Uninvolved Read online

  #

  It had been over a month since her sleep over at Nate's, and while they still had not had traditional sex, Nate did seem to trust her. They were still emailing all the time at work. It was fun and flirty, but she still wanted more. It was so hard for her to understand why he was so distant in person.

  How was your weekend?

  Good. Yours?

  Alright. Got stuck helping a buddy move.

  That sux!

  It did. Solid wood furniture. I'm still sore.

  Need a backrub? ;)

  God, that sounds good.

  And it might rain soon!

  Huh?

  So I've always had this fantasy about getting busy in the rain.

  Sounds messy.

  You don't think that it would be hot?

  If you're there that's a given.

  Suck up!

  Even though they emailed all of the time, Nate had no idea she was still seeing Kyle or how serious it had gotten. Well serious for Kyle at least. Becka's feelings were the same. Kyle, on the other hand, had finally told her he loved her…LOVED HER.

  And even though she did not mean it the way he did, she said it back. It was almost an out of body experience where she watched dumbfounded as she said it, but the look on Kyle's face was so wonderful. It made him so happy. Becka told herself it was just mean to have someone tell you they love you and not say it back. Kyle deserved a girlfriend who loved him back, and even though Becka didn’t mean it when she said it, she still felt as though she was doing Kyle a favor.

  But, she knew she would eventually hurt Kyle. Becka kinda wanted to break up with him. She just was building up the nerve to do it. Where had her superpower gone? This used to be so easy for her. Becka wondered if the reason she was hanging onto Kyle was because she wasn’t feeling validated by Nate. With Kyle, it was clear how much he cared about her. He loved her. Becka was just stuck wishing that it was Nate who felt that way instead. Part of her had just hoped Kyle would meet someone else and breakup with her. That way, she wouldn’t have to actually do anything. That night, Kyle was working but Dave wasn’t, so she fessed up to him. He was friends with Kyle and maybe he knew a way she could let him down easily.

  "That's so low, Becks," he said afterward.

  "I know. I feel awful. I just can't change the way I feel," Becka groaned.

  "You can not string him along anymore." Dave headed towards the back patio, and Becka got up to follow him.

  "What should I do?"

  "You got yourself into this mess. You need to get yourself out of it. But soon, or I'll tell him."

  "You would not," Becka said, freaking out.

  "Fuck, yeah. I will. I work with him, and I think he is a good guy, Becks"

  Dave had never been this pissed at her. Feeling uncomfortable, Becka got up to go back inside.

  "Come here," Dave said, pulling her into a hug. "You are my girl, so I have your back, but for your own good you need to take care of this."

  "I know," Becka said, sniffling. Dave gave good hugs.

  Becka was not used to Dave ever being this upset with her. It was so hard to make everyone understand how Nate made her feel. The Kyle part was even harder to explain. It was like he filled the spaces Nate left empty. She knew what she was doing was wrong but couldn’t seem to stop herself. What happened to the superpower Lucy had claimed she had so long ago?

  Why couldn’t she break up with Kyle? Making her mind up that she could do it, Becka convinced Dave to be her Kyle stand in while she tried out different ways of possible break ups. If she could go through with it, her plan was to try and do it his next night off. It was not for another three days, so she tortured herself until then.

  She called Lilly and talked everything over with her as well. Lilly didn’t think she should break up with Kyle at all. Her reason behind this was that as far as she knew they weren’t technically exclusive, and Lilly knew this was the longest relationship of any kind Becka had been in since high school. Becka had planned to go over to his place because she thought it would be easier to just leave when things got uncomfortable instead of having to get Kyle to leave if he was at her house. When she ran this by Lucy and Crystal, it was Lucy who suggested they instead meet somewhere neutral.

  They talked and texted like normal in the mean time, and Becka started getting cold feet about breaking up with Kyle. She wondered if it had to be so final. Maybe she could talk him into a friends with benefits type relationship. While she herself would be all for it, she was pretty sure Kyle would still want more.

  She ended up going over to Kyle's apartment. The moment he opened the door, she chickened out. Kyle was just so easy to be around. He had this constant contentment that was contagious. Even when Becka was moody, he always knew what to do to cheer her up. On top of that, they had become so compatible sexually, which was important to her.

  Instead of breaking up with him, Becka ended up snuggling on the couch and watching a movie with him. Becka didn’t feel like a coward for not going through with it. She felt like maybe she was being rash and foolish to consider it in the first place. Maybe she could slowly wean herself off of Nate, and no one would be the wiser. Yeah, Dave had said he would tell Kyle, but she was sure that was just to scare her. After their movie, Becka and Kyle went to the mall to grab dinner and shop.

  Even though it was only April, in Phoenix it was already absurdly hot, which meant Becka would be either in her air conditioned car, house, or office, or at the pool. Since she had not broken up with Kyle, she now had a boyfriend with an apartment in a complex that had a pool. It would be stupid to break up with him before she had the chance to use his pool. After they ate, she dragged him to help her pick out a couple of new bikinis.

  Kyle was so cute in the store, picking out the most modest suits he could find for her to try on. She arched a brow at him letting him know she was hip to his game. It was his subtle way of not wanting guys to check her out. Kyle was the type of guy to not get outwardly jealous.

  Becka ended up meeting him halfway. She bought one black, high-waisted, one-piece suit and two only semi-scandalous bikinis, one yellow and the other white.

  "Are you sure you don’t want this one?" Kyle asked, holding up a full piece swimsuit with an almost knee length skirt attached as Becka waited in line.

  "Why don’t you buy that one for your mom, sweetie."

  "It was worth a shot." Kyle came to stand behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

  Becka smiled and looked back at him when something caught her eye. She stiffened in his arms as she watched someone who looked exactly like Nate walk into a store opposite of the one they were in. A series of questions raced through her mind. Did he see me? What is he doing here? How do I get out of here without him seeing us? Kyle gently motioned her forward when a cash register opened up.

  "Will this be all?"

  Why do they always ask that?

  "Um, yeah, thanks."

  "Did you want to sign up for our mailing list? You get amazing coupons and notifications of our sales."

  Yuck. Junk email. "I'm good. Thanks."

  Once Becka paid and had her bag, she lied to Kyle and said her stomach hurt, and she'd like to go back to his place. Kyle was so sweet. He carried her bag and walked her to his car. On the way back to his house, he offered to stop and buy her Tums, but Becka's stomach was miraculously healed. They still stopped but to pick out a DVD from a mobile vending machine. Since Kyle was not working that evening, she would spend the night at his place and lounge around his pool on Sunday.

  Chapter 10

  It was easy to fall into a comfortable rhythm with Kyle. On nights that he was not working, it was a given that she was spending the night at his place where in the past it would be a tossup between their places. Becka no longer needed to pack a bag when she was coming over since she had spares of most things there, including a key. On weekends, whether he was working or not, she usually still came by to use the pool.

  Becka, dur
ing one of her calls with Lilly, confessed that maybe she was more into with Kyle than she thought after all.

  "Still emailing that Nate guy?"

  Becka cringed.

  "Still there?"

  "Mm hmm."

  "Did you hear my question?"

  "Mm hmm."

  "Well, just so you know, I think that answers it."

  "But Kyle is a really nice guy."

  "I'm sure he is, Becka, but come on. Be a little realistic here."

  "I want to like him."

  "I don’t believe that."

  "Why not?"

  "Alright. You aren’t going to like this, but in my personal opinion, you are insulating yourself from Nate, not reciprocating your feelings."

  "Ouch."

  "Am I wrong?"

  "I don’t' know."

  "You always sucked at admitting when I'm right."

  "When— whatever. You’re right. Feel better?"

  "God, Becka, I didn’t mean to piss you off."

  "No, I'm sorry. It's me. I am a sucky, rotten person."

  "Becka."

  "I am."

  "You are not. Yes, you are doing a sucky thing right now. That does not make you a sucky person."

  "Promise?"

  "Promise."

  "Thanks, Lil."

  "Anytime, but I gotta go. Love you."

  "Love you more."

  "I really hate when you do that."

  "I know."

  Becka ended the call and checked the time on her phone. Becka had spent the night at Kyle's and was waiting for him to get off of work. Once a month, they would go over to his parents’ house for dinner, and it was easier to get there from his place. Becka really liked Kyle's mom. It wasn’t unheard of for Kyle's mom to call Becka directly if she needed something. Becka was even planning on meeting up with his mom later that day to go shopping together for a birthday present for Kyle. He was turning twenty-five and his parent's wanted to plan a party for him and were including Becka in the planning.

  When he got home from work, he showered then pulled her to bed. Becka loved how, even though they had been seeing each other for months, Kyle still couldn’t keep his hands off of her. Becka napped with him but woke up hours before Kyle since she had gotten enough rest the night before. She went into the living room to read.

  Becka had moved past the cold feet she had experienced in her relationship with Kyle. She was content with how everything was going and had not seen Nate since she spent the night at his house. They still talked over email, but she had been doing a pretty good job at keeping their conversations tame. Becka felt some guilt towards Nate in the fact that she had omitted telling him the she was still seeing Kyle. She used the excuse that the topic had not come up.

  #

  The doorbell pulled Becka from her thoughts. Since she lived closer to the mall, Kyle's mom was picking her up for their shopping trip. Becka gave his mom advice on what shirts or pants she thought he would like and a couple DVDs. They stopped in the food court for salads.

  As they ate, Mrs. Wyrick jokingly asked Becka to convince Kyle to lose the lip ring.

  "No way. That’s your battle," Becka laughed in response. "Besides, I think it is cute."

  Hi mother gave her a look like “oh no, not you too” and, smiling, shook her head saying, "I'll never understand it."

  "I'll bet there was something you did that your parent's didn’t understand about you."

  "You make a good point. What about you Becka? What is the thing that your parents don’t understand about you?"

  "Where to start?" Becka laughed. "For my mom, it's probably that I'm not married yet. My older sister was already married at my age."

  "Do you ever want—"

  Becka waved her off. "I have no idea, but I know for sure I'm not ready right now."

  By the end of their shopping trip, Kyle's mom had bought him three shirts, two pairs of jeans, and two DVDs. Becka bought him some cologne and a baseball hat. She would have to come back to the mall another day to pick up the other half of his gift. She had wanted to buy some really hot lingerie to wear for him, but there was no way she was going to be doing that around his mother.

  Kyle's birthday was on a Friday, and he had managed to get the night off. The plan was to go have dinner at his parents’ house, but what he did not know was his parents and Becka were inviting a bunch of his friends over as well. His mother handled inviting all of his high school friends while Becka invited some of his coworkers, including Dave and some of their other friends.

  They were not planning on having a big crowd, maybe twenty people total. Becka was bummed when Dave told her he could not get the night off. Becka had wished he could be there but understood. That day, Becka went straight from work to his apartment. He was watching TV in the living room. Becka gave him a quick kiss on the cheek then ran to the bedroom to change. She threw her work clothes back on top of the sexy outfit she bought for him. After checking her makeup and shaking out her hair, Becka walked back into the living room to give him a private show.

  She started by standing directly in front of him, blocking his line of sight to the TV. Leaning over him to pick up the remote, she kissed him and then used her teeth to gently tug on his lip ring before straightening back up. She changed the channel to a smooth R&B station and set the remote back down.

  Now with his full attention and a background beat she could work with, Becka slowly began unbuttoning her dress shirt while doing her best Marilyn-esque Happy Birthday solo. Once her impromptu strip tease had ended with a pile of her work clothes by her feet, Becka stood in front of him in his real birthday present.

  Becka had chosen a hot pink teddy with black rosettes and matching garters that clipped to her sheer black stockings. She straddled Kyle and eased herself down onto his lap. Becka could feel how hard he was through his sweats and the thin material of her thong. She moved against him, causing him to groan as his hands flexed and squeezed her ass.

  Becka yelped as he swooped her up and then laid her down across the sofa, covering her with his body. Kyle kissed her sweetly before he grinned and stood, taking off first his shirt, then his pants before laying back down on her.

  "Happy Birthday, babe," Becka whispered in his ear afterward.

  "Best birthday ever," Kyle laughed, kissing her neck.

  "Don’t get too comfortable," she mumbled. "I want to hop in the shower before we go to your parents’ house."

  Kyle got up so she could shower and then showered himself as she did her hair and makeup.

  Becka wore a simple sundress with wide navy and white stripes, paired with lime shoes and a matching clutch. Kyle wore beige slacks and a blue polo. Becka smiled at his choice. He knew that was her favorite shirt. She always remarked on how the blue made his blue eyes pop.

  Kyle shook his head at the bundle of balloons tied to his parents’ mailbox.

  “It’s like what a parent would do for a kid's party,” he said.

  Becka tried in vain to cover her laugh but seeing how close Kyle was with his folks made Becka feel homesick. Sure, she kept up with her mom on Facebook and spoke to Lilly frequently, but it wasn't the same thing as seeing them in person. This visit to Kyle's folks’ house was also going to be the first time she would be meeting his younger sister, Robin.

  Fifteen minutes later, Kyle grabbed her hand to pull her towards the door."My sister just got here."

  Becka turned to see a very pretty blonde walk in on the arm of none other than Nate.

  "Happy Birthday, bro," the blonde said, pulling Kyle into a hug.

  "Thanks, Robin," he said and then pulled Becka to his side. "I want you to meet my girlfriend, Becka."

  "I have heard so much about you," Robin said, pulling Becka into a hug.

  Becka's eyes flashed to Nate's as she said. "It is so nice to finally meet you."

  "This is my friend, Nate," Robin said. "We used to play on the same soccer team."

  Becka felt so strange shaking Nate's hand in fro
nt of Kyle. It felt like he held her hand a beat longer than needed. He looked confused, then angry or maybe disappointed, she couldn't tell. Even now, here with Kyle all she wanted was for Nate to pull her into his arms. God, he looked good in his black slacks and crisp grey dress shirt. Embarrassed, Becka did her best to avoid his eyes. Becka watched Lucy's eyes widen with shock when she and Curt walked in and saw the four of them standing together.

  "Happy Birthday, Kyle" she said, handing him a gift and then nodded towards Becka. When Kyle went to set the gift in another room, Lucy grabbed Becka's hand and pulled her outside.

  "What is Nate doing here?" Lucy gasped.

  "He knows Kyle's sister. Oh my God, this is bad. This is so so bad. What am I going to do?" Becka asked, freaking out.

  "There goes the whole not telling him you had a boyfriend thing," Lucy grimaced.

  They went back inside, and Becka did her best to avoid Nate. It clearly did not work.

  "Hey, kid."

  He was standing behind her. Becka turned, slowly raising her eyes to his.

  "So how long have you and Kyle been dating, Becka?" Nate asked coolly.

  "Don’t even go there, Nate," Becka huffed, turning to leave.

  "Wait. Don’t go," he breathed.

  "I can't even wrap my brain around you being here tonight," Becka whispered.

  "How are you all getting along?" Robin asked, joining them.

  "Oh fine," Becka mumbled.

  "Turns out," Nate began, "that Becka and I work for the same company. I thought she looked familiar, so I had to come over and ask."