How to Be a Rock Star's Ex-Girlfriend (16 page)

Peter was such a cutie! He was only about 5’9”, with sandy blonde hair and green eyes. He and I started talking the minute we all sat down and I, for one, forgot about the fact that I had come here with someone else.

It was during a brief trip to the Ladies Room that I found out what Peter’s one flaw was. Until then, he had seemed too good to be true. At the sink, I was confronted by a girl that I didn’t know.

“Are you here with Peter?” She asked. “I saw you sitting with him.”

I was so surprised by her nosiness that it took me a second to respond. “No, I’m on a blind date with his friend, Chris. We met Peter here.”

“Well, okay.” With that she started to leave the bathroom.

I reached out and grabbed her arm. “Wait.” I was curious now. “Why is this any of your business?”

“I’m friends with Peter’s girlfriend. Since she’s not here, I’m making sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

So much for my instant attraction to Peter! Of course he has a girlfriend. I should have been expecting it; there wasn’t much else that I had experienced when it came to guys! As I was contemplating my next move, should I go back to the table and act like nothing was different, should I stop flirting, should I get Chris to take me home, Cara walked into the bathroom. Thank god! Someone to talk to about this!

I quickly filled her in. “What do you think?”

“Do you know why she’s not here? Is she sick, boring, lame? Or does she live somewhere else? That’s what you need to find out. That’s the most important piece of information we need before making a decision. I’ll see what I can learn. Until then, I want you to go back out there and keep flirting with that cute boy!”

I had no doubt that Cara would find out all about Peter and his mysterious girlfriend. She was right, though. It wouldn’t hurt anything to go flirt some more!

When I reached the table, I noticed that one of the seats had been vacated and only Peter remained. Uh, oh.

“Where’s Chris?” I was torn. Half of me was hoping that he had just gone to the bathroom. That way I wasn’t so evil that I made my blind date sneak out while I was away from the table. The other half was overjoyed with the idea that he had taken the hint and left.

“Oh, I think he realized that he had bored you senseless and left.” Peter looked amused with the whole idea.

“Oh. Was I that mean?”

Peter laughed and shook his head. “I don’t think he even noticed that you were ignoring him. He said something about how being on a date was making him think about Patty, he thought he should just leave, and I was supposed to break it to you gently. Was that gently enough?”

“How long has it been since they broke up? Last week? That’s all he talked about at dinner!”

“Yeah, well, it was about a year ago. I guess he took it really hard. He doesn’t have a lot of luck with the ladies. Why did you go out with him?”

“Blind date. One of my coworkers is friends with his sister, or something.” We both took a minute to laugh about how ridiculous

the date had been. And then I decided to just throw it out there. “So, what’s the story with your girlfriend?”

“She goes to school out of state.” Caught off guard, Peter didn’t even have a chance to lie about it. “How did you know I had one?”

“I was cornered in the bathroom by a friend of hers. She said she didn’t want you doing anything stupid. But don’t worry; I let her know I was with Chris. She may question my story now though!”

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to go somewhere else then. You up for it?”

For one brief moment I thought about Peter’s girlfriend, his faceless, nameless, far away girlfriend. I imagined her, wherever she was, thinking about Peter and missing him. And then I got over it. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t consider poaching, but I liked him. He was fun and cute! So, I made a really bad decision, and went for it.

“Let’s go!”

After a night of talking, laughing, and one incredible kiss goodbye, we arranged a few accidental, on purpose meetings. He stopped by the bookstore, looking for a birthday present for his cousin. Then we bumped into each other while grocery shopping and he helped me carry everything out to my car, followed me home, and brought the bags into the apartment. The Saturday night after we met, he was at Shaken when Cara and I got there. We kept it casual, saying hi and then walking away, but not before agreeing to meet up at my place later.

Cara warned me about dating a taken man. She reminded me about the Micah conversation that we had not too long ago. She was right, of course. He wouldn’t ever break up with her, I shouldn’t get too attached. My reply was always that it was the ideal situation for both of us. I wasn’t ready to dive into a real relationship, one with potential to be ‘it’, and he wasn’t looking for a new partner, he was looking for a replacement until she came back. And how could I possibly get attached when I refused to have sex with him? Don’t get me wrong, we fooled around a bit, but I couldn’t bring myself to give in to someone who couldn’t be faithful. Peter tried his best to convince me that we should ‘do it’, and I found it all highly amusing. It was just another reason I liked to spend time with him, all the begging made me feel irresistible!

The crazy thing was that no one really knew about us. We stayed in most of the time, ordering take-out and renting movies, and when we did go out, we weren’t together, we just ran into each other. It was such a rush, the best kind of secret. It made me forget about Braden and the mess I had turned my love life into. This was easy and safe, I just enjoyed myself.

The fall and winter flew by. It was the busy season at the store, with college students wanting books for back to school, and Christmas right around the corner. I didn’t see as much of Peter as I had in the beginning, but I didn’t see anyone else either. And by anyone else, I mean other men. There wasn’t a need to. When we did get together, we had so much fun that I couldn’t imagine starting the whole dating thing all over again.

I wasn’t even close to being in love with him, or even a little bit closer to being completely over Braden. For a brief moment I was distracted by the newness of my friendship with Peter, but then bam, I was back to thinking about my ex. I still had dreams with him in the starring role. They happened less frequently then before, but after each one I was still a little shaken up.

I knew from Cara that Braden had been on a few dates, nothing too meaningful or long term, but it still gave me a chill. I felt safer knowing that I had someone that could make me forget about Braden for awhile or at least push him into the background.

The only thing that I wasn’t quite prepared for was the return of Peter’s girlfriend. I knew that she went to college in Iowa or Indiana or Illinois, that her name was Samantha, and that Peter talked about her like she was a moron. I never even thought about the fact that she would be coming home for Christmas.

Then one Friday night, Cara and I decided to go out dancing. We knew that there would be a good crowd since it was Christmas break, and we wanted to see if any of our old friends were around. That’s when it happened.

I wasn’t expecting to see Peter. We hadn’t made any plans, but I was still happy to run into him. After I said hi, though, there was a significant pause before he answered. Suddenly I realized that the girl standing behind him was actually with him. Whoops! Peter quickly explained to her that I had suffered through a really bad date with Chris and that’s how we knew each other. She looked a little bewildered, but seemed to buy it.

That was the end of my pseudo-relationship with Peter. Seeing him with that dowdy, trusting girl was too much for me. Of course I was happy to see that I was more attractive then she was. I mean I am human, and dating is a competition! I had been telling myself that we weren’t hurting anyone by spending time together, but I knew that was a lie. Samantha would be hurt, if she ever found out. Ending things now would help insure that she never did.

And with that, I was back to square one, wishing and dreaming about Braden.

CHAPTER 16
 

That was the way my life progressed from there. Since the fiasco that was my relationship with Peter, my dating life had been insignificant. I made everyone promise not to ever set me up on a date again. I was never satisfied with any of my ‘one flaw’ guys. Maybe it was because of their flaws, but more then likely it was because I hadn’t held on to the one thing, or the one person, that I really wanted. I had never stopped loving Braden, but I had finally accepted the fact that we weren’t meant to be together. It was time for me to move on, and it was obvious that all our lives were changing and moving beyond our once tiny, exclusive circle.

It seemed that Cara was growing up at last. After years of evading the big commitment, she found the guy who would change her mind. To all of our surprise it was someone from her past that convinced her it was time to settle down.

One night after watching a big Twin’s game at The HatTrick, Cara ended up staying late to clean up with Martin. They were joking around, talking about all their various relationship ups and downs, when Martin reminded her about how good they had been together. One thing let to another, and before we knew it, they were dating again.

I think that his being older really helped, he never took any crap from Cara, and his stability and responsibility made her just a little bit more stable and reliable as well. She quit her job at CaffeiNation and became Martin’s bar manager after getting her degree. She seemed happy and content for the first time in her life.

To tell the truth, I was amazed, and a little jealous. I still wished that Cara and I could have gone into business together, but this was obviously what was best for her. They were even talking about moving in together, the very thing that had broke them up in the first place! The two of them certainly seemed to be just a few steps away from happily ever after!

A month before their second wedding anniversary, Cara and I met Sophie for lunch downtown. After we ate, we were planning to check out a few of the little boutiques and shops that lined the streets. We had just ordered when Sophie dropped the bombshell.

“Guess what? I’m going to have a baby!” She was bursting with the news.

Cara and I were dead silent for a full thirty seconds before the news registered. Then we started shrieking and hugging and talking all at once.

“When did you find out?”

“When are you due?”

“February seventeenth.”

“Is Mark excited?”

“Just a few days ago.”

“We’re both so excited!”

“A Valentine baby!”

We decided to postpone our downtown shopping excursion and go to the baby store instead. There was so much stuff Sophie and Mark would need. Plus she really wanted to look at all the cute little baby outfits!

Even though I myself had no interest in having babies, or the whole domestic, housewife thing, I got caught up in the excitement

along with Sophie. I was so happy for them; it was what Sophie had wanted since she was a young girl. Get married, have a family. On the other hand, I felt sad that another thing in our lives was changing. The three of us hardly ever got together anymore, and the baby would be another obstacle that kept us apart. The Fabulous Trio was no more!

I think that in some way, Sophie was feeling the same things that I was. She stopped in to see me at the bookstore one day, with the excuse that she wanted to look at some books on pregnancy and childbirth. We pulled a couple from the shelves to flip through and sat down in the comfy chairs that were arranged through out the store.

“Ava, how have you been?” After a few minutes of talking about the pros and cons of each book, Sophie finally got to the real point of her visit.

“I’m okay. I’ve been busy, you know with the store and all. It’s good though, since Cara will be moving out soon, I’ll be living by myself for the first time. I’m looking forward to it!”

Sophie just nodded. “I meant about Braden and dating. How is all that going?”

“It’s fine. It’s been a while now. I’ve moved on. Why?” I was totally confused about this line of questioning.

“Well, Mark has this friend at work.”

“Oh. You guys want to fix me up? I don’t know, Sophie.” The idea of being fixed up was not a pleasant one, especially with one of Mark’s boring work buddies. “Don’t you remember me asking that no one try to fix me up? I have such rotten luck!”

“I know, you’re not fired up about Mark’s friends or being fixed up, but this guy is really great! Plus, I want to see you happy again. Don’t you think it’s time to get serious about finding someone to spend your life with?”

My initial response to Sophie’s comments was utter shock mixed with rage and disbelief. Why was she saying things like that? I was fine alone! Why did she think that everyone needed a man? Just because she did? Honestly, I don’t get people! Why do they always think that they know what’s best for you? Like I couldn’t find someone to share my life with, if that’s what I wanted! I mean, I could have settled for Kyle or another guy like him. She obviously didn’t get me!

After all that and more ran through my head, I calmed down a little. Maybe I could give this guy a try. I mean, Sophie was just looking out for me. I was sure that she didn’t mean to make me feel like a total loser since I couldn’t find my own man.

“Okay, set it up.”

“Great! I can’t wait for you to meet him! His name is Scott and he works in real estate with Mark. Are you free this weekend? I’ll have Mark call him tonight!”

“This weekend will be okay, I guess. Is he cute?” I was still trying to get used to the idea of being set up.

“Of course he’s cute! I just know you’re going to like him! Well, I better go. I’ll talk to you later about all the details. Bye!” With a quick hug, she was out the door, leaving me slightly dazed by the whole visit.

Toward the end of the week, I found myself digging around in my closet, looking for the perfect blind date outfit. My last blind date had been such an atrocious nightmare; I was only hoping that I came out of this one alive! To make matters worse, when Sophie called with all the details, she let it slip that Scott was a little older then we were, like thirty-one to my almost twenty-five! Yuck! Unlike Cara, who didn’t begrudge anyone a date, old or not, I did
not
date older guys.