Face the Music (21 page)

I looked at him seriously.  The thought of him or Melody leaving made me want to cry.  “You know I’d love it if the two of you made it all the way.  But we have to stay prepared.  I’d say it’s safe to bet that neither of you are caught up on your math.”

I took his sigh and roll of the eyes as a confirmation that I was right.

After dismissing the kids, I sat at my desk and read through their essays.  I was half-way through Melody’s when
my cell rang.  It was Emily.

“Hi Em, what’s up?”

“Allie, you love me, right?”

I knew from her tone this wasn’t going to be good.  I put down my red pen and sat back in my chair.  “What do you want?”

“Will you go out with me tomorrow night?”

I replayed her question in my mind, trying to make sense out of it.  “Will I do what?”

“Will you go on a double date with me?”  She paused.  “Remember John, from th
e club?” 
Who could forget Mr. Grab Ass
?  “
He wants to take me out, but his brother Matthew is in town, so we need someone else.  Will you go?”

My first and only impression of John hadn’t been all that good, and I couldn’t imagine that his brother would be much better.  “Aw, Emily, I don’t think so.  I just got back to work.  I’m really behind, and my leg still hurts.”  I decided that playing the sympathy card was my best option.

“Allie, please!” she begged.  “I don’t ask much of you
,
and this would mean so much to me.” 

She knew how to work me over, but I held strong and again declined
.  She kept pressing.  “Fine!”
I snapped when I ran out of excuses.  “But if you think…”

She cut me off.  “Thanks, Allie!  We’ll meet them at Chubby’s, seven tomorrow, okay?  Bye!”  She hung up before I could voice another protest.

What was Emily thinking,
going out with this guy?  He seemed like a complete sleaze ball at the club.  I mulled it over for awhile.  Maybe it was a good thing I was going.  Emily didn’t always make the best choices when it came to guys, which is exactly how Molly came to exist.  I wouldn’t trade my niece for anything, but I certainly didn’t want another one at this point in time.

I was stewing at my
desk when Jake poked his head
around the doorjamb
.  “Hey, there’s my gal!  How’s the leg?”

“It’s great.”

He slid a chair next to my desk.  “I’m glad you’re okay.  You scared me.”

“Sorry.  It wa
sn’t any picnic for me, either.  Thank you, by the way.  I appreciate the flowers and everything else you’ve done.”

He shuffled around in
his
chair.  “
You don’t look too happy
.  What’s bugging you?
”

Jake excelled at reading my moods, and as I watched him look at me, so full of concern, an idea came to mind. 
“I have no right to ask, but can you do something else
for me?”

“Absolutely.”

His swift response caught me off guard.  “What?  You don’t even know...”

Again, he didn’t let me finish.  “Don’t you know by now that I can’t tell you no?  So whatever it was that you were going to ask, my answer is yes.”  He leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up on the corner of my desk.  “So, where are we going?”

It took me a second to catch up.  “Jake!  No!  It’s not like that.  Emily’s making me go on a double date.”  I explained the details.  “I’m afraid this guy might be trouble, so if you aren’t too busy, I was wondering if you’d be willing to be there, just in case.”

A playful grin spread across his face.  “You want me to be your chaperone?”

“
Oh, forget it
.  It sounds s
illy when you put it that way.
”

“Oh no,
you can’t change your mind now. 
I wouldn’t miss this.  Where’re we going?  Hopefully a steakhouse, I’ve been hungry for a big, juicy T-bone.”

“Do you know a place called Chubbys?” 

Now it was his turn to be caught off guard. 
“You mean that crappy karaoke bar down on second?”

I smirked.  “Yeah, that’s the one.  You ever been in there?”
  The name itself was a proper indication of the type of place it was
.

“Once, awhile back, with a few guys from work, but man!”  He shook his head.  “I wouldn’t dream of taking a woman in there.  Seriously?  That’s where these guys are meeting you?”

“Yep.  I told you they were classy.  So I’ll see you tomorrow night at seven?”

“Okay, babe.  See you there.”

***

I didn’t have much t
o do at the university, and Laur
en came in just as I was finishing up a sinkful of
lab
dishes.  “She lives,” she said dryly
.  “Don’t you answer your phone anymore?  I’ve tried calling you a hundred times.”

“Sorry.”  Her name had appeared on my missed call list
, but for one reason or another I never found the time to call her back.

She slouched over the counter and picked at her fingernails.  “I’ve been worried about you.  It’s pretty bad that I had to hear about your accident from Dr
. Turner.”  Dr. Turner was our Department C
hair.  “You should have called.”

“I know, but I didn’t want to be a bother.  If I had, you would have dropped everything to be at my side.  You have too much on your plate to be worrying about me.”  She started to protest, but I interrupted and changed the subject.  “I’ve got a big date tonight.”

She brightened.  “Yeah? 
You and Chris?”

“I wish
.
”  It slipped out before I even had a chance to
stop
it. 

“You what?”

“Nothing.” 

Her hazel eyes watched me closely.  “Is he feeling
any
better
? 
He looked awful the othe
r night.
”
  S
he continued
without waiting for an answer
,
“
C
ompared to his usual self
,
anyway.  I don’t know that any amount of sickness could totally deplete him of his hotness.”  She leaned around the sink to peer into my face.  “Allie?”

I turned off the water.  “He’s still coughing a lot.  But he’s getting around okay.  Hopefully he’ll be better by Monday.”

She saw right through me.  “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Ugh!” I dropped my hands in the suds, splashing water onto both of us.  “How do you do that?  How do you always know?”

A smug smile pulled at her lips.  “Privilege of being your BFF, hon.  I can read you better than most of my textbooks.”

“That’s not saying a lot, considering the classes you take.
”
 
I laid out the whole story for her, about how I s
aw him on the show Monday night and took him the soup
.  “It was terrible.  I screwed up the recipe
,
and we had to order room service instead.”

“Room service, huh?  Wow. 
That’s so
risqué
.”

I gave her a cock-eyed look.  “We ate soup, Lauren.”

She laughed.  “So, what happened? 
You’re usually such a good cook.”

“I know, right?  That’s what I told him, but he a
cted like he didn’t believe me. 
He
said I’d have to prove it.
”

“Ha!”  Lauren clapped her hands together.  “You see?  He wants to spend time with you.  Aren’t you excited about that?”

“I don’t know how to feel. 
It’s
just
all so stupid
.”

Lauren studied me.  “Nothing about it is
stupid.”

“
Yes
it is.
Think about how ridiculous the whole thing i
s.  Me and Chris Knots.  In what world is that even a possibility?”

Lauren wrapped her arm around my shoulders and pressed her cheek against mine.  “Sounds like this one, hon.  Give yourself a break.  Believe it or not, you are a likeable person.  Why else would I be here?”  She laughed at her own joke.  “So if you’re not going out with Chris tonight, who are you going with?”

I told her about my plans with Emily.  “I
have this gut feeling that these
guys
are
trouble, so I invited Jake to come along.”  I paused and looked at her.  “Was that wrong?  Emily doesn’t know, and Jake wouldn’t be sitting with us or anything; he’d just be there in case something happened.”

“Do you realize how paranoid you sound?”

I thought about it for a minute.  “Yeah, I guess I do.”  I shrugged and finished rinsing off a tray of beakers.  “Oh well
.  It’s not like I can uninvite
him now.  He’s
excit
ed.  He’s been
acting
so weird.
”

“Jake’s always been a mystery to me.  But then again, I’ve never actually met him.  But try and have fun tonight
; suck it up for Emily’s sake.  S
he deserves to have a good time too.  But hey,” she added after I groaned.  “I hear Chubby’s cheeseburgers are out of this world.  There’s at least something to look forward to.”

I laughed and rinsed out the sink.  “Thanks for the tip.”

It was a nice afternoon
so I walked around campus awhile before heading home.  By t
he time I got to my building
my leg was throb
bing.  I
went to
lay
down for awhile.

Emily got home a little later.  She stood in my doorway and thumbed through the mail.  “What are you doing?  Are you sick?”

I gave her an irritated look.  “No, bu
t I’m going to be.  Really, Em? 
Chubby’s?  Please tell me you’ve decided not to go.”

“
It’ll be fine.  John is a real sweetheart
.  He came into the restaurant the other day to see me, wasn’t that
nice
?”

“
T
o see you, huh?  I’ll bet he wants more than that.”  I turned over to face the wall.

An envelope flew across my bed, nearly smacking me in the back of the head. 

“You have a really crappy attitude.”

I couldn’t help being crude.  I was not in a good mood.  And my leg still hurt.  I was entitled to
a little immaturity
every once in awhile, wasn’t I?

She stomped down the hall and muttered something I couldn’t hear.

I tinkered around my room for awhile before deciding to get ready.  Since I was not out to impress anyone, I pulled on a pair of old jeans, folded my pant leg, and tucked it down into my walking boot.  Emily did a double take when she saw me.  I was buttoning up a wrinkled flannel shirt.