Curiosity keeps my feet planted. Vi glances up, her brow puckering in the middle as she looks pleadingly to Leslie. When this Benji fellow sees Leslie, he releases Vi and steps around her. His droopy eyes grow wide in shock. “My sexy lady in red,” he bellows and stumbles toward Leslie with his arms outstretched.
Before I have a chance to react, Theo moves in front of Leslie with his chest puffed out protectively. Now the two men are eye to eye, or chin to eye I guess you’d say since Benji is on the smallish size. Vi’s face turns from uncomfortable to nervous, so I take two steps closer and place a calming hand on Theo’s shoulder.
Vi’s wide blue eyes peer between the small space between Benji and Theo and land right on me. Her round cheeks flush a rosy hue. She instantly looks away and then right back at me again. I can’t help but stare back. It’s that same fucking strange pull that I felt at The White Swan. Frustrated, I look away, clenching my jaw.
“I think you’ve had a bit too much to drink, mate,” Theo’s voice is low and controlled but has an obvious edge to it. He adjusts his black-framed glasses like he always does when he’s feeling cagey. I swear it’s a defense mechanism that he developed growing up. Whenever we tussled as kids, he’d get so barking mad at me if I’d gone at him when he had his glasses on.
“I think you might be spot on, good sir,” Benji slurs and pokes his finger into Theo’s chest. “Good Lord, are you wearing protective armour under your dress shirt?”
“No,” Theo replies without a shred of amusement.
“Someone needs to get control of him,” I grumble, annoyed.
Vi moves in and grabs Benji around the arm, “C’mon Benji boy, here’s our seats.”
Her eyes flash coolly to me as she pulls him down onto a chair. She looks away and pours a glass of water, then shoves it into his chest. Her eyes find mine again and I can’t help but frown at the whole situation. If this is her boyfriend, she should have better control over him. Wanker.
Leslie catches me scowling at Vi and steps in between my line of sight. “Hayden, you remember my coworker Vi, right? And Benji?”
I nod dismissively and then quietly excuse myself. I’m confused by how I feel about having the woman who sparked something I thought was dormant inside of me be here to witness the speech I just gave about all of my innermost secrets. Definitely not the first impression I would have wanted with her. And now she’s eyeing me like I’m the prat here.
I stroll over to my parents and take my seat. The farther I stay away from Vi tonight, the better. Perhaps I don’t affect her the same way she affects me. The way she was eyeing me at The White Swan Pub led me to believe otherwise. Regardless, something about her makes me feel out of control…and I don’t like it. It doesn’t help that every time I look over at her, she looks over at me. God, it’s so maddeningly juvenile I could laugh.
“You were rather rude to my coworker,” Leslie chastises as she settles down beside me, followed closely behind by Theo.
“Why is she even here?” I whisper as the announcer begins the bidding on a custom dining room set of Theo’s.
“Good question,” Theo drawls. “Fucking Benji wears on my last nerve.”
“Oh shut up! He’s harmless. Vi and Benji took Mitch and Julie’s tickets. What’s the big deal?”
“It’s kind of inappropriate for her boyfriend to get pissed at a charity if you ask me,” I sneer.
Leslie’s green eyes widen in disbelief. “Pot! Meet kettle!”
My face goes white as I realise what I’ve just said. “That was different,” I bite out between clenched teeth. Christ, I walked right into that one.
Leslie’s face softens. “Don’t be hard on my coworkers. They’re good people. Really, you’d get on with Vi, I’m sure.”
That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.
TURKEY’S DONE
Burr. Feels fucking glacial in here now, I think to myself after my less than warm and fuzzy greeting from Hayden. Not that I had much to expect, I suppose. It’s not like we really know anything about one another. But bloody hell, he could have at least acknowledged my presence without a moody glower.
Benji sucks down the glass of water I handed him. He begins hiccupping to himself and giggling. “I’ve never drank wine before.”
I roll my eyes and shake my head. “You’re drinking water.” The bugger can’t handle his liquor, that’s quite apparent. I just hope I’m able to pour him into a cab after this.