by Brent, Amy
At least he would.
I, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure.
Logan
I tried calling Ava a couple times over the course of the next few days. I wanted to know how she was feeling, how she was doing. The night we had shared had been passionate, and the dinner she had let me feed her had been nothing short of the romance any woman deserved. But when we woke up the next morning and parted ways for work, there had been something in her eyes that had worried me.
And I couldn't get her on the phone to discuss what it was.
I’d been calling her from my cell phone and hadn’t gotten her to answer. So, I pulled up her number and called her from my office phone. The ring in my ear droned on and on, and I almost convinced myself to leave a voice message and wait for her to return my phone calls. If she ever would.
Then she picked up.
“This is Ava Leary.”
“Hey, Ava. It’s Logan.”
“Logan? What number are you calling from?”
“This is my office number.”
“Oh, okay. Well, is everything all right?” she asked.
“I wanted to see if you were free for lunch today.”
“What for?” she asked.
“I want to talk to you, to see how you are doing since—well, since the other night.”
The silence on the other end of the line was deafening.
“Um, yeah. I could take a little time out to get lunch. Want to go to our café?”
I grinned as I stood from my seat.
“The café is fine. I’ll see you there in, say, ten minutes?”
“Make it fifteen. I have to slip into the bathroom first.”
“Either way, I’ll see you there,” I said.
I locked up my office and rushed downstairs, wanting to take advantage of this prime opportunity to talk with her. I wanted her to be honest with me, to open up about how she felt after that night. Losing one’s virginity was a big thing, especially for her, and the uncertainty that had been in her eyes that morning made me worried that I might have forced her into something.
I walked down to the café and pushed in, then promptly ordered Ava two cheese danishes and the coffee she always got here. I put in my order as well and paid, then found us a table in the corner so we could talk privately.
When she came in, I flagged her down.
“How much do I owe you?” she asked.
“The truth,” I said.
“I’m not sure what that means, but here’s a ten just to cover my bases,” she said, reaching into her purse.
“It’s fine. It’s on me, Ava.”
“What’s this all about, Logan? Why have you been blowing up my phone?”
“When we parted ways, things seemed a little off. I just want to make sure you’re all right.”
“I’m fine, Logan. I was just tired when we woke up.”
“You seemed a little uncertain when we parted. Did I—” I drew in a deep breath when she furrowed her brow. “Did I force you into something you didn’t want to do?”
A grin crossed her cheeks before she shook her head. “No, Logan. You didn’t make me do something I didn’t want to do,” she said.
“Then why did you look so—”
“Nervous? Anxious? Weary of the entire situation?”
“Well, yes.”
‘Because I lost my virginity to my best friend’s ex, Logan.”
“So, that’s it?” I asked. We shared a little laugh before I pushed her danishes and coffee over to her. “Happy lunch,” I said.
“You remembered.”
“You eat it every time I see you in here. Wasn’t that hard to memorize.”
“Well, I can’t help it if their cheese danishes and mochas are to die for,” she said. Her eyes fluttered up to mine, and I saw a question brewing behind them.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Honesty for honesty?”
“Of course. Shoot.”
“Why did you break things off with Camilla?”
“I take it you haven’t talked with her?”
“Not just that. I can’t even get her on the phone. I’m starting to get worried about her. Did you do something?”
I scoffed and shook my head as I brought my coffee to my lips.
“You know how Camilla and I were supposed to go shopping this past weekend?”
“Yeah. For her new work clothes.”
“Well, she texted me a time and a destination but never showed.”
“She stood you up?”
“She did, and I couldn't get her to respond to any of my messages. She was seeing them but not responding. The only thing I knew was that she had to work that night, so I went to the club to check on her and make sure she was okay.”
“I bet she didn’t like that.”
“Well, if she’d been there, she probably wouldn’t have.”
“Wait, she wasn’t working? She told me she had to work, too.”
“I stayed there for two hours waiting for her, and she never showed. I sent her a text and told her we needed to talk, fell asleep that night without hearing from her, and early Sunday morning I got a phone call.”
“So you have heard from her. Like, her voice?”
“Yes, her voice. She’s okay in that regard. But that was when I found out what was going on.”
“What was going on, Logan?”
“Apparently this new promotion she got at work didn’t come with the kind of pay bump she thought it did, so she started sleeping with her boss in order to get it.”
“No, she didn’t.”
“She did. We got together and talked over breakfast that morning, and she was completely nonchalant about it. Camilla actually thought I would be okay with it since it didn’t mean anything emotionally.”
“You’re being serious,” she said.
“Dead serious. Camilla’s had her head in her phone for weeks, buttering up her boss, and the reason she’s been working even later hours than usual is to try to get a raise.”
“By fucking her boss.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, then that would explain why Camilla hasn’t told me anything. She knows I wouldn’t hold back on my complete and utter judgment of her,” she said.
“That’s why I broke things off. I can’t be with a woman who actually thinks I’m the kind of man that would be okay with her sleeping around to get a raise because it didn’t mean anything.”
“So, out of all this, what made you decide to sign up for—you know?”
I took another sip of my coffee as her round, innocent eyes stared back at me.
“Part of it was a knee-jerk reaction in anger, I’ll admit. But part it was this: If I could teach just one woman how to properly treat a man who respected her, I’d feel a little better. I hear so many women complain about how men are jerks and they don’t do this and they don’t do that, but they don’t realize that a lot of those jerks are born from experiences like the one I just had with Camilla.”
“And you thought that by teaching, you could somehow save those men from becoming jerks.”
“More that I could show a woman there’s nothing wrong with showing respect for a man if he respects her back. It’s one thing if a man doesn’t respect a woman, but it’s another thing if a man completely respects her and the woman has no regard for that whatsoever. That bitter train goes both ways.”
“It makes sense. But I just—” Ava picked at her danish, and I took a bite of my sandwich as I waited. “I cannot believe Camilla did something like that. Is she insane? I mean, if the way you treated me was any indication of how you treated her throughout your relationship, then she’s a lunatic.”
My eyebrows hiked up a notch as a grin slid across my cheeks. “Really?” I asked.
“Yeah. Because that was—wow.”
“Stop. You're making me blush,” I said playfully.
“Well, it’s true! I don’t regret at all what happened, and now that you’ve told me what Ca
milla did to you, I can’t honestly say that you being her ex isn’t much of a factor at this point.”
“So you’re okay then?” I asked.
“Of course I’m okay, Logan. I promise.”
“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”
“Oh, I really did.”
“Let me know if you want to enjoy yourself again,” I said, winking.
“Oh, no. No way. We agreed it was a one-time business transaction. Remember?” she asked.
“Yeah, yeah. But I can joke around, can’t I?”
“Depends on the joke,” she said, grinning.
I knew what we had shared was supposedly a one-time thing, but part of me wondered if Ava was serious or merely playing a game of cat and mouse. The way she looked at me said one thing, but the way she joked around said something completely different.
We picked at our food, the conversation flowing effortlessly between us. She made me laugh. I made her laugh. Soon, our brief lunch had turned into both of us scrambling to get out of the café and back to work. I gave her a quick hug before watching her dash across the road back to her place of work, her skirt fluttering in the wind. It wasn’t until she got to the top of the steps that she turned around and looked back at me.
And I could’ve sworn her eyes scanned my body.
Ava
Sitting at my desk Thursday morning, I thought about my lunch with Logan. Specifically, one thing I had said to him without thinking first. When I had told Logan that him being Camilla’s ex wasn’t a factor for me anymore, I wasn’t sure I had fully told the truth. I couldn't wrap my mind around her actions. That fact that I still couldn't get her on the phone, though, didn’t bode well. If she really had cheated on Logan with her boss of all people, I didn’t feel bad about my night with Logan. At least not as bad as I would have if Camilla had been blameless in the breakup.
But still, I left that lunch more conflicted than when I went into it. She was my best friend.
That night kept running through my mind. The romance and the perfection of it all, right down to the way Logan’s lips had made me feel, sent my toes curling every time I thought about it. And when he had jokingly brought up doing it again, I’d had to think about sunshine and rainbows to keep from jumping across the table and lunging at him. Part of me hadn’t wanted it to be a joke. Part of me wanted to experience that euphoria with him again.
But it was wrong. Camilla had ripped his heart out, which he was still healing from, and I was Camilla’s best friend. I couldn't have a sexual relationship with Logan.
The rigging of my cell phone tore through my thoughts, and I was thankful for it. At least until I picked up the phone and spoke with the woman on the other end of the line.
“This is Ava.”
“Miss Leary?”
“Yes?”
“This is Clara Robbins from Save the Date.”
“Hello, Miss Robbins. How can I help you?”
“I need you to meet me in my office this afternoon when you get some time. Can you do that?” she asked.
“Um, yeah. Sure. I can see about inching out of work a few minutes early. But it will still be closer to five than anything.”
“That’s okay. I need to see you before the end of the day, so I’ll keep my office open until you can get here. Keep in touch?”
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“We just need to discuss a little hiccup that happened with your paperwork. Nothing big. Just something we need to rectify. I’ll see you this afternoon!”
“Okay. See you then,” I said.
The day dragged on painfully, and worry filled my gut. What kind of paperwork did a place like that keep? I’d had to fill out a survey about how things had gone and what I would have changed, if anything. Did they lose the survey? That was an issue, but did it require me to pull myself out of work and redo it in person?
It didn’t matter. My boss left around four that afternoon anyway, so I closed my office at four thirty and headed straight for Save the Date’s headquarters.
“Miss Robbins?” I asked.
“Ava! Come in. Have a seat. This will only take a second,” she said.
“Is this about the survey I filled out?”
“Yes, and some other things as well that we keep on our end.”
“What do you mean?”
“The survey you filled out is only one portion of the paperwork we use to comfort investors. We analyze the data and use it for quarterly reports as well as future project goals for our company.”
“Sounds pretty basic. How can I help?” I asked.
“Why don’t you take a seat?”
My stomach rolled as I sat down in front of her desk. Having someone tell me to sit down for a conversation was never good.
“Okay, here’s what we need from you.”
“I’m all ears,” I said.
“We need you to experience your night again.”
I furrowed my brow and cocked my ear closer to her.
“I’m sorry. I don’t think I heard you right,” I said.
“We need you and your partner to experience your night all over again.”
“I’m sorry. I could have sworn you told me to re-lose my virginity.”
“I know, I know. You’re not technically a virgin any longer. But we ran into a bit of a problem with your paperwork, and it’s going to greatly skew the results if we don’t have you and your partner attempt the night again.”
“The results will be skewed anyway because I’m not a virgin and it’s a completely different night.”
“Look, this doesn’t happen often, but we lost your paperwork.”
“That’s not my problem.”
“Think of it this way. You get a second chance to explore your sexuality and become comfortable with sex with a partner you’ve already experienced and enjoyed. You enjoyed yourself, right?”
“You would know that if you’d kept tabs on my survey,” I said.
“It’s more than just a survey. We do paperwork for the venue, for the setup and the sexual kinks and fetishes explored. Most of this comes from the teacher, but a lot of it comes from what we set up beforehand, what we find after the fact, the amount of money paid, things of that sort.”
“I’m not paying you again. That’s for sure.”
“Don’t worry. The entire night would be on us as an apology for our sloppiness with your records.”
“I don’t want to do this again.”
“Miss Leary—”
“You said I could say no at any point in time during this process. This is my no.”
“Miss Leary, we wouldn't change partners on you. We wouldn't change the scenario unless you wanted to try something different. And you won’t be charged for any of this. It’s all on us. We need these notes from every client. Otherwise our investors get upset. I’m sure you understand that.”
“And I’m sure you have other clients besides myself,” I said.
“I understand your frustration—”
“No, I don’t think you do. This is sloppy at best. The gall it took for me to come to you the first time and the strength it took to go through with it was enormous. And you’re telling me, all nonchalant, to do it again like it’s nothing. I don’t work that way. Just because I’ve lost my virginity doesn’t mean I’m going to start sleeping with people just because you need notes.”
“Whatever scenario you want,” she said.
I sighed and bit down on the inside of my cheek.
“This Saturday, whatever scenario, no matter the cost to us. It won’t be losing your virginity, but it can be anything and everything else. The perfect date, the perfect encounter—all described and controlled by you. The only stipulation is that it has to be with the same person.”
The perfect date with Logan. I should have shaken my head. I should have said no, gotten up, and walked out. But something kept me rooted in my seat. The perfect date before experiencing another wonderful night of euphoria with him.
> Wasn’t that what I had been hoping for?
This could be dangerous. If this was nothing but business for Logan, I could get hurt. My heart could get shattered. I could cross a line. I glanced around the office while Miss Robbins sat on the edge of her seat. Her eyes bores into me as I weighed the pros and cons.
“It’ll cost nothing?” I asked.
“Absolutely nothing,” she said.
“For both of us. You won’t be charging me or him?”
“Neither party will be charged. It’s a payout we are fully ready to absorb.”
I nodded as I curled my lower lip between my teeth. “Okay,” I said.
“Okay as in you’re agreeing to do it?” she asked.
“Yes. I’ll do it.”
“Perfect. Excellent. Thank you so much. We’ll get everything set up for Saturday, this weekend, and all you have to do is contact me tomorrow and tell me exactly what you want done for your night. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll default back to the hotel scenario. How does that sound?”
It sounded like a crock of bullshit.
“Sounds great,” I said.
“Perfect. If there is anything I can do for you in the future, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Just try to keep track of the paperwork this time.”
Miss Robbins gave me a trite giggle as I stood. I walked out of her office and down the long corridor, growing warier with each step. It felt weird knowing I’d encounter Logan and that I had full control over the situation. I wondered if he was willing to do it again. What if he wasn’t? Would they just pair me with another man? I didn’t like that thought.
I turned around, but the light in Miss Robbins’ office turn off as the elevator doors opened, and I sighed. Well, if Saturday night rolled around and another man showed up, I’d just send him away. It was that simple.
I ran my hand through my hair and sighed, then stepped into the elevator before the doors closed. Something in my stomach wasn’t settling right, and the only thing that kept my shaking hands at bay was the constant reminder that this was nothing but business. It was paperwork, statistics, and data reports. Numbers to keep investors happy. And I wanted this company to thrive because they were about to give my boss a great deal of business.
