Abort! Abort! What the fuck are you doing?
Mr. Rossi’s dark eyes brightened. “Perfect. Why don’t you start after Christmas? Maybe the day after?”
Was it really Christmastime? How’d I lose track of that?
“Uh, yeah sure. Thanks.” What the hell did I just agree to?
“Good. See you then.”
I nodded once and had turned toward the door when Mr. Rossi’s deep voice called out again.
“Jesse?”
I turned. “Yes, sir?”
“Rocky’s had an amazing life so far. She’s good.”
“She always was,” I agreed.
He nodded. “And I’d like to keep her that way. Don’t drag her down again. Don’t make me regret hiring you, capisce?”
“Yeah.”
Chapter 15
Christmas was just another day to me. No gifts, no cheer, just a phone call from Dad and a wave of a hand from Mom. I spent the day locked up inside my old room watching a marathon of A Christmas Story and chomping on Doritos. It wasn’t too bad of a day. I mean, I was never a big Christmas person anyway. It wasn’t as if it was a huge holiday for the Tyler family to begin with. Besides, what I was really looking forward to was the day after. The day I’d be seeing her.
The air was icy that morning, sharp with an electric bite. The streets were empty and still, as if everyone was still locked up indoors, hungover from the holiday’s festivities. The drive through the silent town further revved up my already strained nerves. Was it excitement? Fear? I wasn’t sure, but I knew I’d soon find out.
I sat in my car for longer than I cared to admit staring at the entrance of Rossi’s Novelties. The building was a lot bigger than I remembered and was caked in ice and slushy snow. Along with its garlands and wreaths, it reminded me of those toy houses that were often used as store displays around the holidays.
“What am I doing here?” I paused on the rubber mat, just inches from the sliding door. “What the heck am I going to say to her? I’m sorry for ignoring you all these years, but I loved you enough to let you go?”
Knowing I couldn’t just stay posted outside, I took one last breath and pushed the glass door open. Part of me hoped to sneak inside undetected, but alas, the three silver bells tied to the door handle thought otherwise. I winced as they clanged loudly against one another.
“Fucking bells.” I sighed and ripped off my gloves, taking a look at the store—or rather a warehouse. “Huh, guess they’ve done pretty well for themselves since I’ve been gone.”
It was like a fucking maze to walk through, but I wasn’t complaining. Taking my time, I navigated through the aisles of random merchandise looking for the elusive counter. Passing furry blankets, diapers, spatulas—and whoa, is that a shirt for dogs?—I bit back my laughter eyeing the odd merchandise. Rossi’s Novelties was definitely a bad name for the store. They should have called it “Things You Didn’t Know You Needed.” Seriously, the place was like a hoarder’s dream.
Glancing at a collection of neon colored building blocks, I rounded the corner and felt the wind knock out of me. I felt as if I had walked into the middle of a dream.
“Rocky.” My heart felt like a gigantic beating drum. After years of wondering how she was doing, there she stood, looking like the angel I remembered, except something was off about her…she looked different, and she was staring right at me.
“Jesse, there you are!” Mr. Rossi’s gruff voice greeted me as he gestured for me to join them at the cash wrap. He shot Rocky a knowing look before making his way toward me, and I swear to God his stomach jiggled with every step. Yet even his blubber wasn’t enough to distract me. I could not tear my eyes off my old friend. Her hair looked longer, darker almost. Her face was thinner and higher at the cheeks, having lost the bits of baby fat from our high school years. And her body—damn, her body—had new curves that were never there before. Though she looked as delicate and prim as ever, she was definitely a woman now. My manhood twitched at the realization.
Awkwardness would not even begin to describe how I felt at the moment, but judging from Rocky’s stiffness, she most likely felt the same way. Stumbling out of the weird pose she was strutting, she hesitantly walked toward me and threw her arms around me, and just like that I felt all the walls I had built come crashing down. She felt familiar and mysterious at the same time, and for the life of me I could not figure out why I stayed away so long…
No! Don’t get pulled in again.
Like being dunked into a tank of cold water, I was instantly jarred awake. Like a devil and angel on both sides of me, I fought an internal battle that I knew I could never win.
What the hell are you doing here? Go!
But I want—need—to be with her again.
Do you want to lose everything you worked so hard to build?
But I’m a better person now. I worked hard to get to this point to come back to her.
So you can mess her up again?
I’m far better than that now. I’m a changed person.
Is she?
Always a masochist, I knew there was no way I could avoid her. I just needed to find the right balance to make sure we wouldn’t mess each other’s lives up again.
I wasn’t sure that was possible.
Chapter 16
Rocky has a boyfriend.
Let me repeat: Rocky has a boyfriend!
So much for finding a right balance. Shock cannot begin to describe the myriad of emotions that tickled every artery, vein, and organ inside of me, though envy may be a closer word.
To make matters worse, he was a total douche! To be fair, he wasn’t as bad as I remembered Dwight to be, and sure, I guess I could kind of see where females may appreciate the mess you call his face. He looked like he could be on one of those corny TV soap operas or at the very least a pop star that adorned the postered wall of a prepubescent girl. Yet I had no idea what Rocky saw in him. She was so much better than him. Shit, even I wanted to punch him in the face the moment I laid eyes on him.
I guess guys like him always won.
After successfully dodging Rocky for the past two days—yeah, yeah, I was a chicken—I had pushed open the heavy orange door toward the breakroom for my lunch break and skidded to a stop. I felt the hinge to my jaw give way as I took in the sight in front of me. Rocky was eating lunch, but she definitely was not alone.
Perfectly coiffed blond hair, bleached white straight teeth—this dude was definitely some silver spooned prep. He caught my eye and threw me a strained smile, leaning toward Rocky protectively. “It’s okay, my man. Just having lunch with Rocky.”
I wasn’t sure if that counted as an invitation to join them. Not that I would have wanted to. I felt my eyes twitch, but tried my best to remain guarded. “I see.”
Had I not been mortified, I would have found it in myself to laugh at poor Rocky. Her eyes wide with a mouth full of lettuce, she looked as if she had just walked in on somebody receiving a blow job…most likely something she’s done before. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I pushed it away, feeling disgusted with myself. Guess I never really grew out of my jealous streak.
Somehow swallowing her mouthful of salad, she cringed slightly and said in an artificially high pitched voice, “Ethan, this is my old friend, Jesse. He just started working for us yesterday.”
Friend. Was I even that to her anymore?
Her eyes bounced wildly, looking everywhere around the room except at me. “Jesse, this is Ethan. He’s…uh….we…uh…”
Good. At least that means they’re not serious.