by Ashley Blake
“Do you see them? Oh my god, they’re so gorgeous!” They actually were pretty good-looking from what I could see, and Gigi was like a kid in a candy store. She was the most guy-crazy girl I had ever met. She was funny because she would meet a guy one day, be all into him, and then by the next week she had moved on to someone else. It was almost impossible for a guy to keep her attention for more than a few minutes.
“Yeah, they’re pretty hot I guess.”
A look of total shock fell over her face. “You guess?”
“Well, Gigi, it is kind of dark in here. Can you see them clearly?”
She hesitated and then smiled reluctantly. “Okay, well from what I can see they look hot. Let’s get a closer look.”
Before I could protest, she grabbed my arm and pulled me with her. We walked right by the group and Gigi brushed up against the guy in the white shirt, acting as if it was too crowded to get past him without touching him. She put her hand on his arm as we walked by them.
He glanced down at her and I could see his eyes brighten with interest. I glanced at the girls they were with, and they were pissed. That’s my Gigi. She didn’t let girls intimidate her, especially when she saw something or someone that she wanted.
“Sorry, it’s a little crowded in here.” She batted her lashes as she looked up at him.
He turned away from his group and gave her his full attention.
“No problem.” He looked at me and there was that look again; I could tell that he was surprised that he had stumbled upon two really pretty girls. He looked back and forth between the two of us and reached back and tapped his friend without turning to look at him.
“Lucas, come say hello to these beautiful ladies.”
Gigi turned on full flirt mode and ran her hands through her hair as she looked up at him and smiled.
"We didn't mean to interrupt your conversation, we don't want to pull you away from your friends." She gave him a sweet smile and I glanced behind him and saw the girls staring daggers back of both of us.
“Oh, we don’t know them, just random chatter.” His eyes were fixated and he was all about Gigi.
He obviously didn't care that he was totally ditching those girls but I could see that his friend felt bad. He seemed to make quick apologies and the girls walked away as he turned to join us. When my eyes met his, my breath was literally sucked out of me. He exuded incredible magnetism and I was not ready for it.
The guy Gigi was talking to put his arm around his friend and had a huge grin on his face.
“Ladies, I’m Dex and this is my buddy Lucas. And you are?” He couldn’t take his eyes off of Gigi.
Gigi smiled at him and held out her hand.
“I’m Gigi, it’s nice to meet you Dex, and this is my best friend Sophie.”
“Sophie, that’s a very pretty name.” Lucas held my gaze with his piercing blue eyes and I completely lost the ability to speak. I actually had to tell myself to breathe as the sexiest man I had ever laid eyes on was staring back at me. Everything in the room seemed to disappear as my eyes roamed over his thick, dark brown hair, down his muscular arms straining against his black t-shirt, pausing to admire his tribal armband tattoo peeking out under his sleeve. I could see his chest muscles carved under his fitted t-shirt and I felt the sudden urge to reach out and rub my hands over his chest. When I felt myself lifting my hands to reach out and touch him, I thankfully snapped out of my trance and played it off by flipping my hair over my shoulder. Okay Sophie, this is where you open your mouth and thank him for the compliment.
I managed to smile at him and then the words followed. “Thank you, it was my great-grandmother’s name.” Why did I tell him that?
His eyes danced with amusement as he watched me squirm under his gaze. “So, are you two having a girl’s night out?”
“Yes, but there are three more of us.”
“Three more, huh? If they look anything like you ladies the men in this place don’t stand a chance.”
I didn’t know what to say to that so I just smiled and took a sip of my drink, buying myself time to think of a question to ask him.
“Have you guys been here before?” Lame question Sophie. I couldn’t help it, his charisma totally caught me off guard.
He held my gaze before he answered. “We have, have you?”
“No, this is the first time for us.”
“It’s a pretty cool club, I think you’ll like it.”
Gigi and Dex were deep in conversation and I wished that I could chat a guy up the way she could. Normally I did okay, but Lucas totally had me tongue-tied. I looked at him over the top of my glass and took him all in again. He was so gorgeous and sexy. I took another sip and glanced down at his jeans that hugged his strong thighs and rested on top of motorcycle boots. He was at least six feet of perfection and with the alcohol running through my veins all I could think about was having those strong thighs wrapped around mine. My eyes slowly crawled up his body to his face and I nearly choked when I saw a small smirk on his face as he watched me watch him.
Just then a gorgeous, tall blonde woman walked up to us. She gave me a half-hearted smile and then turned her attention to Lucas.
“Hey, Dale has a few minutes now.”
Lucas’s face lit up and he turned to lightly smack Dex on the back, interrupting his conversation with Gigi.
“Hey man, Dale is ready.”
He turned back to me and held my gaze for a couple of seconds before speaking.
"I gotta go take care of something, it was nice to meet you." His gaze lingered for a couple of seconds and then he turned to walk away with Dex.
I stood there, shocked. That’s it? He doesn't want my number? I couldn't believe how bummed I felt about this guy that I had met for just a few minutes, but there was something different about him. I didn’t have time to sulk because Gigi grabbed my arm, shaking me.
“Oh my god! Sophie, how hot are they? Dex is so frickin’ sexy!”
“Yeah.”
“What’s wrong?”
"Okay I know I'm going to sound like a spaz but Lucas was the first guy that has held my attention at all since I dumped Steven, and he left without getting my number.”
“I’m sure they’ll be back, but even if they’re not Dex has my number and he’ll definitely call me. You’ll see him again, I’m sure of it.”
“Ugh! Gigi, guys are so frustrating!” I quickly combed my fingers through my hair before I flipped it behind my shoulder and put my hands on my hips.
She giggled and gently patted my arm. “Only if you really like them.”
I linked my arm through hers. “Let’s go dance in another room, I don’t want it to look like we were standing around all night waiting for them.”
We met up with the other girls and danced for a pretty long time, and then we took a bathroom break to freshen our makeup. When we came out, I glanced around the club looking for any sign of Lucas or Dex but I didn’t see them. Exhaustion started to settle in and I didn’t want to be there anymore, I was ready to go.
“Gigi, it’s almost 2 o’clock, we should get going because our parents are going to be over bright and early.”
Gigi looked at the other girls. “Sophie’s right you guys, we better get going. Are you guys going to stay?”
They looked at each other and I could tell they were having a good time.
Jenn looked at us. “Yeah, I think we’re going to stay. I’m glad you guys came out tonight, I’m sure you’re exhausted after moving today.”
“That’s an understatement, but it was fun. We’ll have to come back here when we’re not so tired. You guys have fun!” I hugged Jenn and Carrie and when Trisha came in for a hug I quickly patted her on the back and plastered a fake smile on my lips. “Bye guys!”
As Gigi and I walked out of the club I scoured the rooms for any sign of Lucas or Dex. I thought I saw them talking to a couple of girls in a corner but I couldn’t tell for sure. I was so exhausted by that time that it didn’t matter. Whe
n Gigi and I got home we literally crashed within 3 minutes of walking in the door.
Our parents came over right at 9:00 the next morning and helped us unpack boxes for almost five hours. They were catching late flights back to Ohio and Wisconsin so they had to leave us by 3:00 and we finished up around 2:30, stopping for a bit to eat lunch.
I hugged my parents as Gigi was hugging hers and then we switched.
“Thanks for helping us, we really appreciate you guys flying in. There is no way we would have gotten so much done without you.”
“It’s no problem, honey. Well, we better get going.” My mom smiled at me and I could see tears forming in her eyes. I knew it was hard for my mom not to have me at home anymore and now that I lived in Chicago, she worried all the time.
I reached out and hugged her again. “I’ll be fine mom, don’t worry.”
“Come on Carol, I’m sure the girls are exhausted.” My dad put his arm around my mom and we walked our parents to the door. We said goodbye and then looked at each other and did a happy dance.
“We’re really on our own now!”
I'm sure we looked super silly as we danced around like crazy girls, and after a couple of minutes we collapsed on the couch into giggles.
Chapter 3
Gigi and I settled in over the next couple of weeks and she never mentioned Dex and I didn’t want to ask. When Gigi was into a guy she was all about him and if things weren’t going her way she was a bitch on wheels. Thankfully, it didn’t happen that often because she always had guys wrapped around her little finger. But I had noticed she was a bit more snappy than usual over the past couple of days and I was starting to think that it had something to do with not hearing from Dex. I had resigned myself to the fact that I would never see Lucas again and even though he was the hottest guy I have ever seen, there were other fish in the sea. I had to admit that my ego was a little bit bruised because if he really wanted to see me again he would have asked for my number. Oh well, easy come easy go I guess.
It was Wednesday, and I was part of a young entrepreneurs group that met every Wednesday afternoon from 2:00 until 4:00. When I got home that afternoon Gigi was giggling on the couch with a new guy.
“Oh, hey Sophie, you remember Jacob, don’t you?”
Did I?
“Um…” I tried but I had nothin’.
“We met him and his friend Matt at The Store a couple of weeks ago.” She gave me a knowing look and then my brain clicked.
“Oh, right! How are you?” Gigi had met so many guys the past couple of weeks that I couldn’t keep track. I guess she must have liked this guy more than I realized because I was surprised to see him sitting in our apartment.
“I’m great, how have you been Sophie?” He was cuter than I remembered.
“Good, good, busy, you know how it is.”
He smiled and nodded. “Yeah.”
“Well, I have some stuff to do in my room, see you later.”
"Jacob was just getting ready to leave so you can do whatever you need to do out here, I know that you like to bring your laptop out here and work sometimes so it’s no problem, Soph.”
Jacob stood up. “Yeah, I have some stuff to take care of. It was good to see you again Sophie. I’ll tell Matt you said hi.”
You really don’t have to do that. I was not interested in his friend Matt and I did not want to give him any ideas of a double date happening so I played dumb.
“Who?” I played up my confused look.
“The buddy I was with a couple of weeks ago.” He looked a little embarrassed.
I snapped my finger and pointed at him. “Oh, right! Well, anyway good to see you again.” I turned and went into my room.
A few minutes later he was gone and Gigi came to my room and stood in the doorway with her hand on her hip and a playful, scolding look on her face.
“Why did you do that to him?”
“Oh, he’s fine. I didn’t want him going back to Matt and giving him any ideas. I’m not going on a double date with you, him and Matt, and you know that’s what he was thinking, Gigi. I had to nip any idea he might have about that in the bud.”
“Fine, but I felt bad for him, he was embarrassed that you didn’t remember meeting his friend. Anyway, not a big deal.”
"I didn't realize that you liked him enough to invite him over here. I can't keep up with all the guys that you’ve met lately; you're a dating machine.”
“The one guy I really want to hear from has only texted me one since we met him and his friend a couple of weeks ago. I know I’ve probably not been the most fun to be around, but I liked that guy, Sophie, and I just knew the feeling was mutual. I might be losing my mojo.”
“I assume you’re talking about Dex.”
A loud, exaggerated sigh escaped her lips. “Yeah, sexy Dex.”
“You’re not losing your mojo, Gigi, if he texted you I bet he’ll contact you again.”
She carelessly waved her hand in the air. “Whatever, there are more fish in the sea, right?”
“Clearly, I mean you’ve already hooked a few in the last couple of weeks. So, do you like Jacob?
“I mean, he’s okay, I guess. He seems fun. We’re going out for dinner on Friday.”
“Oh cool, don’t let him get any ideas of a double date, okay?”
She laughed at me. “I won’t, silly.”
We made dinner together that night and after dinner I retired to my room to work on my blog and Gigi studied lines for her play. Later that night she knocked on my door.
“Hey, do you want to go to an art gallery opening on Saturday?”
“Art gallery opening? This is something new for you.”
She shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "I thought that we could change things up a bit, the club scene is fun but we should try something else. What do you think?”
“Where is it?”
“It’s at a gallery in River North, so not too far from here, probably a five minute cab ride.”
“Um, sure. What time?”
“Let’s go around 8:00. We can grab dinner at Lux Bar before we go.”
It was something different to do and it sounded like fun so I was looking forward to it.
“Is anyone else coming with us?”
“No, let’s just do a roommate night out.”
I smiled at her. “Okay, cool.” Even though we loved our friends, we always had the most fun when it was just the two of us.
She went back to study her lines and I got sidetracked with trying to figure out what I was going to wear to an art gallery opening. I knew that it had to be fabulous so even though it was only Wednesday, I decided to start digging through my closet.
Saturday came before I knew it and Gigi and I both looked gorg that night. We both wore black mini dresses, hers had spaghetti straps and a silver zipper all the way down the back, and I wore a one shoulder dress with crystal accents sprinkled across the front and a pile of skinny bangles on my wrist. She borrowed my pewter sling back Manolos and I threw on my spikey black Louboutins. I took my purple YSL clutch and Gigi borrowed my Chanel clutch. We both wore our hair down and perfectly flat-ironed. We were turning heads left and right at Lux Bar which made us feel good, but there were too many old guys checking us out and it kind of creeped me out.
It was an unseasonably cool summer night but we didn’t think we would need coats since we would take cabs all night. We hopped in a cab around 8:30 and were at the gallery in about five minutes. I had never been to an art gallery and I didn’t really know what to expect but I did expect to see cool and eclectic fashions, so going there was almost like work for me because I planned to blog about it the next day. When we walked in there were already about 50 people milling about the gallery admiring the art, and Kruder and Dorfmeister’s music was playing softly in the background.
Gigi and I got a glass of wine from the gorgeous waitress that was walking around the room with her tray and we slowly started making our way around the gallery, pausing to admire th
e art. Gigi went to the bar to get something stronger and I was standing in front of what looked like a psychedelic rainbow on a black canvas. I was mesmerized because I found it to be so beautiful, and I really wanted it. I didn’t see a price anywhere and as I was studying the pattern of the swirl I heard a deep familiar voice in my ear.
“The artist is fascinated with the color spectrum.”
I turned to see Lucas with a sexy half smile staring down at me and I almost dropped my glass of wine.
