Unexpected Encounters

Chapter 15

"Don't you dare start with me," she said as she grinned and pointed at me.

"Sorry, had to," I said as I picked the cup of coffee back up.

"You're never going to let that one go, are you?" She asked.

"Not likely," I shrugged, "the perfect opportunity just keeps presenting itself."

"Uh huh, sure," she said as she started to drive again.

We drove in silence for a few minutes before I started to try and make small talk.

"So..." I started, "how boring is this going to be?"

"It's really not that bad," she laughed, "I haven't been to this exact one but I think it'll be fine."

"I hope so," I said, "you might have to sit next to me and kick me to keep me awake or something."

"Oh I would be glad to do that," she said as she glanced over at me and grinned.

"Keep your eyes on the road," I teased her, "I'm sure that you would."

"Hey I have a question though," I continued.

"Okay, go for it," she said.

"Was Cameron weird about just the two of us going to this, or did he not really care?" I asked.

"No..." she said hesitantly, "why would he be bothered by it?"

"I don't know, just asking," I said, "Tanner was acting a little weird when I told him."

"What? Why?" She frantically asked, "you didn't tell -"

"No, no," I said as I put my hand on her arm to stop her panic, "I didn't say anything to him, relax."

She looked down at my hand and I quickly pulled it back and set it on my lap.

"I don't get why he would be concerned then," she said, still not sounding like she believed me.

"Because he has told me multiple times that you're hot," I said as I looked over at her and grinned, "might be more of a fantasy of his than a concern to be honest."

"Jesus," Whitney muttered.

"Oh come on, lighten up," I said to her.

"I just don't want anyone getting any ideas," she said quietly.

"I feel like there's more to this than you just not wanting to get into any trouble," I told her.

"No - well yeah there kind of is I guess," she said.

"What is it then?" I asked.

"I don't - okay, not that many people know that I'm bisexual," she finally said, "it's just not really something that I've shared."

"Oh," I said, "well damn...yeah that makes more sense now."

"Yeah," she sighed as an awkward silence fell between us.

"Well um," I started, "my two best friends are the only people that I've told, if that makes you feel any better...and they only know because they were with me on vacation."

"Good," she said quietly.

"And they know that if they say anything to anyone else, I'll fucking kill them," I told her, trying to lighten the mood.

I saw her grin slightly as she kept her eyes on the road in front of her.

"Sorry if I brought up a sore subject," I said.

"No it's fine," she responded, "probably should've mentioned that to you before anyways."

"Why haven't you really told anyone?" I asked her.

"If you don't mind me asking," I quickly added.

"Um," she paused.

"You don't have to tell me," I said, "just forget I asked you that."

"I really don't mind," she said, "I'm just not really used to talking about it."

"It's partially because of my family," she continued, "they're pretty conservative I guess you could say, so I didn't want to deal with all of that shit."

I stayed quiet to see if she was going to tell me anything else, and I noticed that her demeanor had changed. Now I felt terrible for bringing it up, and terrible for making her look as sad as she did right now.

"I also just don't feel like I need to tell people, you know?" She said.

"Yeah, I get that," I nodded, "sorry again for bringing it up, didn't mean to be such a mood killer."

"Don't worry about it," she said, "probably good for me to talk about it sometimes anyway."

"Yeah...I don't really have room to talk though," I said, "not great at discussing my feelings either."

"I'd kind of gathered that," she said as she looked over at me and grinned.

"No shit," I said sarcastically, "I don't make that obvious or anything."

"Only a little bit," she responded.

We continued to talk for the rest of the drive, and by the time we got there it seemed like we were both feeling more comfortable.

Just need to keep it light and casual, I can do this.

I followed Whitney inside the large hotel and conference center and we went over to the registration table.

"Whitney Lawrence and Bailey Dawson," she said to the lady at the table.

That had a nice ring to it. Damn it I needed to stop, I still barely knew this girl and these were the thoughts I was having.

The lady handed Whitney a few folders and name tags for us, and she turned around it gave me mine.

"Wow, I feel so official now," I said as I put the lanyard around my neck.

"You look nice," Whitney said, "very professional."

"I don't think I've ever been referred to as professional before," I said with a grin.

"Well you're doing a good job faking it then I guess," Whitney said, "come on."

I followed her towards our first event as I straightened my blazer and smiled to myself. I was feeling pretty pleased that she felt like I was fitting in.

As I looked around at the other people at the conference, I was finding it hard to believe that any of them would be able to let loose enough to drink at the hotel bar tonight. Although I did know what Whitney was capable of...so maybe I should hold off on my judgments.

"We have a breakfast this morning and one of the keynote speakers to start," Whitney said as she turned back to look at me.

"Sounds like a blast," I said to her.

"Hey, don't knock it just yet," she said, "they usually have someone pretty interesting."

"I won't, I won't," I told her, "as long as the food is good too."

"I can't make any guarantees on that one," she grinned, "but we better go find a seat, I think it's about to start."

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