Hidden Gem Short Story Collection (9781301405985) (2 page)

“
You’re
pissed.”

Aaron winced once they got back into his
Yukon – three hours later. Zoe was actually pretty impressed with
herself. She had managed to survive the night despite her phone
dying midway through, cutting off all contact with Gemma and
Harper, whom she’d been texting bitter live updates to.

“
I’m not pissed,” Zoe
exhaled, immediately plugging her dead phone into the charger in
Aaron’s car. She was too tired to be pissed. And she had had a lot
to drink, so that helped. “I’m just… wondering what the heck that
was,” she said truthfully.

Aaron stared down at his hands as they
played with the skinny tie he’d spent a good ten minutes taking
off, nearly strangling himself in the process because he’d messed
up the knot somehow. Zoe had felt only a little bad about just
watching the scene. “I know that wasn’t what you were expecting
tonight, Zo, but I thought there was a chance you might have fun. I
mean… did you?” Aaron asked hopefully. He winced again when he
caught the drab expression on her face. She had meant to disguise
it but she was too exhausted. “Okay. Never mind. Sorry.”

“
Don’t be sorry,” Zoe
said, feeling guilty. “I’m just… not a wedding person.”

“
Really? I thought all
girls liked weddings.”

“
No.”

“
Oh. I guess they only
like their own weddings.” Aaron squinted. “
Oh
. Okay, yeah. That’s what it is.”
He raised his eyebrows, impressed with the explanation he’d given
himself. “That makes sense.” Zoe didn’t bother to correct him as he
thought about it, his face seeming to brighten. “So… you’d like
your
own
wedding,
right, Zo?”

“
I don’t know.” She peered
over at him, her eyes narrowing. “Why are you asking?”

Aaron swallowed and scratched his head.
Exhaling hard, he turned to her, his eyes anxious but genuine. “Do
you want to get married?”

“
What?”

“
To me?”

“
What?”

He heaved a sigh. “I had feeling you’d react
like that.”

Zoe couldn’t help bursting
out laughing. “Ya
think
? Aaron… what are you even talking about right
now?”

He groaned, ruffling his own hair. “I’ve
been thinking a lot about marriage lately, Zo. Road life’s getting
to me,” he said seriously, as if away games held the same gravity
as going off to war. “That’s why Terry got married. The whole girl
in every city thing gets old after awhile. You start to want
stableness.”

“
Stability.”

“
Stability. You think
about… you know. Coming back from a road swing and going home to a
family and not like, this sweet, big-ass apartment with nobody in
it.” Aaron frowned as he scratched the back of his head. “Plus, my
dad is super old. Did you see him?”

“
I did. I just spent three
hours with him.”

“
He’s like, almost
seventy. No joke. He was forty-three when my mom had me and my
mom’s always like, ‘Aaron! You better not be forty-three when you
have your first kid ‘cause Dad’ll be dead for years by
then!’”

“
Oh my God. I hope she
doesn’t say that in front of him.”

“
She does.”

Zoe snorted. She clasped a hand over her
mouth but Aaron laughed. “No, yeah, you can laugh. She’s a trip.”
He shook his head, heaving a big sigh. “Man.” Leaning back against
the headrest, he turned to her with a look of apology. “I guess
that was kind of weird of me tonight. Taking you to a wedding and
introducing you to my parents.”

“
Yup.”

“
Sorry. I just think
you’re really good wife material.”

Zoe stared out the windshield. She smiled.
“Thank you, Aaron.”

“
You’re the funniest girl
I know. And you’re smart. I don’t know why, but I feel really
stupid when I’m talking to you.”

Zoe giggled. “Oh… Aaron,” she said, because
everything else she wanted to say was entirely too mean.

“
Our kids would be really
good-looking. But anyway.” Aaron turned the key in the ignition,
starting up the car. But just as he started to drive, he paused.
“Hold up.” He squinted at her. “Do you think you’d want to get
married in like, the next
two
years?”

“
Nope, definitely
not.”

“
Ballsack. Then I’m
probably gonna go with another girl, okay?”

Zoe laughed, squeezing the bridge of her
nose. “That’s fine, Aaron. Just take me back to my hotel.”

“
You got it,
babe.”

~

Nausea woke Zoe up the
next morning. She groaned as she rolled over in bed, flopping onto
her back and staring up at the ceiling.
Not even worth it
, she thought of
her hangover. As much as she had tried – since Ted and Dena were
really quite adorable despite trying to force her into being their
daughter-in-law – she hadn’t had any fun at the wedding. She’d kind
of resented every minute of it. At one of her darker, drunker
points in the night, she’d imagined going up to the beautiful new
bride and persuading her to return to bachelorette life. Besides,
being married to a man with eighty-one road games a year would
suck. As she had learned, distance did make the heart grow fonder
but after awhile, the heart got tired of waiting around.

“
I’ll go with the
Guatemala blend. The biggest one,” Zoe said as she stood at the
counter of her favorite coffee bar in Silver Lake. It had been her
hangover haven since she was a teenager. She forgot who had
introduced her to the place but it hadn’t taken her long to become
hooked. Once upon a time, she’d gone often enough that the baristas
would have her coffee ready and waiting before she reached the
counter.

Taking a deep breath of the aromatic air,
Zoe exhaled, letting go of whatever crankiness was left over from
the night before. She couldn’t be mad at Aaron. He was a total
sweetheart. He just wasn’t all there in the head. And it wasn’t his
fault that she’d recently solidified her somewhat unorthodox
viewpoint on relationships – that they weren’t meant to culminate
to just one love, one person. That was impossible. After a certain
amount of time, things would go bad, so why wait for that moment?
Stop while ahead and move onto the next. Keep things light, simple,
always fun. That had always been Zoe’s mantra.

“
Thank you,” Zoe smiled,
taking her coffee from the barista. But just as she turned, she
felt a tap on her shoulder.

“
Zoe?”

Oh shit
. She recognized that voice. Well, pretty much everyone in
the world recognized that voice.
Crap
. She should’ve realized that
she might run into him at this particular coffee bar – after all,
he’d been the one to recommend it to her. Turning slowing around,
Zoe stretched her lips into a smile that hopefully looked less
awkward than it felt.

“
Hey, Tyler.”

“
Hey.” In an off white,
waffle knit Henley and jeans, he looked the same as he had when
she’d last seen or spoke to him, which had been more than a year
ago. His brown hair was shorter but that was about it. He looked
good. Better than he had in the photos she’d seen right after his
breakup with Gemma. His build actually looked even more muscular
than it had since he’d bulked up for
Carbine
.

“
Oh! Congratulations on
the nomination, by the way,” Zoe said, grateful to have something
to say. Earlier in the month, Tyler had nabbed a Best Actor
nomination. He’d been superb in his role as Colby Hawkins in
Carbine
but the Oscar
nod had come as a surprise to Zoe, especially since his veteran
co-star, Liam Brody, hadn’t received one. In her opinion, he
deserved it more for his performance. But maybe she was just angry
with Tyler for what he’d put Gemma through that year.
At least Madison’s face didn’t get nominated for
anything either
, Zoe reasoned. She had
been beyond relieved over that considering the nightmare Madison
had caused Gemma and Tyler’s relationship throughout the shooting
of the film.

Blinking herself out of
her thoughts, Zoe looked at Tyler, who wore an odd, faint smile on
his lips.
Oh shit. You’re thinking about
Gemma now and he can see it in your face.

“
Thank you,” Tyler said.
Zoe wondered if she was imagining the weird look he was giving her.
Maybe she was just being paranoid. And way too anxious. She didn’t
want to be around Tyler. She knew she’d run into him randomly but
she felt as if she were betraying Gemma by even speaking to him.
Not that Gemma had sworn her to some sort of best friend promise to
forever hate him.

But Zoe did resent him. As a best friend,
she had studied Gemma in the breakup aftermath and to her dismay
she hadn’t rebounded from Tyler. She hadn’t taken up Zoe’s offers
to be a wingwoman or taken to any of the gorgeous guys Zoe invited
out with them. She had thrown herself into her new line, which was
fine – if there was anybody who understood the importance of career
success, it was Zoe – but she wished that Gemma would let loose and
give herself a break at some point. She deserved to, especially
after the emotional chaos Tyler had put her through with the
Madison thing. And with the engagement ring.

“
So… how have you been?”
Tyler asked, nodding toward a corner table before heading over to
it and taking a seat.
Damn it.
She hadn’t planned on staying to catch up but now
she had to follow Tyler over to his table or be completely rude.
Drawing in a deep breath through her nose, Zoe went over to Tyler’s
spot in the corner. But she didn’t sit.

“
I’ve been good! Really
good. Really busy, too, though. I actually, um,” Zoe pointed over
her shoulder and out the door with her thumb. “I have to get going.
I have this… thing.”

Tyler smirked. “Zoe, you don’t have to feel
weird around me because of Gemma.”

Zoe stared, for some
reason surprised by his ability to say her name without
spontaneously combusting. She had kind of imagined him to be more
damaged than that. But maybe he was and simply not showing it –
though he’d never been one not to wear his heart on his sleeve.
Since meeting him at sixteen, Zoe had always found Tyler to be
pretty open.
God, we’ve known each other
forever
, she realized. Seven years, almost
eight. Tyler seemed to read her mind.

“
Unless I’m mistaken, you
and I were friends before either of us met Gemma, so we should at
least be able to run into each other in public and have a halfway
normal conversation. Right?” he asked, once again nodding at the
seat across from him. “Also, I spot a paparazzo outside. And a
bunch of people pretending to take pictures of their lattes when
they’re actually taking pictures of us. I know you’re not cold
enough to let them document you ditching me,” he
laughed.

Zoe let herself smile. “Fair.” Pulling the
chair out, she took a seat. Once she sat, she felt an odd sense of
relief. It did feel better not to hate Tyler. But she still
couldn’t help feeling strange around him. Their longstanding
friendship didn’t change the fact that she was far closer with
Gemma, that she was the best friend of the girl who had declined
his marriage proposal only fourteen months ago.

“
So how have you been?”
Tyler asked with a little crooked smile.

“
What the hell is that
look?” Zoe demanded with sass, trying not to sound
amused.

“
I have never seen you
look more awkward.”

She snorted. “Well, I’ve
never
felt
more
awkward but thanks for pointing it out.”

“
You asked.” Tyler sat
back in his chair and grinned. “Now tell me how you’ve been without
looking like I’m holding you hostage here. You’re making me feel
like an asshole when all I want is to hear about the Bond sequel.
Do you die dramatically in this one?”

“
What? Dude, I can’t give
away spoilers,” Zoe feigned attitude, starting to feel slightly
more at ease. She had to commend Tyler on somehow relieving her
discomfort and so quickly too. It had been a force to be reckoned
with just a minute ago. “You’ll just have to watch when it comes
out.”

“
Fine. If you do die in
this one though, I hope you go out with a bang.”

“
With a katana, actually,
but you didn’t hear it from me,” Zoe said hastily under her breath.
She couldn’t help being particularly excited about that detail of
the script – the fact that her character got to maim a dozen guys
with a samurai sword before meeting her fate.

“
No. Really?” Tyler’s eyes
went wide. “Badass,” he nodded with serious approval. Zoe smiled.
“So when’s it come out?”

“
Um, next week. Have we
not done a good enough job promoting the movie that you’re asking
that?” Zoe asked playfully. Tyler laughed at himself.

“
I’m sure you guys have
done an awesome job. I just… don’t really pay attention to things
anymore,” he said apologetically. “I haven’t come close to even
looking at any blogs or tabloids let alone fully ready up on
anything.”

“
No, that’s good. You
shouldn’t read the tabloids, anyway.”