Page 3 of Back to Me
The longer I tried to keep my mind off it though, the more concerned I felt. Looking up at the time and seeing that it was almost four, I decided to close a little early. Locking up the shop and turning the sign off, I grabbed the drawer from the till and took it back to my office. Opening the safe, I put it inside and made sure it was locked before closing the door that hid away the safe. I took my bag from my bottom desk drawer, removed my keys, and headed over to the back door. Switching the lights off, I set the alarm for the shop and locked the back door behind me. Moving to my car, I unlocked it and got in. Dropping my bag in the passenger seat, I took a breath before starting it up and putting it in reverse. I had been avoiding someone else since I had gotten back so maybe it was time to kill two birds with one stone. Hopefully, I would get out of there with at least one of them not pissed at me. Part of me didn't like my chances though.
Pulling into the parking lot of Hurricane’s, my best friend's bar, I found a spot and got out, locking my car before I headed inside. I looked around and saw Austin sitting at the end of the bar talking to Tye. There was no Dallas, so I had to assume she was either not in yet because it was quiet or she was out the back somewhere.
“Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in.”
“Very cute, Tye.” I eyed the end of the bar and Austin, who was now looking down at the drink in front of him. I took a step toward him, and Tye shook his head.
“Ally, I don’t think that is a good idea.”
“Oh, and why is that?”
“Austin needs time to process you being back. Today was a shock for him so you all need to give him space to wrap his head around seeing you.”
“Hey! He walked into my shop! Not the other way around.”
“Yes, he did but he had no idea what he was walking into. If he had known, then he wouldn’t have.” I looked down the bar at the person in question.
“Are you going to speak for yourself anytime soon?”
“Nope. Tye has it covered and he’s not wrong. Might want to rethink being here though, Ally. Dallas wasn’t too happy to find out you were back. Think it may have thawed the ice between me and her.”
“I’m sorry, this is not how I wanted you all to find out, but I wasn’t exactly sure on how to tell you of all people that I was coming back. Telling you I was leaving went down so well.” Austin rolled his eyes.
“Well, if that doesn’t make it all better, then I don’t know what will.”
“I’m sorry, do you have selective memory? Do you not remember what you said to me as I walked out the door?”
“Oh no, I remember. It’s something I have regretted every day since. The second the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to take them back.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“You were already gone. What difference would it have made, Ally? If you’d thought we could survive a long-distance relationship then you would have included me from the start. Not the week before you were leaving town.” Before Austin and I could continue to push the blame back on each other, Tye cut in as a voice of reason.
“Guys, I hate to interrupt this but maybe we should take this somewhere a little more private.” Austin nodded and downed his drink before standing up.
“Is your office free or is boss lady there?”
“Nah, I think she went upstairs. You can use my office.” Without another word, Austin headed back toward the entrance but instead of walking out the front door, he went left and down a hallway. I followed. There were bathrooms when you first walked along it, but at the very end, there were another two doors. One was a second entrance to the kitchen and the other led into Dallas and Tye’s office. Austin put in the pin number and held the door open for me. If I had to guess, he had spent a lot of time here, because he knew the pin number for starters and then proceeded to make himself at home after grabbing a beer from the mini fridge and sat down in Tye’s chair.
“Now, where were we? That’s right, you were about to justify not telling us that you were coming back after not telling us that you were leaving. Does that sound about right?”
“Are you really wondering why that is? Listen to yourself! Don’t get all high and mighty with me, Austin. You moved on really fucking quickly once I was gone.”
“My no-strings-attached relationship with Holly started after it was clear that you weren't coming back. Or maybe it was after I came to you and found you walking into your apartment with another guy.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Your dad came to visit me and told me that I needed to make things right with you. He couldn’t sit back knowing that you were unhappy there and I was in a downward spiral of doing everything I shouldn’t do and that everyone told me not to do. He gave me the address of your apartment so I closed the shop for a few weeks so I could spend as much time as I needed to make it right. I hired a car when I landed so that I could surprise you but when I got to your apartment, you weren’t home, so I waited for you. When you did come back, you had another guy with you. When he didn’t come back out, I left.” I frowned and looked at the ground trying to remember a time I took a guy home which wasn’t hard as I didn’t date anyone while I was gone. No one came close to Austin, so I just didn’t bother. I got through what I needed to do, then came back home. I considered setting up a shop in New York or somewhere that was heavily populated with tourists to try and make a go of it but nowhere felt right to me. Home was where I needed to be.
Don’t get me wrong, my housemate tried playing wingman more times than I could count, but I would strike out and end up only taking him home with me. Then it hit me.
“Oh, Austin, babe, I really wish you had of stayed. The guy you saw me coming home with that night was the guy I went home with every night. My housemate, Luka. I didn’t want to be on my own while I was there, so I found someone to share the costs with. All the girls I met with would have driven me crazy after a week. I’m talking Holly and Bianca times ten thousand. So, when Luka met up with me, we got talking and were instant best friends. He reminded me of you, Beau, and Cash all rolled in one. Plus, he is gay, so I didn’t have to worry about him trying to get with me and mess things up.”
“Huh. Well, that would have saved me from almost getting the shit beat out of me by Tye a couple of times when I came back and refused to see anyone.” Before I could respond to him, the office door opened. Turning to see who it was, I sighed internally. “That’s my cue to leave.”
I watched him get up from the chair, taking his drink with him, leaving Dallas and me alone in the room.
“Last to know you were leaving, last to know that you were back. Sometimes I wonder, was I really your best friend?”
