by Kiki Leach
“William Harvey Grant!”
“My God, girl, it’s a small as hell world.”
“Yeah, yeah, sometimes too small.” She leaned in for a hug and he did the same.
“How have you been?”
“Fantastic unless you’ve checked the papers lately,” she replied, pulling back to get a better look at his face. It was true that black didn’t crack and William was a great example of that. It didn’t change the fact that he was still much older than her friend and much older than she had previously believed before realizing exactly who he was. “It’s been a long time. I don’t think I’ve seen you around in a little over a year.”
“I’ve been up to the office from time to time when I can get away from the phone calls and meetings. Mostly just to see your mother and Alexander when he would stop by. But my, my, you’re still as beautiful as ever. Spitting image of Alexis Brown.”
“Please don’t tell her that, she may kill you – or me for making you say it.”
“Here you go,” said Nikki walking up with a laminated menu in her hand. She handed it over to William but stopped when she saw Maurice and Vanessa’s questioning eyes as they stood across from him. “Hi.”
Vanessa placed her hands in front of her and leaned her head as she looked at them standing together. She got an odd feeling in her chest and swallowed back the bile that was building up. “Hello!”
“Oh, V,” stated William, placing an arm around Nikki’s waist, “I’d like you to meet my beautiful date--”
“We’ve met.”
“Oh.” He chuckled. “Then I guess it really is a small world. No introductions are necessary, I presume?”
“You presume correctly,” she said. “Nikki’s my roommate and best friend for the better part of my entire life.”
He lifted his brows in shock and dropped his chin to his chest. “Really?” He glanced at Nikki’s face before taking a larger gulp of his drink. He held the liquid in his mouth for a little while, swishing it from side to side as if it were mouth wash before swallowing. “Um…” He closed his eyes and scratched the side of his head. “You’re not the girl in the pictures with V when she was a child? The same ones I’ve seen on Alexis’ mantle in her living room?”
“That’s her!” Vanessa yelled. “Pigtails, pink bows and all!”
“Oh wow.” He pressed his fingers against the center of his forehead and cleared his throat. “Wow.”
“Yeah, wow – SO! I heard you two met at the bank?”
“Um, yeah, we did.” He lowered his hand and smiled at Nikki, who began squirming in feeling uncomfortable, fearing that he was beginning to feel the same way. He tried to ease those fears by sticking close, holding her tighter against him to make sure she didn’t scurry away. “I was making a deposit and saw her there with the very man holding your hand--”
“That’s lovely.” Vanessa released Maurice’s hand and crossed her arms. “So, you two are here on a date. Like a real date, like an actual… date, thing?”
“Um…” Nikki slowly nodded. “That’s what going out usually means, Vanessa.”
“Mm-hmm. Yeah, right, yeah – yeah, I know. So uh, is this a first time thing for you two or do you plan on keeping it up? I mean, with her being my friend and all, it’s just kind of… ya know--”
“It might seem a little strange at first, but your friendship should really have no bearing on us being together,” William stated.
Vanessa moved her head from side to side and leaned forward. “I’m sorry, say what?”
“I said your friendship should really have no bearing on us being together. So far, we’re so good.” He found his groove again despite the uneasy feeling spreading throughout his body. He tugged at his collar and looked around the room. “But the night’s not over yet.”
She stared at them for a long time in disgust until Maurice gently tapped her on the side.
“No it isn’t,” she finally said. “And you’re right. You’re absolutely right, it should have no bearing, even though it does,” she said almost silently to herself. “In fact, why don’t we make a toast to this…” She waved her hands and shook her head. “…here, and all it has to offer? So what if she’s my friend that I’ve known since I was a child--”
“V,” Nikki interjected.
“One that you’ve seen in pictures all over my mother’s house,” she continued. “Whatever, right? I think we all need glasses of champagne, hmm? Actually, you know what, make mine a rum and coke. Heavy on the rum, light on the coke, you know. Let’s livin’ up the joint.” She turned to Maurice and opened her mouth wide with a smile. “You going?”
“I--”
“Thank you.” She slightly nodded her head back and he got the hint to head back over to the bar.
He scrunched his face and rubbed his temples with his middle finger and thumb. “William. Why don’t we leave the ladies alone to talk for a minute while we grab their drinks?”
“Alright, yeah.” William turned to Nikki and leaned over to kiss her cheek. Vanessa cringed and had the sudden urge to puke all over him. “I haven’t had the chance to tell you how beautiful you look tonight.”
Nikki blushed. “Thank you.”
“We’ll be right back,” he told her.
“Yeah, sure, can’t wait for everything that’s gonna come with that.” Vanessa looked back, watching as the men conversed while making their way back over to the bar. “So…” She turned to Nikki who began staring down at her menu. Vanessa snatched it from her and sat it aside. “William Grant? That is your date for tonight, William Harvey Grant?!”
“Why are you saying his name I’m dating Donald Trump?”
“You might as well be! They both know my parent’s, Nicole, and they’re both old as hell!”
“He’s not THAT old.”
“He’s old enough to be best friends with Alexander, which means he’s too damn old to be with you.”
“They’re not best friends, V.”
“Whatever! They’re close, which makes this not only nauseating but weird. I’ve known the man since I was in high school, and now you’re going out with him like it’s no big deal that he’s seen pictures of you when we ten years old!”
“It is no big deal,” she said, laughing and reaching back for the menu. “It’s not as if he was attracted to me in those pictures. And if your parent’s were so close to him like you say, how come the only time he has ever seen me was like that?”
“What a ridiculous rationalization – I don’t know all of your parent’s friends, Nik.”
“My parents live in Connecticut.”
“They didn’t ALWAYS live in Connecticut, we wouldn’t have known each other if they did. Look, I’m glad to see you trying to move on from Oscar because thank GOD. But this just hits too close to home for me. It’s weird!”
“It’s not about you, Vanessa. Either Oscar’s married or this guy is too old. Dios mio, girl, it’s not like I have a lot of options to choose from at the moment.”
“There’s speed dating. I can get you signed up with people our own age who didn’t graduate around the same time the Underground Railroad was formed!”
“No.”
“We did a feature on it in the magazine a few months ago and it’s extremely popular among millennials.”
“Vanessa. I said no.”
She raised her hand. “Fine. But this guy is just--”
“He’s what? What’s wrong with him? Is he a sadist? Masochist? Likes whips and chains before he goes to sleep at night?”
“Nothing is physically or emotionally wrong with him as far as I know. And he is fine as hell for someone his age, I’ll give you that much. But I’m just not comfortable with you dating him.”
“Like I said, it’s not about you, V, which means this is really not your decision to make. I’m a consenting adult and so is he. And we might do adult things together.”
She lifted her hands to her ears, sticking her fingers inside. “Please stop. Please just, stop.�
��”
Nikki looked behind her and straightened her dress. “He’s coming back.”
William zoomed through the crowd and approached with drinks for the both of them in his hands. “Here you go,” he said, handing over Nikki’s glass. “Champagne for you…” He handed the other to Vanessa. “And a rum and coke for you.”
“Great, thanks.” She grabbed her drink and took a sip. “Where’s Maurice?”
“Said he had to take a phone call about work. He’ll be back over soon.”
“So that means it’s just the three of us for right now,” she replied. “Yay …” She took another sip of her drink. “So William, how’s your ex-wife? I haven’t heard from Patricia in eons.”
“She’s good. She’s doing well. She’s still taking to the medication your mother recommended after her surgery and she’s been able to stay on track ever since. You should stop by to visit her sometime, I know she’d love to see you.”
“I just may do that.” Maurice made it back over to them and Vanessa breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God. He said you had a phone call about work?”
“My meeting for tomorrow morning got pushed back by a few hours. But when I was by the door…” He bent down to her ear, whispering. “I saw Melanie here with Oscar.”
“What?” Vanessa pulled back and saw them both standing across the room. “My mother must have invited her. And she told me not to cause a scene? Tuh.”
“What’s going on?” asked Nikki. She was laughing from a joke William had made, but stopped when she saw the panic in Vanessa’s eyes. “What’s going on with you, V?”
“Nothing… except that Melanie is here, with Oscar.”
She bobbed her head and swallowed her drink as she turned her eyes toward the ground. “I knew she was coming, he told me.”
“Uh, then why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t think it was important.”
“Are you serious?” She waved her hand. “You didn’t think that this was something important that I might have needed to know?”
“This doesn’t concern you, V.”
“If my mother happens to snap at me because of something that might go on here tonight with any of us that is a definite concern to me.”
“You don’t have to worry about it, okay?” She took another swig of her drink and handed her glass over to William. “Would you excuse me? I need to make a run to the ladies room.”
“Do you want me to come with?” asked Vanessa.
“No, that’s okay. I saw where it was when I came in.” She smiled at William before taking off. As she moved through the crowd, she bumped into Sheila who was making her way back to her table with Nathan. They didn’t speak, only sneering and hissing at each other before going their separate ways.
Sheila held two drinks high above her head to keep from spilling them all over her dress. Nathan was so busy searching for Vanessa that he hadn’t even realized she had come back to the table until she sat down and wobbled the end he was leaning on.
“Sorry. Here.” She slid his drink over to him and he drank it back without even tasting what it was. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye as she sipped on an appletini. “Maybe you should slow it down.”
“It’s a party, right? Bottoms up.”
“It’s a restaurant opening.”
“Same difference,” he said.
She watched him take another swig and got up from her chair. “Just like I told Nikki out there, I don’t want another repeat of the reunion.”
“Where are you going?”
“Away to talk to people who are interested in talking to me right back, Nathan. And not because they feel obligated, but because they want to. That hasn’t been you for quite some time.”
She grabbed her drink and crossed the restaurant, passing various men as they watched the way she moved. Nathan hadn’t even felt a twinge of jealousy, nor the need to defend her. He hadn’t slept in their room in days and contemplated if he ever wanted to go back. If they were really getting married, he wondered if this was how it was going to be with her for the rest of his life. And if it were, he wanted to take back everything from the ring to the proposal, to the bride herself if she were refundable.
Part Twenty-Nine
Nikki finally made her way to the bathroom, waiting only until she thought it was completely empty before going inside. She stood in front of the mirror, leaning over the sink. The thought of Oscar being there with his wife, even though she was with someone else as well, even though she went out of her way to avoid him at work the last few days, still made her feel sick to her stomach. It’s possible she did want to kill and fuck him at the same time; maybe that was just part of the vicious cycle she felt she needed to live through in order to get to her real happy in live with someone like William.
The more she thought of Oscar, the more she felt like passing out. She turned on the cold water and grabbed a pile of paper towels from the dispenser hanging on the wall and doused them. She placed them around her neck and took deep breaths in and out while trying to balance herself against the counter. As she bent forward and turned off the water, she heard the toilet flushing from a stall around the corner. Melanie stepped out and smiled.
“Fancy meeting you here,” she said. Nikki glanced at her for a moment, noting her glassy eyes, before returning to the mirror. She remained completely silent as she continued moving the towels around her neck. Melanie walked over to the sink next to her and washed her hands while staring down at her dress in the mirror. “You look stunning tonight, Nicole. Is the man I saw you with at the bank out there someplace?” She dried her hands and leaned forward to look closer at herself in the mirror. She traced her finger around the edge of her lips. “I hope he’s out there because a dress like that shouldn’t go to waste on just anybody tonight. Is it vintage Donatella?”
She nodded. “Alexis is good friends with her. I’ve had this dress for years.”
“Very flattering for your type of body. If only we could all have curves like you, maybe our men wouldn’t look at other women the way that they do, and so very often.” She tossed the towel into the trash and moved around her.
Nikki was convinced that Melanie was finally putting things together, but she was certain it was now too little too late to even matter anymore.
Part Thirty
While Maurice waited at the bar to grab her another drink, Vanessa poked around at the food being served at various buffet tables. As she used her fork to lift up pieces of meat, she saw Nathan walking up to her and tried avoiding eye contact to no avail. He slid in behind and stood so close that he was practically breathing her in. Her hand brushed against the front of his pants as she turned away and he smiled when he saw the embarrassed, yet slightly aroused look on her face.
“You did this to me, V,” he said.
“Shut up and get away from me.”
He moved in closer and lifted a hand, placing it at her back. He pressed his lips to her ear and whispered. “Is this what you like, baby?”
“I said, stop.” She shoved his hand down and spun away. “What the fuck is wrong with you, are you drunk?”
“Nah. Just a few drinks.”
“It seems like it was more than enough. Why don’t you go find Sheila and go home --”
“Why did you invite Sheila here tonight?” he asked, staring down at the table of food. “You knew that she was gonna invite me to this thing.”
“I certainly couldn’t have stopped her from doing that unless I wanted a problem, now could I?”
“But you didn’t have to invite her either.”
“My mother wanted me to make things right,” said Vanessa. “So you can thank her for me even deciding to pick up the phone and call you soon to be wife. And the truth of the matter is, I don’t really want to fight with Sheila anymore. I’ve gained nothing from it aside from more pounding headaches and messy headlines.”
“What about me?”
“I have a whole list of things
I don’t want to do with you, Nathan, but fighting has never really been at the top of it.”
“I could think of a few things that we could do instead.” He tried grabbing at her again but she snatched her arm away.
“What part of back the hell off don’t you understand?”
“The part that doesn’t believe you mean it.”
“Fuck you, asshole.”
Nathan stared behind her and saw Maurice stepping up with a drink in his hand. He handed it to Vanessa and frowned when he saw how anxious she had become in just the few minutes he hadn’t been at her side. “Are we good over here?” he asked before turning to his former friend turned rival.
Nathan opened his arms wide and laughed. “We’re always good, Mo. Always good over here. Vanessa’s in capable hands with me, you should know that. She’s fine.”
“Are you?” Maurice glanced at Vanessa. “Are you okay over here with him?”
She knocked back the rest of her drink and handed the glass back to him. “I’m good. In fact, I need to talk to him about something in private. Just give us a second?”
Nathan smugly fixed his sports jacket and turned his head to smirk.
Maurice tightened his jaw but nodded. “Alright. I’ll be over on the other side if you need me.”
“Thanks.” She snapped her fingers at Nathan before heading off.
He stepped up to Maurice and slapped a hand on his shoulder. “Woof, woof.”
Nathan found Vanessa around the corner near the restrooms. She lay back against the wall with her arms crossed and he rested his hand next to her, smiling wide. “You look damn good tonight, Vanessa. I mean, damn good – sexy as hell. That’s a nice length for a dress.”
“You’re a misogynistic asshole.”
“I could always try to be more of that if it’s what you were looking for. Which must be true if you’re really sleeping with Maurice.”
“Aside from you being drunk, you’re making it really easy for me to want to kick you in the ass. Who I sleep with or don’t is really none of your business anymore and hasn’t been for a very long time. You know, for years I never thought I deserved better than whatever it was you always had to offer me and now I realize, that hell, I’m better than you let alone anything you could have EVER given to me, so of course I deserve better than what I’ve always had.”
