Page 28 of Come Back To Me

“I’ll wait for you outside,” I said.

I was desperate for fresh air—all the people, all the things, smelled. He nodded and turned back to help load up Ferdinand’s truck while I headed toward the doors. I hadn’t caught sight of Petra since I walked up on them, and when David came toward me, she had disappeared from my mind altogether. He was so reassuring in the way he touched, and kissed, and doted on me. I felt silly for being worried about Beanie Girl. I didn’t want to think about her name anymore. That made her presence in our lives too personal. She was just Beanie Girl, the silver-haired slut from the Market who looked at my boyfriend with bedroom eyes. I almost felt foolish about the whole thing when the doors to The Crocodile opened and David walked out with Petra at his side. They were smiling—no—laughing about something, and for a second I thought he was going to take her arm and walk right past me.

I turned away so neither of them could see the look on my face. Ferdinand’s truck came bouncing around the corner and I headed toward it in a hurry. I didn’t know if David was driving, but right then all I wanted was to be tucked away in Ferdinand’s beater so no one could see my face. He called my name, but I pretended I couldn’t hear him as I ran for the truck. Ferdinand saw my face and opened the door for me without a word. I saw him look over his shoulder at Petra and David and he shrugged. David looked confused, but then Petra said something and they walked to where his car was parked on the street.Great!So now they’re riding together. That was probably the dumbest thing I could have done. Ferdinand looked at me in the rearview mirror. All I could see were his eyes.

“What? Have you never seen a jealous girlfriend before?”

“Didn’t you know that David only dates jealous women?”

“Shut up,” I said. And then—“Are you pulling my leg?”

He made a sharp turn and my head smacked into the window. I rubbed it as he opened a bag of beef jerky and offered me some across the backseat.

“You could have sat in the front you know.”

“I know,” I said, taking a piece.

“It’s his pattern,” Ferdinand said. “We all have patterns. David likes batshit crazy girls.” He glanced at me in the rearview again. “No offense.”

“None taken.”

“I think he gets off on someone wanting him that bad. He’s the middle child.”

I’d never bought into the whole birth order business, sounded like a load of bloody excuses to me, but I leaned forward to hear what Ferdinand had to say.

“I’m not jealous,” I told him.

He laughed, his large shoulders bouncing up and down.

“And I’m not stupid.”

I sniffed sulkily and stared out the window. “I’m not. Girls just throw themselves at him. It’s disgusting.”

“Look,” he said. “You’re only what? Twenty-four? Twenty-five?”

“Twenty-five,” I said.

“Yeah, so you have plenty of time.”

I didn’t know what he meant by that. Plenty of time for what? To figure myself out? To learn how to not be jealous?

“If it makes any difference, he likes you more than he’s ever liked another lady.”

I grinned at Ferdinand because I really liked hearing that. And no one had ever called me a lady.

When we got to the bar, a place called The Boheme, David’s car was already there, parked along the curb. They’d had enough time to go inside and find seats. Ferdinand helped me out of the truck and we walked together toward the door.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“The Boheme,” he said like I couldn’t read the sign myself. “I come here when I eat shrooms, the place is a trip.”

The Boheme was indeed a trip. The minute we walked through the doors I felt like I’d stepped into a Lewis Carroll novel. Every color, every texture, every pattern was thrown onto the walls. There were simple wooden booths in the bar and some high tops where people sat and drank out of colorful glasses. David waved to us from the back of the bar where he’d secured a large round booth. Petra was sitting toward the back and center with the girl I’d seen her come into the club with. She looked like a pierced, pink-haired Doris Day. I ignored both of them and gave David a tight-lipped smile when he walked up to me.

“Where’d you go?” he asked. Then he poked Ferdinand in the chest and pretended to be angry. “She’s mine,” he said.

Ferdinand shot me a look. “Are the other two yours as well?”

I covered my mouth to hide my smile. In two seconds Ferdinand had become my new best friend and favorite person on the planet.

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