Prom King

He's a good time, but not exactly mind blowing. But who knows, maybe I can whip him into shape. :)

And immediately:

But don't try to hide from me, you and Adam are the real story here! How did THAT go?

I laugh to myself. She's nosy, but I love her.

I'm at Marsha's right now getting breakfast for us.

HE'S STILL THERE OLLIE? OH MY GOD!!!

I'll tell you about it later.

Yes, you will. You will tell me every little gory detail until I'm begging you to stop.

Fat chance of that, but I'm not going to argue that point yet.

Lol. I'll call you in a bit. Not sure what the plan for today is.

They call my name, and I grab the bag with my food and the little cardboard tray that has the drinks and head back to my apartment. I manage to grab the box from the foyer with my clothes in it too.

"Okay," I say, walking into the apartment. "I didn't know what kind of doughnuts you like, so I got a bunch, plus they have a breakfast sandwich that's truly an impressive size, if you feel like that."

No response.

"Adam?"

I set the food on the countertop in the kitchen, and walk through my apartment. He's not in the bathroom, and by the time I reach the bedroom I have a pit in the bottom of my stomach. His clothes are gone from where they were lying on my floor. Well, shit. How did I not see that coming?

When I get back to the kitchen, I see a piece of paper that I missed, and I feel like a bucket of icy relief has been dumped on my head. At least he didn't take off without leaving a note. The handwriting on the note is much neater than I would expect for a doctor, which is good. I've never understood why it's not mandatory for people prescribing medication to have absolutely perfect handwriting.

Ollie,

I am so sorry. I forgot that I had lunch with my father today. It's been scheduled for a while—not something I'd really like to be doing—and he's not the kind of person who takes well on being cancelled on. I didn't have your number, but I'd like to come back tonight if that's okay? Let me know,

Adam.

There's a phone number listed there. Okay, that's good. I pull up Lorraine's contact and press call.

"Hello?"

"Hey," I say through a bite of doughnut. "Are you home yet?"

"Almost," she says, yawning. "Why?"

"Adam had to go so I have extra coffee and doughnuts."

"I'll be there in five minutes."

True to her word, my doorbell rings barely five minutes later, and I buzz her up, mentally preparing for the onslaught of questions.

I have the cup of coffee ready to hand her when she walks through the door, and she takes it with a groan. "Oh, thank blessed Jesus. This is needed." She drops her purse on the floor and fishes a doughnut out of the bag and takes a bite, and then, "Okay, spill."

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything. But why did he have to go?"

I wince. "Well, he wasn't here when I got back with breakfast."

Lor almost chokes on her doughnut. "WHAT? I'm going to kill him."

"No, you're not," I say. "He left this."

I hand her the note, she reads it and then rolls her eyes. "That's such bullshit. If he didn't want to stay he could have just said so."

"If he wanted to just disappear then why did he leave his number and say that he wanted to come back?"

"Okay, fine." She makes a face. "But still, not exactly the start you're hoping for."

"I'm going to text him after you leave and see what he has to say. But pending that, given last night, I'm willing to overlook it."

"Oh my god tell me everything."

I do...kind of. I give her the condensed version, and when I finish with what happened in the kitchen she whines. "Please, Ollie, you have to give me more details than that."

"What kind of details are you looking for?" I laugh.

"Details!" she says, biting into another doughnut. "How big is he? How many times did you orgasm? That kind of thing."

I shake my head. "Boundaries, Lor."

"Nooo. Please. I'll tell you about Joey. He has a much bigger dick than he did in high school, but all the same moves. But I think with practice he could be really good."

I clap my hands over my ears, "Oh my god, Lor, I don't want to know about Joey Lancaster's dick."

"You really do," she says with a pointed smile.

Two can play that game. "Trust me, I'm good."

"God, you're such a tease."

"Bitch," I laugh, "I bought you doughnuts."

She takes another bite. "No, you bought these for your lover. These are second hand doughnuts. I know my true place in your heart."

"You know I'm not good at this, Lor. The whole details thing. I get all flustered, and then there's the fact that I'm not sure where this is going or how long it's going to last. I don't want to kiss and tell just yet."

Lor groans. "Ugh, I hate it when you make sense."

"I will say, it was easily the best I've ever had."

"Damn." She raises her eyebrows. "Go Adam."

We toast with our paper coffee cups. I shift gears as I remember parts of last night. "How should I get the dress back?"

"Is it still in one piece?"

I laugh. "Stop. Of course."

"Bring it by anytime, we'll see what condition it's in."

"Okay."

Lor sighs. "I've gotta go. I need a nap and a shower before I have to wait on Mrs. Diamond.”

Mrs. Diamond is one of her most particular regulars, but she can't tell me who it actually is, so we use the nickname. "Good luck with that," I say.

"I'm going to need it."

As soon as she's gone I grab Adams note and add him as a contact in my phone and type out a new message.

You know, you scared me.

I don't have to wait long for his response.

I know it looks bad. I swear that it's not what it looks like. As soon as I can make it back to your apartment, I'll be there.

Okay.

I promise. I'll even bring you a gift.

I'm intrigued.

What kind of gift?

A surprise.

I find myself biting my lip.

Surprises, in general, make me nervous.

It'll be a good surprise. I have to go, almost to the restaurant.

See you later.

Well, now that I have a better part of the afternoon alone, I need to make sure that the apartment is actually clean by the time he gets here. I'm not going to let him think I'm a slob. Time for music and cleaning supplies. Though cleaning my room and the kitchen are going to make me think of last night and this morning. God, I could get lost in those memories. It's going to be a long after

noon.

13

Adam

This restaurant is the last place I want to be right now. I checked my phone after Ollie went to get us breakfast and found multiple furious texts from my father about me not being at the brunch we had planned. I had completely forgotten—probably because I didn’t want to go in the first place.

The last thing I wanted to do was leave Ollie like that. Not exactly a stellar start when I told her that I wanted to spend the day with her. I do, as much as I can. I just have to get this over with.

I stopped quickly at home to change so I’m not in my tux from last night. That would bring more questions than I’m comfortable with from this particular group of people.

I walk into the restaurant and wave off the hostess. I know where I’m going. They always sit at the same table. They’re already well into their meal when I walk up.

My father, my boss Dr. Pratt, and Sasha. She’s the last person that I want to see. Frankly, I’m lucky that she didn’t see me with Ollie last night.

I pull out my chair and sit down. “Sweetheart!” Sasha says. “You’re so late, what happened?” She kisses my cheek and I stifle a cringe. I want to wipe her kiss off like I’m a kid.

Sasha is Dr. Pratt’s daughter, and I thought it would be a good idea for Sasha and me to see each other so that he would like me. I was younger then and I wanted to be successful, and Sasha agreed because dating a doctor looks good. It’s the worst decision I’ve ever made, and a complete sham. I’ve never slept with Sasha. I’ve never kissed her. I don’t want to do any of those things and never will. Over time it got complicated because Dr. Pratt does like me, and I didn’t want that to change because I wasn’t dating his daughter anymore. But now, it has to end. I’m not going to give up a chance at something real with Olivia for a fake relationship with Sasha. Sasha who almost ruined Ollie’s life. If I’d known that anything would ever happen between Ollie and me, I would have broken this off years ago.

Dr. Pratt chuckles, and I realize that I haven’t answered Sasha’s question. “Party a little too hard with the old gang last night, Adam?”

“You could say that, yeah.” I clear my throat. “Sorry to be late.”