Page 11 of Hey Girl
“You fucked up my masterpiece,” he deadpans, holding the needle up by his side. Ohh, so that’s why her nails felt so sharp.
“Is it bad?”
He looks from me up to Sadie, eyebrows raised. “Pumpkin, would you mind going to see if we have any BLAST on hand? Clearly this poor bastard’s circuits are shorting out.”
“Hey! It’s just jetlag, I didn’t crash,” I chortle indignantly before my head swivels back to Sadie, “But a BLAST would be just amazing if it’s not too much trouble, Sadie baby.”
“Of course,” she gives me a warm nod before rising from her stool and I look back to find Leo rolling his eyes.
“How bad is it?” I ask.
“Not terrible,” he sighs, sounding frank. “But one of your panther’s whiskers is crooked. Makes him look a little psycho.”
“Sweet.”
He turns to refill his ink. “So what had you all mushy-gushy in your sleep just n-”
“Dude, I am crushing hard!” I snap my head up to answer the question that hadn’t fully made its way out of his mouth. “Her name is Rebecca and she’s so pretty and cute and weird and my brain is completely fixated on her and…just…gaaaaaah!”
It’s too easy to go off on a tangent about Rebecca, giving him the rundown of how we met with her and her amazing work, finishing, of course, with our elevator ride.
“Plenty of girls like that around,” Leo mumbles as he wipes away some excess ink. “What makes you all ga-ga over this one?”
“You know, I don’t know…” I answer truthfully. But this is currently my favorite fun brain teaser. “She’s nothing like me at all. She looked like she wanted nothing more than to live under a rock like a cute little hermit, but she was out and about, showing us her beautiful designs even though it was hard for her.”
“And?” Leo raises his sexy scarred eyebrow in playful challenge like we’re at a fucking slumber party.
“And … it felt good to slow my roll for a minute and be patient with her,” I feel my eyebrows slant towards each other as I contemplate this out loud. “And making her smile in the elevator was great. It made me want to find out more. She’s…interesting.”
“Whoa,” my buddy leans back in surprise.
“What?”
“You’re telling me you’re interested in a girl because she’s actually interesting?”
“As opposed to…?”
“Her ability to fill a bra to overflowing, drink you under the table, break your bedsprings, and not blink when you fly off the chandelier in nothing but your whipped cream speedo?”
I frown at him.
But he’s right. All my relationships have been superficial. I’m an unpredictable, loose cannon extremist, and my dating philosophy to this point has been if you can hang with me then we can hang together.
Tatiana fell nicely under that umbrella immediately when we met at a celebrity wrestling match for charity, and she twisted me up like a pretzel and ensnared me in the ropes. Who knew that crazy, hardcore lady wrestler had a soft side though? I never expect any of these ladies to get attached, let alone her. And unfortunately, her soft side quickly translated to unstable, obsessive, and vicious.
Rebecca, on the other hand, doesn’t look like she wants to get attached to anyone, which certainly takes the pressure off…but there’s more than that. Jack and Matt are both paired off; maybe it could be time for me to find out what the fuss is about. If I’m even capable of what they have. And Rebecca is the first woman to strike that chord of interest with me. Having a blast together is one thing. But seeing someone smile because of you?
Wow.
And how addictive to have that person be a smart and creative soul who has so much to offer. So much I could learn from her that doesn’t involve an adrenaline rush followed by a caffeine crash.
The more I think about her, the more I want to see her again and see what else I can find out, and what other happy reactions I can get out of her.
It’s settled. The moment I’m back, I’m getting in touch with her, and in a way that makes her think I’m great.
That’ll give me something to plot on the plane back to America.
Okay,so I couldn’t wait. I’m still in Leo’s studio as he lubes up my new tat when I pull up my beloved managers’ contact on my phone. Ron snorts as he picks up the line.