Zach
The following afternoon I stand in my bedroom and stare at Grace’s case against the wall. She’s packed up all her stuff, and the room feels strangely empty without her clothes draped everywhere.
Not that I told her to go. She just casually mentioned it at breakfast, when she asked if I’d take her luggage downstairs sometime today. It shouldn’t bug me, but it’s been on my mind all morning, and not just because I’m usually the one who walks away.
I don’t want her to go.
It’s crazy and doesn’t make any sense, but it’s the truth. I like having her around, and not just when we’re naked.
She comes out of the bathroom with her overnight case and gives me an awkward smile. “Well, I think I’ve got everything. Just give me a call if I’ve forgotten anything.”
“Sure.” This is too weird, and I have no idea how to handle it, so I haul her luggage down to the garage and toss it into the trunk. She places her small case onto the passenger seat, slams the door and then comes back to me. We avoid each other’s gaze, and it’s damn uncomfortable.
“It’s been fun,” she says, and I narrow my eyes at her, but of course she isn’t taking the piss. She means it, and hell, I’m going to miss that smile of hers.
Then I get the strangest thought. Just because she’s leaving doesn’t mean we’ll never see each other again. There’s nothing stopping us from hooking up whenever.
Fuck buddies. We could do that. It’s a blinding revelation.
“Hey.” I grab her hand and pull her close. “You doing anything this weekend?”
Her fingers grip mine, which is all the answer I need, but I still want to hear her say it.
“I could come over on Saturday and stay the night, if you like.”
I grin, and she sways into me, winding her free hand around my neck. “You do that.”
“Okay.” She sounds thrilled, which makes me laugh, for no other reason than the fact I’ll see her again in a few days’ time.
“So, where’s your sister live?” She told me that’s who she’s staying with, but that was the extent of that conversation.
“She has an apartment in Malibu, not that far from our parents, actually.”
Malibu. I guessed Grace came from somewhere like that, but it still hits me in the face hearing her say it out loud. Could our lives be any more different from each other?
It doesn’t matter. None of it affects what we have together, which is great sex without any messy strings. I kiss her, which isn’t the best idea I’ve had, since I don’t want to let her go, but finally we pull back, and I’m looking forward to the weekend already.
“See you Saturday,” she says, and I open up the front of the garage, and she drives off.
…
Grace
It’s late afternoon when I arrive at Charity’s apartment, which is a couple of blocks back from the beach, but she’s not home from her week’s vacation to Hawaii until tomorrow. The concierge knows me, so there’s no problem there, and I still have my own key from when I lived here, before I moved in with Russell a year ago.
The apartment isn’t huge, just a two-bed, three-bath unit on the fourth floor, but I loved the three years we lived here together. Looks like I’ll be moving back in again, now. Charity won’t mind. She always said she’d keep my room for me any time I changed my mind about Russell.
I can’t wait to tell her about Zach. Although we texted a few times while she was away so she knows I’ve ended the engagement, I haven’t told her all the details, or about my hookup. Every time I think about “my hookup,” I go all warm inside, and the weekend can’t come fast enough.
First I need to face my parents, though, and sort out my future.
…
On Friday night Charity and I go to a local beachside bar with a group of girlfriends. I really need the night out after the four-hour visit with Mom and Dad earlier.
It’s not that my parents don’t care about my reasons for ending things with Russell, but they just don’t appear tounderstandthem. Just because I’ve decided Idon’twant to relocate doesn’t mean I have plans to get back with him, but that was obviously the first conclusion they jumped to, even though they didn’t actually say it out loud.
I push the thought from my head. Tonight I’m not going to think about my future, I’m just going to enjoy myself. Our table is right by the window overlooking the ocean, and there’s a nightclub next door that we’re going to afterward. We’ve all known each other for years, which mean they all know Russell, and although they’re on my side, a couple of them think I’m crazy for ending our engagement.
