Rainey's Song Ch. 05

Rainey lay wide-awake in bed the next morning. Across the room, she could hear Karen's soft, slow breathing and she knew that she was asleep. For someone who changed guys as much as some people changed their socks, Karen never had a sleepless night.

Not that Rainey was bitter, okay, maybe she was a little bitter, but why did Karen get to have so many no-strings-attached relationships—with her pick of guys—while the first guy that had ever showed interest in Rainey, and sparked her own interest, was completely...untouchable?

Life really could be unfair sometimes. Even when she'd spent all of yesterday morning, nearly five hours, at Aidan's apartment trying to sort out the mess he'd made of his files, half of her concentration had been spent reminding herself that she and Aidan just wouldn't work.

It was still incredibly strange to think that the guy she'd watched so quietly all of those weeks at the office was interested in her, and he *was* interested. After seeing the way he'd looked at her, the way he'd touched her, she couldn't deny that anymore.

On a heavy sigh, she turned on her side, the bedsprings groaning faintly in the dimly lit room. As much as she wanted Aidan and wanted to let herself just see what would happen between them, being that outgoing wasn't part of her nature. She was a worrier, supremely paranoid, a subscriber to the school of Murphy's Law: whatever could go wrong would go wrong.

So, better to keep the whole situation professional, right? Better to stop thinking about the way his blue eyes seemed to bore into her flesh, right?

"Right," she whispered aloud, burrowing her hands beneath her pillow.

If only she'd gone somewhere for spring break then this whole debacle wouldn't have happened; Lyn wouldn't have been able to force her into spending so much time with Aidan and she could have just forgotten about Saturday night. But, while a lot of people from school had gone to Cancun or Tia Juana for the 10-day break, Rainey hadn't been particularly interested in spending a week and a half with a bunch of drunken semi-acquaintances.

Her parents would have paid for any trip she wanted to take—"within reason," as her dad had said—but she didn't really have that many friends among the people who'd gone. Add to that the fact that, in her whole life she'd barely had half a dozen drinks, and a spring break spent binge drinking sounded far from appealing.

Karen's parents, on the other hand, were continuously trying to rein their free-spirited daughter in. Instead of giving her a spring break trip, they'd told her that if she "performed well" in classes, they'd send her and her 16-year-old sister to Paris for two weeks over summer.

In Rainey's estimation, it was a brilliant plan to keep Karen focused during the school year and relatively out of trouble during summer break because she'd have her sister to look after her in Paris and besides that, her parents obviously knew that there was nothing their daughter loved more than shopping.

Or a good party, Rainey added mentally, punching an ever-present lump out of her pillow.

Guiltily, she remembered that she'd yet to tell Karen that Aidan's friend, Jean, had invited them to the grand opening party for his club. As much as she liked to tell herself that it had just slipped her mind, she knew that it was because she really didn't want to go. It would just be one more occasion to find herself in the same room with Aidan.

Aidan. Why couldn't she escape him? His presence had taken over her work life and now, outside of that, when she was supposed to be safe from him, she'd made obligations to see him *and* his charming French friend.

Even in her melancholy mood, the irony was blatant. She made a decision to avoid him at all costs and, in the space of two days, she agreed to attend a party hosted by his best friend and she had to work with him for hours on end.

God, most definitely, is a comedian, she decided on another heavy sigh.

The sound was drowned out by an upbeat beeping noise that grew progressively louder as seconds ticked by.

Karen shifted restlessly in her bed as the sound filled the entire room: Beep-beep-BEEP-beep-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.

"Shit," Karen's hoarse voice overshadowed the noise for a moment. Still half-asleep, she fumbled blindly on her nightstand until she found the culprit: her cell phone's alarm clock. Flipping it open, she stabbed violently at a button until the alarm shut off then rolled to her back with a loud yawn.

"Sorry if I woke you up, Rainey," she mumbled, "I just keep forgetting to turn that thing off."

Rainey glanced at the digital clock on her nightstand. 7:50am. Had she slept at all?

"Don't worry about it." The clearness of Rainey's voice was proof that she'd been awake way before the alarm went off.

"Can't sleep, huh?" Karen guessed. "I keep having dreams about pure white beaches in Mexico. Damn, Seattle. I'm probably missing out on the perfect tan right now."

'If only my problem were that simple,' Rainey thought morosely, but she didn't say anything. At her silence, Karen sat up in bed. In the darkness, Rainey could see the waves of her long black hair fall around her shoulders—she looked like a model with artistically tousled hair in the midst of a shampoo commercial.

"Are you okay," Karen asked, and Rainey almost laughed aloud at the understatement of the question.

"Sure, I'm just thinking too much I guess. I work too hard—"

"You're lying," Karen accused gently. "I'm pretty much awake now, so you may as well tell me what's wrong."

The silence that followed the statement was like a void beckoning Rainey to throw herself in. She could just open up and tell Karen what was bothering her except...except she didn't really know what it was. All she knew was that she was scared of something nameless and lurking.

Something she could feel festering inside her chest, something that stirred to life whenever she found herself near Aidan.

But, how could she say that to Karen without confusing her or worrying her? How could she say that to anyone without letting on that she was the worst sort of coward, someone afraid to look inside herself for answers? She couldn't, and that was part of the problem.

Instead, she took a page from Karen's parents' book and tried to distract her. "Remember that guy, Aidan, that you met at the club?"

"Of course," Karen exclaimed. "How could anyone with eyes forget that face?"

*Good question...*

"Well, um, I kind of met his friend that night and, you're not going to believe this...he owns the club."

A full five seconds of silence followed that statement and Rainey almost thought Karen hadn't heard her, then the taller girl launched herself across the room and onto Rainey's bed with such speed that they were both laughing hysterically for minutes.

Karen, who'd landed on her stomach after her mad flight, rolled up to her knees in front of Rainey, both of her hands squeezing Rainey's smaller ones in a death grip. "Did you talk to him," she asked urgently.

Biting back a huge grin, Rainey nodded. "Breathe, Karen, breathe," she teased.

Karen yanked on her hands in a warning. "Screw breathing! Just tell me what happened. Word-for-word. You're sooo lucky that I'm too excited right now to kill you for not telling me about this sooner."

"Well, if it helps, he invited me to a party celebrating the club's opening..." Karen's nails bit into her palms and Rainey decided that, unless she wanted to lose a finger, she'd better stop teasing. "Ow! Okay, okay! We're both going to his party on Saturday."

If the high color in Karen's cheeks was any indication, that was the best news that she'd heard in a long while. As it was, her rapid, "Oh my God-oh my God-oh my God," was proof enough.

Still on her knees, she bounced joyously while clinging to Rainey's hands. "I'm going to a club party. *I* am going...to a club party." She brought her hands to her mouth to cover her grin. "Oh, I'm so glad I didn't go to Cancun!"

"So, I guess you're excited," Rainey said sarcastically.

"Aren't you?" Karen jumped off of the bed, a bundle of nervous energy even at 8am, and turned on the overhead light. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? I have to get my nails done...do you think I should go tanning?"

With a half smile on her face, Rainey watched Karen bounce excitedly around the room. Okay, so maybe she didn't want to go to the party—ha! What an understatement—but it was nice to see Karen so animated after having been so bummed out about not getting to go anywhere for spring break.

Besides, maybe with Karen at the party, it wouldn't be so bad. Sure, guys would practically elbow her out of the way in their haste to get to Karen, but at least she could hide from Aidan in the crowd. Besides, Karen, a femme fatale in training, would definitely know every trick in the book for avoiding an unwanted admirer.

It felt strange to think of Aidan as "unwanted" when she most definitely did want him, but as a lifelong weakness for chocolate proved, just because you wanted something didn't mean it was good for you.

"What time is it," Karen bubbled, only to answer her own question. "8:12. Okay, you have thirty minutes to get dressed."

Rainey snapped to attention. "What? Why?"

"We're going shopping. What time do you have to work today?"

"Um..." dazed, Rainey blinked and tried to think. "Aidan said...he'd call me if he needed me to come over today." The words were no sooner out of her mouth than she realized what she'd said.

She hadn't told Karen about her working situation with Aidan because she knew she'd take it the wrong way. And, from the wide-eyed expression she turned on Rainey, her guess had been right.

"Why would Aidan call you to come over?" Her left brow, perfectly shaped and the color of coal, arched as she waited for a reply.

Rainey plucked at a stray thread on her comforter but didn't meet Karen's eyes. "I, um, he's kind of..."

"He's kind of, what?" Karen urged.

"Mentoring me."

Silence.

Rainey glanced up to see Karen standing perfectly still, a bath towel in one hand, a bottle of shampoo in the other, and a look of disbelief on her face.

"Okay, okay...this is way too much for me to take in right now. I...you...this calls for a shower," she said finally. "I'll save a stall for you and I'm giving you five minutes to get your butt in gear. If I don't have the whole story in fifteen minutes, you will pay the consequences." Her threat was somewhat lessened by the fact that she shook a half-empty bottle of Pantene at Rainey like it was a weapon.

Laughing, Rainey stood and started gathering her things to head to the showers. "Fine, fine. I'll be there in three minutes," she assured until Karen left the room to secure the shower stalls.

On a sigh, Rainey gave in to her fate. She should have known Karen would find out somehow, besides it wasn't as if this was high school and she had to worry about her "crush" being blabbed to the whole school. Above all, Karen was fiercely loyal and, she admitted to herself, she had more "man experience" beneath her belt than Rainey possessed in her little finger.

Maybe it was time to call in reinforcements when it came to Aidan...figure out how to get him to stop looking at her the way he did. And maybe, she thought as she headed toward the door with her shower caddy in hand, it was time she figured out how to stop letting him affect her.

************************* Three hours later, with six shopping bags dangling from both wrists effectively cutting off circulation, Rainey was reminded just why she hated shopping. Well, that, and the fact that of the six bags on her arms, only two were hers.

When she'd pointed out to Karen that the party was only bound to be a few hours long, she'd just laughed lightly and said that any shopping trip worth taking was never limited to any one even. And when you had a body like Karen's, Rainey mused, you were never limited to buying the things that just looked "passable."

At the moment, Karen was wandering around the neatly organized racks inside Victoria's Secret and Rainey, exhausted from being on her feet for nearly three straight hours, had wandered out into the mall's main corridor to take a seat on one of the benches directly across from the store.

Flopping down in a decidedly unladylike pose, she allowed her arms to loll on either side of her body, doing her best to ignore the raw, red lines the bags were etching into her wrists—she was afraid that if she put the bags down she wouldn't be able to pick them up again without help.

A few tendrils of hair dangled into her eyes and she blew them away distractedly, all the while her gaze idly following various passersby. She'd been a people-watcher all her life, always intrigued by the most mundane aspects of strangers' appearances.

A young woman, large-chested and tired-looking, wandered by with a harassed aura about her as she dragged a fussy toddler behind her by the wrist and used to other hand to push a massive stroller complete with a dozing infant in front of her.

Am *I* that sour-looking sometimes, Rainey wondered. She supposed that if her life didn't turn out the way she expected it to—if she spent four years in college but somehow ended up in a job or with a husband that didn't fulfill her—she could imagine feeling the way that woman looked, and that was a scary thought.

Nothing in life was guaranteed; she knew she took too many things for granted, but still, sometimes it was hard to see the good things when there were so many negative aspects battling for importance.

"Aren't you looking all serious and profound." Karen's tinkling laughter snapped Rainey out of her reverie; she'd been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed when Karen had left the store to come join her. With a shrug, Rainey shifted her right arm to make room on the bench for Karen to sit.

"Well, what do you expect? I'm delirious and exhausted from shopping all day. I was having episodic flashbacks to my bed and sleep."

On a perplexed glance, Karen's brow knitted. "I seriously never thought I'd meet a female who didn't like to shop. You're definitely one of a kind, Rainey."

Rainey's mouth quirked a little. "Is that just a nice way of calling me strange beyond belief?"

Parting her lips to respond, Karen was cut off by a muffled ring tone. "Isn't that..."

"Crap." Rainey jostled the bags on her wrist in a sort of shopping mall version of juggling. "It's my cell phone. Can you reach my purse?"

With a deftness learned through many past shopping experiences, Karen lifted several bags with one hand and found Rainey's purse with the other. The ring tone grew clear as she pulled the phone out: it was a Johan Sebastian Bach concerto. Karen rolled her eyes at Rainey's predictability.

Before Rainey realized what she was going to do, Karen flipped the phone open and chimed out a cheery, "Hiya. Karen speaking."

Holding her breath, Rainey prayed fiercely that it wasn't Aidan calling because he had some work for her to do.

No such luck.

"Oh, Aidan," Karen said, her tone taking on a slight seductive edge as her left brow shot upward. "You remember me, don't you? We met—on Saturday, that's right. Uh huh...uh huh..."

Chewing the inside of her cheek to suppress the urge to drop her bags to the floor and snatch the phone from Karen, Rainey instead found herself leaning closer to the phone, half hoping she'd catch a few snippets of what Aidan was saying to Karen.

Was he talking about her?

Tilting her head back, Karen laughed loudly. "I know! Well, Rainey tells me that I'll be seeing you and your mystery friend this Saturday at his party. I can't tell you how excited I am. Really...a charmer, is he? Hmm, that makes it all the more interesting because I absolutely *love* guys with accents," she said, winking at Rainey.

Deciding that badly veiled comment was the last straw, Rainey relaxed her wrist, letting half of the bags slither to the floor with the muted sound of crinkling plastic.

Motioning with her hands, she tried to get Karen to hand the phone over, but she just held a finger up, effectively forcing Rainey to wait because short of tackling her in the middle of the mall, Karen wasn't about to give the phone up until she was good and ready.

"Oh, Rainey? She's..." At the mention of her name, Rainey scooted even closer to Karen and tried to pry the phone from her fingers. "Rainey's...naked at the moment."

A very-much-clothed Rainey fell back against the bench, her mouth open in abject horror at the words coming out of Karen's mouth. "We're shopping and she's in the dressing room, but here, I'm sure she won't mind talking right now. Just a sec." At last, she handed the cell phone over, with a mischievious grin.

*Are you insane?* Rainey mouthed at her before pressing the phone against her cheek. "H-hello," she croaked.

After a second of silence, Aidan's voice filled her ear and she felt her heartbeat speeding up. "Rainey? Hi. I, um..."

He sounded so unsure of himself and Rainey found herself smiling as she visualized him sitting in that leather chair in his office, the phone pressed to his ear as he tapped a pen against his knee. The image was so vivid that a shiver ran through her.

"Uh, Karen said that you're...that you're...in the dressing room, so if this is a bad time I can..."

"No, no, it's fine," Rainey said quickly, feeling her cheeks burn in embarrassment even though she really wasn't naked like he'd been led to believe. "I'm...done now. Did you need me to come over later on?"

"Well, it's nothing urgent. Pretty much just some filing and things, it shouldn't take that long. Does two o'clock work for you?"

Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was a quarter to one. "Sure, two's fine."

"Great. I'll see you."

"Bye." The dial tone sounded in her ear and Rainey let out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

Punching her lightly on the upper arm, Karen gave her an open-mouthed grin. "You *like* him!"

"I do not," Rainey protested, leaning down to gather the bags she'd dropped and to shield her face from Karen's eyes.

"You are such a liar," Karen laughed. "There's nothing wrong with having a crush on someone you work with. *Especially* when that someone is freakin' gorgeous and walking around with a British accent tucked away like some secret weapon."

Shaking her head at that unique description of Aidan, Rainey stood up, holding out some of the bags for Karen to take. "Okay, I'll admit he's...gorgeous...but, that whole workplace romance thing sounds great in books and stuff, but in real life it's just asking for trouble. Anyway," she said, before Karen could interrupt, "we've gotta go. I have to be at Aidan's by two."

Falling into step next to her, Karen nudged her with an elbow.

"God, Rainey, you're spending hours a day in the apartment of a hot, 24-year-old, British guy and you 'don't like him.' I didn't say it before but I'm saying it now: you *are* strange beyond belief. I mean, really—what's the worst that could happen?"

That's what she was afraid of finding out.

************* She arrived at Aidan's at about ten minutes after two and, when she knocked on the door, there was no answer. Biting her lip, she knocked again, and again Aidan didn't appear to let her in.

Had he forgotten she was coming? A vague sort of pain shot dully through her chest at the thought that she could be so easily dismissed.

He'd definitely said two o'clock, that much Rainey was sure of. So where the hell was he? On impulse, she reached out and wrapped her hand around the doorknob and, to her surprise, it turned, the door swinging silently open to reveal the darkened hallway leading into the equally shadowed living room.

"Hello? Aidan," she called out, tapping lightly on the inside of the door. Still no answer.