?”

She raised her eyebrows. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”

He tapped the papers. “This kind of thing is why it didn’t work out with us.”

“What do you mean? I never gave you a survey. Well, a couple from
Cosmo
, but that’s what they’re there for.”

“You just tried too hard with everything.”

“What?”

He sighed. “We couldn’t just go out to dinner. You had to get online and look up reviews and see if you could find a coupon. Then you’d create a spreadsheet on the pros and cons of each option. And alternate driving directions for each location.”

“I didn’t want us to waste our time or money.”

“You never could be spontaneous.”

“I’m responsible.”

“Slightly anal.”

Her hands flew to her hips. “Well, you snore!”

Dane stood up. “Another reason it wouldn’t have worked—because you do, too. We would’ve woken our kids.”

She gasped. “I do not!”

He handed her the paperwork. “You might want to add it to your survey to be sure.”

She grabbed the packet from him and stomped out of the trailer. She stood there fuming, and then she stomped back up the stairs, flung open the door and tossed the survey on his desk. “At least fill out the part about the kissing. You always seemed to enjoy that.” And she slammed the door behind her.

She went back to the drive-through and ordered a milkshake. She was now officially glad Dane had dumped her. Once she felt better, she grabbed her phone to reach Lance Kwitoski. He was a teacher, she’d learned on her Internet search, and hopefully he could squeeze her in after class. She dialed the school and was put right through to his room.

“Lance Kwitoski,” he said.

“Hi, it’s Aubrey Carter.”

“Wow.” He laughed. “Blast from the past. Our high school reunion’s not coming up is it?”

“No. I wanted to get together and ask a few things. About us.”

“Us?”

“About why we broke up. I mean, why you broke up with me.”

“About why we broke up. Back in high school.”

“Yes.”

He left her waiting with a long pause, then said, “I guess we could meet up this weekend.”

“What about today? After school?”

“That’s in an hour.”

“Perfect!”

“Well…sure. I guess. Come on by.”

***

At 3:00 she drove up to the building where they both had gone to high school. Lance had been a health teacher there since he’d graduated from college. Hopefully, he was a better teacher than a student. She climbed the stairs to the second floor, past the posters for the Valentine’s ball. She’d gone to the prom with Lance and her heart ached just remembering that sweet rose corsage and her long, pink gown, and the way his hands had circled her waist as they swayed to their song; how she rubbed his back while he puked from drinking too much that night. She sighed. Lance was her first love and her first heartbreak. Images of those two memories swirled through her brain.

His door was open, so she walked in. He looked up from his desk and smiled. “I haven’t seen you since high school.”

“Crazy, right?”

“Wow. Look at you. More beautiful than ever.” He stood up and hugged her and she tried to remember why they did break up. He sat down at a desk and she sat next to him, pulling her chair closer to his.

“So, after all these years you wanted to talk about us?”

She looped her hands around her knees. “I just want to know what I could’ve done differently. Don’t worry. I’m asking all my old boyfriends.”

He laughed. “I don’t know. Could you have been ten years older? We were kids headed for college and it was too soon to settle down.”

“I wasn’t too overbearing?”

“No.”

“Whiny?”

“Absolutely not.”

She looked at him.

“Usually not.” He sighed. “Really, Aubrey, the timing was off. And it is again. I’m involved with someone.”

She scooted her chair away from his. “Oh, no. No. I wasn’t coming here looking to get back together.” She laughed nervously and pulled the questionnaire packet out of her purse. “I’m hoping you could fill this out to give me some insight on my strengths and weaknesses as a girlfriend.”

He reached over and took the papers from her. “You’re giving me an exit survey. Five years later.”

“I guess so. Think of it as homework.”

He shook his head laughing. “You always tried so hard at whatever you did. Even with us. You helped organize the damn senior prom just so you could make sure our song was the theme. That was crazy.”

She closed her eyes. “
Rock Your Body
, Justin Timberlake. Do you know how hard it was to push that through? They didn’t think it was romantic.”

“
Rock Your Body
is totally romantic. At least it was with you,” Lance said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

She sighed. “It seemed like love at the time.”

“I know. But we were teenagers. I see it here everyday, all these young, love-struck couples, and you just know it’s not going to work out.”

She looked at the floor and nodded. “We didn’t really have a chance, did we?”

He tipped up her chin. “We were kids. And we had fun, didn’t we?”

Closing her eyes, she nodded, remembering what it was like to kiss him. Then she saw Ian’s face again. Ugh!

Lance stood up. “I’ll try to get this back to you, soon.”

She forced her biggest smile. “Super. That’d be great, just squeeze it in while you’re grading papers on family planning or hormones or whatever.”

“We’re on the communicable diseases unit.”

“Then I better hurry out of here. Thanks!”

***

That visit required a stop at the bakery. Three chocolate chip cookies later, and Lance and his brown eyes were forgotten. Plus, she needed the sugar rush to push on to visit number four of the day. Davey McDickson was up next. He was still in town, running his family’s funeral home and there would certainly be a viewing that night. How they managed to get anyone to lay out their loved ones at a place called McDickson’s was a mystery, but they still had billboards on the highway, so business must be going strong.

She drove to the funeral parlor at seven, and Davey was standing in the back of the room as a line of people waited to pay their respects at the casket. She walked up behind him and tapped his shoulder.

Davey jumped. “Aubrey!”

A few of the mourners turned to glare.

“Hi, Davey,” she whispered

“Hi.” His expression morphed from surprise to concern. He set his arm on hers. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

She shrugged. “It was two years ago. I’ve moved on.”

“Excuse me?”

“Is my math wrong? Hasn’t it been two years since you dumped me?”

Davey took a step back. “You’re not here for the wake?”

“No. I just need a moment of your time to talk about our relationship. Why it ended.”

An old woman sitting nearby scooted over a seat closer to them.

He lowered his voice even more. “You crashed a wake to talk about why we broke up a few years ago?”

She nodded. “What went wrong?”

He pursed his lips and his eyes darted around the room. His voice came out in a hiss. “You signed us up for a weekend couple’s retreat after our first fight. About which movie to see. And we’d only been dating two months.”

She threw up her hands. “I wanted things to work out between us.”

“You were way too intense.”

“
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One
was brilliant. I don’t know why you resisted seeing it.” She rolled her “r’s” for dramatic effect.

Davey wrinkled his nose.

“What? You thought it was funny when I did that. Then you’d say burrito and try to roll your r’s longer.”

He shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”

Wrong guy. It had been Ian who appreciated her attempts at foreign accents. She grabbed the packet of papers. “Can you fill this out and mail it back to me?”

His eyes were wide and unblinking. “This is real life, isn’t it? I’m not just having a nightmare.”

“I forgot how much fun you were.” She handed him the papers and snagged a cookie and some punch before leaving.
Tomorrow is a new day
, she told herself as she drove home, certain that her meeting with Quinton would be much more helpful.

***

Aubrey slipped on her best shoes because she knew Quinton would be checking them out—if not trying to sneak off with them. Here he was the one with the foot fetish, and he’d dumped her. But Quinton had been so nice and romantic, taking her ballroom dancing and shopping. Seriously, how many guys do that? Well, Ian always danced with her at weddings, and carried her shopping bags at the mall—but Quinton had really seemed to enjoy it. She’d always thought Quinton had really understood her, but he just called things off one day with no good explanation.

She parked outside the café and looked for Quinton at one of the patio tables. He’d emailed her back that he’d love to see her, and would be waiting at a table outside the cafe. Checking out the customers sitting under the cheerful umbrellas, she didn’t see him. Her heart fell. Had he stiffed her? That sounded dirty, she thought, remembering they hadn’t even got that far in the relationship before he broke things off. Maybe he just hadn’t been willing to wait for the good stuff. Aubrey had always liked to take things slow. Well, except with Ian, but she hadn’t been able to help herself.

“Aubrey, is that you?” asked a woman

She looked over to the table where the voice had come from. A pretty woman sat smiling at her.

Cute hairdo
, Aubrey thought. Kind of looks like mine. “Yes?”

The woman giggled. “It’s me, Quinton. But I’m going by Quinn now.”

Aubrey grabbed the chair in front of her. “Quinton?”

The woman smiled and nodded, then patted the chair next to her. “Sit, let’s talk.”

Aubrey walked over and dropped into the chair. Her heart was in her throat. This beautiful woman was Quinton—Quinn? “Wow. Look at you. Love that blouse.”

“I got it at the boutique just around the corner.”

“I’ve been meaning to go there.”

“We should go shopping sometime.”

Aubrey nodded. “Why not? I always did love shopping with you.”

They stared at each other for a few more moments. “Wow,” Aubrey said again.

“I know, I know. You can ask me questions later. But first, I’m dying to find out what has you tracking down your old boyfriends. This sounds so exciting, like a romantic comedy starring Emma Stone. Tell me all about it.”

Aubrey took a deep breath. “I’m just frustrated with my love life, and thought the best way to figure out what I’ve been doing wrong was to go straight to the source. My old…boyfriends.” She cleared her throat. “So, why did you break up with me? What did I do wrong?” Aubrey pulled out her packet of questions. “You can fill this out in private and mail it to me if you’re too uncomfortable to tell me.”

Quinn laughed and pushed the papers back toward Aubrey. “Oh, honey put that away. You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not that I didn’t want you—I wanted to be you.”

“Huh. Is that why you took my shoes?”

“I wasn’t brave enough to buy my own yet. But you were just so sweet and pretty, and I’ve always felt there was a woman inside me just like that. And I knew when I wasn’t fantasizing about having sex with someone like you, something was wrong.” Quinn patted Aubrey’s hand, a flashy ruby ring glinting in the sun. “You tried real hard to make things work between us, but I’m sure you can see that was a hopeless cause. You helped me become the woman I was meant to be. Thank you.”

Aubrey set her hand over her heart. “I had no idea. You’re welcome.”

Quinn smiled at her. “I understand if you’re uncomfortable and would rather skip lunch.”

“No, not at all.” Aubrey shrugged. “I do have a few questions.”

Quinn folded her hands on the table and leaned forward. “About the process? The surgeries?”

Aubrey checked out Quinn’s impeccable manicure and shook her head. “No, I was wondering how you get your hair so shiny?”

Quinn patted her hair. “This great new conditioner. I’ll call you later and give you the name.”

“Perfect.”

The two of them spent the next hour talking, and then Aubrey got up to leave. “It was great seeing you Quinn. I’m glad you’re so happy with your new self.”

Quinn stood up and hugged her. “I’ve gotta say, I like you a whole lot more as a girlfriend than a girlfriend.” Quinn laughed. “Oh, you know what I mean. Good luck with that survey. Leave one with me and I’ll fill it out just in case you find something useful in my comments.”