Unstuck

by Liliana Camarena

  “Good night, Brian,” I said as I gagged “shit, I need a bathroom,” I said to Patrick “Good night, Lucy, Patrick,” Brian said

  “Good night, Brian,” Patrick said without even looking at him. I had to make sure to tell Patrick that it was not Brian’s fault that I was drunk of course, once I had emptied my stomach of all ghosts and berry scary that inhabited it.

  “Oh god, I won’t ever ever drink again,” I said while I hugged the toilet. I had been throwing up for what it felt an eternity.

  “I’ve heard that from every person I know at least once,” I heard Patrick’s voice. He was on his bed waiting for me to over.

  Once we went into the house he took me to his bedroom against every single awful comment I made about me being on his bedroom. I have no idea how he managed to give me sparkling mineral water with what it felt the juice of 20 lemons. That alone sent me to the exact same spot I was in that moment. Patrick tried to keep his word and held my hair while I was throwing up but I asked him, pretty please, to spare me the embarrassment. He had been either making fun of me or commenting on my out loud spoken thoughts from his bed.

  “Well, it’s true for me,” I said finally sitting down on the cold floor feeling like I was done, at least for the night.

  “Are you done?” I saw Patrick’s head on the bathroom’s door.

  “I think so,” I covered my face with my hands. I was still drunk but not as much to not care about how I looked.

  “Ok, come, you need to sleep,” I took Patrick’s hands and stood from the floor. I walked towards the door in his room; I was ready to sleep.

  “Where are you going?” I saw him coming out of his walk in closet.

  “To bed,” I said leaning against the wall I still felt like shit.

  “You are sleeping here tonight,” he said giving me what it looked like a t-shirt “wear those,” “Where are you sleeping?” I asked

  “On the sofa,”

  “I should sleep on the sofa ….”I said trying to articulate something but my head was already pounding

  “Oh please, Lucinda. You need to be comfortable.” He said while preparing the bed “The bed is huge; you won’t even notice I am here. I just don’t want you choking on your own vomit,” I scrunched up my nose and went to the bathroom to change into the sweatpants and t-shirt he gave me. I tried to wash my teeth and mouth with a bit of water and tooth paste and went out to find Patrick already on the sofa.

  “I hate you,” I said going to bed

  “No, you don’t. There’s aspirins and water in there. Take them, you’ll thank me later,” I did as I was told because I knew I would need it. I snuggled in between the sheets.

  “Aren’t you going to sleep?” I asked him. He was sitting on the sofa, checking his cell phone.

  “As soon as you do,” he said smiling.

  “Everything is spinning,” I said once my eyes closed.

  “Put one foot on the floor,” He said absentminded. I did and it worked. As soon as I relaxed and closed my eyes the image of me kissing Brian came and I opened them back. Oh God! What had I done?

  “Brian didn’t get me drunk,” I said looking at the wall in front of me “I know that,” Patrick said

  “Why were you so angry at him,” I asked with my eyes closed “I wasn’t,” I wanted to say that he was, that even in my drunk state I could see that but sleep got the best, or worst, of me and I fell asleep.

  Eight

  I opened my eyes and found myself in a strange room. I looked around and realized I was in Patrick’s room. I sat up and found him sitting at his desk bend over the computer, when he heard me move he turned to me.

  “Morning,” He said smiling.

  “Good Morning,” I said trying to sound casual and not at all bothered by the amount of alcohol I had ingested the night before.

  “How are you feeling?” He asked

  “I have a horrible headache and my stomach feels like it could turn in any moment,” I said jumping down the bed and going towards the bathroom.

  “Ms. Owens brought you some clothes,” He said and I stopped to look at him “they are in there, in the bathroom. Take a shower and I’ll wait for you on the T.V room. We’ll have a hangover day,” He walked out of the room.

  Hangover day. Patrick was amazing, I made a mental note to let him know I appreciated everything he did and was doing for me. For now I would enjoy a shower and clean clothes. I needed to feel alive.

  Indeed, the shower made me feel a bit better, the headache was a bit worse, though. I went down the stairs and into the T.V room. There he was flipping through sport channels.

  “Feeling better?” he asked once I sat next to him

  “A bit, thank you,” I put my legs up and surrounded them with my arms “Well, here is breakfast, brunch for you,” He said displaying in front of me blueberry pancakes and banana shakes.

  “What time is it?” I said making a face. It didn’t seem very appealing “Noon, Pepper, you outdid yourself this time,” he laughed “I don’t feel like eating,” I said shaking my head.

  “Trust me, pancakes will do the trick,” I nodded and dug into the blue berry pancakes. He put on a movie that didn’t care about at all. “Did you have a good time?” He asked looking straight at the T.V.

  “I did. I had the best time of my life. Thank you so much, Patrick,” “You deserved it,” He finally looked at me

  “No, really, thank you, Patrick. You made me happy,” I took a mouthful of pancakes “And thank you for taking care of me. I was a mess,” I said shaking my head. Ugh! I can’t believe my boss had seen me throw up.

  “Lucinda,” he said taking both my hands in his “You take care of me every single day of my life, you bare with my pregnant lady cravings and make me midnight snacks, the least I could do was to take care of you on your birthday,”

  “I do that because it’s my job, Patrick; you do it because you are a good friend,” I said looking at him. He shook his head and put his hands on both sides of my face.

  “No, Lucinda,” he said “I do it because I care,” I didn’t have time to process what he had told me because before I could react I felt his lips on mine. Patrick was kissing me and without me even knowing, at least consciously, I was kissing him back. It wasn’t a messy kiss, it was sweet, filled with something that I had never felt but that made me feel warm inside and this time I knew the warmth had nothing to do with the black caramel apples and it had everything to do with the man kissing me. And just as it began, it stopped. He stopped and I opened my eyes to look at him, he was smiling and I knew I had to say something but I couldn’t, I was speechless.

  Patrick nodded and stood up “Well, I will leave you to think about that while I go get some movies that we could watch,” he said almost leaving the room and my eyes not leaving him.

  “Oh, Lucinda,” he said stopping at the door and looking back at me “We have a gala tonight,” Really? That’s what he says after kissing me the way he did?

  “That’s the one, Lucy,” I heard Stacy say as I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I had not forgotten about the gala, I didn’t know about it. It was for a charity of Stacy’s parents and Patrick had learnt about it that very day. It was themed. Who has themed galas? It was a 50s gala. I, obviously, didn’t own a dress that could be appropriate for the event so I had called Stacy in need of help. She brought over 10 dresses so I could take a pick. Surprisingly enough, all of them were 50s style.

  “I like it too,” I said. It was a simple sleeveless black dress very Hepburn like with a very thin red belt and very ample skirt.

  “Well, then, that’s it,” said Stacy picking up all the dresses from my bed “So, Lucy, last night…,” “It was so much fun…,” I said interrupting her; I had a feeling where she was going “Yeah it was,” she said nodding and holding a dress.

  “What happened with you and Nick?” I asked while changing into a robe so I could do my hair and makeup without getting something on the dress.

  “What do
you think?” she said giving me a look “He is AMAZING,” she had a grin on her face.

  “I can’t remember, but I think I did warn you about him, right?” I asked sitting on my bed and she did too.

  “You did and I know that he is no boyfriend material, but it doesn’t hurt to have a little fun. Now, does it?” she said giggling.

  “It definitely doesn’t,” I said laughing.

  “Like the one you had with Brian,” Shit, that sure made my laughter go away “Yeah, what’s up with that,” I said becoming increasingly more interested in the pattern of my bed.

  “You tell me,” I could feel her eyes on me.

  “I fucked up Stacy,” I finally blurted out “It’s not that I don’t like Brian, he is amazing and sweet and I had A LOT of fun with him last night but….”

  “But,” said Stacy trying to look me in the eye.

  “But… he is my boss’ best friend and we work together and I don’t know if want a relationship and I definitely know that I don’t want a friends with benefits kind of thing with him,” I shook my head I had not had time to think about it but everything I was telling Stacy was confusing.

  “Why not?” She asked as if it was that simple.

  “Because, Stacy, I suck at relationships. I have a pretty serious phobia to showing emotions and relationships require that. I’ve never had a romantic relationship and until I came here to work for Patrick my only other relationship was Nick. I’m not made for human interaction,” In my mind what I had just said sounded quite stupid since I had been kissed by two different men in less than 24 hours. Seemed that relationships and human interaction was my thing now.

  “Are you scared of what Patrick might think,” she said. “Something like that…,” no I was scared of what Patrick wanted. I was scared shitless of what I wanted.

  “Well honey, I’ll leave you alone now because you need to figure out what you are going to tell him. He is going to be at the gala tonight,” said Stacy standing up

  “Who? Patrick’”

  “No, Brian,” she said turning around towards the stairs.

  “Thank you for the dress, Stacy. See you tonight,” “Of course, Lucy,” she said and then I heard the door closed.

  “Ugh,” I groaned and fell back on my bed. What was I going to do? I refused to let the things between me and Patrick turn weird. It was a kiss and probably didn’t mean a thing so I was willing to let that bridge to burn later, much later, maybe never.

  Brian was a whole different story. I was sure he was going to want an explanation or something. I mean we didn’t JUST kiss. We had a whole session of touching, grabbing and swapping saliva. That demanded to be acknowledged and talked about. I had no idea what I was going to do. I looked up at the clock and realize I barely had 2 hours to be ready. I sighed and up I went, to fulfill my duties as Patrick’s assistant.

  “Good Evening, Lucy,” I heard Miranda’s voice the moment I step on the kitchen putting my red clutch and tablet on the breakfast bar.

  “Miranda, I had not seen you all day,” I said giving her a hug. I had been in the T.V room napping and sulking on my hangover with Patrick by my side, not mentioning the kiss or that I jumped his best friend’s bones.

  “I heard you had fun last night,” she said wanting to laugh.

  “Ugh a little too much,” I said opening the fridge and pouring some water on a glass.

  “Well, you can’t really tell that you had a rough night. You look amazing,” she said eyeing me up and down.

  “Thank you,” I said grabbing the skirt of the dress with both hands “It’s Stacy’s dress,” I had made my hair on tight waves and parted it to the side with a red flower clip on to the side, my make up was kind of natural but with red lips that went perfectly with the red pumps I’d found on the back of my closet.

  “It fits you perfectly,” she nodded and I drank the glass of water in a single sip. I was still hungover, awfully parched.

  “Ready?” I heard Patrick’s voice coming from foyer and I just smiled to Miranda “I have to go,” I said.

  “Have fun, Lucy,” I heard Miranda say. I was not allowed to have more fun for the rest of my life.

  “Ready,” I said to Patrick who was waiting for me by the front door. He was dressed in a very Don Draper fashion. A three piece grey suit with a Hat, he looked great.

  “Looking good as always, Pepper,” he said opening the door for me “You too, Patrick,” I said and went out. The limo was going to be our real test since we had an hour ride ahead of us and it could get awkward.

  “I hope the food is decent,” said Patrick once we were on the limo.

  “You know it won’t be,” I said while re-applying my lipstick “Do they do themed galas a lot?” I asked.

  Patrick laughed out loud “Yes, it’s quite stupid but I’m sad to inform you that it’s pretty common,” Crap! I was sure that I was not going to have enough outfits for themed nights.

  The rest of the ride was really easy. Patrick and I were the same as always, laughing, making jokes and talking about work like nothing happened. Maybe the bridge didn’t need to be burned.

  “Hello, Lucy,” I turned around to Brian. Well, that was a bridge that I had to burn.

  “Hey, Brian,” I said giving him a hug. Was I leading him on by giving him a hug? Was I going to have to live my life wondering how to act around Brian?

  “How’s the hangover?” he asked laughing. He didn’t seem to feel the awkwardness I was feeling.

  “It’s somewhere in the back of my mind after nursing it all day long,” I said smiling.

  “What are you drinking?” He asked eyeing my empty glass.

  “Oh! Just water for me, mister. I can’t even look at alcohol right now,” He laughed and took the glass from my hand.

  “Water it’s,” He said leaving and I took that moment to take my seat on the table where I found my name. I recognized a few names: Patrick, Brian, Stacy and mine. I didn’t know who the other people were.

  “All friends of ours,” said Brian handing me the glass.

  “Thank you,” I said taking a sip and I watched how Brian switched his name tag with Stacy’s so he could sit next to me. “So, you also know Patrick since you were little,” He nodded while giving a sip to his drink. I hoped it was coke because if it was some alcoholic drink I was going to puke.

  “Yeah, we’ve known each other for 30 years,” Wow. That was one long friendship.

  The rest of the night went smoothly. Brian never brought up the incident and I got to meet all his friends. Although, there was more business than friendship on the table they could not stop themselves. I barely touched the food but I didn’t dwell on that; my stomach was still recovering.

  I was thankful that I was not the only assistant on the table because I didn’t feel completely out of place every time Patrick muttered “Lucinda,” so I could take notes on the tablet. By the time the dessert was over the dancing was on full swing. I was just praying to God that Patrick would not want to stay for the dance and drinks and cigars.

  “I could take you home, if you want,” I heard Brian say. I must have looked horrible and as much as I dreaded being alone with him I really wanted to go home.

  “Ok. I will let Patrick know,” I said getting up.

  “I’ll get the car.”

  I went towards Patrick that was in deep conversation with a bunch of guys that had already taken out the cigars. I felt my stomach protest. I tapped Patrick on the shoulder.

  “Lucinda,” he said smiling.

  “I am going home, Patrick, It seems that my job here is done and I still feel like crap,” I said giving a small smile.

  “I am about to leave, give me a second and...”

  “No, Brian is taking me. You don’t have to interrupt your night,” I said feeling a bit intimidated by the look he had. He seemed to be looking for Brian because he was scanning the place as if his life depended on that.

  “Ok,” he nodded and gave me a hug “see you at home,” I ju
st nodded and left.

  “Ready,” I said to Brian that was opening the car’s door for me “Let’s go,” I said getting in. Brian closed the door and walked to his side getting in.

  “You barely ate anything,” he said once we were on our way.

  “Ugh! No, I didn’t feel like it. I was praying for the dessert to be a sorbet or something because that was exactly what I felt I needed,” I said grabbing my stomach.

  “Do you want a sorbet? I know the place where I can get you an amaaaazing sorbet,” his eyes were shinning and he seemed like an excited little boy. I nodded with a stupid grin on my face I was as happy as little girl as well, and so we went for the most delicious passion fruit sorbet I had ever tasted.

  “Oh my god, that was amazing,” I said as I finished the sorbet and Brian kept driving.

  “Told you. Feel any better?” He asked putting his hand on my knee. I didn’t mind that at all. It was weird but for the past few hours I got a glimpse of what a relationship with Brian would be like and it didn’t seem so awful after all.

  “Much,” I said nodding and putting my hand over his. I left it there for the rest of the drive home that was about 15 minutes. Holding someone’s hand for more than 5 minutes was a lot coming from me. We got to the manor and punched the code at the front gate. Brian drove all the way to the front door and stopped the car. He unbuckled his seat belt and turned to look at me. Oh no! Here it came.

  “Lucy, last night was amazing but I was drunk,” he said shrugging “I wasn’t. Not one tiny bit,” I said and we both laughed. It helped us to relieve a bit of nerves.

  “I like you, Lucy, a lot. But I don’t want last night to be the beginning of a relationship,” Wow… that was offensive. Was my kissing not good enough? Did I give a sloppy make out session?

  “I want to start something but sober,” he said holding my hand. Oh, I thought I had dodged a bullet, offended and all but dodged it anyway.