That's How it Happens

2. I got you, Babe

"So, that's how it happened."

"With Lora from the third floor? How..."

Sighing, Ainsley placed her chin in her hand and stared at Leo. That same question had plagued her since she awoke this morning. Well, after she got her wits about her when she realized last night wasn't exactly a dream. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure which parts were but the bruise on her hand from pinching herself was tell-tale proof, a lot of it wasn't. She quickly looked down at her phone, her stomach swirling, hoping he didn't notice the flush she could feel on her cheeks, instead forcing herself to think of the situation at hand. The last thing she needed was to give him more ammo.

Leo was doing a circular nod, which meant he was clueless—the poor guy. If you knew him, you knew he always had something to say. So, the fact he wasn't saying anything was a little out of the ordinary.

He stopped abruptly, winked at a smiling redhead, realized he had forgotten something – the something being Ainsley – and turned his attention back once that realization had dawned. Ainsley watched all of this with a smile at his attention-deficit issue and patiently waited for him to mull it all over again. She stopped being upset over his wandering attention years ago. It wasn't something he could help. Sometimes, he just got distracted by redheads, blondes, or really anything with legs and boobs. Unfortunately, it was a part of his charm that as a friend, you just learned to accept. He sometimes got distracted by Ainsley, though he'd never admit that to himself or her. His face lit up, and she hid her smile as she mouthed, "light bulb."

"And these are the days of our lives," he popped off in a schmoozy sing-song voice, trying to be funny.

It wasn't.

Sitting up straight, she rolled her eyes and turned away. When he came to her about the hottest office gossip this morning, she knew better than to feed into it. Even if it were her truth, it always just made it worse. With the headache she was sporting today, her patience was not compatible with Leo's jokes - not without caffeine.

"Wait," he laughed, his hand wrapping around her arm. "Hold on, doll."

Whirling back around, he was shocked by the sudden stinging pain in his hand. She had smacked him.

"Woah!" He laughed harder if that were possible. "Easy there, Annabelle." Her eyes widened in shock and then narrowed with an accusation. He raised his hands in surrender. "I was teasing, devil doll. Geez, don't go all ax crazy on me, too," he joked before reminding her of a particular horror flick about a possessed doll that he had forced her to watch with him.

Why had she told him about her daydreams? Thank God she had stopped there. She couldn't fathom telling him about what else happened last night. He would never let her live down the fact she had allowed a masked avenger to kiss her while dancing nor that she didn't know who he was. It really was romantic, and Leo was anything but. He always made fun of her for liking the romances. Honestly, she was embarrassed to tell him that she had a one-night-stand kiss. The very thought teased her mind, but it was lost in the pulsing pain left behind from the dreadful heartbreak cure.

"So."

"So, what?" Leo responded, looking up briefly from his phone. She thought about shrugging it off, but she needed a break from her own issues.

"What did you do last night?"

"After the event?" She nodded, focusing on Leo's jawline as it pumped. "I met up with Jackson at a bar. They were having a costume party – go figure? I ended up saving a damsel in distress," he chuckled. "It's kind of a funny story." She urged him to continue through her distraction. Had his jawline always been so cut? "Why are you looking at me like that?" She shook her head and turned away, her cheeks reddening again. She hadn't realized she was staring at him at all as she thought about something so trivial and stupid. Of course, it wasn't Leo. "Anyway, it was definitely not as ...entertaining as your night."