Walk the Line

18 - The Time They Do a Little Trade

18 – The Time They Do a Little Trade

Things with Tyler were pretty nice. We'd been on a few dates and enjoyed each other's company, but we weren't exclusive and I honestly was okay with that. It was nice to have someone to do things with. It was also nice to be out of the house more. I liked living with Ford, surprisingly enough. I just didn't like being in the house when Tiffany and Ford were fighting. Which, these days, was quite frequently.

"Hey, you look nice, you going out with Tyler again?" Ford peeked his head in the doorway. I was sitting at my vanity, working on my makeup.

"Yeah, we're going for drinks and putt-putt," I smiled.

"It's nice to see you happy and getting settled back in here," he said, "I know it's not your first choice, but I hope you feel like you belong here."

"I'm starting to, honestly Ford, I don't know what I would do without you."

He smirked and left me to get ready. I finished my makeup and pulled on a cute tank top and shorts. It was barely June, but it was record setting temperatures hot. Putt putting meant we would be outside in the sticky humid heat. It was a fun date though, better than just Netflix and chill type dates I was used to.

That was one thing I liked about Tyler. He kept our dates creative and never tried to push the physical stuff. The only caveat was that I was kinda craving the physical stuff too. Tonight was our fifth date, which was my magical number of dates before I would have sex with someone. I'd set it in college, but was pretty loose about sticking to it. I just used it as a rule of thumb and adjusted as necessary.

I was ready, though. I thought tonight might be a good night. Ford had told me earlier in the day Tiffany was coming over this evening, and I'd promised to leave and give them all the privacy they needed. The only issue with me planning on having sex was one thing. I didn't have a condom. I'd thrown out the box I had before moving back home to avoid questions I didn't want to answer from my mother and I made a rule to never go expecting sex without bringing my own protection because it just leads to disappointment and awkward situations. Better prepared than uncomfortable.

I knocked on Ford's door, saying a prayer to myself that this would be less awkward than I was anticipating.

"Hey, you getting ready to leave?" he asked.

"Yeah...," I said.

"What do you need?" he squinted at me. I felt my face heat up with embarrassment. How did he know?

"How good of friends are we?" I asked.

"I'm letting you live with me, is that not good enough?" he asked.

"I need a favor and it might be really awkward, but let's skip over the awkwardness, okay?" I pleaded.

"What do you want?" he asked again.

"Do you have a condom I could have?" I asked, knowing my face was fire engine red. My heart pounded in embarrassment. "I can buy you a box the next time I'm at the store. I just...," I trailed off.

He went to his nightstand and pulled out two, handing them to me. I realized they were magnums and tried to hide my blush. Ford...a magnum? Damn, no wonder why Tiffany was screaming. Hopefully Tyler could fill a magnum if he didn't have his own...

"It's going to cost you, though," he said.

"You name it," I breathed a sigh of relief.

"You know, like four? Five years ago? I asked you to hold onto something for me?" he asked, and I knew immediately what he was referring to. The ring in the velvet box he'd given me when he was drunk and heartbroken. I'd kept it with me at college and with every move I made back and forth. I kept it sacred in my jewelry box.

I knew he would ask for it back someday when he me the right girl, but I never imagined in a million years that it was going to be Tiffany. I speechlessly went to my room and pulled out the velvet box and returned it to him.

"You really did keep it," he said, almost in disbelief.

"Well, yeah, you asked me to. I wasn't going to go sell it at a pawn shop or something," I laughed. He took the ring, and I took my condoms just as the doorbell rang.

"Hey, I'll see you later?" I asked.

"Yeah," he nodded.

The date went pretty okay. I enjoyed putt putt with Tyler. I lost because I was horrendously bad at putt putt, but he bought me a drink to make up for it.

"Hey, I've really enjoyed hanging out with you," he said.

"Me too, this is fun," I said.

"I just, want to be honest with you before things go too far," he said.

"Sure," I smiled, admiring his honesty.

"I think you're awesome, but I think I kind of see us more as friends than anything romantic. I enjoy hanging out with you, but we also work together and I think that we could do better work if we stayed friends and it might make it less awkward that way," he said.

He had a valid point. He was cute but I wasn't dying to do anything physical with him. I was just horny, not horny for him specifically. I would have been okay with letting things play out and maybe use him to scratch that itch for a while and see how it went, but I couldn't hold it against him for not feeling the same. I felt pretty casual about him and I wasn't hurt by his sentiment in any way, I just wish he'd told me before I had the whole awkward run around with Ford over the condoms...

"I think maybe you're right," I said.

"Can we still hang out?" he asked.

"Absolutely!" I laughed.

We had a great rest of the night, and I didn't get home until around midnight. I was hoping that it was late enough that I could sneak in the house without disturbing Ford or Tiffany. I carefully unlocked the door and shut it softly behind me.

"Ellie?" I heard Ford's deep voice in the living room.

"...yeah," I said, coming around the corner to see him sitting alone, watching some late night comedy host on TV.

"How was the date?" he asked.

"We decided to just be friends," I said, sitting down beside him, handing him his condoms back.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"I'm not, it's for the best," I said, grabbing the beer he had on the coffee table and taking a swig.

"Where's Tiffany?" I asked.

"I broke up with her," he replied.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"I'm not," he looked at me with a look I couldn't quite read before getting up and going to bed.