“We didn’t wake you up when we got in, did we?”
“No.” She walked over to the bed and sat down. “I was fast asleep. I was exhausted from all the studying. I’m glad you guys had a good time.”
“Yeah, we did. So where are you going now?”
“I’m going to pick up some breakfast and coffee for all of us.”
“Oh. Nice.” I grabbed her hand and tried to smile, though guilt filled me as I thought about all the naked breasts I’d seen the night before. All breasts and no bowling balls.
“So I better go now before the lines get too long.” She bent down, gave me a kiss on the cheek and then stood up.
"Are those shorts appropriate?" I frowned as I stared at her long legs.
"As appropriate as it was for you to go to the strip-club yesterday." She snapped at me, her eyes light as she stared down at me with disappointed eyes.
"I told him not to go." Tomas yelled out from the living room as I stared at Clementine in shock. "It's not appropriate for you to go and get lap dances when you have a girlfriend at home." He continued shouting.
"Tomas." I shouted back angrily. “How did you know?” I asked her quietly, feeling mad at myself.
"First off, you got a lap dance?" Clementine glared at me and my heart sunk.
"Honey." I gave her a quick smile and she just stared at me with her hand on her hip. Oh shit! I thought to myself. I wasn't sure how I was going to get out of this one. “I didn’t, I mean I—”
“Oh Rhett.” She started laughing loudly. “When will you learn you can’t lie to me? Bowling alley my foot.”
“I’m sorry.” I made a face. “How did you know?”
“Tomas had photos of the two of you all over Facebook last night.” She laughed. “I knew the minute you hit the club because he took a photo of the sign. One Night in Heaven? Really?”
“Tomas.” I shouted back at him. “I’m going to kill you.” This time he didn’t respond.
“And after you kill him, I’m going to kill you, Rhett Madison.”
“For going to the strip-club?”
“No, for lying to me.” She sighed. “I mean, I kind of of get why, but I don’t like it.”
“I didn’t have fun.”
“He’s lying again.” Tomas shouted out from the living room. “He had a great time.”
“Tomas, shut up.” I growled.
“It’s fine, Rhett. I know who you are.” She sat back down on the bed again. “I just don’t want you to lie to me anymore.”
“Fine, I went to a strip-club and I had a lap dance.”
“One?” She asked softly.
“Two.” I sighed.
“He’s lying. He had four.” Tomas shouted again and I knew that he was two seconds away from feeling my fist in his face.
“I didn’t really enjoy them though.”
“Now that’s true.” Tomas said. “He didn’t even grab any of their boobs. He didn’t even want to play real or fake.”
“Well, that’s good.” Clementine rolled her eyes. “You got four lap dances?” She asked me softly and I could see the hurt in her eyes.
“It didn’t mean anything to me.” I grabbed her hand. “I only went for Tomas.”
“We’ll talk about it later.” She sighed. “I need to get breakfast and then I have a call with Holden in two hours.”
“Another one?” I let go of her hand and turned away from her and closed my eyes. When was this guy just going to go away?
“We’re finishing up a project Rhett.”
“Yeah, okay. Go and get the coffee, I’ll see you later.” I mumbled, not knowing why I suddenly felt so bereft inside. There was a coldness seeping in and I wasn’t sure why.
“I know you’re not mad at me, Rhett Madison.” Her voice was annoyed. “Mr. I got four lap dances while I told you I was bowling last night.”
“And how was studying?” I finally opened my eyes up and looked at her. “Was that all you did?” I asked accusingly, knowing I was acting like a jealous boyfriend. I had absolutely no reason to think that anything else was happening. I knew I was being irrational and then I saw the red hue rising in her face and my stomach dropped. Maybe I wasn’t being so irrational after all.
Chapter Four
Clementine
So I open the window,
hoping the breeze blows.
Birds going crazy.
I’m wondering how they know.
“The Fire In My Head” by David Berkeley- The Fire in My Head
It’s funny. You always think that once you get the guy, everything in your life is going to be great. And if he loves you, well what more can you ask for? That’s the dream right? Meet the right guy; fall in love and everything else is smooth sailing. That’s not always how it works out. No one told me that going from friends to lovers was going to be so hard or so different. Not one person. Well, asides from Penelope. And I didn’t want to hear a word she had to say. I mean, how could I trust her advice? She’d tried to sleep with him. Just thinking about them touching made me cringe.
“I’ll have three black coffee’s please and three cheese croissants.” I smiled at the barista though I really wanted to get Rhett some veggie juice or something. I’d played it off and smiled at his lies, but I was hurt and upset. I didn’t understand why he’d lied to me. I mean, I understood that maybe he didn’t want me to know about the strip-club, but to keep up the lie was hurtful. It was even more hurtful to know that he’d gotten a lap dance - several in fact. A part of my brain wanted to know exactly what had gone on during the lap dance. Had he gotten hard? Was he attracted to any of the women? Did he wish he could spend the night with any of them?
“Any sugar?” The barista asked me and I could tell this wasn’t the first time.
“Sorry, no.” I apologized. “I was thinking about something.”
“That’s fine.” She looked bored. “You can go and wait over there.”
“Oh okay, sure.” I nodded and walked to the end of the counter.
“Clementine?” I heard Holden’s voice behind me and turned around.
“Hey,” I smiled at him weakly, not wanting to think of the night before.
“I thought that was you. How are you?”
“Fine.” I nodded, a bit freaked out. What was he doing here?