Lesley

 

 

Hailey and I made plans to meet at her favorite ice-cream shop, so I’ve parked myself on a bench outside the shop to wait. She arrives minutes later, and she buys an ice cream for us both. Only when she comes outside does she notice the dog underneath the table.

“Oh, my god!” she squeals. “You got a dog!” She almost drops the ice cream.

“Be careful!” I say, grabbing mine before it’s on the ground.

“Sorry, I just … oh, my god, it’s so cute!” she says, handing me her ice cream too so she can crawl under the table and pet Pepper.

“And it’s a wiener too!”

“Yup,” I say, rolling my eyes. She always had a thing for dogs. Wish I shared her enthusiasm.

“What’s her name?” she asks.

“Pepper.”

“Hi, Pepper! Aw!”

“What?” I peek under the table to see Pepper lick Hailey’s face. “You know that’s been in people’s crotches?”

“So?”

I snort and shake my head. “You would’ve been much better at this than I am, I can tell.”

“At what?” She comes out from underneath the table. “And how the hell did you get her? Don’t you like … hate dogs?”

“Oh, I do,” I say, handing her back her ice cream.

“Then why did you get her?”

“I didn’t.”

“I’m confused.” She frowns, licking her ice cream.

I sigh. “I was forced to take one by my new boss.”

Her eyes widen, and she makes an o shape with her mouth. “New boss? You got a new job, and you didn’t tell me?”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I wanted to tell you, but I was too damn busy with that damn dog… and the work.”

“Bitch, don’t lie.” She narrows her eyes. “You could’ve texted me. But you didn’t, which means you’re hiding something from me.”

“I am not!” I exclaim.

She points at me with her ice cream. “Ha! Knew it! Motherfucking liar.”

“What? I didn’t say anything!” I say.

“What kind of boss gives a dog to his employee? No one!” she says.

For some reason, my cheeks completely light up even though what I said is the truth. “He did! It’s because they make dog toys.”

“Yeah, of course.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m not stupid, Les. Spill it.”

“For once, I’m not lying, and you don’t believe me.” I lick my ice cream in protest. “Whatever.”

“What? You want me to believe your boss just randomly handed you this cutie?”

“Yup.” I shrug, smirking at the sight of her jealous face.

“Fuck you,” she says, making me laugh.

“Eat your ice cream, Hailey. You’re getting too salty.”

She does exactly that, stuffing her face with it.

“Fucking hell. And here I am with Thomas and a damn cat. I want a dog too!”

“At least a cat won’t bark at every passing neighbor and pee on your carpet.”

“Boo!” she says. “I don’t discriminate. All cats and doggies get my love.”

“I wish I was as easy as you,” I muse, sticking out my tongue when she side-eyes me.

“Yeah well, I’ll take her off your hands if you don’t want her.”

“No way. I’m supposed to take care of her. How else am I supposed to prove I’m a great employee?”

“You’re still keeping up that story, are you?”

“Because it’s the truth.” I raise my brow sarcastically.

“You don’t happen to be cozying up to him?” she murmurs, leaning forward. “You know, sneaking kisses in the office?” She licks her lips. “Getting the D on the desk?”

I can’t stop the heat from pouring through my veins and turning my face as red as a strawberry. When she sees it, she points at me and laughs.

“I knew it!”

“Stop it!” I whisper-yell, swatting my hand at her.

“No, I’m giving you a piece of your own medicine,” she muses, taking another bite of ice cream. “Oh, my god, Lesley, I can’t believe it. You fucked your boss.”

“Shhh!” I say, looking around, hoping no co-workers accidentally pass by.

“What? Where’s that girl who was proud of every damn fuck she had?”

“She’s still here,” I answer, leaning in. “But I’m trying to keep my job intact, okay? So hush.”

“Right …” A playful grin spreads across her lips. “So who is it? What does he look like? When did you two meet?”

“TJ Morrows.”

“Holy shit!” She plants her hand on the table. “Really?”

I nod. “Not so loud!”

“But he’s a hottie! He’s on the front of all those business magazines, touting his new reign over his father’s empire. All the girls I talk to wanna be rich like him … or they wanna fuck him.”

I clear my throat. “I’d rather not know what other girls want to do to him.”

“Because you wanna keep that squishy ass all to yourself.” She winks.

“No! It’s not like that.” I frown. “It was an accident.”

“Accident?” She snorts and begins to suck on her ice cream again. “Sex never is.”

“It is when you don’t wanna lose the job you fought so hard for.”

“Is that when you first met him?” she asks. “Or did you have this hot one-night stand first?” She wiggles her eyebrows. “Because that’s the best kind of relationship starter you can have.”

I shake my head, laughing it off. “Of course, you’d say that. You and Thomas were the most humorous mistake to watch.”

“But it turned out all right, didn’t it?” She smiles.

“How is he, actually?”

“You’re diverting the topic again,” she says. “We were talking about your secret lover, not my boyfriend.”

“There’s not much to say, really. We had sex. Once. End of story.”

“Decided by who? You or him?”

I take a deep breath and don’t respond, but apparently, that alone is enough for her to discern the truth.

“Tsk, Lesley. Why’d you give up such a hot piece of ass?” she asks.

“Because he’s my boss, maybe?”

She shrugs. “Who cares?”

“I don’t wanna mess this up. It’s important,” I say.

“Geez, when did you become so serious?” She grins. “Lighten up and eat your ice cream. It’s drooping.” She points at the chocolate running down. “Just like his cock when you’re not licking it.”

I almost choke on the ice cream I was swallowing.

“What? Can’t take a joke?”

“Can we discuss Thomas now?” I ask. “I wanna know how you two are doing.”

“We’re great,” she says. “We had a few ups and downs in the beginning, but it’s much better now. Lots of love.” She smiles.

“You sure? Are you telling me everything?” I say.

“Are you?” Her brows rise.

“Yes, of course! Why would I hide anything from you?”

“Because you had sex with your boss and didn’t fill me in,” she muses.

“I’ll FaceTime you next time I have sex and let you listen. Is that good?”

“Perfect.” She grins. “So does your mom know?”

I almost choke. “What? No, of course not.”

“Why not?”

“Because she’d tell my dad and then shit would really hit the fan! He doesn’t like it when I mix business with—”

“Pleasure,” Hailey fills in with a wink.

I give her a face. “Really?”

“They’re gonna find out sooner or later.” She smirks. “Better that you control how.”

“If I tell her now, she’ll go crazy. She’ll want to know everything about him. His hobbies, his job, how he looks, where he lives, his goddamn height. I wouldn’t even be surprised if she asked for his dick length.”

She almost snorts out her ice cream. “Yeah, that’s your mom, all right.”

“Way up in my business.” I roll my eyes. “Like, way up there, and I’m not kidding. She wants me to text her all the time.”

“For what?”

“Updates.” When she looks confused, I add, “On my life.”

She snorts again. “Your mom’s crazy, you know that?”

“Tell me about it.” I shrug it off. “But she’s my mom.”

“True.” She slurps more ice cream.

I lean back. “So has Thomas gotten his shit together yet and asked you to marry him?”

“No, not yet, but I wanna give him more time. You know …”

“Right. I get it. You’re not in a rush.”

“Exactly. Plus, I just got a new job as a cashier at Duke’s.”

“The clothing brand?”

“Yup.” She radiates with pride.

“I’m really happy for you,” I say. “That’s amazing. Well done.”

“Thanks. I mean, it’s not a job at Morrows, but it’s something.”

“You’ll get there too, just wait.”

“It’s okay,” she says. “I’ve made my peace. It was my choice, to begin with, so I don’t regret it. I like this. I like what I have in my life. Everything’s falling into place. It’s like nothing can go wrong.”

“And that can be scary too.”

She nods. “Especially when so many things already went wrong before. I want this to work.”

“I totes understand.”

It’s quiet for some time before she breaks the silence again. “So when do I get to meet him?”

“Who?”

“Your boss, TJ!” She makes a face. “Duh. Who else?”

“How about no …” I cringe.

“Why not?” She pouts. “I’ll be good, I swear.”

“Because we’re not a ‘thing.’” I make quotation marks with my fingers.

“Aww. You’d make a great couple, I’m sure,” she says.

“How do you know? You haven’t even met him yet.”

“No, but I know your taste in men.” She gives me a smug smile.

“Thanks, I guess.”

“If I can give you some advice, it’d be not to ignore a hot guy when he crosses your path. It pays off.” She winks.

“It’s wrong, and you know it.”

“If you hadn’t noticed, I love wrong,” she jests, shrugging because she’s obviously talking about Thomas.

“Yeah, well, I have other things on my mind right now besides a hot dude. Like that dog, for example.” I point under the table.

“She’s sweet, Les. Give her a chance.”

“I’m trying. It’s just hard, you know?”

“I get it.” She smiles. “But you’ll get the hang of it. I’m sure. And then you’ll love her too. She’ll grow on you.”

“She already has. Look.” We both peek under the table to see her curled around my feet and lying down between them, and we sigh in awe.

Suddenly, my phone rings, and we almost bump our heads against the table before coming out from underneath it. I stare at the phone lying on the table, my eyes flicking back and forth between it and Hailey.

“Aren’t you going to pick it up?” she asks after a while.

I swallow away the lump in my throat. “Maybe.”

“Why so hesitant?” She narrows her eyes. “It’s him, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know,” I murmur.

“Yeah, it is.” She grins. “Answer it! I wanna hear his voice.”

“No fucking way,” I say. “He’s not going on speaker.”

“Well, you can’t just ignore him.”

“The hell I can’t.”

“Oh, boy.” She makes a curious face. “You two get into a fight?”

“No … I’m just not speaking to him right now.”

“Since when?” She frowns. “Can’t keep a guy hanging for too long. They’ll lose interest if you do.”

“It’s not about that,” I say, still staring at the buzzing phone. “Last night, we …”

“What? Last night …?” she repeats.

“We …” Goddammit, every time I think about it, my entire face lights up.

“Oh shit …” She laughs. “You had sex with him last night? For the first time? So that’s why you left him high and dry! Feeling the regret already?”

“It was a mistake. That’s it,” I say.

“Yeah, right.” She winks. “That’s what they all say.”

“Whatever,” I say.

“So you gonna pick that up or what?”

“No.” I fold my arms.

“If you won’t, then I will.”

“NO!”

I try to stop her. However, she’s snatched it away right before I could snag it off the table.