Uninvolved Read online

  What time do you want to come over?

  She put her head in her hands. Weak, weak, weak. Dumb, dumb, dumb. She was like this when Lucy walked up and, after showing her the emails, Lucy had to agree with her.

  "What is wrong with me?" Becka groaned.

  "You're not very bright," Lucy replied solemnly.

  "Way to sugarcoat it, asshole" Becka said, then stuck out her tongue.

  "It's a gift, I know. So, want me to write him back and tell him he's uninvited?"

  Becka chewed her lips and shook her head. Lucy rolled her eyes and went back to her desk.

  Dave was working Friday night, so she decided it would be best not to tell him Nate was coming over. She did not want it inadvertently getting back to Kyle. Nate had a soccer game that night and would be coming over after. He had first planned to go home and shower, but Becka admitted it might be hot to see him all sweaty. Besides, he could always use her shower.

  There had been no talk of going out. At first, this bothered her until she admitted to herself she really just wanted his body. But was that true? They had emailed every work day, all day, for almost a month now. She loved his sense of humor but also the fact that it always felt like they had something to say to one another.

  She had taken her time getting ready. He had an evening game, so she had time to kill. After showering, agonizing over what to wear, and doing her hair and makeup, she read. When she heard the doorbell, she jumped up and then straightened her skirt before opening the door.

  There he was, just being all hot and stuff. He had changed into normal sneakers but otherwise still had on his soccer stuff. Black shorts that showed off his muscular calves and a blue tank that made his hazel eyes seem almost green. He had a gym bag slung over his shoulder with probably a change of clothes inside.

  Dropping his bag in her foyer, he studied her with his mouth open. She was wearing a black bustier with black lace and pink ribbon details and a short black lace skirt. She had used rollers in her brown hair and was rocking big Victoria Secret style curls. Her makeup was mainly simple except for her eyes which she had done smoky. All of this could have been why Nate was looking like he was about to have a stroke, but Becka thought what really did it were her what Dave affectionately called her “fuck me” high-heeled black leather boots.

  He brought his fist up to his mouth, biting the knuckle of his index finger and shook his head at her. Becka shrugged like “what?” knowing full well what she was doing to him. We'll see if you leave in the middle of the night again, she mused to herself. Turning, she walked into the living room, and he mutely followed her. Seeing a throw pillow on the ground, she sauntered slowly over it and, with her back to Nate, slowly bent from the waist down to pick it up. When she straightened back up and tossed it onto the sofa, Becka turned back to Nate. He seemed to be using the back of the sofa for support.

  "Want a drink?" she asked coyly.

  He nodded.

  She went to move past him to go into the kitchen when he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. Nate kissed her soundly, grinding his hips against hers. Becka's hands rose to his arms. She could feel how turned on he was. It made her feel powerful. Breaking their kiss, she moved to kiss his neck, tasting him. He smelled so musky. His sweat mixed with his cologne. It was almost primal.

  After taking a deep breath, he said, "You look so fucking hot right now."

  She gently bit his ear and then pulled away to go and get him a beer. Feeling a bit nervous, she decided she could use one as well. He walked over to lean on the kitchen bar as she grabbed a bottle opener for their drinks.

  They each took a long swig before Nate said, "I feel gross. Is it still okay if I shower?"

  "Do you have to? I'm kinda digging the sweat."

  "Another time, when you are all sweaty too." He pulled her to him and smelled her hair. "Man, driving over here I was thinking how hot it would be if you took one with me, but I changed my mind ‘cause you look too good right now, and I want to take my time getting that get-up off of you."

  Becka bit her lips, half angry she was going to miss out on a shower with him and half excited by what he was going to do to her.

  Nate carried his duffle bag to her room before hopping into the shower. She lay, waiting, on her bed. When Nate walked in with his skin glistening from the shower and only a towel wrapped around his waist, she had to control herself from drooling. At this moment, Becka really didn’t care if he didn’t want to spend the night. She just wanted him.

  "Here, stand up," he said, reaching out his hand to help her off of the bed.

  He sat down on the edge of her bed and positioned Becka with her back facing him in front of him.

  "Can you bend over again? Like you did before."

  She slowly stretched her arms down, keeping her legs straight and went to touch her toes.

  "You seriously have an incredible ass," he said, running his hands down her backside and then up and down the backs of her legs. When his hands grazed over the ticklish spot on the backs of her knees, she jumped, giving him a “not funny” look while he lifted his hands and did his best to look innocent. Becka reached for her beer and took another deep drink. Nate did the same with his own. Setting her drink back down, she took his from him as well and came to sit next to him. Nate pulled her legs up onto his lap and unzipped and removed each of her boots, telling her they were hot but the heels looked dangerous.

  Becka scooted back closer to the head of her bed and lied back against her pillows. She tugged on his arm to join her. Doing his best to keep his towel intact, he stretched out next to her. She muffed her hands into his slightly damp hair and pulled his face to hers. He was a great kisser, but she wanted more. She moved her hand to his towel, but he stopped her, explaining that she was the one wearing too much. Becka lifted her hips as he slid her skirt off.

  Now clad only in her bustier and a thong, Becka reached for his towel again. He still stopped her. This time, she pouted, which made Nate laugh. He tugged on her bottom lip, making her laugh too. She stopped laughing when he asked her how she got herself off. Suddenly very shy, Becka blushed as she mumbled that she had a bullet vibrator. When he asked her if he could watch her get off, Becka thought she was going to die.

  "Um, why would I have to, ah, take care of myself if you are here?" she asked curiously.

  "I just think it would be really sexy to watch," he replied.

  "I don’t know. I've never had someone watch me do it before."

  "Maybe another time," Nate said, standing. He pulled her up onto her knees, facing him.

  Her bustier practically served her breasts on a platter.

  "I am really digging this top," Nate said, cupping and squeezing her through the material. Becka responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his mouth to hers. He moved his hands from her breasts to her ass, pressing her against him and grinding his hips against hers. She broke their kiss and moved, kissing his neck, towards his chest. She licked one of his nipples then playfully bit it.

  Nate groaned, pulling Becka back up to him. He turned her around and undid the hooks of her bustier. Once she was free of it, he turned Becka to face him and resumed kissing her. Not long after that, he liberated Becka of her of her thong as well. Now that he was the overdressed party, she was successful in getting him sans towel. About time, Becka thought to herself, moving to reach for a condom when Nate instead pushed her back until she was laying down and moved his kisses lower, much lower.

  Becka lay back against her pillows and held her breath. Oh Lord, she thought to herself. This would not help her learn to forget Nate. In fact, whatever he was doing down there felt so good it may permanently etch him onto her being. Afterward, Becka pulled herself up, trying to concentrate on steadying her breathing. Raising his eyes to hers, Nate grinned at her expression. Blushing, Becka covered her face with a pillow. Not feeling him anymore, Becka peeked from out from under the pillow, her mouth dropping open as she watched him pull on a pair
of jeans.

  "What are you doing?" Becka asked.

  "I have to get going," Nate replied.

  Not again! "Why don’t you stay?" Becka urged.

  He shrugged, saying that he had to get up early the next day and that would be easier from his house. Becka finished her beer and put on her robe, following him to the door.

  "Thanks for the beer, kid," he said, kissing her neck.

  Becka nodded, shutting the door behind him. She really might actually hate him this time. How could someone who only seemed singularly focused on her when he was with her make her feel so used? Walking back to her room, she threw on an old t-shirt and some yoga pants. She wanted to go to sleep, but she couldn’t turn her brain off. She paced around her room, picking up her clothes from before and dropping them in her laundry hamper, thinking it was like fucking New Year's all over again.

  She wandered out to the kitchen and got a bottle of flavored water. Still restless, she picked up her eReader to continue a novel she was reading. Giving up after a chapter, she set it back on her bedside table and lay down, staring at her ceiling. Was there something wrong with her, she wondered.

  There was no other explanation she could think of. What confused her was why he came over at all. What was in it for him? What really frustrated her was he had somehow gotten her to like him. Here she was, finally liking someone, not that she's ever admit it, but he didn’t seem to be as interested in her as she was with him. Yes, it wasn’t like she called him or texted him, making him come to her, but how many times had it been? Three, counting the night they played cards. If he liked her, Nate should want to see her more often. The one guy that she could see herself spending time with, and it felt one-sided.

  At some point, she must have nodded off because she woke with a start, almost unsure of where she was. Glancing about, she rolled her eyes at the thought seeing that she was in her own room. Then something caught her eye. It was Nate's beer from the night before. She went over and picked it up. It was empty, but she didn’t want to throw it away. This admission embarrassed her. Either way, Becka took the empty bottle and put it on a shelf in her closet.

  Dave was already home from work but must have gone straight to bed. She felt relief in the fact that she didn't see him. Becka was feeling a bit guilty that Nate had been over last night, considering Kyle was coming over tonight. Dave had incredible bullshit radar when it came to Becka. She would never be able to fool him if he point blank asked her what she had done last night.

  Her goal was to avoid him altogether or figure out a way to divert his attention to something else. Maybe she would invite Crystal over to watch a movie that afternoon. Becka sometimes felt like an evil genius. It was after ten, so she was sure it was not too early. She sent Crystal a text seeing if she would like to come over later. While Becka waited for her to reply, she toasted a bagel and called Lilly. She didn’t answer, so Becka had to sum up the night prior in a very long voicemail. Crystal texted her back while she was eating her bagel.

  Crystal wanted to go shopping instead. Thinking maybe she could buy something cute to wear for her date, Becka was game. Crystal swung by to pick her up an hour later. Crystal was shopping with a purpose. She had a wedding to go to and wanted Becka's opinion on what to wear. After trying on countless dresses, she found one she really liked in the third store they went to.

  Thank God, Becka thought. It was fun watching Crystal try on dresses for the first thirty minutes, but after that Becka's patience was wearing thin, and she was starving. After Crystal bought her dress, they popped over to the food court. While Crystal ordered a salad, Becka dug into two slices of pizza.

  "I am so jealous that you can eat like that and still stay thin," Crystal grumbled.

  "I think eating is the one thing I am really good at," Becka joked.

  "Hey, don’t say that about yourself. You are good at lots of things."

  Like what, Becka thought to herself, and proceeded to fess up to Crystal about Nate coming over the night before. Crystal was her least judgmental friend and could keep a secret. After telling her everything, Becka waited for Crystal's verdict.

  "It's obvious that he likes you or he wouldn’t always come to you. Could he be religious? Like one of those ‘saving himself for marriage’ people?" Crystal wondered.

  "God, I hope not. I have no interest in waiting another day, let alone until marriage. Besides, if he liked me, wouldn’t he want to see me more often?" Becka grumbled.

  "Well, maybe you should ask him about it," Crystal offered.

  "And give him the chance to tell me the reason is he just does not like me like that and has no interest in sleeping with me? No, thank you."

  After lunch, they wandered around the mall some more. Becka bought a pair of dangly earrings that were little flying swallow birds and a pair of grey leather ankle boots. Instead of just dropping Becka off, Crystal went ahead and came in to hang for a bit.

  Hanging out in her room, Becka showed Crystal all of her possible outfits for her date with Kyle that night. She really wanted to wear her new shoes so, with Crystal's help, she settled on a pale yellow dress with a grey cardigan. She still had hours to kill before she needed to get ready, so she talked Crystal into staying to watch a movie after all.

  Becka ordered a romantic comedy on the TV in the living room that neither of them had seen on pay per view. Given the lack of sleep from the night before, Becka fell asleep thirty minutes into it. She woke to Crystal gently shaking her shoulder to let her know she should probably start getting ready. Becka blinked at the time on the cable box.

  "How long have I been asleep?"

  "Like three hours."

  "The movie must have ended two hours ago. What have you—?"

  Just then, Dave walked into the room, and Crystal began to blush furiously. Becka gave her a look and went to take a shower. She was curious about what Dave and Crystal had been up to while she was asleep, but she was grateful for the nap. How embarrassing would that have been if she just fell asleep on her date with Kyle? She blow-dried her hair and then changed into her dress. She kept her makeup very light, a dusting of foundation, eye shadow, mascara, a touch of blush, and lip gloss. She twisted her hair into a knot at her nape and put on a spritz of perfume.

  Chapter 6

  Kyle was prompt for their date. Dave answered the door and teased him when he saw Kyle was somewhat dressed up. He wore grey slacks and a royal blue dress shirt that really showed off his eyes. Greeting Becka with a hug and kiss on the cheek, he smacked Dave lightly on the back of the head, and they were off. Becka mentally noted that Crystal had made no move to leave when she did.

  Kyle took her to a nice steak food restaurant. They had not done much talking the last time they saw each other so they spent most of the meal getting to know each other better. Becka told him about her family back in Virginia and how she had met Dave in middle school. Dave's family moved out to Arizona before high school, but he and Becka had stayed tight. Dave talked her into going to college in Arizona. The school they went to allowed co-ed dorm sharing, so they had been roommates since then.

  So she was not from Arizona but really who was? Born and raised out East, she missed green stuff, disliked desert stuff, moved out here for school, and stayed for work. She had one big sister, and her mom and dad were still together. She also got to learn similar stuff about Kyle. He was born in Colorado and moved to Arizona while he was in high school. Kyle was also a big hockey fan. He followed the Phoenix Coyotes, who were surprisingly good given their hometown climate. That is, when they actually got to play. Kyle also had one younger sister who was still in college.

  After dinner, they went back to Becka's house. Becka had convinced him to try a Jamaican Ten Speed. It was one of her favorite mixed drinks. It was equal parts Midori, Malibu, Cream de Banana, and pineapple juice over ice with a splash of milk. Dave was playing COD, trying to ignore her drink making in the kitchen.

  It didn’t last long. Coming over, Dave jokingly said, "Woman,
prepare me a beverage."

  Becka smirked and handed him a glass of water. Dave drank it and grumbled as he walked around the bar to make his own drink. As Kyle and Dave stood there talking, Becka quietly watched him. Kyle seemed like a really nice guy. He was cute, had a good job, and bought dinner. She just wasn’t as interested in him as she was in Nate. She mentally kicked herself for admitting that.

  Maybe situations like this are why people say nice guys finish last. Either way, Becka was bored. Claiming fatigue, she sweetly kissed Kyle, thanking him for dinner and excused herself to go to bed. Kyle, nice guy that he was, took it good-naturedly and asked if she would like to go out his next night off. Becka fibbed, saying she already had plans that night. Dave raised his eyebrows at her, and she shot him a look like “don’t judge.”

  Knowing her well enough to know she would not be asleep, Dave pushed open her door an hour later asking, "What was that about?"

  Becka shrugged and scooted over on her bed to make room for Dave to sit down.

  "I thought you liked him." he said.

  "You know how I feel about that. I do not like people. I either want someone or I don’t, and I just don’t want him anymore," Becka explained.

  "You girls are such dumbasses."

  Dave was cut off by Becka smacking him in the face with a pillow. An impromptu pillow fight broke out as Dave first defended himself and then went on the attack. After an exhausting three minutes of all out war, it ended with Dave sitting on her.

  "What I was saying," he continued since Becka was now a captive audience, "was all the time I hear you and your friends bitch about wanting to meet a nice guy, and, bam, when you have one interested, you don’t like him."

  "Can you please get your fat ass off of me?" Becka grumbled.

  "Only if you promise to admit you are bipolar, and my ass is not fat."

  "Whatever! Get off."