One of the Guys (17 page)

           
“Are you sure you’re okay?”

           
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she said,
leaning against the door. “Once I get some Advil in me.”

           
“I can get you some,” Kevin said,
getting right to his feet. He brushed past Kate and hurried through the
apartment. He returned with a small glass of water and three of the little
brown pills. She popped them into her mouth and washed them down with just
enough water to coat her throat.

           
“I should get going,” she said,
handing the glass back to Kevin. “Thanks for taking care of me,” she added. She
could feel the heat rising up her chest and face. She’d probably been a
hysterical, crying mess last night. If she could actually remember any of it,
she’d probably be even more embarrassed than she already was.

           
“Any time.
Let
me know if you need anything,” Kevin said.

           
“Thanks,” Kate said, not knowing
whether to give him a hug or a fist-bump. She opted for the fist-bump.

Even with her
sunglasses on, Kate squinted as she trudged a couple blocks to her office. She
was glad to see that the building was empty, and relieved that Julia wouldn’t
see her in her disheveled, hung-over state.
 
She headed to her office, plopped in her
chair, and resisted the urge to put her head down on her desk.

           
She booted up her computer and
reached for the file folder from the wedding yesterday. Thankfully, it had been
a small and simple wedding, and wouldn’t require a lot of work to finish up her
profit analysis. She located the client’s file, spread out the wholesaler
invoices on top of her desk, opened the spreadsheet, and started calculating
the profit. It wasn’t until she saved the file and printed her documents that
she realized she was still wearing her sunglasses. Not feeling much like talking
just yet, she sent Lucy a quick text to let her know that she would be waiting
at the office.

           
Kate deposited her client’s folder
in the box just inside Julia’s door and returned to her office to shut
everything down. She sat down on the sofa in the waiting area and contemplated
lying down to take a nap. Before she could get too comfortable, however, there
was a light tapping on the window. Outside, Lucy waved and held up a Starbucks
cup.

           
Kate got to her feet, slung her
purse over her shoulder, opened the door, and immediately fell into Lucy’s arms.
“Thank you,” she said. Kate locked up and gratefully accepted the cup of coffee.
They walked down the street to where Lucy had parked Kate’s car.

           
“Do you feel like getting brunch or
anything?” Lucy asked.

           
Kate shook her head and took a slow
sip of her triple
grande
mocha, slurping mostly foam.

           
“That bad, huh?”

           
“I don’t know what it was,” Kate
sighed. “I just had beer.”

           
“You had a lot of beers, I think. And
did you even eat anything yesterday?” Lucy asked, unlocking the car and sliding
in behind the wheel.

           
Kate lowered herself into the
passenger seat and rested her head against the window. “I guess not,” she said.
She really didn’t remember.

           
“So… What was that all about last
night?
 
Kevin said you were ranting and
raving about how guys were assholes. The poor guy took a verbal bashing from
you about how all men are jerks.”

           
Kate groaned. “He didn’t say
anything about that.”

           
Lucy giggled and started the car. “He
didn’t say anything to
you
. But he
talked to Jackson this morning. Jackson didn’t know what to tell him. We
assumed you were complaining about Chris, but Kevin said that it sounded like
you’d gotten burned more than once.”

           
Kate sagged lower in her seat. “I
guess I was talking about Max.”

           
Lucy shook her head. “I knew it…”
 
She stopped.

           
Kate looked at her sideways. “Oh,
it’s okay,” Kate said. “I know it, too. This was all a bad idea.
All of it.
Trying to do the whole ‘friends
with benefits’ thing with Max.
Trying to date Chris.
It was stupid.”

           
They drove along quietly for awhile,
and then Lucy finally spoke. “Jackson said to tell you this morning that you
shouldn’t shit where you eat,” she said, biting her lip and trying to suppress
a giggle.

           
Kate snorted. “He would.”
 
She raised her coffee cup to her lips and
then swung her head around slowly to look at Kate. “Did you tell him?
 
He knows?”

           
“Well…” Lucy exhaled. “He knew about
Chris. I mean, we had dinner together and everything. And I didn’t say anything
about Max, I swear, but somehow he knew.”

           
Kate’s eyes widened. “What do you
mean, he knew?
 
He knew what?”

           
“About
your
…
arrangement.”

           
“What?” Kate shrieked. “That’s
impossible. We never acted like there was anything going on between us. I never
told him. Are you sure you didn’t say anything?”

           
“I promise,” Lucy said. “But he
didn’t say anything to Kevin, I don’t think. He just said something about how
you weren’t having much luck in the dating department.”

           
Kate groaned. That was an
understatement. Things with Max were so messed up; he acted like he wanted a
relationship, then he disappeared last night with that blonde girl. And Chris
seemed like he was interested in her, but so far he hadn’t made a move past
making out on the couch. He hardly spoke to her at the party, but then all of a
sudden he wanted to come over?

           
“I give up,” Kate said.

           
“What?”

           
“Max and Chris.
Forget ‘
em
both.”

           
“Really?”

           
Kate nodded. “Jackson’s right. About
shitting where I eat.”

           
Lucy pulled into their driveway and
turned off the ignition. “You’re serious?”

           
“I can’t date them. They’re my
friends. The whole time, we were sneaking around and trying not to let anybody
know what was going on. What is that?
 
That’s no way to start a relationship. And it’s not like either of those
relationships was going anywhere, anyway, right?”

           
Lucy nodded and leaned back in the
driver’s seat. “So, what are you going to do?”

           
“I’m done with both of them. I’ll
tell Max that since he took off with that blonde girl last night that I don’t
think we need to see each other anymore. And I’ll tell Chris that since we
haven’t really moved forward in our relationship yet, that there’s no point in
continuing.”

           
Lucy and Kate got out of the car and
headed towards the house.
 
Kate dropped
her purse by the door and kicked off her shoes. “But first,” she said, “I’m
going back to bed.”

*

           
Kate woke a few hours later,
disoriented and very, very thirsty, but happy to discover that the pounding in
her head had stopped. She tucked the covers under her chin, trying to figure
out what time it was without having to roll over and look at the clock. She
could hear the TV in the living room. It sounded like there was a football game
on. Lucy wouldn’t be watching football by herself, which meant that Jackson
must have come over. She yawned and got out of bed, glancing at the clock over
her shoulder. It was just after four in the afternoon. She was starving. Hopefully
Lucy and Jackson would be cooking something for dinner.

           
She left her bedroom and waved
wordlessly at Lucy and Jackson, who were both sprawled on the couch. Lucy had a
stack of wedding magazines in front of her, and Jackson was holding the remote
control in his hands. They watched, amused, as Kate shuffled into the kitchen,
poured a huge glass of water from the fridge dispenser, and then shuffled back
into the living room. She sat down in the big overstuffed chair and put her
feet up on the ottoman. “Don’t even say anything,” Kate said, catching the
smirk that was beginning on Jackson’s lips. “I already heard what you said,”
she sighed.

           
Jackson grinned and sat up, resting
his elbows on his knees.
“Seriously, Kate?
 
You couldn’t try dating outside of the friend
pool?
 
Like there’s not a bazillion guys
out there?”

           
“Leave her alone, Jack,” Lucy warned.

           
Kate shrugged. “Whatever. It was
stupid. I know.”
 
She took a long guzzle
of water.

           
“And not just one
guy, but two?
 
What the hell?”

           
“Hey,” Kate said.
“About
that.
How did you know about both?”

           
“Well, Chris was over here enough. That
was easy.”

           
“But how’d you know about Max?”

           
Jackson squirmed.
“From
him.”

           
“He told you?” Kate squealed.
“That asshole.
That was supposed to be a secret.”

           
Jackson nodded. “Relax. Yes, I know.
He told me all about the friends with benefits thing you had going on.”

           
Kate drained her water and placed
the empty glass on the coffee table. She curled up in a ball and sat staring at
Jackson. “Why did he tell you?
 
What did
he say?”
 
She shuddered at the thought of
Max telling Jackson about their arrangement – what they did, what happened when
they were together. Ugh.

           
“When you guys first started hooking
up, he was all excited. See, the thing is, Max always hoped it would turn into
something more than just what you two had going
 
on.”

           
Kate groaned. “I know. But I told
him it wouldn’t.”

           
“But he still hoped that it would. He
really had feelings for you, Kate.”

           
“But that’s dumb. We’re just
friends.”

           
“He had feelings for you, Kate,”
Jackson repeated.

           
“Feelings?”
Lucy asked.

           
“Feelings,” Jackson said. “Like, he
really wanted you guys to be more than just friends with benefits. He wanted
you to be a couple. He wanted you to be his girlfriend. And he was serious. But
you kept telling him no.”

           
“I know,” Kate said in a small
voice.

           
“But why?”
Jackson said, genuinely confused.
 

           
“Well, because we’re friends…”

           
“And you and Chris are…?” Jackson
purposely left the question hanging.

           
“It doesn’t matter. I’m done with
both of them, Jackson,” Kate said. “I can’t be with either one of them. It’s
not going to work out either way. It’s just dumb. I give up.”

           
Jackson held his hands up. “I’m not
telling you what to do or anything. But I will say one thing. Things will
either all blow over and
it’ll just be no big deal, or…”

           
“Or what?”

           
“Or things could get really
awkward.”

*

           
Later that evening, Kate was lying
on her stomach, scrolling through numbers in her phone. She was looking for
guys that she had dated in the past, or guys that she could possibly call up
and go out with, but none of the names she came across seemed like they would
work. Tim?
 
He’d been nice, but there
hadn’t really been much of a spark. Drew?
 
Even though he was thirty-five, he still partied like he was twenty-two.
Every time Kate ran into him somewhere, she felt like she was babysitting. Brian?
 
He’d gotten married, hadn’t he?
 
She deleted those numbers and considered a
few more.