Rebound Love

3. In Truth

Oakley

"What about Archer Wainwright? Is he famous now?"

Honestly, after high school, I still thought about Archer. About those three hours locked in the library with him. I would reminisce on how his lips quirked when I tell a funny story about my drama class. I still remembered how hard my heart was beating when Archer sat next to me on the library floor. I could remember how I prayed to god not to let me sweat too much from my nervousness. Cause even at a young age, I knew that armpit stain is never a sexy look on someone as gay as me.

"Famous? No...not really, but..." Kennedy once again paused when she dramatically cleared her throat. By this time I was getting annoyed that I called the waiter to get another glass of water for my friend.

"Ken...do I need to open my Facebook account to see what it's all about? You know I'm on social media for the cats and dogs videos only."

Since the high school committee dropped a message in my inbox, I hadn't been online anymore. There was nothing I wanted to gain from attending the event. Therefore, I was not going to spend the weekend talking to people I barely remembered. Also, there was a chance that I might run into Archer. The man could be married with children by now and that was not something I wanted to hear. I wanted to preserve the three dreamy hours we had.

Fuck...I should really stop thinking about Archer.

"It's Archer Wainwright. He had pictures of him tagged to his profile. Get this...those were pictures of him dancing with guys in a gay bar. I know the bar. I've been there." Kennedy whispered as if she was retelling a murder mystery story and we were all roasting marshmallows by the dimly lit campground.

"So? You're married. You went to a gay bar. What if he was just doing what straight people do too?" I huffed, clearly annoyed that they were trying to bend the straight guy. I hated it. I hated that straight people thought gay guys could make another man gay by dancing and kissing them.

"Ken..." It was Brynn who finally noticed my annoyance. Maybe because she was gay too and she knew the misconception and though our best friends were not bigots, it didn't mean that they wouldn't touch a touchy subject every now and then. "Oak is right. Archer could be there for some bachelor party for his friends."

"Hmm...that was my first thought. But then I went to his friend who tagged his pictures and saw that the man was tagged by his other friends..."

"Okay...I see that being a housewife gives you time to stalk someone online." Brynn chuckled, trying to ease the tension between Kennedy and me. But then her jaw dropped when Kennedy showed the picture on her phone. "Oh...damn..."

"What?" My curiosity peaked when Aspen took hold of Kennedy's phone from Brynn and started zooming in and out and her eyes were wide as saucers. And when Aspen handed me the phone I almost dropped it when I see Archer had his hand wrapped around the neck of a bare-chested man and kissed him flat against the wall.

Fuck that's so hot.

Then, out of curiosity, I start carefully looking into the picture and I found one of him and the guy he kissed previously in a more laid-back setting in a restaurant like they were on a date or something.

"You can close your mouth now, Oak." Kennedy gave us her winning smile. I still couldn't believe that she managed to hold onto the information until we were finished with lunch. I needed more intel, but I really needed to go back to the office. My boss was waiting for me.

"Yeah...so, good for him. At least he's not keeping it in the closet. Maybe he's bisexual or maybe he just realizes he likes boys now." I shrugged, telling them Archer might started kissing guys when he attended college. "Right Brynn?" I winked knowing that was when Brynn had gone all gay and slept around with curious college women.

We talked for another twenty minutes before I handed baby Vee back to Aspen and said my goodbye. The girls still have time and decided to stay longer at the restaurant. Yeah right, I knew that they were plotting how to get me to go to the reunion this weekend.

What they didn't know was that Emory had told me that he had booked a hotel for us. That he was going to take me right after their client's wedding so we could relax after a hard day of work. The plan sounded dreamy and romantic and no high school reunion was going to ruin our plan. I can always hang out with my girls the weekend after. I was planning to make it up to them. Karaoke Bar should be fun, we haven't sung our hearts out for so long.

By the time I reached the office, my mind was back in the game. I had thought about my crush who might be gay and decided to put the past behind me. If the pictures were true then he had a boyfriend already, and I decided to not taint the memory of my crush. I was keeping those three hours of 'Archer' library time as is. The boy was my first crush, I even dared to think that he was my first unrequited love.

I walked towards Emory's office wanting to let him know that I was back. I even brought my boyfriend his favorite coffee cake dessert from the restaurant. But I was not ready when I found his office door was locked. At first, I thought he was changing because accidents happened and Emory always keeps a clean set of suits in the office. Then, I noticed something was wrong when his PA was not at her desk. And being curious I decided to wait and see. There was only one door, and though my heart was twisting and my gut was telling me something bad was going to happen, I remained calm and waited.

I didn't have to wait for long until the door opened and Emory and his ex, Wesley, walked out. From their faces, I knew something had happened. I cleared my throat and Emory was startled and Wesley smirked at me, clearly thinking that he was getting his guy back. Well, I sure did feel like a loser.

"Oakley, this is not what it seems..." Emory grabbed my biceps, stopping me from walking away.

"Yeah? And what is this exactly?" I stood there when Wesley decided to leave, clearly not wanting to get caught in our dramatic feud. I let Emory take me into his office, but it was a bad move since I could smell the sex in the air. I knew because I had spritzed the air freshener before I left for lunch and they shouldn't be this strong. The flush on Wesley's face and puffy lips earlier tells me that he was spending more time on his knees than talking to his ex.

"Wesley wanted to get back, I told him no. And..."

"And he let you fuck his face?" I put the dessert box on Emory's desk and retreated to the door. "I will need this weekend off and you will not take me off the big client's list. I worked my ass off for your company and I need them in my listings. You know that I'm a hard worker and I will continue to work professionally. We are done, Emory. Oh... and I'll be taking the rest of the day off."

Emory looked defeated, but he didn't stop me from walking out. I was breathing heavily when I finally reached my car. My emotions were running wild, the tears fell cause I was mad. I hated the fact that I was once again being cheated. I couldn't believe that I'd be so stupid to risk my heart for a player.

I knew my boss was one. Though I dreamed that he could be different, I thought that I could change the man. Well, at least I caught him early. I shook my head and turned on my car heading back to the bistro, hoping my girls were still there.

I needed my girls. I needed their love.