Uninvolved
Authors: Carey Heywood
UNINVOLVED
A NOVEL
Carey Heywood
Un
involved
is a work of fiction
.
Names, characters, places, and incidents
are either
the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously
.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 201
3
by Carey Heywood
Published by Carey Heywood
Smashwords edition
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.
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Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Dad, you always encouraged me
. I miss you.
U
ninvolved
Chapter 1
"No more shots!" Becka mumbled as her frie
nd Crystal nodded in agreement.
Becka glared at Lucy, the ringleader of the multiple
lemon
drops
.
It was Saturday night
,
and t
hey were at a bar
in downtown Phoenix that Lucy lived near. Which was great for Lucy
.
She
could pass out in her own bed, but it meant Crystal and Becka would have to figure out who got the sofa
.
The
loser
would have to
sleep with Lucy and get kicked all night. Becka had planned to be the designated driver but
,
since this place was within walking distance from Lucy's house
,
she was talked into partying with them.
Becka had twisted her long brown hair up into a bun ages ago but still felt too hot
.
The
vinyl seat covering of their booth was sticking to the underside of
her
legs.
Now, also f
eeling parched
,
she
got up
to
get
a glass of water
from the bar
.
Becka slid
quietly
past the guy she had been flirting with most of the night
.
She
had already forgotten his name twice and was not going to ask him for it a third time. He was cute and seemed nice enough
.
H
e had
even
bought the last couple of rounds.
He
seemed into her, which was flattering
,
but Becka just wasn’t feeling it. He hadn’t even tried to kiss her
. Becka liked it when a guy came on strong but not too strong. This guy was kinda
coming on
lukewarm.
Making her way through the crow
d took some
effort. Every guy she
h
appened to t
ouch saw it as an invitation
to hit on her
,
but
if the guy happened to be with a girl then Becka got the stink eye
from
his
date.
Geez, Becka
thought to herself
.
She
wasn’t even trying to touch anyone. Ugh
.
A
nd it was so loud
.
All
Becka really wanted to do was go home.
It took her a moment to flag down the bartender
.
Last
call was approaching so the bar was crowded.
Becka leaned against
the bar once she found a spot that wasn’t sticky and sipped
her water, hoping she had not taken one shot too many and wo
uld be regretting it overnight.
Becka
looked ove
r at the table where her friend
s sat. Crystal seemed bor
ed and sleepy, which meant she
ha
d a good shot
at
getting the sofa, and
Lucy
was
arguing with some guy about politics.
Lucy, a spitfire most days
,
leaned to outright belligerent after a few drinks.
Becka wasn’t going to touch that conversation.
Becka was out for one reason
:
to get hit on.
The guy that she had met that night seemed nice enough
,
and he was giving all o
f the right signals. Usually Becka
would have been all over him, but something felt different. If anything
,
she felt déjà vu
,
and
she
was bored. He caught her eye
,
and she smiled back at him more out of reflex than anything else. He came over to meet her at the bar to, as he put it, check on her. Becka went through the motions,
laugh
ing
at his jokes
and
pretending
like she didn’t see him check out her boobs.
Becka's shirt was pretty low cut
.
She
would almost be offended if he hadn’t been looking.
He offered to buy her another drink
,
and she admitted honestly
,
given how she felt
,
that
that
probably wasn’t a good idea. He seemed to take it in stride
, which was a relief.
She
was
leery
of the guys that seemed intent on getting her falling down drunk. So that at least was a plus for this guy. Becka
just
wished she could remember his name since it was well past the appropriate point in the conversation for her to ask what it was
.
Again
.
He moved closer to her to make space for some other people ordering.
At that point
,
Lucy came over to inform Becka that Crystal had passed out in the booth. No longer needing an excuse to ditch whatever that guy's name was
,
she followed Lucy to retrieve Crystal. Not to be deterred
,
mystery man followed them with offers to help. At first
,
Becka was annoyed th
at she hadn’t been able to lose
him
,
but before long
,
she was grateful for his help with Crystal.
He ended up having to fireman
-
carry her to Lucy's
place
.
Crystal's penchant for short dresses left little to the imagination in that position. Becka had to snap a pic before whatever the hell that guy's name was set her down.
Lucy got her set up in her bed, tummy
down, trash can ready. While Lucy
was doing that
,
s
he
was in Lucy's living room with him
,
thanking him over and over. He leaned in for a kiss
,
and Becka figured it was the least she could do. They broke their kiss when Lucy came back in. Doing her best to speak to Lucy with her eyes
,
Becka was able to get her to stay in the room. Seeing as though they would not be able to go further with an audience
,
the guy got up to go.
He got her
number and
,
under the guise of not knowing how to spell his name
,
Becka handed him her phone for him to enter his own info. He may have been on to her when he questioned her not knowing how to spell Ben. Becka waved him off
,
saying she was too tipsy to spell
,
period. After he left
,
Lucy and Becka collapsed in giggles. Lucy
told
her if she needed to know his
name she
could have just asked her. Lucy was crazy good with names, no
matt
er how many drinks she had.
"It's my superpower."
"Remembering names is not a superpower."
"Um, you only say that because you don’t have it."
"So what is my superpower?"
"Your hair always looks good
.
Seriously,
do you ever get spilt ends
?
"
"Shut up
.
That’s
such a sucky superpower
,
and you don’t get split ends if you get your
hair
trimmed a lot. Give me a better superpower."
"Let me think
.
" Lucy stood
,
and Becka watched as
she
paced
left and right over and over as she thought
.
"
Y
our superpower could be
breaking up."
"What?"
"That is so it
.
I have never met anyone so good at ending things with someone. It's a gift."
"Really?"
"For non
-
superpower
-
holding people
,
breaking up with people is really hard. You have it down to an art form."
"I
am
kind of amazing at it."
It was safer that way. Becka had made the mistake of trusting someone with her heart before. That wasn’t something she was interested in ever doing again.
Lucy got them a snack
,
and they gossiped about people they worked with until Becka couldn’t keep her eyes open and Lucy went to bed.
The next morning
,
Becka woke up cursing Lucy's sofa for the crick she now had in her neck.
This sofa falsely gave every appearance of being comfortable, and it was
.
F
or sitting. Something happened when anyone would try to sleep on it, almost as though it would randomly shrink a foot causing whoever was on it to have to contort themselves into a neck
-
crick
-
inducing position to ensure their limbs fit.
Happened to her every time, though still better than the kicking she was sure Crystal had dealt with. Lucy came out not long after Becka woke up
,
bitching about how her room smelt like puke. Becka grimaced
,
hoping Crystal hadn’t had too bad of a night.
"Where's Crystal?"
"Still wrapped around the toilet
.
Seriously.
G
o take her picture so we can blackmail her with it at some point
.
" Lucy grumbled.
Becka giggled and went to peek in the half
-
bath that was connected to Lucy's bedroom. Poor Crystal
,
she thought, snapping a picture anyway. They never shared any of the pictures, and there were many. Crystal had been pretty good in general recently
,
so she was due for a
few
sloppy drunk picture
s
. Since Crystal
did not look like she was going to be moving anytime soon
,
Lucy agreed to drive her home so Becka didn’t have to wait around for her. This was music to Becka's ears because all she wanted to do was roll through a
Mickey
D's drive
-
thr
u
for some grub and go home
and
shower.