Polk Salad Annie

Chapter 7

   
Annie left Conan sleeping. It was a coward move, she would admit. She didn't regret being with him that night. No, not really. She thought she wasn't worth it. He was... a Harvard graduate, a very intelligent individual. He seemed very down to earth, very funny... and not for her, she supposed. She lured him in, to his own bedroom; they had sex – and God – it was good. But somehow, she felt like as good as he was; he wouldn't want something permanent.

Of course, she could've waited and asked him. She could've left a number, but instead, she just put her clothes on, left his sweater where her dress was and left, calling Matt from Conan's phone. She was hoping he wouldn't wake up. Turns out, Annie didn't know how to deal with her emotions. She wanted to be with him, but she didn't know if he did and she thought it was better not knowing the answer. She wasn't good on dealing with rejection.

            She took a cab to Matt's, he paid her fare. She avoided his questions of 'where have you been?' and 'where did you sleep?' telling a friend helped her out. He seemed a little concerned, considering she was looking like a mess. Her dress was dirty; her hair looked like a bird's nest. But that was Annie, she wouldn't tell him even if he asked a million times. Before leaving, she asked about the show.

"Well, when is the debut of the Late Night with Chip Whitley thing? I have to make sure I'll watch it."

Matt giggled. "Oh, so you must have met Conan last night."

"Yes." she nodded. "He is a good guy. Why does the host have such a stupid name though? Did no one tell him how lame it sounds?"

Matt laughed out loud. "Yes, we all know it sounds really lame."

Annie looked at Matt, confused. "Who is this guy that I never heard of, anyway? I mean he has a lame name but he could be a really funny guy..."

"Darling..." Matt said. "Conan is the host. Chip Whitley is just a joke name he invented, a name that would sound completely dorky and uninteresting."

"What?" she almost screamed.

"Don't tell me you never saw the 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien' promos?"

"No..." she said. She was surprised on how Conan totally fooled her and how easy she was to be fooled.

"He is insane. A good person, nevertheless. He does these things sometimes." Matt smiled, while walking her to his door.

"Thanks, Matt" Annie said. "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"I could get you tickets if you want..."

She went silent for a moment. "Yes, if you have them."

-

Arriving home, Annie also took a shower and thought about Conan. She didn't know how close he was to Matt, if Conan would call him to know about her... but she brushed this thought off, why would he? And why did she care? She tried not to, but the thing is... Conan could be pretending, he could be fooling her, he could've made her attracted to make her unconsciously desire to have sex with him; but whatever he did, he did it well.

She thought it through his actions. No, she concluded, he didn't force himself into her. He was really kind, polite and amazingly funny. He behaved like a gentleman until the end. He offered his house for a girl in need, and never, for a moment, he made anything Annie didn't want to. She peeked on him, and kissed him. She took him into bed. She couldn't help herself. He smelled like lavender, he had a perfectly sculpted jaw line, his embrace...

She exited the bathroom with a frown, like a wet dog. Why was she thinking about this? It was making her so frustrated. She didn't know at this point if sleeping with Conan was good or bad. She didn't think about the consequences of it. Did Conan care? Did he care as much as she did? She didn't know. But his freckled hands, that beautiful smile and those lovely blue eyes couldn't leave her mind. It happened in a matter of hours, how could it be? Annie felt cheated by her own self.

She put on her underwear and an old t-shirt and just fell on her bed. She was tired. She tried not to think about him for a second, and felt her eyes close slowly. She was drifting to sleep. It was her day off, she should just relax. Tomorrow would be a good day, a different day. She didn't want to admit to herself but deep down she knew...

Tomorrow would be the day she would see him again.