Coming?

"Are you coming tonight?"

Big sigh. Lauren could hear her mother’s voice, “If you’re nice to her, she’ll be your best friend when you grow up!” Only, Lauren’s mother wasn’t talking to Lauren; she was talking to Lauren’s older brother, Ace. Ace was the sibling with the outsized personality. Being Ace’s BFF was always on his terms; his terms were always overwhelming.

Let’s start with Ace’s name. Of course, that wasn’t really his name. 

What kind of parent names their kid “Ace”? Definitely not Lauren’s parents. Lauren’s parents named their son “Robert,” after her grandfather. When he was around ten, Robert decided his name was “Ace.” After his announcement, it was always Ace. 

Personally, Lauren thought the name “Ace” was kind of ridiculous. It’s not like her brother was a star athlete or something. Who gives themselves the nickname “Ace”? So, Robert gave himself the nickname. That was that. With Ace, it was always on his terms, so, after his big announcement, if you wanted to be friends with Robert, you had to call him ”Ace.” Lauren was pretty sure most of his friends thought “Ace” was on his birth certificate. After a while, Lauren even forgot that Ace had ever been “Robert.”

As it happened, Ace and Lauren really were BFFs. Even though he was four years older, Ace was always happy to let Lauren tag along. Ace always wanted an audience; Lauren was always content to be his audience.  Lauren felt abandoned when Ace left for college. She wanted him to remember that she was always his best fan! Ace never forgot. Girlfriends and fraternity brothers would come and go. His little sister was always there for him. Now, she was his best friend, just as he was hers.

When Lauren graduated from college, she moved to Philadelphia to be close to Ace.  He was the Regional Director of Sales for a large manufacturer of athletic shoes. A quiet snort from Lauren. He still wasn’t an athlete. Lauren was an editor for the Historical Romance division of a small independent publishing company.

“Are you coming?” Ace had a brand new girlfriend, Gracie. His new focus in life was to find Lauren the perfect boyfriend, just like he had found the perfect girlfriend. Well, she was perfect for now anyway. Gracie had a way of making Ace feel perfectly blissful; however, it might just be the gratifying early-relationship sex.  Ace wanted Lauren to meet someone to rescue her from the brooding war heroes, reformed rakes, seductive viscounts, and arrogant dukes. She needed a real-life hero, not one who lived only in her head or in the pages of a 0novel.

“Please? You owe me because I went to that weird outdoor opera with you last summer.” Lauren knew she wouldn’t be spending the evening sipping wine and watching her favorite show on the Hallmark Channel.  What was wrong with the Hallmark Channel? Ace acted like it was crack cocaine.

Ace heard another big sigh. Ahhh. A chance to put “Operation Boyfriend” into action.  An hour later, Lauren found herself standing in a packed bar, sipping a yummy mystery cocktail. The music was deafening. Over the next several hours, one or another of Ace’s friends would appear with another cocktail for her to try. So many sweet and fruity cocktails. Lauren found that she was extremely thirsty.

After handing her a cocktail, Ace’s friends would introduce themselves and start talking. Because the music was so loud, Lauren couldn’t understand a word anyone was saying. When someone stopped talking, she would smile and nod her head. At some point, Lauren found herself on the dance floor. She was the Dancing Queen! Uninhibited. Seductive. Hot. Hmmm. She was so hot, she had to take off her favorite purple cardigan, revealing her silky red camisole with lace around the neckline and hem.

Lauren found herself twirling around the floor with more and more abandon. Each partner was holding her closer than the one before. She eventually found herself rocking her hips in a rather shocking fashion while a stranger was holding her close with one of his legs between her own. That’s when Ace came over and escorted her off the dance floor.

“I think you’ve had enough, butterfly.”

“What? I was having the BEST time!” At that point, Lauren was feeling a little aggrieved. She knew Ace better than anyone. He had brought her here to entice her out of her shell. He was always trying to get her to meet new people, have a little fun. While still aggrieved, Lauren was starting to feel something else. The whole room was beginning to spin. Walking towards the door, Lauren felt like she was in one of those children’s fun houses where the floor keeps moving. Uhhh. God. She was pretty sure she was going to throw up at any minute. 

She lurched to the door with Ace close behind. The fresh air and silence were a relief. Then, she walked to the dark side of the parking lot and started vomiting into the landscaping. Without the blaring music, she could hear everything. She heard Ace’s friend, Eric. “Hey. Is your sister OK? She’s amazing. I thought you said she was shy!”

Once she finished emptying her stomach, Lauren let Ace drive her home. All the way home, Lauren kept her head out the window, breathing the fresh air while trying not to retch. At stoplights, she would take a break to frown at Ace. She hoped he was feeling guilty.

Indeed, Ace was feeling a little guilty.  However, more than that, Ace was feeling happy and a little self-congratulatory. Eric was interested in Lauren.

Eric was perfect for curing Lauren of her romance addiction. Ace smiled. He knew what he would be doing next weekend. He would be spending the weekend having mind-blowing early-relationship sex with Gracie. Eric would be the one to coax Lauren out of her apartment. 

Eric could be Lauren’s real-life brooding soldier. Brian was a Revolutionary War historical reenactor. Next weekend he would be participating in a reenactment at Princeton Battlefield State Park. Ace had never told Lauren that Ace knew someone who was a historical reenactor because, to be frank, Ace couldn’t get his head around why someone would want to do that. He bet Lauren could.

As he escorted a still drunk Lauren up the stairs to her apartment, Ace couldn’t help but smile. A queasy Lauren looked at him and frowned. “I don’t know why you’re smiling; I’m never going out with you again!”