Wild Bastard by Ella Savitskaya (book suggestions .txt) 📕

"Marina, let me help you" Gleb takes the bags of vegetables for Mrs. Blanchard that her grandma asked me to give her.

"Thank you" I turn the lock and pull the handle to make sure the door is closed.

"Are you going to the bar now?"

"Yeah."

"Let me give you a ride."

"If it's on your way, I'd appreciate it."

"Even if it wasn't on my way, I'd still give you a ride."

The guy smiles warmly and lets me go forward down the steps.

Gleb and I met the first day I rented the apartment. It turned out that the exit was right in front of my nose. When I casually mentioned to the bar owner that I was looking for a cheap apartment, I immediately found it. Mrs. Blanchard told me that her own grandmother was going to her sister and wanted to rent the apartment for a few months.

She didn't ask for much money, fortunately for me, and the house itself was only a few blocks from the bar. It was perfect, despite the rather modest furnishings. Vikky and the guys' lifestyle didn't suit me.

The first night I went out to get groceries, I couldn't manage the lock. The key sometimes jammed, as Gleb later explained to me, and he heard the rustling in the lock and was very surprised to see me in the place of the usual old lady.

The neighbor often helped an elderly woman with a problematic lock, and this time he had no trouble letting me into the apartment. Since that evening we've been hanging out. The guy is quite nice, well-mannered, and funny. He's asked me several times to go to a cafe or for a walk in the park, but...

I feel nothing but friendly sympathy for him. I confessed this to him as soon as I realized his intentions to take communication out of the "friend zone".

I realize that I'm involuntarily comparing Gleb to the bastard who swept through my life like a meteorite and blew it to hell.

Maybe if I had never known Matthew, I wouldn't hesitate to go out with Gleb, and I would even look at him as a boyfriend instead of a friend. But for the third week now, I'm still living in Lana and Matt's house in my mind.

When Gleb came over for coffee one morning and I turned my back on him, I didn't get lewd remarks in the back, nor did anyone dare burn my thigh with a slap or sink his teeth into my shoulder. And when a rather good-looking guy tried to kiss me on the way home after work and I turned away, he didn't wrap his paw around my face and force his tongue into my mouth.

Yes, he's wonderful and sensitive. Attentive, caring. He's... he's nothing like Matthew. And it's just my problem that instead of looking for stability in life, I flinch every time the bell over the door at the bar crackles.

But Matthew doesn't show up. He doesn't rush into the bar, he doesn't call, and he doesn't come over. Maybe he thought about it and decided not to complicate his life, or maybe he's building a connection with Lana, I don't know. I just wait. I try to believe his words and what I felt the last time I saw him.

"Thanks for the ride" I smile gratefully at Gleb as he pulls the bags of vegetables out of the trunk.

"Come on, I'll take these and stay for a while. I have to work a little later."

I take over from Kate and while I'm spinning at the bar, filling glasses with beer for a few customers, Gleb tells me that he'll be graduating from university in a year.

 Some people are already getting their diplomas, they know what they are going to become, they have plans, goals. But me...

The other day I went to the medical school, reread the list of entrance exams and realized that in a month I would not prepare with all my desire. Unless I take my textbooks to the bar, but also not an option. I need to choose one thing. Work and preparing for exams are not compatible concepts. And I can't give up work. Even such a nice lady as Mrs. Blanchards grandma will not keep me for free. So, most likely, entering the uni again will have to be postponed. Although I knew before that I will not be able to enter this year, but still deep in my heart I hoped that somehow I will make it. Stupid.

"Would you excuse me for a minute?" Gleb's voice makes me cast a fleeting glance at him. I think I've been overhearing everything he's been saying for the last ten minutes.

I nod and turn away to grab the glass and start wiping it down. I drift back into my own thoughts, when I hear from behind me:

"Can I have a glass of your crappiest craft beer?"

My heart hits my ribs, and the glass in my hand shudders, almost falling to the floor. The familiar hoarse voice rapidly penetrates my eardrums and instantly makes the blood run faster through my veins.

I turn around abruptly. Matthew is sitting on a chair, staring at me point-blank. There's a cigarette behind his ear, his hands clasped on the bar. My lips play with a slight smile. I know I should reply, but my tongue is stuck to my mouth. My heart dies out and starts punching a hole in my ribcage.

"It's gone up in price" I answer, feeling my lips stretch into a smile.

"You don't say" The wide eyebrow flicks up defiantly, bringing back to my life the colors that had been washed away by our last conversation. - Even if it became as expensive as Jameson, I wouldn't turn down a few sips from your mouth.

We stare at each other for endless seconds, sinking somewhere deep and falling out of reality. I think I can hear his breath and even the smell of cigarettes a meter away. I run my eyes over the mimic wrinkles in the corners of his eyes, and the hard lips that repeatedly tormented me with greedy kisses. Matthew explores my face in the same way. His gaze, as always, burns me, penetrates under my skin, and inflames me.

But things are different now. By the fact that he came, Matt shows that he's made up his mind, and now he's trying to find an answer to his action in my face. I realize that I've missed him terribly. And that even such a small thing as just seeing his gaze causes a tickling sensation inside my stomach.