Katie walked in the door and stopped when she saw Dusty. “Fancy meeting you here,” he said to her. She promptly fainted. “Oh, crap. I forgot this part.” He caught her before she hit the ground, then made his way over to the couch, cradling her in his arms.
Dusty hollered to the owner. “Art, get me a cold washcloth, would ya?”
“What the hell happened to her?”
“Just get it, please.”
He settled on the couch at her side while Art rushed over. As he placed the washcloth on her forehead, her eyes fluttered open. She tried to sit up. he promptly pushed her back down.
The words he’d spoken to her came back to him as if he were reading a script. “Just lay back down there, cupcake. Take a few minutes to gather yourself.” He turned to Art who, more than likely, was worried there would be a lawsuit coming. Dusty remembered how he and his law school friends always razzed him about one thing or another. He tried to put Art at ease. “You can go. She’s fine.”
“Was it the shop’s fault?”
There was fear in Art’s voice. Dusty wished he hadn’t teased him so much. Hot coffee lawsuits. One of the many things that chased Dusty away from becoming a lawyer.
“She just fainted. I’m a witness. You’re in the clear there, Art. Now scram.”
“You law boys have me scared to death,” he said as he shook his head and walked away.
The dialog played out word for word as it had before. Dusty began to think this was going to be easier than he thought. He turned back to Kaitlyn. Damn. His victory was short lived. He couldn’t remember what he’d said to her. “Uh…you overdo your run or something?”
“Cupcake?”
He smiled wide. It was coming back to him. “I had to call you something. You blew me off last night outside of Tricky Dicks.”
“Last night?” Dusty wasn’t ready to re-cap the whole scenario. If things were playing out like this, she had to be the one that went back in time. She’d fainted at the shock of seeing his younger self. She had to know what was going on. He smiled. “I lied to you just now.”
“You weren’t there last night?”
“No. I was there, but I…uh…I know your name.”
“So why did you call me ‘cupcake?’”
He flashed his killer grin. This was already fun. “Because you like it when I do that.”
“Excuse me?” she said as she sat upright.
“Katie…I need your help here. Courtney is in trouble.”
“How do you know my roommate’s name? What kind of trouble? Where is she?”
Shit! She wasn’t who he thought she’d be. Dusty knew he had to backtrack fast. “Wait a minute… I’m sorry. We’re getting off on the wrong foot here. Can I buy you a coffee? A double caramel latte?”
“Caramel is my weakness. But no. Wait. What’s this about Courtney?”
“Um…sorry. I...uh…it came out wrong. I meant she must be hurting this morning. You two looked in bad shape last night.”
“She was still sleeping when I left.”
“Well, there you go. So, can I buy you that coffee?”
“Did I even get your name?”
“Dustin. You can call me Dusty though. I like it when you…I mean…you and my sister are the only ones that…uh…you kinda look like my sister. She calls me Dusty.”
“I remind you of your sister?”
“Shit. Sorry…I mean…” Dusty ran his hands down his face in frustration. In all his years, he never stammered as much as he had in the last few minutes. Things were getting destroyed before he even started. He was here five minutes and he’d already pretty much made sure he’d never be having sex with Kaitlyn again in this lifetime. “Can I start this over?”
“Have a little too much last night yourself?”
“Apparently. That and a beautiful woman always leaves my tongue in knots. And I’ve never met anyone more striking than you.” He sat next to her and leaned in for a kiss. What the hell. It had worked the first time.
His kiss had to have taken her by surprise, because she didn’t fight him. But when his tongue entered her mouth, she quickly drew back and slapped him.
“What on earth are you doing?”
He grabbed her hands. “I’m so sorry.” He tried to kiss them but she pulled them away and stood. He hurried to his feet as well. “Please stop. You’re—” he held her arms, supporting her weight as she went slightly limp. “You’re not ready to storm out of here. Come sit back down.”
Dusty helped her back to the couch and hollered to Art, “Two regulars over here, Art. Stat.”
“You’re taking law, not medicine. Don’t bark at me, law boy.”
“Please, Art. Add a scone to that. She looks low on blood sugar.” He turned his attention back to Katie whose eyes were still closed. “You shouldn’t have gone out running before you ate something.”
“How do you know I didn’t eat something?”
“You never eat break—” She opened up one eye. “You’re shaking. Seems to me you need some food in you. You did pass out. Have you forgotten already?”
“I haven’t forgotten that you sent your tongue probing my tonsils without permission.”
“I said I’m sorry. I lost my mind.” He accepted the coffees from Art and handed her one. A waitress was behind him with a scone for her. “Thanks, Nikki. Can these go on my tab?”
“We need to talk about that tab, Dustin. Art wants you to catch up.”
He glanced over at Kaitlyn. She was grinning. Now he was embarrassed. “I told him I get the check from my dad on the first. I’ll catch up with interest.”
“He’s not going to like it.”
“It’s just a few more days.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a five. “Here’s an advance tip. Okay?” He motioned for her to go away. Katie was grinning at him when his attention returned to her.
“So, you’re into attacking older women and you have no money. Does this tactic work on many ladies?”
This was not at all going how it should have. “I have plenty of money. I just didn’t plan too well this month.”
“Let me guess. The heat went out on your car.”
“It is you!” he said as he held her face in his hands. “You little minx!” He gave her a hard kiss.
Her knee quickly went to his crotch. He slid off the couch, landing on the ground in a moan. “I asked you to stop doing that!” She ran out of the coffee shop before Dusty could blink.
Dusty lay in a ball on the floor, holding himself in the most dignified manner he could. “That went well,” he groaned with his eyes pinched shut.
Someone stepped over Dusty and sat on the couch. “Well, if she’s not going to drink it.” The cup rattled across the table. Dusty rolled over and opened his eyes. Frank smiled down at him, cup in hand.
“You son of a bitch,” Dusty said as he rapped him in the knee. His finger cracked. He yelped and pulled it back between his legs.
“It ain’t broke, you puss,” Frank said. He sipped Kaitlyn’s coffee. “I told you this wasn’t going to be easy.”
“Well, I thought it was her. She passed out just like before. Last time it was the shock of seeing me.”
“Maybe now it was from overdoing her run. I hear she has a hangover to boot.”
Dusty pulled himself onto the couch. “Look. If you know how this is going to go, can you please give me some pointers? She’ll kill me if I screw this up and something happens to the kids.”
“Not if she doesn’t know you, she won’t.”
Dusty pulled Frank by his shirt. “Look, you old geezer. This isn’t funny! Not only am I not making her fall for me, I’m pretty sure she’s getting a restraining order right now!”
Once again, everyone’s attention turned to Dusty. “Everything here okay, sir?” Dusty looked up. Art was standing there with his shoulders firm. “Mr. Andrews? Do we need a time out?”
Dusty let go of Frank. “We’re fine.”
“Sir?” he asked Frank.
“We’re fine, Arthur. Thank you, though.”
Frank stood. “You got yourself in this pickle. You fix it.”
Dusty reached for the scone. When he leaned back, Frank had disappeared again.
“Ah, hell.” Shutting his eyes, Dusty leaned back, wishing he could fall asleep, wake up, and do this all over again. That’s what worked for Katie, but somehow he felt those rules were not going to apply this time.
Kaitlyn slammed the dorm room door shut. Courtney promptly threw a pillow at her.
“Damn, Katie. I’m hanging here. Keep it down.”
“You’re supposed to be in class.”
“Well, so much for your early birthday celebration. Could have left the celebrating for today. Happy birthday, by the way. What has you pissed off so early?”
“Some guy I didn’t even know tried to cram his tongue down my throat.”
“Where?”
“All the way to my tonsils.”
Courtney laughed. “Where did this happen? I want to go. Maybe he’s still there.”
“At the coffee shop and I wouldn’t bother. You’d be robbing the cradle. Wait a sec…he said he saw us at Tricky Dick’s last night.”
“That hottie with the wavy brown hair?” Courtney sat up and lowered her feet to the ground. “You turned that down again?”
“It’s not like he asked for a date. He just fucking kissed me.”
“Annnnd…”
“And what? That was uncool.”
“Katie? It about time someone pops that cherry of yours.”
“I’m hardly a virgin, Court.”
“So stop acting like it. I swear you haven’t gotten laid since second term.”
“Just because you keep a revolving door on our dorm room doesn’t mean I have to try to keep up. Besides, I have a date with Rex tonight. Remember?”
“You putting out, finally?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“You’ve been keeping the poor guy hanging for over a month.”
“Since when is that making a guy wait?”
“Since the eighteen hundreds,” Courtney said with a laugh. She finally stood. “Well, shit. I’m up. Might as well get to class. Hey, you think this kid has a friend?”
“Where would you fit him in?”
“Har-de-har-har. Have fun with Rex tonight. I want details tomorrow.”
“You got it.”
“Don’t forget to put a sock on the door knob for me.”
“I won’t come back here,” Katie said.
“Good. Because I have a sex date with Ronald tonight.”
“Again?”
Courtney shrugged. “He’s good. What can I say?”
“Try ‘no’ once in a while.”
“Why would I want to do that?” She quickly dressed and headed for the door. “Ta! Love you!”
After the door closed behind Courtney, Katie flopped on her bed. She wished she knew why thinking about Dustin gave her butterflies in her stomach all of a sudden.
“He called you ‘cupcake,’ for crying out loud,” she argued with herself. “What was he? Eighteen? Get over it, Katie. Think of Rex. Think of hot sex finally with Rex. You have this night coming. Happy birthday, princess.” She continued to talk to herself as she got ready for class, then stormed out, hollering at herself for talking to herself.
Dusty waited for Kaitlyn at the bar of the burger joint. He had to try again with her. He knew she had a date with Rex the day after her birthday, but he had no choice to look for her tonight. With a little luck, since he wasn’t currently in the picture, dates would get screwed up in his favor. He didn’t want to have to kill a night here, wasting precious time to set things straight. Katie had admitted to him that in her original past, she had slept with Rex on this night. He had to make sure that didn’t happen. He was thrilled to see them walk in together just after six. One thing went in his favor, he hoped his luck would hold out.
Katie was half way through her beer when she finally noticed him. He couldn’t text her like he had before and had been subtle about trying to get her attention. He gave her a gentle wave and saw her begin to cough as if she were choking. Rex patted her back. Shit. This was not going well already. She pointed up to Dusty, Rex walked around her chair and headed over. Double shit. Katie stood, blocking him from coming over. She said something to Rex, then made her way over to him. This was going to be interesting. Dusty spun around, acting as if he didn’t see her coming.
She tapped him on the shoulder. “What do you think you’re doing? Are you stalking me?”
“Sort of.”
“Sort of? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“We’re meant to be together, Katie. I can’t have you going through with your plans tonight. You can’t sleep with him.”
Her cheeks flushed and she stepped back. “Excuse me?”
He held her hands. Again he tried to give them a kiss. This time he got away with it. “You’re my destiny, cupcake. Please send Rex home.”
Dusty saw Rex rushing to the bar. Oh boy. Here we go again.
“Look, you!” Rex shouted
Dustin quickly spun Kaitlyn around and pulled her back to him, wrapping his arms around her. “Protect me from your big bad boyfriend, Katie.”
“Dustin, stop it. This isn’t funny.”
“What gives, Kaitlyn? You know this creep or what?”
“Sort of, Rex. I’m sorry.” She turned as best as she could with the way Dusty held her. “I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, Dustin. I’m on a date. Please let us eat. Whatever it is you think you need to tell me, you can do it when I’m not with someone else. I’m not going to ask you again.”
“No can do, cupcake. Look, Rex, is it? I’m sorry, but you’re messing with my destiny here.”
“Your destiny?” Rex said, taking a step closer.
“Yup. Sorry. The lady is mine. You’ll have to find another.”
“Dustin…” Katie tried squirming out of his hold, but Dusty held her firmly.
“Real tough guy there, using the lady for cover,” Rex said as he grasped Katie by the arm, pulling her to him.
Dustin let go of her and stood. He remembered he’d come off as a jerk last time he pulled this, but he didn’t see another way to handle the situation. Katie simply could not leave with Rex. He couldn’t hang out here and wait a couple of months for her to be done with him. His thoughts trailed to the kids. He wanted to get home. Anger raged inside him for having to fight for the woman he already had.
“Outside!” he shouted to Rex, determined to make it there this time. He was going to win her over with bravery and persistence.
“Stop it! Both of you!” Kaitlyn screamed. She stormed away toward the table. Dustin started to go after her, but Rex planted a solid punch to his chin and sent him flying backward, knocking him down flat.
Dusty’s world went black. He heard arguing and felt a crowd gathering around him, but he couldn’t shake the cobwebs clear from him head. The words, “I’m not going anywhere with you!” finally sank in. Katie was now fighting with Rex. Maybe this was going to work after all.
His eyes cracked open slightly. “You need help?” the manager asked Katie.
He was standing above Dusty, Katie was on her knees at his side.
“I don’t know,” she replied, gently shaking Dusty again. “Dusty! Are you with me? Dusty!”
Dusty was still woozy but he could see Rex was now a lovely shade of red. Rex shouted over the commotion. “You leave with me now or you can stay here with that lightweight chicken shit.”
“I’m staying, you brute!” she said through bared teeth.
“Have it your way.” Rex picked up his coat and stormed out of the restaurant.
“Dusty,” she said, shaking him again.
He finally focused on her and managed a smile.
“Welcome back to the living, oh strange one. You sure have a funny idea of how to get a girl to go out with you.”
“Not well played, huh?” Dusty rubbed his chin.