Mallory
Reid's dimples were precious. Every time he smiled, it made me smile. Initially, I was reassured by his sweet nothings and reassurances of safety. We were his primary focus. He loved me, and I loved him. Wasn't that enough?
No. My mistrust grew steadily as we talked. My insecurities were bubbling to the surface, because the secrets in Reid's eyes were far from my reach. He knew Brent, and avoided eliciting that information to me.
I brushed my loose hair over my shoulder, reining in my thoughts as I smiled at my date.
My unease was catalysed by Brent's appearance at Cleo's apartment earlier. My gut said that Reid would orchestrate further plans with Brent. When Reid decided to act on something, he never wasted time.
So when he left Capulet's, I was going to find out what Reid was up to. But I couldn't do it alone.
I ran my fingertip over my lipstick-coated mouth, setting down my glass. "I need to use the bathroom, okay?"
Reid's eyes traced my lips. "Sure." he replied casually, tilting his glass back. I got up from my seat, straightening my dress as I walked to the bathroom. When I was locked into a cubicle, I dialled Cleo.
"What's up?" Cleo said casually when she picked up.
"I'm sorry about how I've behaved with you, Cleo. You deserve a better friend." I admitted. I felt bad throughout my entire date with Reid because I disrespected Cleo. The thing with Brent eclipsed all my prior thoughts of apologising.
"It's okay. You know I don't want anyone but you, Mallory. You're my platonic soulmate of nearly twenty years. If Reid hurts you, then I'll go knock some sense into him." she affirmed.
I felt a lump growing in my throat and I smiled. For once, my tears were coming from a source of happiness. "Thanks, Cleo. You know I'd do the same for you. But for now, I need your help."
"Help with organising a girl's trip? I'm on board." Cleo agreed enthusiastically. I could practically hear her rubbing her hands together in the background.
I giggled, toying with my necklace as I agreed, "We can schedule that in. But first, I need to follow someone."
"I hope you've thought this through." Cleo told me seriously.
I tilted my head. "I promise I'll explain, but for now, I have to get Reid out of Capulet's."
"What does Reid have to do with this?"
I cleared my throat awkwardly, staring at the colorless stall door as I admitted the truth. "I might be having brunch with him, at this current moment."
"What!" Cleo exclaimed. I heard the faint rustle of a chip packet on her side. "Why am I learning this now?"
"It was a very impromptu decision. But there's more important things to talk about. Brent came to your apartment, Cleo, and he approached me once he saw me leaving." I rushed out quickly. Just thinking about him was painful.
"What the hell?" I heard Cleo move on the other lin. Her voice became urgent. "What did he say?"
"He shouted that I was his property and grabbed my arm. Reid found out about it when we were eating." I suppressed a harassed sigh and leaned against the wall, closing my eyes as I said, "Now he's going to do something stupid, or he'll finally reveal what he's hiding from me. I need to know, Cleo."
"Or you could just ask him?" Cleo mumbled over the phone. "You know, you could communicate. Like normal people."
I rolled my eyes as I disagreed, "I don't think Reid would be honest if I asked him outright. He already hid the fact that he knew Brent before he met me. This is the only way of finding out the truth."
"Of course you want Reid to be honest with you, but the method matters. You can't just stalk him to see if Reid happens to go to Brent's house. That's borderline crazy. You're making a mistake."
"Why not?" I asked noncommittally. I was fully aware that this was insane, but I was scared. Fear drives us to do strange things.
"Mallory, I'm not certain that you're thinking straight so I'll try to be the voice of reason here. Reid was devoted to you. I'm sure if he didn't tell you something, he only did it for your benefit." Cleo told me patiently.
"But what if he's pretending to hate Brent because he's my ex? Reid could have a whole double life, and I wouldn't know." I invented wildly, almost believing it to be true. Almost.
Cleo sighed. "Okay. If it'll put your mind at rest. Even though this is a total invasion of his privacy, and I completely disagree with it. Even if I'm just coming to keep you out of trouble. You want me to come to Capulet's?"
"Please. I'll ask Reid to leave, then we can go. Thanks again, Cleo. Love you." I told her quickly, then I ended the call. I stared at the peeling wallpaper on the wall behind me, wondering what I was doing.
I walked out of the bathroom and over to our table, where Reid was typing on his phone with a frown on his face. His annoyance disappeared once I sat down, and he looked up with a smile. "Hey. I was thinking about something." he told me.
"I hope you didn't hurt yourself while doing it." I said sarcastically.
He rolled his eyes. "You're so funny. As I was saying, I was thinking about how we met. You said we went for drinks, right? Cleo introduced us. So I want to know, does this meeting beat our first one? You know, the one where we actually didn't know each other."
I laughed. "Anything would beat that. I did my ugly laugh, the one that sounds like a seal barking? According to you, anyway."
Reid leaned forwards, his eyes gleaming with interest. "Now that's something I'd like to hear. You sure you can't do a repeat performance?"
I smirked, feeling relaxed. "Maybe for a fee."
"Oh?" Reid said suggestively. "Like what?"
I laughed against my will, smiling at him as I took a bite of my pastry. "Stop teasing me, you know what I mean."
"I'm not doing anything." Reid chuckled, his eyes focused on mine.
"That's the problem here." I told him boldly. My gaze drifted to his lips, which parted as he took a sip of his coffee.
Reid considered me over the rim of his cup, then he seemed to decide on something. "Maybe I should fix that."
He leaned in to place his palm on my jaw, bracing his thumb on my cheekbone as he kissed me. He took his time, brushing his mouth over mine with languid sweetness. He tasted of the coffee he drank.
I kissed him back, trying to reciprocate everything he made me feel; the exhilaration, fear, regret and recognition that rushed up to my throat. His lips felt like home; his touch ignited an old, previously dormant fire in me. I was so happy he'd done it at last; something I had been thinking about the whole time we were here. There was a familiar heat curling up my stomach, simultaneously courage-inducing and sweetening.
Once he moved away, keeping his hand on my jaw, I could only look at Reid. Everything I saw was faded and dull, in comparison to him.
I told Reid to go ahead of me, with the excuse that I needed to have a conversation with the manager, who was an old family friend. He questioned it at first but didn't seem disposed to disagree, which made me think that he was definitely hiding something about Brent.
Cleo arrived at Capulet's in record time. Reid's car was parked down the road from us, and I was keeping an eye on it carefully. There was no way I was messing this up.
As I approached Cleo's car, she rolled the window of her Cadillac down, peering at me over the top of her sunglasses. I stared at her in confusion. "Why are you wearing sunglasses? The cloud cover is over ninety percent today."
Cleo scoffed at me. "Stop hating, this is a serious mission. We have to make sure Reid doesn't find out about this, and disguises are the best solution."
I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. "Sunglasses aren't a disguise, Cleo. They make us more suspicious."
"On that note, there's still time. Please stop this craziness while we still can." Cleo pleaded.
"Where would be the fun be in that?" I asked innocently. Cleo stared at me flatly. "I'm joking. We're not doing anything illegal, just a bit of detective work."
"Which should be classified as stalking. We're literally following him. You're better than this, Mallory. When you wake up to your mistake, I'll be waiting with an 'I told you so' sign." Cleo huffed.
"I only want to make sure that Reid doesn't get arrested or something. If I know that Reid has a chance of getting sent to jail over Brent, won't I try to stop it?"
"And now we're pretending that this whole thing isn't about your trust issues." Cleo told me bluntly, which I ignored.
I rolled my eyes, flatly telling her, "It'll be quick, I promise."
"Can we get burgers on the way, at least?" Cleo asked.
I frowned at her. "Cleo, we're trying to follow someone. We can get burgers after."
We waited outside Capulet's until Reid left the cafe. He got into his car, and we tailed Reid to his parents' house. Cleo and I watched from a street down as Reid parked, got out of the car and walked to the door, looking for something in his pocket.
"Satisfied?" Cleo asked, arching her eyebrows at me. "Or are you waiting for him to pull out a gun?"
I shrugged. "I'm doing this for my own piece of mind. As long as he doesn't end up in trouble for assaulting my ex, I'm good with it."
"Or maybe he's smarter than you think, and you have nothing to worry about?" Cleo muttered, flopping back into her driver's seat.
"Oh, hell." I interrupted her, my face paling. Reid came back out of the front door, looking around, and his eyes landed on us. He frowned, his eyes running over my face. He started walking towards Cleo's car with long, agile strides.
"Is it too late to backpedal?" Cleo asked me nervously, her eyes focused on Reid.
"That would just make things worse." I swallowed. "I'll tell him it was my idea. I'm sorry I got you into this mess."
"It's a bit late for an apology." Cleo scoffed, rolling her eyes.
Reid hauled the door open to the passenger seat and moved his head in. Cleo and I froze, watching as Reid reached out to take my sunglasses off. He sucked in a breath once we locked eyes.
"What a coincidence." Reid commented sarcastically as he looked between us. I couldn't help but think about how attractive he was, with his hair curling over his forehead and his dark, smouldering eyes. "I'm beginning to think that you followed me here."
"Because we did." Cleo admitted.
"Don't tell him everything, Cleo." I muttered, looking straight in front of me.
She stared at me incredulously. "Don't tell me what to do."
"Can I talk to Mallory, please? Alone?" Reid asked. Cleo and I fell silent, staring at him. She threw a glance in my direction, and I surreptitiously nodded. Reid's eyes narrowed once he noticed our silent communication.
"Be my guest." Cleo told him. She opened the driver's door and stepped out, slamming it shut as she walked down the street with her hands in her pockets.
Reid got into the car from the passenger side, closing the door more quietly. He turned to look at me and sighed. "I can't believe you. Why would you lie to me? What were you trying to do?"
He didn't sound angry, but there was definite disappointment in his voice. I wanted to be angry with him. I wasn't a child up for punishment. But he was right. At the same time, I wasn't his babysitter. Cleo was being kind when she called my erratic behaviour crazy.
Then I understood what was bothering me. It was past a week since Reid's crash, and our relationship was still undefined. Calling Reid my boyfriend now seemed inappropriate. After a year of spending most of our time together, complete isolation from him was like a withdrawal.
"I can't explain right now, Reid." I told him quietly. "I promise I will, in time. But first, I need to apologise. I was being an idiot, and I promise I'll never do this again. You don't have to look over your shoulder for me, I swear."
He was quiet for a moment. I leaned back into the headrest, wishing I'd been less of a fool.
"What did that kiss in the restaurant mean to you?" Reid asked me out of nowhere. I looked up at him, astonished to see the eloquent pain that his eyes carried. Before, I'd only seen joy, and anger.
But this was what I truly was for Reid. Pain.
"What?" I asked in a daze, my eyes focused on his.
"You heard me." he answered quietly. He leaned back in the passenger seat, crossing his arms as he turned his head to watch me. I thought about his question carefully. I knew my answer would speak volumes to him.
"The kiss showed me that you're still the same person." I told him. It was the most sincere thing I said to Reid. "Even if it's hard to see, sometimes."
"Okay." Reid replied softly. He looked at me for another moment, an indecipherable expression on his face. I stupidly thought that he was going to kiss me again. Then the moment was gone, and Reid was getting out of the car again. I watched him walk towards Cleo. They spoke together briefly, then they started walking back to the Cadillac together.
I didn't try talking to Reid again after that. He said that leaving his car on that street for the night would be fine, and he'd pick it up in the morning. Cleo drove us back, and they spent the car ride arguing over the music.
Once again, I had no idea how I was supposed to feel. As we reached my house, Reid's eyes drew subtly to meet mine. "I'll walk Mallory to her aunt's house, then you can drop me off, Cleo."
Cleo sighed in defeat, looking away. "If it helps you two, then fine."
Reid got out, then opened my door for me. I stepped out after saying thank you to Cleo, walking down my driveway. Reid followed behind me, his hands in his pockets. The sky was darkening already, but his eyes were light as he watched me.
I swallowed nervously, aware that Reid was waiting for me to speak. "Thanks for walking me." He lifted a shoulder, not saying anything. I sighed in frustration. "What do you want me to say, Reid?"
At last, a shadow of a grin flitted across his face. "Oh, I don't want you to say anything."
To emphasise his point, he reached for my chin, tipping my face up so he could brush his lips across mine. I stifled my shock, enjoying the familiarity of the way Reid kissed me.
When I reciprocated the kiss, Reid pulled away once he felt me kissing him back. He smiled, looking into my eyes. "Do you want to go out together? I'm free the day after tomorrow."
I felt dizzy, and absolutely confused by Reid. If I was being honest, I was even more attracted to him now. "I'm free too. It's a date. Text me the time and location?"
Reid's smile widened, and he laughed a little. "I was thinking you could plan it. See you then."
With that, he walked back to Cleo's car, his old confidence fully restored. Reid was aware that I was watching him, even as Cleo pulled out of my driveway and left.
As I shut my aunt's front door, I put my hands over my face and sighed heavily, ignoring the swarm of butterflies in my heart. I was so embarrassed by my behavior. Following Reid was completely out of character for me. I was never desperate, no matter what excuses I gave to seal my actions.
Reid knew exactly how to push my buttons, even when he didn't remember me. He was perfect.
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