Hookup Fail

I allowed my life to return quickly to normal.  I met Kinsley at the gym a couple times, and talked to Lauren almost daily.  On Wednesday, we went for a walk at a nearby park.

"Are you going to happy hour tomorrow?" she asked me.

I groaned.  "I don't really want to.  I can't face Savannah.  Or Alex.  Or anyone."

"I think you should go," she countered.  "The longer the stay away, the worse it will be when you come back."   She had a point.  I considered this for several seconds.

"Okay, I'll go," I relented with a sigh.  "Will you go with me and keep Savannah away from me?"

"Obviously.  Pick me up when you're done with work."  We made plans and walked back to her car.  She dropped me off at home, and I went to bed early.

Work went quickly the next day, and as the end of the day approached, I started getting nervous.  I picked up Lauren and we drove to the happy hour spot.  "Ready?" Lauren asked.

"Not even close, but let's go."  We walked in and spotted the group.  Savannah wasn't there yet, and I was relieved.  Maybe she wouldn't come tonight.  Kendra, Christian, and Alex seemed happy enough to see me, and Kinsley leaped up and hugged me.  "Stop, you're ridiculous!" I said, laughing.

Lauren and I walked up to the bar to get drinks. By the time we made our way back to the table, Savannah was there, sitting right next to the seat I'd put my purse in front of.  Lauren fell on the grenade and sat in that seat, putting herself between us.  I gave her a grateful look.  I talked mostly to Lauren, Kinsley, and Kendra.

At one point, Lauren got up to go to the bathroom while I was in the middle of a conversation about wedding flowers with Kendra.  As soon as she was gone, Savannah moved over next to me.  When Kendra and I stopped talking, Savannah cleared her throat.  We turned to look at her, and she threw her arms around me.  I barely stopped myself from recoiling.

"I am so sorry about Brody," she said.  "I can't believe he went to Miami.  You must be so sad."

Kendra coughed, and then said "Um, Savannah?  Maybe--"

Savannah ignored her and barreled on.  "I know what it's like to be dumped by him.  If you ever want to talk, I'm here for you."  At that point, Lauren came back and death-stared her back into her seat.  The rest of happy hour passed uneventfully, and Lauren and I left around 8.

"What was Savannah talking to you about?" she asked, as soon as we got into the car.

"She was...commiserating," I said hesitantly.  "Except I don't think there was anything sincere about it."  I explained what Savannah had said.

"I hate her," Lauren spat.  "She definitely wasn't sincere."

I dropped Lauren off and went home.  Talking to Savannah had made me miss Brody even more than I already did.  I looked at my phone.  It was almost 8:30, so 10:30 in Miami.  He had respected what I said about not knowing if I wanted him to call me, and I decided I was ready to talk to him.  I found him in my contacts and hit send before I could change my mind.

He answered on the second ring.  "Liv, hi," he said, sounding surprised.  "How are you?"

"Hi," I said back.  "I'm...good."

"It's good to hear from you," he said, after a pause.

"How are things going down there?" I asked awkwardly.  He told me he was busy and he was working 12 hour days most of the time.  He said that his dad was driving him hard but the person they'd chosen to replace the fired manager was doing well so far.  He asked about my job, and I filled him in on the new people we'd hired.  He yawned as I was talking.

"You sound tired," I said.  "I can let you go.  I just wanted to say hi."

"No," he said.  "I'm okay, we can talk a little longer if you want."

"I should go too though.  I have a few things to do before bed." I didn't, but this conversation was so painfully awkward I couldn't even handle it anymore.

We said goodbye and I hung up.  I sat and stared at the dark screen of my phone for a few minutes before getting up and walking into my kitchen to wash some dishes.


On Saturday, Kinsley and Lauren and I went out.  We made it all the way from the door up to the bar before a couple guys started talking to us.  Turns out there were 4 of them total, and they bought our drinks.  They invited us to their table.  Lauren shot me a covert, questioning look, and I gave her a small nod.  We followed them to their table.

We found out that two of them were local college students that were way too young for us, but the other two were one of the student's older brother and his friend.  The older brother's name was Dave and he was actually really cute.  He was paying quite a bit of attention to me, and surprisingly, I didn't mind.  Lauren pulled me to the bathroom with her and asked me about him.  "He's cute," I said, "but you know I don't do that whole random hookup thing.  And he's not from around here, so that's what it would be."

"You totally need some rebound sex," she said.  "You should just go for it.  He even has a hotel room, so it's not like you have to go to some skeezy college apartment!"  I rolled my eyes and walked out of the bathroom.  She followed, still prattling on about it. 

When we got back, Dave smiled.  "Do you need another drink?  I'm going up to the bar."  I walked with him, and when he put his hand on my back, I didn't move away.  He bought me another drink and we stood up at the bar for a couple minutes.  "Are you from around here?" he asked me.

"Recent transplant from Wisconsin," I replied.  I told him about my move, and he told me about Oregon, where he and his brother were from.  We walked slowly back to the table, his hand still on my back.  When we got back to the table, I sat next to him, and he put his arm around the back of my chair.  Kinsley caught my eye and mouthed "Rebound sex!" and nodded.  I shook my head.  Not her too.

By the end of the night, we had spent our entire time there with the table of guys.  As we walked out, Dave asked me if I wanted to join him for a bit, and I surprised myself (and Lauren and Kinsley, I'm sure) by saying yes.  His hotel was just a couple blocks away, and after seeing Lauren and Kinsley into a cab, we walked over to it.  As we walked, he grabbed my hand, and it almost felt normal.

In his room, he surveyed the mini-bar and offered me a drink.  I accepted, hoping it would calm my nerves.  I sat down on the small couch in the room with my drink.  He came and sat next to me.

"You're so beautiful," he said, putting his hand on my knee.  I took a big gulp of my drink, and then set the glass to the side.  His hand was making its way slowly up my leg.  He stopped when it hit the hem of my dress, and leaned forward to kiss me.

His kissing technique left a lot to be desired, and I leaned back just a little to try to discourage him from smashing my lips into his teeth.  A for enthusiasm, I guess.  By the time I got him worked into a tolerable amount of tongue, he was pawing roughly at my chest.  He pulled his lips away from mine (thank god) and began to kiss and suck on my neck, while squeezing my breasts with both hands.

I pulled away abruptly.  He looked at me strangely.  "Just a second," I said.  I jumped up and walked into the bathroom.  I shut and locked the door and stared at myself in the mirror.  And this is why I don't do this shit, I thought to myself.  I took a deep breath and smoothed my hair.  I walked out of the bathroom, and back over to the couch.  Dave had moved to the bed, and seemed to have lost all his clothes along the way.

"Over here, gorgeous," he said.  I slipped my shoes on and grabbed my purse.

"I'm sorry, I can't do this," I said, hurrying towards the door.

"Huh?" he said.  "What the fuck, Olivia?"

"I'm sorry," I said again, and walked out of the room.  I skipped the elevator and took the stairs down the 5 floors.  When I got out to the street, I was glad to see an empty cab idling near the curb.  I got in and gave the driver my address. 

I was relieved to walk through the door into my townhome.  I locked it and walked up to my room, texting Lauren and Kinsley as I went,  "That's the last time I let you guys talk me into rebound sex!"