Shutout (Rules of the Game, #2)(18)
“Weird?” The word comes out as a squeak, several octaves too high. I certainly sound weird. Drawing in a breath, I try to normalize my voice. “No, why would it be?”
She laughs, tucking a lock of glossy raven hair behind her ear. “I stayed here briefly after there was a fire at my old place, and I don’t think he spoke more than a handful of sentences to me the entire time I was here.”
“Ty isn’t rude,” Bailey interjects, sinking onto the sofa next to me. “He’s just quiet. Don’t scare Sera.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. Tyler’s a bit of a dark horse, that’s all. Hard to get to know.”
“He’s been nice so far.” I cram an entire shrimp in my mouth at once so I have an excuse to stop talking.
“I’m sure the fact that you’re gorgeous helps.” Her mouth tugs, her blue-green eyes glinting. “You know, I bet you two would look cute together…”
I saw us in the mirror on Halloween and can confirm we look great together, especially with him between my legs.
For a brief, insane moment, I wish I could tell them the truth about what happened with Tyler. But I know I can’t. It wouldn’t be fair to ask either of them to keep that a secret.
Bailey playfully pokes Siobhan in the ribs. “Shiv! Stop, you’re such an enabler.” Fighting a smile, she leans forward and takes the last eggroll from the carton.
“He’s hot,” I admit. “But even if you remove the roommate part of the equation, I think Chase’s head would explode if anything happened between me and one of his friends.”
Still chewing her bite of eggroll, Bailey presses her lips into a line and nods emphatically, verifying what I already know. My brother would go nuclear.
“Probably, hey?” Siobhan muses. “As an only child, I didn’t even think about the whole brother factor. Plus, Chase is overprotective of people he cares about. Like both of you.”
I’m all too aware, which is why I deliberately shield him from certain details about my life. Even with good intentions, his execution is misguided at times. None of the guys in our high school dared to come within ten feet of me, and I ended up losing my virginity to Rob. Not saying that was Chase’s fault, but his attempt to protect me was a little futile.
“Tyler isn’t exactly relationship material anyway,” Bailey points out.
Good thing that’s not what I want him for.
Knowing better than to say that out loud, I lean over and snag a throw blanket from a wicker basket next to the couch instead. I’m convinced Siobhan or Bailey must have purchased some of the décor around the house. There are a few feminine touches scattered around, like the vanilla-scented candle above the fireplace and the matching hand towels in the bathrooms.
Siobhan shrugs. “I guess that depends if you buy into the whole Taxi Cab Theory.”
“Taxi Cab Theory?” Bailey echoes, her forehead creasing.
“Taxi-what?” I ask.
“It’s from Sex and The City. I was binging re-runs over winter break. Anyway, according to the theory, men are like taxis: when they’re available, their light goes on. They wake up one day and decide they’re ready to settle down, so they commit to the next suitable partner that comes along. By that logic, someone could have a ‘one that got away’ simply because the timing wasn’t right.” Siobhan pauses, taking a sip of her ice water.
“I don’t buy that, though,” she continues. “I think it’s more about the right person. That’s why you see those guys who date a woman for eight years without proposing. She issues an ultimatum, he refuses to pull the trigger, and they break up. Then the guy turns around and immediately gets engaged to his next girlfriend two months later. Timing has little, if anything, to do with it. When you meet The One, you won’t let them get away for anything.”
A memory tugs at my heart filled with bittersweet nostalgia. I swallow hard as I fidget with the cuff of my pink sweatshirt, fighting the wave of sadness creeping in. There’s no question that my parents were each other’s Ones. Even ten years into marriage, I remember how they slow danced in the kitchen, sneaking kisses while my brother and I rolled our eyes. My father brought flowers every time he got back from being on the road; a dozen roses for her and a single pink one for me. He always looked at her like she was the only woman in the room; in the entire universe, even.
I’m not sure everyone gets to have that kind of love, though. Sometimes I think I’m too much to be someone’s One. Too loud, too disorganized, too extra, too messy.
Bailey winces, twirling a lock of honey-blond hair around her finger. “I don’t know… That seems a little harsh to the first woman in that scenario, don’t you think?”
“Your relationship is walking proof of what I’m saying,” Siobhan counters, scooping up a piece of broccoli from her carton. “Chase’s taxi light wasn’t on when you met.”
“Shiv has a point.” Until recently, I wasn’t convinced my brother even had a taxi light.
“Maybe so, but I think it’s more complicated than that sometimes. Circumstances can count for a lot and they’re not always surmountable. You were a little gun-shy with Dallas at first, remember?”
“Then I came to my senses because I knew I couldn’t lose him. All I’m saying is, the light turns on for the right person.”