Teddy couldn’t stand seeing Tyler and I together when we dated. I think at first, I had done it to piss Teddy off, but I grew to love Tyler after a while. Just not the type of love that there should be when it came to a relationship. A kind of love that you couldn’t live without. The kind that I thought I had with Teddy, but now realized I had been waiting for Nick all along to genuinely experience it.
“That was a long time ago, things are different now. Just because Teddy wants something, doesn’t mean he’s always going to get it. When are you guys leaving? And why are you in Florida again?”
As long as I could avoid Teddy while he was here, I would be good. No matter how determined he was to win me back, whatever messed up plan he had going on, it wasn’t going to work on me.
“Actually.” His voice went up a pitch, and he pursed his lips at me. It made me think that he really didn’t want to tell me what he was about to say. “We’re hanging out around here for a while. We played our last couple of shows, and we’re holding off on scheduling any more right now. So, we’re chilling here for a bit, writing some songs, and stuff.”
“And by ‘stuff’ you mean me, am I right? Let me guess, that was Teddy’s bright idea?” I shoved my chair in, the metal squeaking loudly against the concrete pavement. I normally had a pretty level head. Angry and me just didn’t go together, but Teddy was really pushing my buttons. Jabbing at them over and over again was more like it. Why couldn’t he just leave me alone? Let me move on with my life. I was happy, and I wanted to stay that way. What did I have to do to get it through that thick skull of his? I guess I needed to be mean, a bitch. More like…Leah. I hated to even think it, but she would agree with me. Given the situation, Leah could go into instant bitch mode.
What would Leah do? WWLD. Yup, that’s exactly the kind of mindset I needed to have to deal with Teddy. So…Leah…WWLD. I needed to get a bumper sticker made up or something.
Tyler looked like he was ready to take off again, so I moved closer, and jabbed him in the chest with my finger. “You can tell Teddy to fuck off. He’s not getting his way this time, not with me, not ever. And…” I ripped the flower out of my hair and threw it in Tyler’s face, his mouth still gaping open, probably because I had actually told someone to fuck off. I mean it wasn’t to their face or anything, but I said it, and that’s what counted. “Tell him he can keep his flower. He was wrong, like usual, I hate daisies,” I lied, and Tyler knew it, but was smart and didn’t say anything as I whirled around and left him standing there.
I slammed my car door behind me, taking a deep breath once I was by myself, and blew it out, repeating the process several times. It seemed to help calm me down just a little bit. I’m not sure why I let myself get so worked up, it really wasn’t worth it, but I couldn’t help it. Teddy was…infuriating.
Why couldn’t he just leave me alone? If he had been so madly in love with me, he wouldn’t have cheated. No, this wasn’t about getting me back, even if he thought it was. This was about Teddy getting his way, like always, but this time it wasn’t happening.
“’kay, Al. Wear something sexy, I’ll be there around seven to pick you up.”
“You’re really not gonna tell me where you’re taking me?” I pouted my lips even though Nick couldn’t see me through the phone. He was planning something special for the past week, but wouldn’t give any hints as to what it was.
That’s one of the things that I loved about Nick. He always tried to make everything special. Any of our dates, time we spent together, even times we were apart, he always added that extra little touch. I had a box tucked away under my bed from all of the little mementos I’d accumulated since we started dating.
My favorite was a thin silver band that he bought one night at a carnival that we had checked out on the boardwalk. He had our initials added to it before slipping it onto my finger and giving it a kiss. Then we rode every ride, and pigged out on cotton candy, fried veggies, and French fries.
By the time we were done, I felt like I was going to throw up, but it had been one of the most fun nights of my life. I had tucked the ring away in my box as soon as I got home. Nick figured I just didn’t want it to turn my finger green, but I explained to him that it was because I didn’t want to lose it since it was loose on my finger. It was special, and something I wanted to hold onto, a little something to remember that day by, forever.
He let out a low laugh, and I squeezed my eyes shut at the sound. It was one of the sexiest things I had ever heard, and it got me every time. “No, I’m really not. I gotta get back to work. I’ll see ya in a bit. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” I grumbled into the phone before hitting the end button, and tossing it on my bed. Remy walked in as I started flipping through my closet to figure out what I was going to wear for our mystery date.