Face the Music (38 page)

“
Alicia
?”  His eyebrows pulled down, forming a crease abo
ve his nose.

“You said there was
someone,” I said very slowly. 
“
You do remember that much,
don’t you
?  She’s all over the web, pictures of yo
u and her.  And yet
,
you’re here
.
  So
,
what kind of a guy does that make you?
”
  I pointed a finger at him.

He
was shaking his head
.  “
Alicia
is a friend.  We’ve known
each other since grade school.  O
ur fathers worked together
, she’s like a sister
.  She’s married and has two little kids.”

“But you
said-”

“I know what I said.”
  He stood up and walked towards me.

My head was spinning. 
I couldn’t take much more.  A searing pain shot through my temple, brought on by the stress of this conversation.  “I have work to do, Chris.  Would you shut the door on your way out?”  I grabbed a stack of papers and
fanned
through them. 

He made no effort to leave.  “Don
’t you get it?” 
He flashed
me
a brilliant smile.  “I’m totally into you.  I missed you like crazy while I was gone.  I tried to get back here sooner, but there were no
open
flights.  I felt just horrible about the way I left things.  I
called
, but
your fucking phone...
.”

He paused and reached into his pocket.  “
Here,
I brought this for you.”  He
set
a white box on my desk. 
 

I just looked at it and shook my head.  I didn’t want
his
gifts.

He continued,
“I tried to find you yesterday, but you’d already left, and
then
you weren’t here yet this morning when I came by.  Allison, you are the only one.
”  He put two palms on my desk and leaned forward.
 
“
I couldn’t get you off my mind the entire time I was
back
home.”

I picked up a pen and traced circles on a piece of paper as I tried to make sense out of it all.  “Why did you run off that night?
” I whispered.
 
“
After we ate Chinese, you kissed me and then acted like you regretted it.”
  I couldn’t
bring myself to
look him in the face.

He took the pen and lifted my hand to his lips.  “I
’ve
never regretted kissing you. 
Not for a second. 
I just didn’t want to overcomplicate things.
”  He laughed.  “Funny, right?  But y
ou’d been thr
ough so much with your grandma.  And Paul.
”
H
e sighed.  “I wanted to give you space to figure things out.
” 
He studied me for a second before asking, “
Have you heard from him again?”

“No.”

He traced his thumb across my cheekbone.  Goosebumps rose on my arms.  “You can’t tell me that you haven’t felt it- this thing you and I have.”

Indeed I had.  Just thinking about Chris made my heart race, but he couldn’t possibly know the effect he had on me.  I’d worked so hard to hide it.  “It’s impossible, Chris.”

“What’s impossible?”  He ran his fingers through my hair.  I shivered again as more goosebumps rose on the back of my neck.

“You and me.”
  My breaths
were
rapid and shallow.

He nuzzled the base of my throat, his hot breath causing my knees to shake.  “Why is that impossible?”

I jerked away, taking a step back.  “Because you’re, well
,
you!”  I gestured towards him.  “You’re a superstar,
o
n your way to a life of fame.  Cynthia was right, you and I, we come from two very different worlds.” 

“Cynthia?”  He looked up in surprise, but I just shook my head
, not wanting to explain
.

I turned to the small mirror hanging on the wall beside my desk.  “I’m just me.  A boring teacher from Chicago, someone who struggles to pay her bills every week.  Ju
st look at me.”  I was a mess.  D
ark circles outlined the bags under my eyes.  My nose was red and puffy.

He put his arms around my shoulders and rested his cheek against my temple.  “I am looking at you,” he said, gazing at my reflection.  “Do you want to know what I see?
I see a
n
intelligent, sexy, independent
woman.  Someone who isn’t afraid of who she is.  Someone who isn’t pressured to be like everyone else.”  He paused.  “I don’t see the problem.  What’s wrong with there being a
‘
you and me
’
?”

I sighed as he brushed his soft lips against the
skin on the curve of my neck.

“Nothing is wrong with it.  I’m just Allie.
Things don’t happen this way.  A
t least
,
not to me.”  I closed my eyes to escape looking at our reflections.

He squeezed my shoulders and spun me around to face him.  “Well
, guess what?  It is
happening
.”  He flashed me a dazzling smile.  “And you’re not just Allie, you know.  If you’d like, you could be
my
Allie.”

Everything suddenly
came into focus.  The haze I’d been walking around in for the past week melted away
. 
When I smiled, he pressed his lips against mine and kissed me with such tenderness that it took my breath away.  And this time, he let me kiss him back.

***

Chris had to go rehearse. 
My end of the building was quiet, and
as
I sat
and thought about
what
had just
happened, the white box Chris had left on my desk vibrated
. 
I jumped; I’d all but forgotten about it.

Cautiously, I picked it up
.  There was a phone inside.  Not just any phone, an iPhone. 
T
here was
a text message.

I slid the bar on
the touch screen to unlock it.
 
The message was from Chris
. 

I’m sorry I was such a complete and utter asshole.  Forgive me?

I laughed
and typed back,

Is that what this is?  A ‘sorry I screwed up’ gift?

Seconds later
,
it buzzed. 

Is it working?

I
responded with
,

Mayb
e.

He
replied
,

Your phone wa
s an unreliable
piece of crap
. 
I
hated
not being able to get a hold of you. 

I kind of hated that, too.

So is this phone more for you or more
for me?

I
just barely
pressed send when it buzzed in my hand once more. 

It’s for us.

Chapter 20

“I have a huge final
on
Friday.  I probably won’t be able to get out much this week,” I complained to Chris over
the phone
.  The end of the semester was upon me, and I still had tons to do.  I was n
owhere near ready for my test.

“Anything I can help with?”

“You could ta
ke the test for me,” I offered.

This week was the three year a
nniversary of my mother’s death
.  I had been grappling with bouts of depression over the past few days
,
but was determined to not let it interfere with my “Chris” time.  Whenever he was around
,
I put on a happy face and preten
ded that everything was great.

“Can you come over?”
he asked.

“I shouldn’t.  I’m studying.”  Actually
,
I was playing on the phone, browsing through apps, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“Take a break.  Just for awhile.”

Why not?  It’s not like I was
being
productive.  “Alright.  I’ll be there in a few.”

“Hi, come on in,” he said, pulling open the door.
  He kissed my cheek.

I stepped in and gasped.  Candlelight flickered about the room, casting shadows along the walls.  A soothing melody played in the background, some sort of a wind instrument, I think.  The aroma of warm coconut filled my nostrils.

“What’s going on?” I asked, a nervous pang twitching in my belly.  The couch, which normally sat in the center of the room
, had been pushed back against the wall.  In its place was some sort of a table.  It was long and nar
row and had some strange-
looking, padded, horseshoe shaped object on one end.

His eyes not leaving
me, he walked over to the table and
pulled back a sheet.  “It should be nice and warm.  Undress and crawl in.  We’ll start with you on your back.”

That twitch in my midsection pulled even tighter, rapidly expanding into a
full-blown
panic.  Was this an attempt to seduce me?  Not that I hadn’t thought about it.  I had, a lot, actually.  This just wasn’t the right time.  Not with everything I had going on. 

I squirmed as I tried to think of what to say, my eyes not leaving that table.  Or was it a bed?