The One Left Behind (The One Series) (13 page)

I take a minute to collect my thoughts and look at Colby who has an amused smile on her face. “Fine, I’ll do it,” I say in a defeated tone, “but I want everyone there! If I have to do this, so does everyone else.”

Colby claps her hands and jumps up to give Pierce a hug. “I don’t know how you got her to agree, but thank you! I knew I liked you!”

“Down, girl,” Damon says as he pulls her off of Pierce.

We return our shoes and head out to the parking lot. We are saying our goodbyes when Damon’s phone rings. “Hey buddy, what’s up?” he says into the phone. He listens for a second before all the excitement from tonight leaves his face and he looks down at the ground. “No, not at all. I’ll be right there.” Damon shuts his phone and looks at Colby. “It’s Derek.” Colby nods in understanding and turns to me.

“We have to stop to see Damon’s brother. Would you mind if we stopped there before taking you home?”

Before I can answer Pierce says, “I can take you home if you would like.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to have to go out of your way,” I say as my insides do a little jumping movement. It would be nice to spend some more alone time with him.

“Don’t worry about it. I actually live a couple blocks down from you so it’s not out of my way at all.”

“Okay, then that’s settled. Thanks for taking her home, Pierce,” Colby says over my shoulder as she hugs me goodbye.

The guys say their goodbyes and we part ways. Pierce walks me over to his car and opens the door for me to get in. I pause when I see the vehicle he led me to. My mouth drops as I take in the Aston Martin V8 Vantage D Roadster. I’ve always loved cars and this one is a beauty.

I turn to Pierce, who is still holding the door open waiting for me to get in. “This is your car?”

“Yep, this is me. Is there something wrong? Not having second thoughts about me driving you home, are you?” he says with a knowing smile.

I can’t stop staring since this is by far my number one dream car. Pierce clears his throat still smiling at me. Feeling slightly embarrassed, I say, “Sorry, Pierce, it’s just that this car is incredible. In fact, you drive my exact dream car. “

“You’re smart, beautiful and you like cars. I might have hit the jackpot with you on the beach that day. Tell you what, why don’t you drive home?” he says with a big grin on his face. I wait to see if he’s joking, but he holds out his keys for me.

“Pierce, that’s awfully nice of you but I don’t think I should. What if someone hits us while I’m driving and I ruin your car?” He closes the distance between us making it hard for me to breath. He never breaks eye contact as he reaches for my hands and places the keys in them.

“I doubt that’s going to happen, but if it does that’s what insurance is for.” He sits down in the passenger seat and closes the door cutting off any further argument. I’m stuck in my spot as my skin burns from his touch. It’s crazy how the slightest brush of his skin against mine can have such an effect on me. I snap out of my daze and walk around the car to slide in behind the wheel of this gorgeous machine.

“I know you wore your hair down, which looks beautiful straight by the way, but do you want to put the top down?” Pierce asks me.

“Hand me my bag,” I say to Pierce. Having a convertible myself, I always keep a hair tie in my purse for when I want the top down. I tie my hair up and give Pierce a smile. He lowers the roof on the car and I start the engine. The car purrs to life and I can feel the excitement rolling through my body. This is going to be amazing! I tear out onto the road and Pierce lets out a nervous chuckle at my eagerness to get this baby going.

“How about some music?” Pierce suggests.

I nod and Pierce turns on his satellite radio. The current song comes to an end. The new song starts and I can’t believe what I am hearing. ‘NSYNC’s
I Want You Back
. Now, there’s nothing wrong with ‘NSYNC, in fact I’m still secretly hoping for a reunion tour. What catches me off guard is the fact that Pierce is singing along. I break out in laughter and look over at Pierce as we reach a red light. He looks at me with the most serious look on his face.

“What? You don’t like ‘NSYNC?” he asks with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Oh no, I like them just fine. What surprises me is that
you
like them. Is there something you want to tell me, Pierce?” I say jokingly with an eyebrow raised.

“Well, my sister really liked them and she listened to them
all
the time. I learned that the ladies like it when you can sing them their favorite boy band songs and it made getting dates easy,” he explains with a shrug of his shoulders.

I am shocked. I never pictured Pierce to be…I don’t know what I pictured Pierce as, but that was definitely not it! This little insight into him makes me curious and eager to learn more about him. What other hidden talents does he have that I don’t know about yet? This ‘NSYNC knowledge definitely piques my interest.

We continue to sing and joke as we pull up to my condo. I put the car in park and turn toward Pierce to thank him for letting me drive home. He stares into my eyes and leans in. I freeze and I can feel my heart beating frantically against my chest. Is he going to kiss me? My hands start to feel clammy and I’m afraid to move as he slowly reaches over and turns the ignition off. He backs away with a slight smirk as if he knows what he is doing. I’m still frozen in place when my brain finally registers that he is opening the car door for me. I look up at him and take the hand he extends to me.

“Mind if I walk you to your door?” he asks with the residual smirk on his face.

My heart leaps in excitement as the last few minutes play in my head and we walk to the door. The realization that I feel disappointed that he didn’t kiss me is surprising. I take a steady breath and look up at him when we get to my door. “Thanks for coming out tonight. I had a lot of fun.”

“Thank you for inviting me. I had a great time with you, and your friends are great.” He has an easy smile on his face that reaches straight to his eyes.

We awkwardly stand there and there is uncertainty in his eyes. It is like he’s having an inner battle with his thoughts. I wonder what he is thinking about.

Finally he breaks the silence, “Goodnight, Addison. Sweet dreams.” Pierce leans in and gives me a kiss on my cheek. He lingers there for an extra moment or two and my pulse quickens. Before I can do anything else, he turns and walks away.

I walk in, close the door behind me, and bang my head against it.

“Goodnight, Pierce,” I whisper.

I’M SITTING AT my desk at work. I’ve been throwing myself into my cases as a distraction from life. As a result, I am completely caught up on the tremendous amount of work that was piling up around me.

I lean back in my chair and take a sip of my coffee when my phone vibrates with a text. I pick it up and instantly smile at the name that flashes across the screen. Addison.

Addison: Hey, what are you doing?

Me: At work taking a little coffee break. You?

Addison: Nothing really. Do you have plans for tonight?

Me: Nope, my schedule is clear. Did you want to get together?

Addison: Yeah, I was wondering if you wanted to go see a movie with me. I’ve been wanting to see that new comedy that just came out.

Me: Yeah, sounds great. What time?

Addison: How’s 8?

Me: That works for me. Do you want me to pick you up?

There’s a longer pause than there has been with the other messages and I wonder if I overstepped the line with her. I drag my hand through my hair and am about to tell her not to worry about it and that I’ll just meet her there when my phone vibrates.

Addison: Sure. How about you pick me up at 7:45 so we make it to the theater with plenty of time to grab some snacks and a good seat?

Me: I’ll see you at 7:45 then.

I have to admit that I feel like I’m floating on cloud nine. I can’t help it; I love spending time with her. I look at the clock. Great, it’s only 11:53. Only 6 hours and 52 minute to go until I see her. Looking at my desk, I kind of wish I hadn’t worked so hard earlier in the week because now I don’t have much to do to occupy my time. I guess this day is going to drag on forever.

After four hours of twiddling my thumbs and trying desperately to find something to do, I can’t stand to sit in my office anymore. All I’m efficiently doing is staring at the clock anyway. I go home, change into some jogging pants, a T-shirt, and my running shoes, and start my jog to give me something to do. I put in my ear buds, crank up my iPod, and hit the pavement. I’m not sure how far I run, but when I glance down at my wrist watch, it is time to head back and get ready for my date…I mean my evening out with Addison.

After shaving and showering, I get dressed. I decide to go for casual since it’s just the movies and I’m actually tired of dressing up for work at this point in the week. I grab a pair of dark wash denim jeans, and a baby blue Polo shirt. I throw on my brown loafers, spritz myself with some cologne and I’m out the door.

I anxiously wring my hands over the steering wheel and grasp it until my knuckles are white as I’m driving to her house. The anxiety and nervousness is starting to become a normal reaction when I’m around her now. I hate how uneasy we are with each other, but I can sense that it’s getting better and we’re getting comfortable with each other. I think most of the awkwardness comes from her since she has no recollection of me, but every time we hang out I see that becoming less and less of an issue. Hopefully she’ll completely relax and I can quit getting anxiety over it.

I pull up to her driveway, get out of my car, and walk up to her door. I run my hands through my hair and blow out a burst of air as I’m about to knock on the door. Before I can, it swings wide open.

“Hey, I heard you pull up,” she says as she gives me a welcoming smile. My heart starts to beat a little faster just from that one look as I return her smile. She looks gorgeous, like always. She went for the casual look as well. I already knew she’d be wearing jeans because she always gets cold when we go to the movies. Even casual, she looks perfect.

“You ready, then?” I ask as I move my hand out in a gesture for her to go first.

“Yep, let’s go.”

The drive to the theater is made in a steady flow of conversation. Again, I’m liking where our relationship is going. It still stings that she doesn’t want me romantically, but I love hanging out with her. I always have.

I buy our movie tickets and some popcorn and sodas. We’re early so we get to have our pick of seats. I know she likes to sit half way up the rows in the middle seat. I set down our stuff and gesture for her to have a seat.

She smiles as she says, “Thanks, these are perfect seats. The exact ones I would have picked, actually.”

I try to hide the sad smile that’s on my face. It’s clear she doesn’t realize that I picked these seats because I knew this is where she’d like to sit. Just another reminder of the disconnect between us at the moment. I push that depressing thought to the back of my mind so I don’t ruin our night together.

The movie is pretty good and soon enough it’s over. I’m not ready to take her home. I’m not sure how she’ll respond to my request, but I ask anyway, “So, I’m not really that tired and was thinking of heading out for a couple cocktails. Would you care to join me?”

I see the brief hesitation on her face. She masks it quickly, but it’s too late since I already noticed. Finally, she says, “Yeah, sure. Why not?”

I must be grinning like a fool, but I don’t care. I’m getting to spend more time with my girl. I place my hand on the small of her back to guide her out of the theater. I feel her tense ever so slightly. The gesture is somewhat intimate and personal, but when we were together, I saw it as a way to stake my claim. In that small move I looked at it as telling everyone around that she was mine. The way she reacts to my touch tells me she doesn’t like it. And that breaks my heart.

“I’m sorry. Old habits die hard, you know?” I look down at the ground not really wanting to meet her eyes as she rejects me. Again.

“Oh, no, it’s okay. It just startled me a bit. I wasn’t expecting anyone to touch me.” She gives me a reassuring smile and I instantly feel better and not as embarrassed.

We get to this quiet bar not too far from the theater and take a seat at a table. This bar is a little more upscale than the bar I worked at for so many years. This one is meant to attract the business professional crowd. The bar is made of glass with lights reflecting off of it. The tables are lined along the walls with plush seating. The center has high-top tables with those swanky, silver chairs that have no backs. The lighting is subdued but has a blue tint to it. It’s very quiet in here too which, to me, is odd for a bar. But whatever.

We talk and joke for a while. I make her laugh which is the highlight of my night. I love her laugh and I haven’t gotten to hear it nearly enough lately. She seems happy and relaxed with me, and that makes me feel elated.