Page 7 of Whiskey & Honey
We are both laughing as she grabs the remote to turn on the TV and I click on the unknown number.
Unknown: I stole your number from Ash’s phone. Don’t be mad. I wanted to make sure you’re ok.
I don’t have to know who the number belongs to; I know it’s Ben. I sneak a peek to Ash and make sure she’s distracted before I respond.
Me: I have a horrible hangover but I’m okay. Ash brought me Rosa’s, all is well. Thanks for checking on me.
Learning from last night’s crapfest of texts, I turn the sound off my phone so any response doesn’t send an alert and set my phone down. Deep inside, okay not so deep just pretty much on the surface, I am giddy that he found my number. But, hos before bros and all that.
Ash and I spend the next few hours just watching television and taking the occasional cat nap. By mid-day I can feel the tension mounting and am bracing myself for the moment Ash hits me with the Ben confrontation. When she gets up to use the restroom, I grab my phone to check for texts. I see a few more from Tony – delete. Then I notice three from the unknown number, which I quickly change from “unknown” to “B,” then click on the text icon.
Ben: Rosa’s. Jealous. I just had a bowl of cereal and wheat toast. Not even a comparison.
2 minutes later:
Ben: I should be sorry about last night but I’m not.
Ben: Sorry about that. Pretend this never happened.
Of course he’s sorry. No matter how far I’ve come I’m still Piper Lawrence, frizzy-haired chubby best friend of Ben’s little sister. Regardless of how much time has passed and how much we’ve aged, he is still Bentley Sullivan and completely and utterly unattainable. But, for a brief moment, I allow myself an opportunity to imagine a life where a Bentley Sullivan wants more than a bar kiss with a Piper Lawrence. I grant myself that daydream knowing good and well it’ll never happen.
“What has you looking all dreamy?”
I’m startled by Ashton’s voice as she throws herself on the couch next to me and tosses me a water.
“Nothing,” I say, shaking my head. “Just a one of those hot guys with a cat meme. You know hot guys don’t have cats. I’m bored and could stand getting out of here, how about it?”
“Uh sure, but a quick talk? First, how are you holding up with this Tony bullshit? My offer still stands to cut off his balls.”
I smile and nudge Ash with my foot. “Ha-ha, I think we should leave his balls alone. Oh my God! Do you thinking he’s been having sex with the girls he finds on that site? What if … what if he has a disease?” The last part comes out almost a whisper. I hadn’t thought about that. Crap.
“Oh, Piper, I don’t know. He’s obviously a lying bastard so we should probably get you to the clinic. Sorry, babe. I know its borderline inappropriate but I kind of told you. Remember how Tony was in high school? He was a total man-whore.” I offer her a raised brow and begin to reply. “Yeah, yeah, I know,” she says as she waves her hand in the air dismissively. “He’s not a good guy. Remember what a dick he was to Ben?”
I do remember. I hated the way Tony was toward Ben. Even though Ashton and I were only in school a year at the same time as Ben and Tony, I knew enough from spending my free time at the Sullivan’s’ that the rivalry between Tony and Ben was epic. Competitive by nature, the guys were always competing for a starting position. The rivalry only intensified when Ben and his high school sweetheart, Claire, were nominated for homecoming king and queen every year. Tony hated all of the attention good-guy Ben received. I have to give Tony some credit though, while he was obviously not putting my feelings first when he was off canoodling with girls from that dating site, he never said one negative thing about Ben while were together. He knows how important the Sullivan family is to me. Plus, I think he was a little scared of Ashton and didn’t want to piss her off by talking smack about her brother.
So, yes, I certainly remember. “And?” I ask. She looks at me, confused. “You said first, which implies there are more points to make.”
“I hate when you get all teachery on me. Fine, and my brother shouldn’t have kissed you like that and I’m sorry. I know how disgusting that must have been. I’ll have a talk with him and make sure that never happens again. God, what a jerk. I swear, that’s what he gets for hanging out with Jameson Strauss. Talk about man-whore. That guy is disgusting and I bet his dick falls off one day.”
I do love when Ashton gets riled up about Jameson. That girl has been crushing on Jameson about as long as I’ve crushed on Bentley. Jameson has never seen Ash as anything other than Ben’s little sister and it drives her nuts. When we were in high school and Ben was gone, Ash hoped that was her chance at putting the moves on Jameson, but he rejected her at every turn. Personally, I think that Jameson hasn’t given Ash the time of day because he may actually like her. Ashton is challenging and that is something Jameson doesn’t experience often. No, Jameson usually has girls flinging their panties at him like he’s a rock god. Which, by the way, he isn’t. If there is one thing Jameson Strauss lacks, it’s a singing voice. But, like she said, man-whore. I don’t think there’s a girl in this town Jameson hasn’t spent time with.
“Umm, well…” Do I dare say anything? “So, maybe it wasn’t so bad,” I say rapidly as I stand up and slide my feet into a pair of flip-flops and head toward the door.
“Whoa. What now? It wasn’t so bad? Do you mean you liked it? You liked kissing my brother?” The squeak in her voice stops me and I turn toward her. Her eyes are so big they look like little green saucers and her mouth is formed into some sort of grimace that is slightly laced with exasperation and very laced with horror.
“What? No, of course not. I didn’t like kissing your brother.” I see the tension leave her face and eventually her shoulders. Relief. I see relief in her previously shocked eyes. I don’t dare tell Ashton that I actually loved kissing her brother. That a kiss from Bentley Sullivan set my soul on fire as easily as it triggered something in my lady parts I’ve never experienced. Yeah, it’s probably best I keep that to myself.
“I just mean, well, it wasn’t awful. So, you know, don’t make a big deal about it, okay? Let it go. It was a drunken night. I just found out about Tony and he just moved back. Hey, maybe someone saw and word will get back to Tony I moved on or something. You should be thanking your brother!”
I know Ashton Marie Sullivan better than I probably know myself. I know when she’s assessing and in this moment her assessment is about to blow my nonchalant attitude out of the water. I offer her a raised brow and a slight smirk to show I’m not taking this kissing thing too serious. She smiles and heads my way.
“Thank goodness, because that shit cannot happen again. It not only grossed me out, causing me to have really bad dreams about you and my brother making babies, but it’s just bad news. It was just wrong on so many levels.” She dramatically shudders as she walks passed me and heads down the stairs. I love that girl, but now I can’t get that visual out of my mind as I lock the door. Before I turn toward the stairs my phone vibrates.
Ben: I’ve thought about it. I’m not sorry. Can we meet?
How do I respond to this and not completely ruin my friendship with Ashton? I shouldn’t respond. I should let it go. It’s true what I said to Ashton, it was just a kiss. Bentley doesn’t know the depth of my childhood crush. He probably just wants to clear the air so it’s not awkward. Nothing major is brewing; this is just friends. Totally just friends. Friends meet for coffee.
Me: Come by my place tonight. 8pm
Ben: Can’t wait. 8pm
Sometimes a girl has to throw caution to the wind and hope the wind doesn’t blow her away.