by Lucia Jordan
I had a dream that night about being inside a crowded nightclub, just like the real one from earlier tonight. All of the same people seemed to be there, too. Except for this time, Cai and Kerynne had on their runway outfits. Kerynne looked like a beautiful, dark maiden, and Cai looked like an indulgent and arrogant fairy prince. The music in my dream was faster than possible, and it seemed as if people were whirling around at neck-breaking speed. In the middle of all of it was Hensley. She appeared as though she had fallen asleep in the middle of the dance floor, and people were just moving around her as if she weren’t even there. She didn’t look like she would get hurt, but she did look out of place there and like she needed to be taken out. So, I bent down and scooped her up into my arms.
When I woke up from my dream, I found that Hensley was actually in my arms. At some point in the middle of the night, while we slept, we had somehow managed to curl up together. I was mostly on my back, although my body was almost facing toward Hensley. My arms were wrapped around her, and her sleeping head was laying against my shoulder. Our legs were tangled around each other as if we had gravitated together and then wanted to make sure we stayed there. She was still fast asleep when I opened my eyes. I stayed there for a few minutes and rubbed the top of her forehead.
When she did open her eyes, I knew she would be frightened and confused and impossibly disoriented. I tried to stay quiet as I rubbed her hair and gave her a moment to try to remember what had happened. She looked around and then looked up at me.
“Are we at your apartment?” she asked calmly. She was taking this much better than I had thought she would.
“Yes,” I said.
“And we slept here together?”
“Nothing happened if that’s what you’re worried about,” I said. “I got comfortable on my side of the bed to sleep. When I finally got some sleep and then woke back up again a few minutes ago, we were lying just like this. I think we somehow curled up together in our sleep.
“And that’s all?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “Unless there’s something else that you remember.” I waited for her response to see if she remembered anything at all. It was unlikely that she would.
“Did you kiss me?” she asked. “Sorry, I know that’s a weird question, but I have this strange, lingering feeling that we kissed. Plus, that didn’t even count as an actual kiss; it was more of a lifesaving maneuver.”
“No, we didn’t,” I said. I didn’t want her to remember that as our first kiss. “We just slept here, that’s all.
“And what happened with Cai?” she asked.
“What do you remember?” I asked again.
“I remember him giving me shiny little silver pills, and I can remember dancing with him at the club. After that, things got pretty fuzzy,” she said.
“Yeah, that’s thanks to the drugs Cai gave you, which should now be mostly out of your system,” I said.
“Did you carry me out of the club?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you were hallucinating, and you weren’t safe there with Cai. He was drugged-up, too. If something were to happen to you, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything to protect you. Not that you would need protection from anyone other than him, but you know what I mean.”
“I can’t believe he would slip me more drugs,” Hensley frowned. “I thought I could trust him.”
“You can’t trust any of those people,” I said to her seriously. “And how did he slip you more drugs? Did he slip them into your drink?”
“No,” she said. “He kissed me.”
11
Chapter Eleven (Hensley)
My whole night of sleep had been fitful and troubling. I had nightmares that I wanted to forget and felt like I was waning between lucidness and complete delusion. When I finally woke up in the morning, I was shocked to see where I was. I thought for a solid minute that I was still hallucinating.
I felt his skin underneath the palm of my hand before I even opened my eyes. When I did open them, I saw that my head was resting on top of Arlo’s shoulder, and my hand was flat against his muscular, bare chest. His fingers were wrapped around mine, and I could see the steady rise and fall of his breathing as our hands moved up and down on his ribcage. One of his arms was wrapped around my shoulder. I tilted my head slowly upward to look at his face and found that his eyes were still closed and he was still sleeping. How in the world did I end up here, in Arlo’s bed, wrapped up in his arms? I tried to think back to remember as much of last night as I could, which was difficult since I was in a drug-induced stupor for most of the evening. I remembered feeling like a dragon, which was crazy. I remembered Cai kissing me and slipping pills under his tongue into my mouth. I remembered being carried out of the club and not knowing who was holding me. I vaguely remembered something about laughing until my stomach hurt. That was it. After that, I didn’t really remember anything aside from a slew of crazy nightmares that I would like to forget.
“Morning,” Arlo’s voice said to me in a whisper.
I tilted my head back up to him again to see his open eyes.
“How are you feeling?” he asked with a slight smile.
“Confused,” I said.
“Well, that’s to be expected. Cai pumped you with enough drugs to tranquilize a small animal. I’m surprised you weren’t in worse shape than you were, to be honest.”
Neither of us moved. I didn’t think either of us wanted to. Our hands stayed together, and our bodies stayed together. Our fingers and arms weren’t squeezing or pulling each other closer, just resting and remaining still. We both knew that if we moved, the moment would be over.
“Did you get me from the club last night and bring me back to your apartment?” I asked as I tried to put all the pieces together.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew you were in trouble.”
“But how did you—”
Arlo didn’t let me finish.
“I’m sorry about everything that happened, Hensley; I really am. What you thought wasn’t true. I think you’re beautiful, and the only reason I didn’t want you to model in the runway show was that I didn’t want you to get mixed up with those guys. They party hard, and they only care about themselves.”
“How did you find me?’ I asked.
“I just had a hunch that’s where you would be.”
For a minute, we just stared at each other. This was the closest, physically, that I’d ever been to Arlo. Yeah, we gave hugs, and he picked me up and spun me around, and all of that platonic, friend-type stuff. But lying here in bed with him, in his arms, with my face close enough to his face that I could feel his breath on my lips, this was never something that had happened before. I caught my stare moving between his eyes and mouth, and I saw his gaze dart back and forth, too. It felt for a lingering second of time like our faces were being pulled closer together and that at any moment, he was going to lean forward and kiss me. It was awkward and exhilarating, and I felt my heart start to race inside my chest.
Then his phone started to ring, and it snapped us from the revelry that we were losing ourselves in within each other’s eyes. We both quickly sat up and then got straight up out of bed. It was as if we had suddenly realized what was about to happen and were both too caught off guard about it to know what to do, so instead, we just ran from it.
Arlo looked at his phone and declined the call. I noticed that it was already late morning, so people at work were probably waiting on him and wondering where he was. I was amazed that I actually felt pretty good. Apparently, whatever Cai had given me, didn’t have the lingering hangover feeling like other vices did. I was still mad at him for slipping me drugs, but at least I didn’t need to live in the aftermath of that feeling today. I was grateful to have slept and gotten it out of my system. I was most thankful for Arlo and wondered what would have ended up happening if he hadn’t shown up. I swore that sometimes it feels like he
can hear my thoughts.
“If I hadn’t shown up to get you,” Arlo said as I looked over to see him pull his pants on.
Oh my God, I’d never seen him without pants on before, and the quick glimpse of what I just saw caused a burning feeling of yearning that swelled within my chest and made me tremble everywhere. Even in that split second with his boxers on, I could still see that he was every bit as spectacularly endowed as I would have imagined.
“Cai would have taken you back to his place and had sex with you,” he continued.
“Even if I didn’t want him to?” I asked, repulsed at the thought that Cai would do something like that. Surely, he would know that he still had to see me the next day at work.
“You would have wanted to,” Arlo said. He looked mad, not at me but at Cai. “Those drugs were already making you want to by the time I got there. You would have probably enjoyed it and then remembered nothing of it the next day. That’s what they do—drugs, sex, parties…it’s kind of their calling card.”
“Thank you,” I said as I stood in the middle of his bedroom and watched him pull his shirt over his head. “Thanks for always being there to protect me.”
Arlo walked over to me and paused a few inches away from me. He looked conflicted. He leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “It’s what friends do,” he said.
Friends.
There was something about the way he had said that word that sounded unconvincing, like he was trying to persuade me that we were still just friends and nothing more. Or maybe he was trying to assure himself.
“I’ll take you back to your apartment,” he said as he grabbed his keys and handed me one of his hoodies to wear since it was cold outside, and I don’t think I had a jacket with me last night. “You can take the day off to rest if you want.”
“No, we have so much to do. There’s no time for me to take the day off.”
“You’ve been through a lot, and there isn’t really much going on at the office today, just the usual. It’s up to you, but if you want to take a day to rest, then it’s fine. Either way, I’ll take you back to your apartment so you can shower and stuff.”
“Okay,” I said.
I didn’t know why, but I was hoping Arlo would take me with him into work today. I felt like there was just something about the way that we woke up together that meant something. I had this ridiculous fantasy in my mind that he wanted me to stay with him and be beside him at work all day, following the way he had rescued me from the night club the night before. But instead, he seemed very business-like now. Arlo appeared to have his mind set on safely tucking me into my apartment and then going on about his day. But there was also something else that I could just barely get a glimpse of brewing beneath the surface, something that felt like he was holding back. Maybe he was furious with Cai and was planning to go give him a stern lecture and didn’t want me to be there to watch it. Or maybe it was something else.
He dropped me off at my apartment with an ominous, “I’ll text you later” without even asking if I was planning to come to work today. Then, just before he pulled away, he rolled down his window and said one more thing, “Stay away from Cai.”
I went inside and tried to collect my thoughts. I took a long, hot shower and thought about all the things that were pulling at my heart. I realized that as much as I had tried to be mad at Arlo and as much as I had tried to distract myself by going out with Cai to his crazy night club parties, I really just kept wanting to come back to one thing—Arlo.
I got out of the shower and got dressed as I tried to decide what I should do today. I could stay home like Arlo had suggested and take a day to rest before starting fresh again tomorrow. I could also go into my workshop at F.I.T. and continue working on the retail line. But I knew what it was that I really wanted to do. I wanted to go to Arlo’s office at Luscious and pick up the two dresses that I would wear at the runway show in place of the missing model. I knew that it probably wasn’t the best idea for me to go barging in there right now and grabbing dresses to model when Arlo still wasn’t that fond of the idea, especially not right after last night. But, if I were going to model in the show, then the dresses would have to be altered, and there wasn’t much time left as it was. Plus, I honestly just wanted to see Arlo more today. I couldn’t explain it; I just felt like I needed to be around him. I convinced myself that this was a good idea and headed out to Manhattan.
On the subway ride, I couldn’t stop thinking about how protective Arlo always was with me. Ever since we had first met, he was always stepping in to stand up for me or checking on me to make sure I was okay. I always thought he was just acting like a good friend. I’d never really had a close guy friend before, and I thought maybe they all acted like that. But now I was starting to wonder if perhaps it was something more. I even let my thoughts wander into wondering if Arlo and I could ever be together in a way that was more than friends. By the time my commute had ended, though, I had completely talked myself out of the idea. Arlo was a drop-dead gorgeous, highly successful billionaire who was constantly surrounded by beautiful people and endless opportunities. There was no way that he would ever be interested in a quirky virgin like me.
When I walked into Luscious, his secretary gave me a friendly wave while she was talking on the phone, and I waved back as I headed toward Arlo’s office. I knocked softly on his doorframe as I peeked my head around the corner.
“Hey,” he smiled as he looked up from his desk. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, actually, I came to pick up two of the dresses. I was hoping that you would reconsider letting me step in for the missing model.”
Arlo sighed and stood up as he walked over and set his elbow on top of the garment rack. He looked especially hot today, or maybe it was just my mindset. He leaned against the rack while he looked at me.
“Okay,” he said. “You can fill in as a model at the show. But, on one condition.”
“What’s the condition?”
“The condition is that you stay away from all those other models and their drug-induced parties. I really don’t want you hanging around Cai anymore, either. I’m sorry, I know that makes me sound like an overbearing asshole, but I just think that guy is bad news.”
“Okay,” I said. “Deal.”
He smiled at me, and I was excited to get the dresses back to my workshop and get them fitted for me. I reached into the garment rack and pulled out the two dresses marked for the woman who had quit.
“Hang on,” Arlo said as he grabbed one of them back before I had it completely off the rack. “I think you should wear this one.”
I couldn’t believe it when I saw him pull off the sheer ivory dress that was meant to be Kerynne’s pinnacle piece for the show.
“I can’t wear that one,” I laughed.
“Why not?”
“Well, for starters, it’s already set to be Kerynne’s. The makeup artist and hairstylist are planning her looks accordingly, and Kerynne is featured in all the press releases with the pictures from the photoshoot wearing that dress. And also, she looks way better in it than I do, so she’s definitely the best one to showcase that dress.”
“I don’t think she looks better in it than you do,” he said.
I shook my head and went ahead to take the two dresses that were initially in my hand.
“Thanks,” I said. “But I’ll stick with these two. Maybe someday I’ll be able to wear a dress as stunning as that one, but for right now, I’ll try to make these ones look as good as they can on the runway.
Arlo conceded and put the sheer dress back onto the rack. It was funny, though, because I felt like I had a connection to that dress if such a thing were even possible. It was the first piece that I had created for the show, and that dress and I had already been through a lot. I had tried it on for Arlo, and I could remember the feeling of his hand on my back that afternoon as clearly as if it were happening again now. I had splattered blood from the cut on my hand all over it when I was so
upset about Arlo being angry with me. And I was pretty sure that dropping off that dress to Arlo’s office last night, had something to do with him coming to look for me at the night club. If it was possible to be attached to an inanimate object, then this dress was definitely attached to me.
12
Chapter Twelve (Arlo)
I was meeting up with Hensley for coffee after work today. I wanted to ask her about how her alterations were coming and offer her some extra compensation for all the extra work that she had been doing, but mostly I just wanted to see her. I couldn’t get my mind off of her all day.
When I woke up this morning and opened my eyes to find Hensley curled up in my arms against me, it felt so natural, so perfectly utopian, that I felt as if I had woken up to the future I wanted. I knew that sounded too crazy to tell her, which was why I just needed to take her back to her apartment and take some time to think.
I didn’t want to hurt our friendship nor our working relationship, and Hensley seemed to have a bit of a thing for Cai. The last thing that I wanted to do was blurt out something that would bring everything else crashing down. But I found it harder and harder to keep from saying anything to her about the feelings that plagued me relentlessly. After the runway show, I would talk to her and see what happened.
When Hensley showed up at my office later in the afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to see her. I knew that she still wanted to fill in for the model, and she was right; there was no reason why she shouldn’t. I thought she’d had enough of a taste of what Cai and his crew were like, to realize for herself whether or not she belonged in that circle. I just hope she realized that she didn’t. As far as modeling at the show, I would be there the entire time, so it wasn’t like Cai would be able to get away with touching her or slipping her drugs, not at a public event where he knew I would be watching. It was a shame, though, that the most beautiful dress, the one that looked indescribably stunning on Hensley, would have to be worn by Kerynne. I wished that I could see it again on Hensley, even just once. The image of her in that dress still burned in my mind.
