“Sugar,” I heard Nick closer to the phone
“Yes?”
“I am proud of you,” he said.
“Thank you,” I nodded.
“I’m so excited, Lucy!” I heard her talk about a lot of things including double dates that I knew weren’t happening. I turned to look out the window but Patrick wasn’t in his office anymore.
“Wait a second,” I interrupted Stacy “Patrick is not in his office anymore,” I said running to the office.
“So?” said Stacy.
“I don’t want him to catch me talking to you about him,” I said looking out the window and yes indeed there he was, walking in his winter jacket towards the pool house. “I knew it. He is coming here. I’ll see you guys tonight ok?”
“Ok, but you have so much to tell me,” Stacy said and I nodded “See you tonight, Sugar,” I heard Nick.
“See you guys,” I hung up just in time because Patrick walked into the bedroom.
“You are still in my clothes,” he said grinning and I nodded. “I like that very much,” “It’s ok,” I shrugged.
“Breakfast is ready,” he said laying in bed next to me. I scrunched up my nose. “What?” he asked looking at me.
“I’m embarrassed to see Miranda,” I said and I turned to put my head on his chest. It was ok. I could do that because we officially had a thing.
“I already talked to her,” he said running his fingers through my hair “she’s happy for us,” I knew that.
“How am I going to look her in the eye knowing that she knows that we have sex?” I cringed at the thought
“Lucinda, I am pretty sure she’s known that for a while,” I cringed again “I just made it official today,” I shrugged.
“It’s weird.”
“It’s perfectly normal,” he said and I looked up to see him and smiled. It felt perfectly normal but I hadn’t been out there with the rest of the world knowing. “Let’s eat,” he said.
“Let me change in some of my clothes at least,” I said and he nodded.
I looked at myself in the mirror while I brushed my hands on the skirt of the dress. I was nervous as hell. Nervous because the dress was too short and nervous because by now I was sure everyone knew our thing was official. I was glad Patrick had accepted that I didn’t want the whole world to know it yet; the whole world meant the press, people at work, Patrick’s business partners. That sort of world.
The day had been successful as we worked through it. We even worked a few hours in the MBU course since the numbers we had received the previous were so good. We worked just the same as always with the exception that Patrick did hold my hand every now and then when he was analyzing something or when I was telling something. He knew our thing was official and holding hands while working wasn’t so terrible anymore. Miranda was really happy about us and she showed it by smiling and nodding a lot but not another word was said.
Everything seemed perfect between us and I wasn’t ready to step out into the real world. I sighed for the hundredth time.
“Get it together, Lucy,” I said to myself while I ran my fingers through my tousled waves and grabbed my red purse from the bed. “Here I go,” I said walking down the stairs and grabbing my black coat from the living room.
“What’s underneath, Lucinda?” asked Patrick as I walked into the house with my coat on.
“A dress,” I said smiling as I closed the door.
“A red dress I assume,” he said grinning.
“How did you know?” I asked going closer.
“You have a red purse,” he said looking at my hand and I nodded. I wanted to die at the sight of him. He looked better than ever. He was wearing a black suit and jacket with no tie on and I was drooling all over the floor. And it might have been the fact that we were free to eye fuck each other but I was doing that exact thing. I wanted to jump him and have a quickie in the stairs; I didn’t want to go out at all.
“How about not going out and have sex all night long?” I asked walking towards him. He put his arms around my waist
“It would be a shame not to wear our outfits on a night out,” he said with his forehead against mine.
“We could wear them while having sex. That’d be hot,” I said smiling “That’d be hot, true but I see what you are doing. We are going out tonight,” he said grabbing by my hand and walking me to the limo that was waiting for us. “May I take your coat?” he asked and I shook my head.
“Not ready,” I said going into the car.
“Not ready for what?” he said once he climbed through his side of the limo.
“To reveal the dress,” I shook my head.
“Can I see a tiny bit, please?” he asked pouting.
“Nope,” I said and he didn’t ask anymore. Truth was I knew he’d love the dress but I was too nervous to think about the dress and going out to the party so I decided that I would do it once we were in the club; a dark environment that allowed me to NOT think for a few minutes once the dress was revealed.
“How come Regina’s birthday dinners are always at your place?” I asked checking my lipstick on my compact.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged “I missed so much of her childhood milestones, every single cute and funny detail because I was in college that when I got this place 8 years ago we had her 10 year old birthday party in here, as time went by it became just a birthday dinner but every year she asks me “are you celebrating me this year, big brother,” I can’t say no,” he is smiling the smile he only gives to Regina. He really loves his sister.
“Well, I love it that you take the time to be in her life,” I said nodding and giving a squeeze to his hand.
As we went closer to the party I began to fidget in my seat, I was nervous and anxious and excited.
“You are freaking out,” he said looking out the window. How the hell did he do that? He knew how I was feeling without even looking at me.
“I know,” I said nodding. There was no reason for me to lie.
“What are you nervous about?” he asked looking at me.
“Well, how are we going inside? I mean I was present during the planning of the party so I know that there’s going to be a red carpet,” I was already cracking my knuckles.
“Don’t do that,” he said taking my hands into his. “You can stay behind me as always,” he said “What are we going to say if they ask about us? That fucking picture of New Year’s is still everywhere and there’s the picture of you trying to kiss me last week in New York,” I was about to throw up.
“Relax, if they ask I’ll just say no comment. We are not lying. We’ll address that some other time,” “Ok,” I nodded “ok,” I said again. I looked out the window and realize we were really close to the club. I could clearly see the purple lights that lit up the red carpet (it was actually purple). “Wow we got here fast,” I said checking my make up again in the compact “I guess I should take this off,” I said unbuttoning my coat “Where’s the rest of your dress,” said Patrick with a grin on his face.
“Somewhere in here,” I said blushing and trying to smooth the skirt on the dress over my tights but it was too short. It seemed as if I was just wearing the bodice.
“I love it,” he said going closer and I felt the limo stop.
“You haven’t seen it yet,” I said smiling. He had his forehead against mine.
“I don’t need to see it all to know you look amazing,” he smiled and then kissed me.
“See you out there,” he grinned and knocked on the window so the valet on the outside would open the door. I stepped out through the other door and gave a couple of breaths before walking right behind Patrick. There were indeed a lot of questions about us. Patrick said no comment while I stayed 10 steps behind him looking everywhere but in his direction.
Once we were inside I waited for him to say hello to a couple of people while I looked around the place. The final result was amazing the chandeliers ended up being exactly like Regina wanted; I saw people walking around w
ith all kinds of purple drinks. Stacy was the master of themed drinks.
“Champagne?”A server asked me and I nodded I grabbed a glass of champagne and smiled when I noticed the black berries floating on it. Everything was perfect. I glanced around looking for Patrick because I wanted to find Regina (she didn’t believe in a big entrance; she said it was tacky) and then go tackle a dessert table. I’d been dying to do that since the moment I knew what was going to be in it.
“You look fucking amazing, “I heard Patrick’s voice in my ear as I turned around. I wanted to kiss him, I wanted to put my arms around his neck but I also knew that there were a thousand people with cameras that were ready to snap a winning picture.
“Is the cursing necessary?” I asked with a grin. We had to raise our voices because the music was loud.
“Definitely,” he nodded “there are no words to describe how good you look,” he said smiling down at me. We needed to stop smiling and looking at each other the way we were. It was obvious.
“We have to find your sister,” I said.
“Where could she be?” he asked as we walked side to side through the club. The music blaring and people drinking. Where were the damn desserts? I was amazed by the party decorations; there were LED light balloons instead of regular balloons, all in purple and black and the flowers! Oh God, the Flowers! There was all kind of flowers: roses, carnations, tulips but they were all in purple and black. They were placed strategically over the high tables, in the bars and all over the railings and stairs in the club. You could smell them over the alcohol that seemed to be flowing. It was all a purple feast.
“VIP room,” I said glancing up stairs.
“Why would she have a VIP room if she invited all these people? I would think she wants to spend time with them,” he said as we walked up the stairs.
“Apparently, you have to have a VIP room. If you don’t you fail as a birthday girl,” I shrugged and Patrick snorted.
“Lucy!” I heard my name before I saw Regina the minute I stepped into the room.
“Regina,” I smiled and hugged her “Everything is perfect,” I said.
“It’s, isn’t it?” she said looking around and then stepping back to get a better look of the dress “Is my brother going crazy?” she asked and I had no idea what was I supposed to say. Did she know it was official that we had a thing?
“I certainly am. Thank you,” said Patrick and kissed Regina on the cheek. Regina’s eyes widened and turned to look at me.
“You…,” she said pointing at the both of us.
“We,” said Patrick smiling. Regina clapped twice (she was that excited) and hugged me.
“It was about time,” she said in my ear. I didn’t say anything.
“We are not making it official to the world so, please, let’s keep it between us,” said Patrick and Regina nodded.
“Of course,” she said smiling “why don’t you guys get a table. Have fun,” she said and we went looking for a table. We sat there for a while and then I spotted a dessert table on the far end of the room; I went directly to it. The table was covered in an eggplant purple cloth and decorated with black ribbons. The desserts were displayed beautiful. Everything in black plates or clear containers with black ribbons tied around them, this containers had an R engraved in what I was pretty sure were Swarovski details. There was a bit of everything: Purple cake pops, Purple cupcakes, Purple cakes, Purple cookies, purple gummy bears, purple lollipops, and purple caramel apples. I was definitely staying away from those; they had a tendency to stay in my stomach for a long time and reacting to certain beautiful 35 year old man. I opened a white box that was tied with a black ribbon only to find chocolate covered strawberries! The chocolate was lilac and it was beautiful. I sighed and grabbed two cake pops, a box of strawberries and a bag of gummy bears.
When I got back to the table Patrick was gone but Brian was in there. I immediately felt a pang of guilt in my chest. Everyone knew about us, did he? What was he going to think? I tried to smile but instead I threw a gummy bear in my mouth.
“Want some?” I asked showing him the bag of gummies, he shook his head.
“I heard something,” he said.
“Really?” I said leaning forward really excited while I nibbled on a cake pop. That was the same line he used before telling me all the juicy gossip from the office. He nodded. “Tell me,” I said raising my eyebrows.
“I heard that the boss and his assistant are an official couple,” he said with a grin and I immediately felt how I blushed.
“It’s a thing. We have a thing,” I said sitting back and looking down.
“Oh yeah, I’m sorry. A thing,” he said still grinning.
“I’m sorry Brian,” I shook my head “are you ok with this?” I asked and finally looked at him.
“I’m more than ok,” he said letting out a small laugh “I’ve known about you two for a long time now,” he smiled.
“You knew we were…,” I let the words hang.
“Sleeping together?”I nodded “yes I knew,” he said smiling “How?” I asked confused.
“Lucy the night that we broke up.”
“When you dumped me,” I interrupted him and he laughed “After we broke up I went to see Patrick to his office. I talked to him, I told him I knew that you two were meant to be together,” What? “I told him that he had to go for it because if he didn’t I would kill him myself,” he shrugged “but... how did you… I mean,” I was confused as hell.
“I had my doubts the day you had lunch with your parents and Patrick said he was going out and you were so worried about him going out without you. I thought that was odd,” I remembered that day. It was the sorbet bar day. I felt like crap thinking I had cheated on Brian. “And I definitely knew when you lied to me about coming back to New York because you wanted to be with him,” he gave me a tiny smile. I nodded.
“I cheated on you,” I said looking down. That might create a problem “Me and Patrick kissed that night after I saw my parents,” still ashamed.
“I know,” he was smiling? Really?
“You do?” I was shocked.
“Lucy, I’ve talked to Patrick about all this. Believe me, we are cool,” he said smiling “You are?” I really had to say something else beside questions.
“I talk to Patrick every night. He gives me the day’s details,” wow… that’s awkward.
“You are the one he talks to every night,” I said more to myself than Brian.
“The one and only,” he grins.
“Are the gummy bears any good?” asked Patrick sitting next to me and popping one into his mouth. I nodded and looked at Brian with a smile just to let him know that I was thankful for the conversation. He had lifted a weight off my shoulders.
The night went on perfectly. Nick and Stacy showed up a bit after my talk with Brian; they seemed so happy and in love I was really excited for Nick because I’d never seen him in love before. Patrick was kind enough to allow me some time alone with them so I could talk to them about our thing and they were really excited. Apparently, Nick won a bet with Stacy about who was going to suggest making it an official thing. Stacy said Patrick and Nick said me. Nick won. They were really physical with each other and it made me kind of want that too but I knew that I wasn’t ready for that just yet. Not in front of so many strangers. Nick and Stacy left after a couple of hours; I could tell they were really in need of sex. Although, I was sure they had been all day at it.
Twenty three
The party was exceptionally classy, with amazing drinks and music. I kept on chasing a purple cart that had all kind of shots and I was addicted to all of them especially because each shot glass was rimmed with sugar! Colored sugar! There were shot glasses with pink sugar, yellow sugar, purple sugar, baby blue sugar, mint green sugar. It was a dream; I think I kept drinking shots only to lick the sugar out of the glasses. Patrick kept on trying the drinks that were served: The Purple Rain, that was a mix of blue curaçao, cranberrie juice, vodka and lime
juice, The Grapetini, The Purple Flip Flop, that had Malibu and pomegranate juice and of course the champagne with berries on it. There was too much alcohol and I decided after a while to stick to the non-alcoholic lavender lemonade that Regina had thought about for people that didn’t like alcoholic drinks.
Around 1 am Brian called it at night and disappeared. I was actually surprised that we stayed further than midnight but I guess we were comfortable in the VIP where only Regina and a couple of her closest friends were.
“What are you looking at?” asked Patrick. I was looking down at the dance floor. The VIP room was a big room surrounded by glass that overlooked the dance floor. The thing that stood out the most about the room was the huge black chandelier in the middle of it. You could see it from any point on the club. Directly in front of the room was a large kind of balcony that had lounge type of couches.
“People are really drunk,” I said looking everywhere. The kids these days were a bit wild. I knew I was thinking as an old lady but really that twerking thing… I was sure that one girl or two would end up pregnant by just “dancing,”
“Yeah, they are,” I turned around and looked at Patrick.
“Your are drunk,” I said with a grin and put my lemonade on a table near me over a cocktail napkin with a Regina gold foil stamp.
“I have a good buzz, not drunk,” he said going closer but I took a step back. It had been going on all night. He took a step forward and I took a step back, he tried to grab my hand, I pulled it slowly. I knew there were a couple of press photographs around and everyone had a phone so a picture of us could easily be taken. “Stop running away,” he said with a funny smile. He indeed had had a couple of extra drinks. It was weird since he never really drank too much.
“I’m not,” I shook my head still smiling.
“I’m going to do something, Lucinda,” he said not stepping forward this time. I just looked at him “I’m going to do something that will make you step out of your comfort zone,” this time he stepped forward and I took a step back “it will freak you out,” another step forward and I took another step back “but I don’t care because I want to do it,” he took the last step forward and I couldn’t take another step back because I was already with my back against the glass. “I really, really want to do it,” he grinned and grabbed me by the waist. I swear I saw a flash went off from the corner of my eye. I tried to turn and look for the source of the light but he put both of his hands on each side of my face and smiled. I got lost in his eyes and his smile reassured me that everything was going to be all right and then, then he kissed me. It was a slow but very passionate kiss, a kiss that was designed to let the world know that I was his and to let me know that I had to get used to this because he was determined to make our thing public. I tried hard to think about the kiss, about how it looked on the outside because in the exact moment that our lips touched I saw a lot of flashes going off but the truth was that I stop caring after a couple of seconds, or minutes, or hours; I got lost in his kiss and his touch and that’s when I realized that maybe, just maybe I was in deeper shit that I thought. Patrick’s touch made me forget about the world.
Unstuck Page 33
