Authors: Claire Adams
“If you really think so,” I said smiling
at her. “Then do me a favor.”
“Anything!” she exclaimed immediately and
hurriedly added, “Anything other than, you know.”
I laughed. “That wasn’t what I was going
to ask. Have I asked that of you since our contract started?”
She looked like she was raking her brains
for a moment and shook her head. “No, you haven’t.”
“Didn’t think so. What you could do for me
is join me to a gala on Saturday I have to go to.”
She looked confused. “You didn’t have to
ask me that, it’s part of our deal, I go with you to that kind of stuff.”
“I know, but I am giving you the option to
say no. This isn’t about the contract. I want you to join me to the event if
you want to. If not, no problem, it won’t affect our contract.”
I knew she needed to go but it was going
to be much more satisfying if she said yes of her own choosing.
“Don’t be silly.” She gave me a look that
said I was being ridiculous. “Of course I’ll go.”
“You don’t even know what it is. What if I
take you to a dark alley and-”
“Zayden, I think we have by now
established that I feel completely safe around you. So I would love to join you
at this ambiguous gala thing, okay?”
The way she said that made me laugh. “I
will send you the details to the ambiguous gala thing to your email. Do you
wanna go shopping before it?”
“What? No! I have clothes,” she sounded
deeply offended.
“Everybody has clothes, that’s not why
people go shopping-”
“That’s not remotely true; there are
millions of poor people in the world who don’t have clothes.”
“That’s not what I meant. I don’t know, I
am used to girls enjoying activities like shopping, so I assumed you’d find it
fun too. Didn’t mean to offend you. It’s a black-tie event so dress
accordingly,” I shrugged and slyly added, “And honestly, you would look good in
just about anything.”
A faint blush embraced her cheeks.
“Thanks,” she mumbled. “Do you want to get started on the paper now? I have a
publication to look forward to.”
CHAPTER
7
ARIA
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!” Stacey
was hyperventilating, like she was the one going on a date with Zayden Sinclair
to a fancy gala. “What are you going to wear? You don’t have fancy gala
clothes!”
“We will go shopping,” I said with a mouth
full of popcorn. Regardless of how haughty I had acted in front of Zayden, I
did not, in fact, have clothes for the event. He had sent me the flyer and it
was some kind of a vintage auction that he was attending for a business
partner. Frankly, I was rather surprised that he wanted me to join him for this
instead of some supermodel.
Oh wait, I had forbidden him from sleeping
with supermodels as a part of the contract. It made sense that he wouldn’t want
to take one to the Gala if he couldn’t take her clothes off at the end of the
night. Chauvinists, I shook my head. At least I could safely say that he wasn’t
taking my clothes off. I’d make sure to purchase a dress with extra-complicated
zippers, just in case. And wear my granny panties.
Why was I thinking like that? Like someone
that doubted herself? I had consciously made the decision not to sleep with him
under any circumstances, and I did not need the aid of complicated garments in
order to keep my restraint.
“Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god!” Stacey
had a second round of hyper-ventilation when Nick walked in.
“What’s the occasion that we are
remembering the Almighty for?” He sat down, grabbing a bunch of popcorn from
the bowl. I moved the bowl and made a pretend shocked expression that said
“mine!”
“Aria is going to a super fancy vintage
auction with the most good looking guy in the world!” Stacy said.
“Ouch!” Nick made a mock-hurt expression.
“Sorry baby, you are the handsomest guy as
far as I’m concerned,” she said air-kissing him. “But I meant in a more
objective sense.”
“Don’t bother, Stace. I am not deluded
enough to compare myself to Zayden Sinclair.”
Stacey looked like she was now feeling
genuinely bad, even though Nick didn’t really care, so she walked up to him and
locked him in an embrace. It was an adorable sight, since Nick was over a foot
taller than her, but balled up inside his arms like that, they looked like a
couple from a poster advertising happiness.
“I am just excited for Aria, you know
that, right?” she asked, kissing his cheek.
“Nope, I was convinced that you are
secretly having nightly dalliances with this billionaire playboy.” They both
started laughing.
“Aria is!” she was almost too quick to
chime in.
“You already told me about her deal,” Nick
said, not sounding particularly interested.
“Care more,” I said, stuffing a new batch
of popcorn into my face. “Please.”
This was why Nick was one of my best
friends: he jumped off the couch and started dancing while screaming, almost
singing, “Aria is dating a billionaire!!!”
I threw a pillow at him and went back to
my bowl of popcorn.
---
On Saturday afternoon I changed about
ninety-five times. I had tried everything in my wardrobe, but nothing seemed to
be appropriate for a date with Zayden Sinclair. The shopping trip never
happened because Stacey managed to catch the flu and I had no sense or
intention to embark in such an activity without her, which I now regretted
immensely. I looked at myself in the mirror after taking off yet another dress.
I was wearing my red lacy bra and matching panties. Just because. There was no
harm in looking and feeling good, it didn’t mean anything. I sighed as a tiny
voice inside me began to send warning signals. Fine. Granny panties it is.
Looking freshly eighty-years-old, I started going through my entire wardrobe
when the doorbell rang and I shuddered.
I had at least four hours until the date,
it couldn’t be….
“I got it!” I heard Nick’s voice from
outside and quickly threw on a sweater and jeans to greet whoever was at our
door. By the time I stepped out, Nick was standing with a giant package in his
hand.
“It’s for you,” he grinned. “From your
lover.”
“What on Earth could he possibly have sent
me four hours before our date?” I approached the package and almost didn’t want
to open it because of how perfect it looked. It was wrapped in teal and white
paper with a beautiful mauve bow tied on to the top. I wished I could just keep
the wrapper and not open what was inside. The wrapping itself was the perfect
present.
“Open it!” Nick was getting impatient.
Very carefully I removed the bow and set
it to the side, then I slowly started to bring apart the paper wrapping, hoping
to do it perfectly and save the pretty paper, but Nick jumped in and tore the
thing apart too soon for me to stop him.
“Nick! I wanted to save that!” I said,
genuinely surprised by how annoyed I was. But Nick made puppy-dog eyes,
something both him and Stacey did to get me to bend to their wishes. It was
like having two kids, sometimes. I just could not be mad at that face.
“Ugh, it’s fine,” I said reluctantly.
“What is in there?”
His eyes widened as he pulled out a long
red dress with golden embellishments on the hem and neckline. I went forward to
touch and it was the softest fabric I had ever laid my eyes upon. I didn’t know
what to say or how to react. I should be angry, I did tell him I already had
clothes! It was very presumptuous and quite frankly, disrespectful of him to
just buy a fancy-looking dress, as though whatever I owned could in no way be
good enough for an event where I accompanied him.
I really should be angry.
Which is why the sense of relief I felt
made me feel uncomfortable. The truth was I didn’t have appropriate clothes,
and even if I had gotten the chance to go shopping, something like this dress
was simply not in my budget. Whatever I bought was not going to be good enough
for this event, as proven by the immaculate garment I was now holding in my
hand. Maybe he should have just taken someone who he knew could afford to dress
in a way that suits him. I felt a little bitter again, but then thought of the
last few hours of anxiety over my wardrobe and tried to accept this, be
grateful. And I could always return it to him after the event! Maybe that would
be tacky. It was either return it now and never wear it, or just take his gift
and deal with it.
“There is more,” Nick said, watching me
gaze into space.
“More what?”
“Jewelry and a note.”
I grunted. I grabbed the note from Nick’s
reluctant hands:
Dear
Aria,
I
could care less if you showed up in torn jeans. Or better yet, nothing at all.
But the spy I have recruited at your quarters alerted me of trouble you were
having deciding on attire. So I had to step in. Don’t feel pressured to wear it
though. I don’t know much about women’s fashion, just thought this would nicely
contour your perfect figure.
See
you at eight!
-Zayden
“Stacey!” we both screamed at the same
time. She was supposed to be sleeping but if she had the energy to discuss my
clothing with Zayden, she had the energy to explain it to me. She walked out of
her room looking rather sick. I knew she was only trying to help me because
that’s what best friends do, but I wasn’t going to let her go without a hard
time, because that is also what best friends do.
“Oh wow, what a beautiful dress!” she
exclaimed, looking at me. “You went shopping without me?”
So innocent. She should join the CIA.
“I know what you did.” I gave her a sharp
look.
“Yes, we know, Stace!” Nick was giving her
the exact same look.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,”
she said to me and then looked at Nick and added, “And why do you look
bothered?”
Nick looked like he considered it for a
second and frowned. “I’m not really sure. It seemed like the right thing to
do.”
Stacey laughed. “You’re ridiculous. Can
you make me some tea?”
Nick was off to do his bidding and I was
left to confront Stacey. I opened my mouth to begin a long-winded lecture but
ended up bursting into a fit of laughter. Stacey joined me and after about five
minutes of this, I was finally able to speak again.
“How did you even do it, Stace? Did you
just randomly dial his number and go ‘hey, guess what, I have the flu and Aria
doesn’t have a dress?’”
She bit her lip. “Email. We are on
emailing basis.”
“How?”
“His email is on the company’s website.”
I sighed. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I love you, you idiot,” she said,
looking at me like I was crazy. “In my defense, he wasn’t supposed to rat me
out. Tell your boyfriend he owes me one.”
“He’s not my boyfriend, you know that,” I
sounded way too disappointed saying those words for my own liking so I cleared
my throat and added with a firmer tone, “He’s just some playboy who is too used
to getting what he wants and thinks all of this is a game.”
I wasn’t sure I believed my own words by
this point. He was a playboy and this was a game; there was no doubt about it
and he made no efforts to hide it. But somehow along the way, I had come to
believe that he was actually a decent person. I couldn’t admit this to Stacey,
though. I couldn’t even admit it to myself really. The better I thought of him,
the more likely it became that I would get hurt when all of this was over, and
I could not consciously do that to myself.
“A playboy who is playing games and for
some mysterious reason makes you happy,” Stacy said after a few minutes, as
though considering how wise it was to communicate that with me.
“What do you mean?” I raised my eyebrows.
“You are happy.”
“I am not any more or any less happier
than I was before this contract.”
At least, I didn’t think I was! Not that I
would ever describe myself as a particularly joyful person – but it was
difficult to be when paying yourself through college, working crazy hours and
having to worry about taking care of your mother financially.
“Aria, you know how much I love you, but
you have been kind of miserable for a year now. Since that douchebag cheated on
you.”
“I have not been miserable,” I said
defensively.
“You kind of have, though,” she said while
looking at the floor. “I barely saw you during the day cause you buried
yourself in work and at night you would just turn on the T.V. and drift into
your own thoughts. Ever since Zayden started hitting on you, you joke and laugh
and have fun again! It’s like he gave me the old Aria back.”
“Stacey, if it was bothering you so much,
why didn’t you say anything all year?”
“No, you are taking the wrong thing out of
this. I was worried about you, Aria. I didn’t know what I could do for you.
Nick and I spent so much time trying to play matchmaker for you behind your
back, cause we thought dating would make you have some fun, feel better. But
you never had the time so we were always too afraid to bring it up. Then one
day you came home and told us your new boss was flirting with you and there has
been a kind of slow and awesome progress since then.”
I was stumped. Really? Really? No. No way.
“Could you maybe for a second consider the
possibility that I was doing better emotionally all on my own and it had
nothing to do with some man’s pretend affection?”
Hurt was bubbling up inside me and I
started tearing up a little. I wasn’t sure why this was bothering me so much,
but it was. If I seemed happier, Zayden had nothing to do with it, and the fact
that my very best friend thought that it did made me feel sick.
“Whatever you want to tell yourself,
Aria,” she sounded like she was getting just as frustrated. “All I saw was my
best friend getting happier and I did what I thought was best for her. You
obviously feel differently so I promise to back off. I’ll remove Zayden from my
email contacts. I don’t feel well so I’m going to go lay down for a bit. Have
fun at your date and call me if you need anything.”
With that said, she walked back into her
room, as tears started pouring down my face. There was no way I would wear the
stupid dress now.
CHAPTER
8
ZAYDEN
I had never been to the neighborhood
before and was surprised to see apartments cramped together so closely.
“Ned,” I rolled down the screen of the
limo I had chosen for the night. “Is this the ghetto?” I joked.
I could swear I heard a chuckle but Ned
was clever enough to turn it into a cough. “No, sir. Definitely not the ghetto.
This is just a college neighborhood, mostly resided by students, who are on
quite a budget.”
“Ah,” I said. I wondered if I should offer
to let Aria rent one of my houses. She would never accept that for free, but
maybe if I let her pay as much as she was paying for one of these places…
Why the fuck was I worrying about her
living arrangements?
“Here we are,” Ned said parking next to a
three-storied apartment building.
The lights were on in the third floor and
I vaguely remembered Aria mentioning that she was in the top floor of her
building. So that had to be it.
“I don’t know what to do now, Ned.”
He looked back at me with concern. “Are
you nervous?”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” I exclaimed. “Why
on earth would I be nervous? I just am not sure whether to walk in or call her.”
“Just walk up to her floor and ring the
doorbell.”
“Ah, right, the doorbell!” I laughed.
I walked into the building and looked for
the elevator; finding none, I grunted my way upstairs. She’d better be in the
third floor after the workout. Damn the flowers, I had forgotten the flowers in
the car. I was not going to run downstairs and right back up just for that.
I rang the doorbell and was surprised to
be welcomed by an extremely tall gentleman wearing horn-rimmed glasses.
“Who are you?” I asked feeling slightly
annoyed. What was a man doing in her house?
“Who are you?” he laughed. “Just kidding,
come in Zayden, everyone in a 50 mile radius of Atlanta knows who you are.”
“I am not sure this is the right place.” I
looked at the guy quizzically. Could it be her brother, maybe? Unlikely, they
looked too different.
“No, of course you’re in the right place,
come on in, Aria is just getting ready.”
I guess I was in the right place after
all. “Are you her brother?” I asked the tall guy.
“No, I’m Nick,” he said, as though that
clarified his relationship to her.
“And you are here because…?”
“I live here,” he glared at me. “With my
girlfriend.”
That sent a wave of fury through my whole
body, as though someone very close had stabbed me in the front. Aria was his girlfriend!
She had told me she was single, had she lied? Had she made up the whole story
for money? Wait, if she really was such a scheming bitch, she would be smarter
than to have her boyfriend hovering around the apartment when I was due. And he
didn’t mind that she was going out on a date with me?
“And you’re… okay with this?” I asked
Nick.
“With what?”
“My deal with Aria,” I said, assuming he
knew.
He shrugged. “I mean it’s pretty
unorthodox, but hey, you’re helping her out and that makes you a pretty awesome
dude. Why wouldn’t I be okay with this?”
What kind of sick and convoluted world had
I walked into? Was I growing old? Were college kids this casual with exchanging
their partners now days? It seemed like a cool concept, on the one hand. To
have one’s cake and eat it too. But on the other hand, why even bother to make
a commitment to one person if straying was expected and accepted? From a
epistemological standpoint it simply seemed like a waste of time. They could
just do what I do and sleep around. I shook my head in confusion and was
looking around the house when Aria walked out of her room. Seeing her, I
temporarily forgot that I was upset at her for lying about being single. I
forgot about Nick. I forgot about everything. I barely even noticed that she
had defiantly decided not to wear the dress I had sent her – and I’d have been
foolish to expect otherwise anyway – because right now she looked better than a
starry night’s sky. She was wearing a green one-piece dress that came right
above her ankles, with a low-cut neck that contoured her breasts to perfection,
and a cream-colored blazer on top of it. It wasn’t very immaculate, as far as
attires go, but she accessorized it beautifully with a silver pendant, her hair
tied up into a classy bun, and her make-up accentuated with deep red lipstick
to match her hair. I was almost glad that she had chosen not to wear what I had
sent.
“Hi,” she smiled serenely at me. “You find
the place okay?”
“Yes,” I smiled back at her. “Well, Ned
did. Should we get going?”
“Sure.” She waltzed over and grabbed my
arm with a soft touch. Before we walked out of the apartment, she told Nick, “I
will probably be back late, tell your girlfriend if she asks, I am not entirely
sure we’re on speaking terms right now. See ya, Nick!”
My initial reaction was to grunt at the
very sight of her talking to him but about three seconds later it registered:
she was referring to Nick’s girlfriend in third person, which meant that it
couldn’t possibly be her. The rush of relief that ran through my veins was
overwhelming.
Why did I care so much? I had screwed many
girls that were in relationships.
“So Nick is not your boyfriend?” I
couldn’t help myself from asking.
She burst out laughing. “You thought Nick
was my boyfriend? Oh God.” She laughed for a couple of more minutes before
adding, “Didn’t I tell you I was single?”
I shrugged. “You could be lying. People
lie all the time.”
“Speaking from experience, huh?”
“I have never lied… to you,” I looked
straight into her eyes. That wasn’t quite true, as I had lied to her about my
interaction with Wilson, the loan officer. She didn’t need to know that,
though. And it’s not like it was a lie that hurt her in any way. She was still
getting the money she needed, and I was getting what I wanted: a chance to
seduce her. If she ever found out – and I couldn’t think of any way she would –
she wouldn’t exactly be able to be mad. However, knowing her, she would find a
reason to be furious about it. The thought of it gave me weird pangs in my
chest. As we hopped into the car, I tried hard not to let my thoughts drift in
that direction again.
“These are for you,” I handed her the
purple orchids I had forgotten in the car.
“Thanks!” She seemed pleased with my
flower selection this time around.
“A drink for the ride?” I asked, producing
the same bottle of champagne from our dinner a few nights ago that she had
enjoyed so much.
Her face lit up upon recognizing the
drink. “You shouldn’t have gone through all that trouble.”
She actually thought I was trying.
“Yeah I should have. How else would I get
that look to appear on your face?” I grinned. “But I have to be honest, I
didn’t have to do anything at all to acquire the bottle.”
She laughed. “Yes, yes, I am aware of you
and your rich ways. Which reminds me, am I dressed up to standards for your
Gala? I’m returning you the dress you sent.”
“Of course you are,” I shook my head, but
with a smile. “Like I said in my note, I wouldn’t have cared if you came in
ripped jeans. But to answer your question, you look more beautiful tonight than
I have ever seen you.”
Her face got pink as she mumbled thank
you. “You look pretty good too,” she said looking out the window.
“Are you talking to someone in the
street?” I teased.
She looked me in the eye this time. “You
are a very handsome. I am really looking forward to spending this evening with
you,” she spoke softly.
I was startled by those words, not at all
expecting her to be so solemnly candid in showing signs of affection. Okay,
maybe it wasn’t quite affection, but some admiration had to be lingering
somewhere if she was willing and excited to spend an evening with me. That made
me very enthusiastic, so much so that I almost wanted to skip the whole evening
and just spend it with her, however she wanted.
I was becoming weak.
---
“What exactly is this auction for?” Aria
asked, as we walked in almost holding hands. We were brushing our fingers
against each other’s, which made me feel all kinds of desires. It also scared
the shit out of me because I had never come close to holding a girl’s hand
after my ex.
“For cancer research,” I said and
nervously added: “I forgot to mention, I will be giving a speech on behalf of
the organizers. Usually I ignore speaking arrangements, but I love this cause
and the non-profit hosting this probably gets the highest percentile of my
yearly donations.”
She put a hand on my shoulder. It was
definitely affection this time. “You’re an amazing guy.”
“I’m alright,” I said with a straight
face.
“Nope, really amazing. I look forward to
your speech. I will be embarrassing and whistle and make you wish you had
never-“
“Zayden!” An old, balding man approached
me. “How are you doing, my boy?”
“Hi Mr. Kirk, I’m doing good. It’s nice to
see you!” I looked at Aria and pointed, “This is Ms. Aria Roberts, my date for the
night.” Then I looked at Mr. Kirk. “Aria, Mr. Kirk is one of our oldest
business partners, and when my dad was alive, one of his best friends.”
Upon hearing those words, Aria wrapped her
hand around mine and I felt her warm, soft skin.
Mr. Kirk’s face lit up. “Wow, what a
beautiful girl! What do you do, dear?”