Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>
I wasn’t some appointment he needed to schedule. I was supposed to be his girlfriend. The woman he wanted to be with, and yet ,he spoke to me as if spending time with me was a task to complete.
Confliction filled me with how I was supposed to act towards this. I wanted to lash out and be cold to him, but something told me that there was more going on.
Shaking away the uneasy feeling of emptiness, I preoccupied myself. No longer was I hungry, like I had been thirty minutes before. Instead, I mindlessly wandered towards the kitchen and pulled a bottle of wine from my fridge, not bothering with a glass.
Had I done something wrong that made him not want to spend time with me?
The thoughts plagued me, and as my phone rang, I jumped in shock, hoping it was James.
However, as I looked down at my phone, I realized it wasn’t.
It was Neal.
I hadn’t talked to him lately, and I felt slightly bad. I knew the apartments were almost done, and he was going to want me to show them, but I just felt so guilty about how things ended between us before that the conversations were almost awkward.
“Hey, Neal, how are things going?” I said as soon as I picked up the phone.
“Things are going pretty good. I was just going to let you know that the first apartment will be available to lease probably by the end of next week. So, if you don’t mind, I was going to see if I could drop the keys off to you and then possibly have you schedule with somebody who’s interested in renting it out.”
“Of course, it’s no problem at all. When were you looking to come up?” I asked him with a smile on my face, even though he couldn’t see me. Hearing his voice after everything that had been happening lately was refreshing in a way.
“I’ll actually probably be up there tomorrow to drop those keys off. I’ve got to do a couple of things in town, but other than that, yeah. Why? You sound like you’re a little upset. Is everything okay?”
“That is a loaded question, as always,” I said as I let out a heavy breath, realizing this was my fate, and I was just another catastrophe waiting to happen.
A hearty laugh left his lips, and as it did, I felt a sense of familiarity through all the awkwardness I had once had. “Well, start from the top. What seems to be the problem?”
“Besides the fact that the entire campus knows I am screwing James and also they think I’m sleeping with you as well? Hmm… let’s see. James was supposed to come and visit me this weekend, but he can’t. I guess there’s not much else that’s actually going on. Oh, I did forget. I now have to be scheduled in order to have conversations with James because he’s too busy to deal with me right now.”
The exhaustion I felt after having all of that information flow from me was absolutely mentally draining. I had a sense of relief because I was able to vent to somebody about it, but actually hearing myself say it was just absolutely ridiculous.
“To me, it sounds like you definitely need a few stiff drinks and a night out. Have you not gone out with any of your friends or anything?”
“Friends?” I laughed, as if that was the most hysterical thing that I’d ever heard. “Neal, I don’t have any real friends. I was part of Tally’s group, so I always hung out with her. I never had the chance to make proper friends myself while being at school. It was always school work and hanging out with Tally.”
“Jesus. Well, that does explain a lot, actually,” he replied, causing a gasp to leave my lips as I laughed.
“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m not that terrible, but I mean, I’m not like other people here. I don’t really care to party. I may look like a party girl, but I’m actually a bookworm. That is my deep, dark secret. I am a bookworm who loves to wear fuzzy socks and curl up in bed and read a book or watch a movie and drink coffee or hot tea.”
“You know, bookworms are actually pretty sexy,” he added, causing me to laugh again as I shook my head, knowing full well that this was definitely the conversation that I needed.
Neal always had a way of making me laugh, making me forget I was upset, and it was the same trait that his sister Allegra had as well.
“Thanks for calling me. I really needed this conversation.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Becca. You need someone to talk to you. All you have to do is ask. Now, since I’m coming up there this weekend, why don’t we hang out tomorrow night? We can go have drinks and that,” Neal offered, and for a moment, I really wanted to take him up on his offer. But I was hesitant because of James.
James did not really care for me hanging around Neal, even though Neal had been nothing but kind to me, and I didn’t want to do anything to further upset him because we were trying to make the long distance thing work.
If photographs got out and circulated with me hanging out with Neal without James being part of the picture, it would just cause all kinds of problems.
“I don’t know if going out drinking in public right now is probably the best idea. The last thing I need is for people to get the wrong impression.”
“Okay. Then we hang out at your place. You pick the movies. I will grab pizza on my way there and some alcohol, and we’ll just hang out like we used to do back at the apartment. I mean, we used to have a lot of fun, and I know that you’re with James, and I completely understand. I won’t get in the way of it, but you deserve to be happy.”
He wasn’t wrong, but he wasn’t right either.
Maybe I deserved to be happy, but I felt the happiest when I was with James. Maybe my thinking was clouded because he was like the rebound guy after Chad. In the end, there was just something about James that drew me in that I fell in love with, and as much as I knew I deserved to have more than what I currently did… I didn’t want to let him go.
Never in my life had I felt so conflicted as I did in that moment.
James Valentino was everything I ever wanted in a man. Granted, he was a few years older than any man I’d ever seen myself with, but they do say with age comes experience, and he had enough experience to make his own porn movies.
“Alright then,” I replied softly as I slowly caved in. “I’ll see you tomorrow night. Make sure you don’t forget the pineapple on my pizza.”
“You do know that is absolutely disgusting? But I will do it just because it’s you that’s asking,” he said, causing me to scoff playfully.
“Until tomorrow,” I breathed with a smile as I hung up the phone.
Through everything James had put me through, I was glad I had an amazing friend like Neal.
Becca
The next morning, I awoke with a little pep in my step. It was Saturday, and I was excited. That was because it was the one day I didn’t have to worry about school or studying, even though I probably should have been. It was the beginning of a weekend I was going to absolutely adore.
Throwing on my tennis shoes, I grabbed my purse and headed out of my apartment, ready to start the day of nothing but fun and excitement. First up was the grocery store, and then I was on to find a little bit of odds and ends to decorate up the spare room, just in case Neal wanted to stay.
There was no way I was going to let him drive home after he had been drinking, or across town for that matter.
Making my way towards my car, I climbed in and put it in drive, heading across town towards the local grocery store. Not even five minutes out from my destination, however, my phone lit up, and James’s name crossed the screen.
Of course, he’s calling.
“Good morning,” I said with very little enthusiasm. I was still quite sore with him, and I had every right to be, considering how he had spoken to me.
“Hey, gorgeous. What are you up to?”
“Nothing much, heading to the grocery store to pick up some stuff. I’ve got some things that I’m taking care of this weekend, since you’re not making it. What’s going on with you?” I asked him, avoiding letting him know about Neal just yet. I wanted to hear what he had to say, and if he was going to apologize first.
“Some things to do?” he replied, and I wasn’t honestly shocked he would start the conversation off that way. “Do you have a lot of studying or something to do this weekend?”
“No, not studying. I actually have a guest coming, so I’m just going to hang out at the apartment and eat some pizza, watch some movies, have a few drinks, and just kind of hang out. I mean, I wanted to spend the weekend with you, but you made it very clear yesterday you didn’t have time to waste on me. So I’m making do with the best I can.”
“Coming to stay with you, Becca?” James snapped through the phone as I put the car in park in a parking spot and sat there staring off into the distance, trying to wrap my head around the fact he had just used that tone with me.
“What’s the matter? It’s somebody that you would be perfectly fine with me seeing. So I don’t understand.
“For one, if I was okay with you being around them, then you wouldn’t have a reason not to tell me who it is. Now, I want a name.” The stern sound of his voice made my skin slightly crawl. I wanted to obey him, submit to him in every way, and taking a deep breath, I did.
“It’s just Neal. He has to drive up to drop the keys off because somebody’s going to be renting the apartment that was just finished. I suggested we grab something to eat and hang out like we used to when I was staying with him.”
I don’t know why I thought James would be okay with it, because deep down I knew he wouldn’t be. Sure enough, I heard the frustration in his tone as he took a deep breath and let out an uneasy groan.
“I’m not okay with that,” he replied, catching me a little off guard, as if I had to ask for his permission.
“Why wouldn’t you be okay with it? It’s Neal. You already know that I’m living in an apartment he has here, and I’m going to be helping him with the others. I don’t understand what the problem would be if I were to hang out with him.”
“Are you kidding me right now?” he scoffed, causing my frown to deepen. “He wants to get into your pants, and you’re actually going to let him stay with you, knowing that you’re with me. I shouldn’t even have to comment on this.”
“First of all, it isn’t even like that. He actually talks highly of you and respects your decision. So for you to act like this is completely unacceptable. After all, you were the one who was supposed to be here this weekend to spend an entire week with me, and instead, you’re not.”
“Because I really don’t have a choice,” he snapped again, raising his voice at me as if I was just some other person who he had to deal with.
“And what exactly would keep you from wanting to spend time with me? You yourself said that you were closing the deal that you had yesterday,” I replied, reminding him of the conversation we had had prior.
“Yeah, and then I turned around and found out I have issues with another client I have to take care of because of Allison. And on top of that, Tally has gone missing.”
Shock filled me hearing that Allison was part of some issue that he had, and Tally, the girl who had once been my best friend, was also missing. She was pregnant, and to find that she was missing made me a little uneasy.
“Did you check with Chad’s family? I mean, maybe they went there.”
“Yeah, I checked there,” he snapped at me for a third time.
I was growing very impatient with him. If he was going to keep talking to me like this, I was done with it all. I didn’t deserve this.
“Look, I understand that you have a lot going on and that you’re not happy right now because of the situation with Neal, but you need to let that go and learn to trust me that nothing is going to happen. Now, as for Tally, I can give you suggestions where to look, but you need to change your tone because you will not speak to me that way.”
I was very clear how I felt about the matter.
Yes, I was worried for Tally because if James didn’t know where she was, then I needed to do everything I could possibly do to help him, even though I didn’t get along with her. It didn’t mean that I didn’t care enough to help James.
That was his daughter, and she wasn’t always the brightest crayon in the box. Therefore, making sure she didn’t do anything stupid was something to be take care of.
“Look, you have other plans tonight, so why don’t you just worry about that, and I will figure out the situation with my daughter on my own.”
“Stop being a complete asshole, right now. I don’t understand this, and I’m sick and tired of the fighting and arguing. Neal is a friend. You need to let that go. I am trying to help you. I know Tally better than you do.” He was acting in a way that I was not happy with.
He should have told me this yesterday when I had spoken to him, and I would have been more understanding of the situation. Hell, I would have dedicated my weekend to helping him find her.
Even if that meant going to New York and confronting Chad’s family just to see if she was there.
Instead, though, he had kept it from me. Waited an entire twenty-four hours to say anything at all, and he made me feel like I was completely nothing to him instead of being open and honest with me about the situations that were going on.
“Why would you want to help her? You don’t even like her.”
“Are you kidding me right now? Will you for once be mature and act your age? You are a grown man, and you’re being a d*ck to me because I’m hanging out with a friend later that you don’t approve of. I don’t sit there and question everybody that you hang out with.”
Silence filled the phone, and for a moment, I thought he had hung up.
“I’m sorry. You’re right. Right now, I am acting ridiculous. I just have so much on my mind, and I’ll be honest, I don’t entirely trust him because he has feelings for you. Whether you choose to believe it or not, he has told me that himself.”