Addicted To Greed

by Catherine Putsche

  “Well I’ve been plucking up the courage to tell you I have a date this weekend, so I’ll have to give the designer outlet a miss this one time!”

  “Oh my god who’s the lucky devil? C’mon spill the beans; you can’t keep news of this magnitude from me!”

  Destiny reluctantly whispered Spencer’s name while dreading Audrey’s response. “ Are you talking about the same Spencer Pratt who’s the captain of the football team? Oh my god how wonderful, he’s exceptionally hansom. I recall he turned my offer down of a drink, much to my despair, I thought perhaps he was gay at the time however I went out on a date with his best friend James last weekend and he certainly put a stop to that notion. Apparently Spencer was in a long relationship with a woman before he started St John’s, but she ended it as she wasn’t prepared to travel four hundred miles to see him every weekend, As far as I know he hasn’t had a girlfriend since.”

  “Ye ah, the same Spencer Pratt, he works at Fargo’s you know, my favorite restaurant, he’s a waiter there, little did I know, he must have just started. I got the shock of my life when he turned up at my father’s table the other night, waiting to serve us! Anyway as the evening progressed he slipped me his telephone number and asked if I wanted to get out of there as his shift was just finishing!”

  Destiny noticed that Audrey had placed her hands over her gaping shocked mouth. “Wow ! I m shocked to know he works as a waiter as far as I’m aware he comes from a quite wealthy background, at least that’s what James told me anyway.”

  “I have no idea of his background; I guess I’ll find out soon enough. I am sorry he turned down on your offer for a drink, I don’t want you to feel compromised by my date, and I can assure if you do I´ll cancel it straight away, our friendships way more important than some guy!”

  “Nonsense Destiny, I’m well over the rejection now. I can assure you it won’t affect our friendship in any way. I believe things happen for a reason and I wouldn’t have met James otherwise and I am buzzing I have, he’s so hot, and we have another date next week.”

  With that they both began to prepare the mouth watering appetizers losing their selves in their own thoughts. Destiny was relieved she had confided in Audrey about her date with Spencer, she didn’t want to lose her friendship with Audrey, she was the only friend she had made since been at St John’s.

  The girls arrived a little after seven each with a different bottle of spirits. Amanda brought some Jack Daniels and coke adamant she was sticking to just the one drink as she had work in the morning at the local farmers market. Jenifer the youngest of the girls, shy and not as talkative as the rest of the girls brought an abundance of fresh fruit from her auntie’s grocery store.

  With much deliberation Destiny began to mix the bottles of spirits together along with the fruit adding ice and orange juice, the girls soon became wrapped up in their next topic in sociology “Deviants and Society!”

  Both Destiny and Audrey sat back in silence letting the girls familiarise themselves and get comfortable with their new environment. The girls seemed to be grateful and expressed their appreciation on a number of occasions. Destiny began to relax more after her third glass of punch enjoying their company and their ideas around sociology, it wasn’t quite as drab as she envisaged, and she loved the topics in sociology and quite often got into the debating side of it along with the girls. Audrey played devil’s advocate at every given opportunity.

  Destiny wondered how Spencer was getting along with the boys but quickly dispelled her thoughts to be back in the room with the girls, there would be time enough for that tomorrow.

  After one too many glasses of punch and numerous cocktails later, with the appetizers all but gone the girls called it a night. Destiny promised the girls a get together at her place next Friday night. Before she said her goodbyes to Audrey, she promised her that she would reveal everything about her date with Spencer next week before the girls meet up again.

  Audrey insisted they meet up next Tuesday at Ivy’s seafood restaurant for lunch at twelve. Sleeping off the cocktails from the night before Destiny woke to find it was almost midday, remembering a few faint details from the evening with the girls and Audrey, why had she drank so much? She knew she needed a clear head to organise what she was going to wear for her date which was less than three hours away, the last time she had slept a full twelve hours was on one of her nights with Ella on the town when they indulged in three for one offers of any spirits at Kennedys. She slowly made her way over to the coffee machine shaking her long blonde masses of curls away from her eyes, so she could see where she was going, grabbing a carton of milk from the fridge, she needed a large cafe latte with plenty of frothy milk and sugar, that would surely get her head into gear, satisfied she turned the coffee machine on she went off to the bathroom to look at her reflection! Surely she didn’t look as bad as she felt? However the young woman staring back at her almost startled her half to death, her waterproof black mascara was smudged all around her eyes, some of which had found its way to her cheek bones; her big blue eyes looked red and bloodshot. Shit what was she thinking overindulging in the punch? Without further hesitation she ran the shower, jumped in and began to scrub her face hair and body, upon completion she checked her reflection against the steamed up bathroom mirror satisfied she looked half human again. She grabbed her latte on the way to the bedroom entering her oversized walk in closet, she selected a light blue blazer, a Ralph Lauren knitted camisole in black a couple of cashmere sweaters, along with a few pairs of skinny stretched jeans. She started to blow dry her long blonde locks, she would straighten it later after she applied her makeup, her stomach felt like it was betraying her she was suddenly famished, she made herself some cheese on toast cutting out the Bramston pickle she usually applied in mass amounts as she didn’t want her breath smelling foul. She wolfed it down with half a liter of fresh orange, confident her stomach wouldn’t make any more embarrassing hunger rumbles. She then began the process of cleansing, toning and moisturising her delicate pale skin with her favorite Yves Saint Laurent opium cream. Next job would be her makeup; she wondered how she’d be able to conceal her puffy red swollen eyes and pale dry skin, cursing herself again for drinking too much as she would need a miracle to even look partly human today. She decided minimal make up would work better, yet adding a few more layers of concealer and foundation than normal while adding an abundance of rosy coloured blusher to her cheekbones and a pale pink lipstick to add some colour. She had no idea what she was going to do with her red bloodshot puffy eyes yet, hoping in time they would improve. The next part of her beauty regime would be her unruly sun-kissed blonde hair, how she dreaded this part as it was so time consuming and boring but the result was always worth it. To diminish some of the boredom she turned her CD player on selecting her favorite Madonna Album, she tried to sing along despite her throbbing head and managed to get to track seven before she was satisfied that she had managed to tame her curls and transform them in to long shiny locks of straight waist length hair that finally looked tidy and presentable. Today she would dress casual with a delicate conservative theme, a navy blazer with white skinny jeans, flat ballerina pumps with a paisley shawl. Once dressed she couldn’t help admiring her hourglass shaped silhouette, the blazer and skinny jeans a super combination with her Vancouver boots, convinced that Spencer would think she had a good fashion taste without being too over the top. Once satisfied she hadn’t managed to forget anything she sprayed on some Chloe perfume, glancing over at the clock it was almost three, should she risk a small glass of wine to settle her nerves? Why not she made sure she had purchased enough gum to eliminate the smell, bang on three o clock the intercom buzzed, she pressed it nervously to allow Spencer access to her apartment.

  They greeted one another air kissing the opposite side of each of their checks. He stood back to take her appearance in, she stood back to allow him to enter her generously sized hall way, taking in his wonderful scent of delicate aftershave.

  “Wow
Destiny you look fabulous, I hope you haven’t forgotten to pack a night bag?” She could hardly believe her eyes, Spencer was dressed in a tailored grey silky suit jacket and casual straight legged jeans, with a single red rose in his hand, he got down on one knee.

  “This is for you, the most beautiful women in this entire apartment block.” Spencer looked into Destiny’s eyes unable to break eye contact; he then passed her the red rose, extending his hand to escort her to the elevator down the hall.

  Destiny broke eye contact first to examine the beautiful red rose and replied, “It’s really pretty, thanks.” “We can do this one or two ways Destiny, I can blindfold you or you can promise me to close your eyes until I say you can open them, the choice is yours?”

  “Such choices, I’d rather close my eyes if you don’t mind and I’ll try not to peek.” “Are you sure? It’s a long drive, besides you can keep them open until we are at least twenty minutes away from our destination, I wouldn’t want you to close them the whole way that would be torture?

  “Ok perhaps the blindfold then as I can’t trust myself not to peek. How longs the drive?”

  “A couple of hours give or take the rush hour traffic, it depends!” Destiny could feel the butterflies in her stomach, she felt nervous but more excited. Where was he taking her? Had she choose the right outfit?

  As if reading her thoughts Spencer said “Great choice of outfit by the way it’s perfect, now are you ready for a little adventure?”

  “ I guess so, I suppose it pointless me asking where are we are going, it sounds like you have it all figured out. You’ve no idea how much I love surprises!”

  Destiny could feel her heart accelerate in response and took a few deep breaths to calm it as she didn’t really know what to expect and tried to conceal her excitement.

  Spencer opened the passenger side of his black sporty Audi and gently closed the door while making his way to the driver’s seat. Destiny took a quick look around at the spotlessly clean cream leather interior and inhaled the fresh scent of lemon furniture polish.

  They both made small talk, while listening to the whole of an early Simply Red album twice, both jumping to repeat lady in red on the CD turner; it startled them both at first that they seemed to have the same taste in music and nervously laughed it off. Spencer broke the silence first.

  “It’s time for you to close your eyes or the blindfold, what have you decided?”

  Spencer lifted up the blindfold teasing her with it. Destiny choose the blindfold, she never once removed it and resisted the temptation to peek. When about half an hour had passed in complete darkness, Spencer once again broke the silence.

  “Okay Destiny we’ve reached our destination but please don’t remove your blindfold just yet!” Destiny worried about the state of her eyes when the blindfold came off, hoping she didn’t have panda eyes with all the mascara she applied earlier, she had to giggle to herself, the last thing she wanted to do was scare Spencer off and hoped the new mascara was as water proof as it claimed to be. She felt the coldness of Spencer’s breath on the nape of her neck and his firm body behind her, wondering what was coming next.

  “Okay, count to three and slowly open your eyes.” Spencer slowly untied the blindfold; he gently raised Destiny’s head towards the sky.

  Destiny gasped in disbelief at the hundreds of bright stars in the dark sky, trying to adjust her eyes to her new surroundings. The stars seemed to illuminate the whole sky, similar to small fireworks; she was flawed by their beauty and mesmerised by their brightness.

  “Come this way, follow me.” Spencer led her by the hand towards a long wooden pier. Destiny soon realised that there was water beneath and could just make out some faint ripples. She could hardly believe her eyes when she saw a large shiny white yacht beaming with light. How she failed to see this before she didn’t know.

  “This way my lady, welcome aboard!” Destiny stepped on board trying to hide her excitement, her legs started to tremble realising she was no longer on solid ground. The last thing she wanted Spencer to know or suspect was that she had never been on a yacht before.

  “I’ll be right back; I’ll meet you on the upper deck in a few minutes. Don’t forget to crouch down and duck your head on your way up there.”

  Destiny slowly made her way up two flights of stairs, despite her legs still wobbling, yet curiosity got the better of her as she was keen to know what was up there. As soon as she reached the top deck she held her hand to chest pleasantly surprised as she noticed a small table set up for two, with an abundance of candles and fresh roses towards the end of the deck, how romantic it looked in the night sky, with the stars setting the scene, a bottle of champagne in a cooler full of ice waiting to be opened, a giant telescope resting towards the sky.

  Destiny sat down admiring the view hoping it would settle her legs.

  “How do you like the view?” “Wow, it’s amazing up here absolutely breathtaking. I never imagined all this on a first date, no wonder you wanted me to close my eyes beforehand!”

  Spencer popped the cork off the champagne, directing the big bottle of fizz into their glasses, like a professional. Destiny silently wondered how many bottles of champagne Spencer must have opened before when working as a waiter and then it struck her, how much had all this extravagance cost? Surely Spencer couldn’t be on a great wage as a part time waiter and then it occurred to her how little she knew about Spencer and his financial situation. She hoped he hadn’t spent all his hard earned cash on her, if so she would feel really guilty.

  “Spencer all this is amazing, I never expected I´d be sipping champagne on a beautiful yacht tonight, thank you.” Destiny raised her champagne flute towards Spencer’s and they both raised their voices in tandem, “Chin Chin!”

  “I bet your wondering how a guy who works in a restaurant could afford all this luxury right.”

  Destiny gazed in to Spencer’s large playful brown eyes. “Well the thought had crossed my mind, but I thought it would be too impolite to mention.”

  “The yacht belongs to my father, he lends it to me occasionally, but only when I assure him I’ll take great care of it!” “Wow , it’s beautiful, you’re very lucky. I see someone’s keen on astrology, I don’t think I have ever seen a telescope of that size before”

  “ The telescope belongs to me, I’ve been studying our wonderful solar system since I was a child, funny really it was my old man who got me hooked from been five years old, around the time my mother died, I would ask if he was looking for my mum in the sky!”

  Destiny sensed a deep sadness when Spencer mentioned the death of his mother and didn’t want to pursue it by asking how she died, but didn’t really want to change the subject as she didn’t want to appear insensitive so she broached it slowly.

  “I am sorry to hear about your mother, you must miss her a lot.” Destiny saw Spencer’s eyes filling up a little and automatically felt a deep sense of regret, maybe she should have just kept her big mouth shut.

  Spencer reached for her hand and began stroking it.

  “ To be honest I can barely remember her, I only have a few dear memories of her, as I was really young when she died, it was my father who brought me up. I miss never having a mother around, but my father did his best to raise me and my younger brother who was only a year old at the time!”

  “Well it looks like your father did a good job raising you into the perfect gentleman!” “He had his moments but there was one thing my father insisted on was that he would raise us to have manners as he would remind us they cost nothing and they were an essential part of living.”

  Spencer raised his glass to this and Destiny joined him. “Okay enough about me, tell me a little about you!”

  Destiny suddenly found herself opening up to Spencer in a way she had never opened up to anyone else before, she mentioned her childhood, Ella and Chase and her estranged parents. She told Spencer the story of her father leaving and how it affected her mother, sister and brother. Before she knew it
they were enjoying their second bottle of champagne and she felt a great sense of ease talking and sharing their childhood’s memories with one another. She discovered that Spencer’s father was very wealthy, his father was in property and development and it was his father’s old fashioned work ethos that had Spencer working at Fargo’s, so he could learn the value of money.

  They slowly started bonding and getting to know each other. Destiny slowly letting her guard down, as she sensed Spencer was doing the same, or was it the delightful champagne? They spent the evening gazing at the stars, Destiny learnt that there were many different stars in the night sky, they could see more of them because they were in a dark country, whereas in the city they’re not as visible, they could be a hundred or two hundred times bigger than the sun and at the end of a stars life they can stretch out past the orbit of the planet Uranus, some of the older stars are smaller than the earth. Spencer mentioned the different planets of the solar system, his favorite was the planet Venus, he explained to her in astronomy mythology, Venus was the Roman goddess of love and beauty, In Greek her name was Aphrodite. They both named their very own star, it was so romantic she knew she would never forget this night; she was suddenly curious and asked, “Why did you want me to bring an overnight night bag?”

  “Destiny, the night is still young yet and I promise I’ll let you know before the evenings over, how does that sound?” Destiny couldn’t help but smile in excitement and agreed. As the air became breezy and chilly they both retired to the lower deck where they sat and picked on smoked salmon pin wheels and various cream cheeses along with hot crispy French baguettes.

  “Did you make all this wonderful snacks yourself?” “Of course I wouldn’t have it any other way, although I’ve gotta admit working at Fargo’s has certainly inspired me and influenced my great love of food. You could say I’m a bit of a snack food connoisseur I’m always experimenting with food and decoration!”