Tiffany
My ringtone was drumming, and it seemed to be getting louder and louder, waking me up from my much needed sleep. Fumbling for my phone, I answered without looking or caring who it might be. “What? Hello? Who is it?”
“Open the door. I’m here.”
He didn’t have to say who, because I knew that voice. Kyle had come to me. Rushing to the door, I tried fix my hair while reaching for the door.
“Tiff.”
“Kyle.”
We stared at each other. His face looked pained, and as for mine, well, I tried to act as if his presence didn’t matter to me. Keeping my cold attitude, I hoped, would help me keep the mask on long enough for him to go.
“What do you want, Kyle?” I asked once he’d walked inside.
“Levi talked to you. I think I have some explaining to do.”
Something in his voice told me he didn’t want to do this, and I couldn’t say that having him here made me comfortable. “You don’t have to. I know enough.”
“I know you do, but I want you to hear it from me.”
Fair enough. I gestured for him to continue.
“I was engaged to a ballerina. That’s why I freaked out when you did those dance moves. She was killed right before my eyes, and I’ve never stopped loving her or missing her.” I nodded. “When I met you that night, I didn’t know who you were. If I’d known you weren’t just some stranger, I never would’ve slept with you. My friends are important to me, and I wouldn’t have sex with them. Ever. Sex is a completely different thing for me. I don’t mix friendship with sex. Our situation put me in the unknown. I’ve tried not to build any friendship with you because, let’s face it, we do have chemistry when we’re together.”
I liked how he said “together.”
“But we’re in the same circle of friends and that’s confusing things, making either relationship, sex or friendship, impossible.”
“So, what’s your plan now?” It was getting harder to maintain my cool.
Chuckling, he looked me straight in the eyes, and said, “If only I knew.”
“I’m not looking for a boyfriend. I don’t trust easily,” I said as a warning, but more to protect myself. What am I doing?
“I’m most definitely not looking for a girlfriend.” He waited for me to say something, but I didn’t know what to say. Part of me was hurt.
Maybe I want him to fall for me. Maybe, a small part of me still believes in fairy tales.
No. No, I didn’t.
“Good,” I snapped.
The anxiety coming off him was palpable as he ran his hands through his hair without looking away from my eyes. “We could try to be friends, but if the lines get blurred…” He stopped, shaking his head. “We’ll have this conversation again. I don’t want to mess this up. You get along with the girls and Ty, and I don’t want to ruin anything with a misunderstanding.”
“My friends are all I have here. They’re my family,” I said.
What kind of conversation is this? Kyle had more issues than I thought; he feared relationships to an unexpected level. “I won’t dance again… when you’re around, at least.” As soon as I’d spoken, I regretted bringing it up again and broke our gaze.
He grabbed my hands and pulled me toward him. “I normally hit the gym alone. Having someone with me was new, so it had me on edge. Training, boxing… it’s what I do to ease my pain. Watching you dance brought on too many memories too fast. I’m sorry that I yelled at you.”
“I forgive you. Don’t worry about it,” I said with a shrug, and he hugged me, which left me unstable.
“Are you working tonight?”
I nodded, still uncertain of what or how to feel. “I am. Tomorrow, I’m off.”
He gave me a smile, one that made me feel tingles. I would have to force myself to stop reacting like this. Like he’d said, this could have a bad ending.
“Your eyes, they’re so unusual. I know I’ve seen them before, but I feel like I’ve never seen them.”
“Heterochromia iridium. It’s in my genes, that. I have two different eye colors. One’s brown, while the other is more on the green side.”
I let him examine my eyes, like I’d done all my life with the curiosity they attracted. The tingles reappeared, and again, I fought them, not willing to let my emotions guide me. When he exhaled, a few inches from my nose, the scent of hard liquor and mint thumped my face.
“That makes you… special. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with hetero– shit.”
“Heterochromia iridium.”
We both laughed.
“It’s rare, I guess.”
“It makes you unique.”
I smiled at his compliment.
“Look, you have two hours before the club opens its door again. Are you hungry?” His beaming smile at the end of his question left me flabbergasted. Yet again, he’d surprised me.
“A little.”
“Maybe we could order something in, to eat here?”
“Sure.”
He stepped away from me then, and looked around my small apartment. “How long are you planning on staying here in Seattle?”
“As long as I can, but it’s complicated. My mum is American but my dad is British, so I have both nationalities.”
“I don’t see anything too complicated with that.” Great, he has the ability to make me feel stupid.
“The complicated part is when I miss my family. London is my home, and always will be, but here, it’s a safety nest. I love being here even if it means living in an apartment that could be considered a cage.”
He laughed. “It’s not that bad. At least it’s clean and freshly painted, just small. It could have been worse.”
We ordered in Italian food and, for the first time, we talked. About anything and everything. We were getting to know each other as friends. Kyle acted like a gentleman the whole time; his mother would be proud. He helped me set the table, and later, he took care of the dishes while I got ready for work. Then, he held the doors while pressing his hand against my back as we walked into the club.
That he kept a safe distance at all times, told me Kyle’s intent was to pursue the ‘friend zone’ with me.
Another crazy night at the club. Nix, Bekka, and I hardly had time to get used to working with each other. Most of the time, I ended up on the floor, with the clients, as a shooter girl or a waitress while they handled the bar.
I tried keeping my thoughts off Kyle, but since he was here tonight, my gaze kept drifting his direction. Levi was keeping him company, along with Tyler. At one point, they all went into Tyler’s office.
A busy night meant a lot of students from the university, and more flirting than I could handle. A tall blond man had been staring at me for quite some time. I thought about offering him a beer, but knew I didn’t want anything from the guy, and the beer would suggest otherwise. Ignoring him was my best option. If only the feeling of being watched could go away.
“Hey, Tiff, have you seen Levi?” Nix asked, her eyes drifting around the club.
I nodded and leaned toward her ear to tell her. “Last I saw, they were headed to Ty’s office.”
With a relieved exhale, she turned around and resumed working.
“Excuse me, miss, would you like to dance?”
I looked to see who it was, wasn’t surprised me when I saw the blond guy from the bar. “I can’t. I’m working.”
My body was suddenly pressed into the curve of his elbow. “Oh, come on. One song.”
“I’m afraid I can’t help you. Unless you want something to drink?” I said, and tried to wiggle out of his arms while shaking my head.
“Everything okay, Tiff?”
Kyle.
“Yeah, everything’s under control. You can go,” the blond guy said.
“She doesn’t look like she wants your company, and besides that, she’s with me.” Menacing with the tone of his voice, I had no doubts Kyle could break blondie’s face with one hit. Kyle pulled me out of the guy’s arms and locked me to his side. “Understand?”
The poor guy didn’t even try to protest, he just left, and then Kyle started to laugh.
“I had this under control, K.”
He laughed louder. “It didn’t look like it to me.”
“Whatever. You want something to drink?”
“Sure, if you’re offering.” That got me to laugh with him.
“I’m offering,” piped a short blonde girl who’d approached and was winking at Kyle.
Can she be more obvious?
“Thanks anyway, sunshine.”
Sunshine? Did he just call me sunshine? For real? Shooting me a sorry smile, he then left with her. That moment felt like a stab through the heart with a knife, and I almost dropped the tequila bottle to the floor. What he’d done, I would never do to a friend. Out of simple respect.
Kyle had chased away the first guy to openly flirt with me, and then turned around to have a drink with the first girl who showed him interest after our little chat. Well, fuck him. Sure as shit, I was not inviting him home with me tonight. He had pissed me off.
Over the next hour, that sorry smile of his kept flashing in my head. I couldn’t wash it away from my mind or even pretend to be having fun. His attitude had bummed me out. I preferred how we used to be before trying this friendship thing out. Why did things have to be so complicated?
“Hey, can I have a beer?” The man startled me, and jerked me back to living in the present.
“Of course, I’ll be right back.” Working the floor meant I walked around the club all night. I didn’t hate it; at least I was getting some exercise. As I went behind the bar to get a cold beer, I noticed Kyle sitting at the staff table with the girl from before. She had no clue how to be subtle, because I could see her shenanigans from a mile away. I couldn’t believe Kyle would fall for this. It disgusted me.
“Miss, over here,” the man said as I started back into the crowd with his beer and almost went past him.
“Oh, my god, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you had followed me.” I chuckled. “Here’s your beer.”
Handing me a ten and telling me to keep the change, he added, “I like the accent. Are you from the UK?”
I rolled my eyes, wishing my accent wasn’t so thick. “I am, yes.”
He gave me a wink. “Love the accent. It makes you different, you stand out. I visited London a couple of months ago. Very nice city.”
“That’s my home,” I offered with a small pinch to my heart remembering how far away my family was. He took a swig of his beer, and I took it as my cue to go. “Well, see you around. Enjoy your evening.”
“Hey, hold on.” He grabbed my arm. “Can I get you a drink?”
“I’m not supposed to when I’m working.” As if I ever followed the rules…
“Funny. I didn’t take you for the type of girl who would follow the rules.”
“You know what? You’re right. Do you want a couple of shots?”
“Absolutely.”
I ducked behind the counter and grabbed an available mixer, then filled it with rum, curaçao, lemonade, and ice, and gave it a good shake. Placing six shots on the counter, three for each of us, I said, “Blue lips, one of my favorites.”
“Cool. I’m Axel, by the way.”
“Tiff,” I said pointing at my name tag, then tried to impress him with my moves as I gave the mixer a good shake. He was making me smile tonight, so he deserved the shots. “You ready?” I filled the last shot glass on the counter. All eyes were on us now.
“Yes.” Axel seemed excited.
We slammed the shots one after the other and then started laughing.
“That was a lot better than my beer.”
“They are indeed.”
“How much do I owe you?”
Like I was going to charge him, he’d made me forget Kyle for five minutes. “This round’s on me.”
“Hey, sunshine.” Kyle’s arm wrapped around my shoulder. Speak of the devil.
“Kyle.” He was ruining my joyful moment with Axel. “Axel, this is my friend Kyle.”
“Hey,” they both said as the atmosphere grew more awkward by the second.
Kyle turned toward me with a smarmy grin. “Do you have any more of that mix? I’d love some.”
If I’d known agreeing to be friends with him would turn him into an ass, I never would’ve done it.
“Nice meeting you, Tiff, but I need to get going. Um, maybe I’ll see you around.” Axel’s smile said it all; Kyle had made him uncomfortable.
And he’d now chased two guys off.
“I can’t wait to be with you tonight, Tiff. We’ve had a long day, haven’t we?” Is he for real?
“We aren’t spending the night together, Kyle. And I think I’ll have to reconsider the idea of us being friends. I’m not sure it’s working.”
He angled his head to the side, and frowned in disbelief. “What have I done?” he spat in my face.
“Right. I think you’ve had too much to drink. You should... never mind. You’re old enough to do whatever you please, so, piss off.” With that, I walked away.
For the rest of my shift I didn’t think about Kyle.
That night I laid in my bed alone, wondering what I’d gotten myself into. Neither of us wanted anything to do with a relationship, let alone a friendship. I’d hated watching him with that bimbo, and he’d interrupted both times I’d interacted with someone else. This was turning out to be more fucked up than I could’ve imagined.
While I hated it, I knew ending our friendship of less than twenty-four hours had been the best idea I had come up with.
Now, what we were going to do about the sex?