I left his house and didn't know where to go. It was the middle of the night, but I just couldn't face going home to an empty house to cry myself asleep. I considered calling Janey or Allison but I shot that idea down as quickly as I had brought it up. They'd be sympathetic of course, but the whole time they'd be exchanging knowing looks and after I left they would probably talk about 'poor, silly Lola' and how I was destined to be unlucky in love because I wouldn't settle like they had.
There was one person I knew would be glad to see me. It would mean breaking a promise but I didn't care. I felt like Vince had broken a promise to me, which was stupid because he had never even made one. Who was he to tell me what to do anyway? I could do what I wanted. I could fuck who I wanted. He certainly did, so why couldn't I?
I pressed the buzzer on Tom's apartment over and over until he answered me.
"Who is it?" he asked, sounded dazed. I guess he didn't get many women arriving at his doorstep in the middle of the night.
"It's me, Lola. Tom, you need to let me in," I said, pressing the buzzer again. He sounded disgruntled.
"Why should I? You never called me after our date and your ignored all the times I tried to call you. You're obviously not interested. I don't think you like me at all," he said. It was a surprise. He had never been grumpy with me before, "I'm going back to bed, Lola. You should go to bed too."
I took a deep breath.
"Tom, if you let me in I'll let you fuck me."
He didn't reply, but the front door of the apartment complex clicked open.
Vince
I was nice enough to call Sophie a cab after Lola left though I was so angry with her that I could hardly speak. She had ruined everything.
Despite my new found hatred for the girl, I didn't want her to get murdered or attacked while she waited so I waited with her on the front doorstep for the cab to arrive. She wouldn't shut the fuck up.
"I'm really sorry about your girlfriend," she said sweetly.
"She's not my girlfriend," I grunted, willing the taxi to appear and take this crazy bitch far, far away from me before I chased her out of my house with a baseball bat.
Sophie simpered at my words.
"Oh really? I thought she was. My mistake. Obviously she's not girlfriend material if she can jump to conclusions so quickly like that. I mean, imagine getting so upset about a perfectly innocent hug between friends? If you were my boyfriend I would trust your loyalty. Obviously she's insecure because I'm taller and thinner than her, but she really shouldn't be. Even if her butt is big, she should just accept that it's a part of her. It's sad that she can't do that, really."
God I hated this girl.
"She's not insecure, I'm not your friend and even though it might have been innocent, it didn't look innocent. You had your tatas out and everything. She thinks I'm a creep now," I said, before adding under my breath, "And you're not that much thinner."
"Hmm, if you say so. I guess you learn a lesson from all bad relationships though," she gave me an unironic smile, "Don't put your dick a crazy bitch, right?"
The cab pulled up right in the nick of time. I say that because if it hadn't I definitely would have locked her outside in the cold.
"Oh, it's here!" she turned to me, "One more hug before I go?" I closed the door in her face.
Lola
Tom's apartment was small but cozy. He answered the door wearing a Snoopy pajama top and some flannel bottoms. His hair was scruffy and there were bags under his eyes. He looked exactly like he had in college. If he sold anti-aging cream everyone would buy it.
I pushed past him before he could speak and sat down on the couch.
"Wow Lola, you look beautiful," he said. Was he kidding? I was still wearing my stupid work clothes, my hair was a mess and I was sure that my mascara was running now. I guess guys with low standards were what I should have been aiming for all along.
Tom sat down next to me, just a little bit too close. I hated feeling his skinny knee rubbing against me. It brought me back to all those awkward Art history lectures were he just seemed to have no concept of personal space. It seemed like he hadn't yet grown out of that stage.
"Do you have any booze?" I asked before he could get much closer. He nodded eagerly and pulled a half empty bottle of cheap vodka from under the couch. I frowned, "You're a bartender. I thought you'd have fancier shit than this."
Tom shrugged.
"There's some orange juice in the fridge if you wanna mix it -but I can't remember how long it's been there for."
"No, this is fine. Thanks," I said. I took a big gulp. Shit, this stuff really was cheap. It burned my throat and I could feel it going all the way down to my stomach. It was horrible, but it took the edge off.
"You're welcome," he said nervously. Though his apartment was warm, Tom had started to shiver, "So Lola...did you mean what you said?"
"I say a lot of things. Be more specific please." Tom swallowed.
"You said I could fuck you." I knew that was what he was getting at but I thought it would be really funny to hear him say it out loud. Almost as funny as the idea of fucking him was to me. "Gimme a sec," I said, and I took another big swig from the bottle. I would need to be drunk if I was going to go through with this, "Now you can."
I mean, why not? Vince had already used me for what he wanted. Why shouldn't I let every guy I knew use me in the exact same way? I could just give up on ever giving Janey and Allison a good answer to the love life question and enjoy what I got.
Tom was really shivering now and I could see that he was hard through his pajama bottoms.
"Oh god Tom, you're not a virgin are you? You know how this works, right?" I asked. Tom looked annoyed and I didn't blame him.
"I'm not a virgin, Lola! I just...haven't done this in a while. And I never thought I'd get to do it with you. I mean, I've always fantasized..." I put my finger to his lips. If there was any chance of me getting turned on by this then he had to shut the fuck up, which he wasn't very good at doing. Neither was I, to be fair. But the last thing I wanted was to hear about the things he thought about when he was jerking off over me.
Tom put his hand on the back of my head to keep it in place while he kissed me. It was a real kiss this time, not one of the tiny little pecks that I had given him in the car. I had never realized how gigantic Tom's tongue was but when it kept slithering in and out of my mouth I couldn't help but notice. This was really horrible and we still had our clothes on. It would only get worse from here. Still I sat there and let Tom have fun trying to kiss me. If it made him happy then why not? Even if I felt like shit, if I could make somebody feel good then I wasn't totally useless.
Tom's hand eventually creeped onto my breast and gave it a hard squeeze. Too hard, really. It hurt and I wanted to yell at him but that would have been mean. I couldn't do that to the poor guy. I could also feel how clammy his palm was through the material of my shirt. This was too much. I had to put a stop to this.
No matter how shitty I was feeling I couldn't have sex with Tom. It wouldn't be fair to either of us. I pulled away to tell him we needed to stop but it turned out that there was no need. All I saw was Tom's strained facial expression followed by a gasp and a tiny damp patch forming in his pants. Oh shit.
It was mean but I giggled at him. He really hadn't changed since college.
"I'm so sorry!" he said, panicking, "This doesn't usually happen, ever. Oh god, This is terrible. I'm sorry!"
I shushed him.
"It''s OK I think we should just be friends anyway."
Tom didn't argue. It was better that way for both of us that way.
Chapter Six
Vince
I tried my best to contact Lola during the morning after the crazy night with Sophie, but to no avail. Her cell phone was turned off all day. I left her voice mails but I doubted she was listening to them. I even tried calling her at work but a woman with a sharp voice answered and told me that she had called in sick today.
"That's a
shame," I said, "Maybe I'll try to catch her on her cell again. Thanks anyway!"
I was going to hang up but the woman on the other end of the line cleared her throat. I might have been done with her but she was not done with me.
"You know, I really don't take kindly to my staff using their work phones for personal calls. I don't suppose that Lola told you that when she gave you her number, but I'd appreciate if you didn't call again. This is a professional establishment and we are all very busy."
Ah. So this was the bitchy boss. I had probably landed Lola in deep shit now, which made me feel even worse than I already did.
Then I realized something. I had power here.
"Personal calls? Excuse me, but who am I talking to?" I said, putting on the gruff, serious voice that I only used for business calls. It worked like a charm. The woman kept her bitchy facade but her voice trembled a bit.
"This is Jennifer Woods, editor in chief of Catwalk magazine. And who, may I ask, is speaking to me?" she said.
"This is Vincent D'amato of Vinny's Bikes. I've been in talks with your employee Lola about a photo shoot for weeks now. I was just hoping I could talk to her on the off chance that she was available...but I got through to you instead!" I said. I was really hamming it up now, trying to sound totally incredulous. It worked too. I could hear Jennifer really start to panic.
"Oh goodness, I am so sorry Mr D'amato. Yes, Lola's told me all about you. It's really great to finally here your voice," she babbled, "If I've said anything to offend you I would just like to extend my sincerest apologies. We really are looking forward to working with you on the biker shoot and it would be awful if I managed to jeopardize that!"
God, they really did want me for this shoot, didn't they? It seemed silly to me but I took it. Different strokes for different folks I supposed. I decided to be a little bit kinder to Jennifer and see what that would get me.
"Yes, well. There is no need to worry about all that but I do appreciate the apology."
"Oh thank you Mr. D'amato. I won't make that mistake again," she said. God, was this woman a professional suck up or what? "Is there anything I can help you with? I know you wanted Lola but she's come down with one of those 24 hour bugs and she can barely speak, the poor thing. We really do miss her around the office but I told her to stay at home. We really need her to be healthy and recovered for the photo shoot."
"Really? She's a good worker then?" I asked.
"Yes, yes she is. What do you think of her?" asked Jennifer. I decided to push my luck a bit.
"I think she's fantastic. A genius, actually. I was just calling to confirm that I will be attending her photo shoot and that I'm very excited for it," I said, before going on, "You know, if she is really so fantastic, why don't you give her a pay rise?"
Jennifer didn't answer me for a moment so I worried that she would tell me where to get off.
Luckily, she did no such thing.
"That's a good point. I have been meaning to look into that but I guess I just haven't gotten around to it. The place has been so busy lately. I have all the journalists in the office and then a few more who work from home who I have to keep checking in on," she said. This gave me another idea.
"You know, Lola's commute is really long. Maybe you should consider allowing her to work from home too? If she didn't have to waste so much time on travel I bet she would be a lot more productive. More money would also be a great incentive," I said. Jennifer also took her time responding to this, but it clearly made sense. She would be a fool to argue with me on it.
"Yes, well that is an interesting idea and it makes a lot of sense. You really are on the ball, aren't your Mr. D'amato? Though I suppose you wouldn't be as successful as you are if your weren't," she said. I nodded happily though she couldn't see me doing it.
"Yes, I am. Well, thanks for considering my ideas anyway. I look forward to meeting you at the shoot," I said.
"Oh ditto, Mr. D'amato. We're all very excited. See you then!"
I said goodbye, feeling OK At least if Lola still hated me she might now hate me a little less for helping her out at work. Maybe.
Lola
I took a day off work, and then another. I seemed to be able to get away with murder when it came to Jennifer now since I was the genius behind the biker photo shoot. That was the only day that I truly couldn't skip and I dreaded it with every fiber of my being.
I enjoyed my sick days by staying in bed, eating ice cream and watching romantic comedies. It was nice to see good things happening to the women in these movies, though it was totally unrealistic. Guys would always screw you over. No, that wasn't true. Guys like Vince would always screw over dumb girls like me. It would happen again and again and again and again until the end of time because we were too dumb to learn our lesson the first time.
Janey and Allison wanted to meet up again but I ignored them. I didn't need their judgment and I didn't need to tell them how embarrassingly badly everything was going for me.
Tim from work texted me and told me that the office was boring without me and that Jennifer was on another rampage. He followed his text with tons of devil emoji’s. I didn't respond. I didn't feel like laughing today.
The day of the photo shoot eventually rolled around and I couldn't stay in bed anymore. My alarm woke me up bright and early with its shrill wail. I pulled on my smartest jeans and slicked my hair back into a chignon. Combined with a t-shirt and what the magazine's called a 'statement' (IE. big) necklace and heels, I looked presentable. It was the best I could hope for.
The one upside to photo shoot day was that I didn't have the crazy commute to work. We had rented a studio that was only a few blocks away from my place, which was a nice changed.
I enjoyed the walk to work more than expected when I realized I literally hadn't left my house in days. The thought of seeing Vince wasn't exactly appealing to me now, but I would be OK I looked good and I felt all right. I could handle anything today.
I overestimated how long the walk to the studio would take so when I got there the only people who were around were Jennifer and the photographer. The photographer was setting up the three bikes that Vince had loaned us in front of a green screen. He'd be shopping in the background later. Jennifer was standing over him, yelling instructions at him between sips of coffee. When she saw me come in she ran straight over to me, a difficult task in her clunky designer shoes, and gave me another one of her hugs. I still hadn't quite gotten used to the idea of these displays of affection from my boss but hey, it was a hell of a lot better than being yelled at.
“Oh Lola darling, I'm so glad that you're better! I was really worried that you wouldn't be able to come in and that would be a disaster!” she nodded approvingly at my outfit, “You look wonderful. And you did a nude lip and smokey eye on yourself! Wow, it looks fantastic. Careful, if the models don't show up we might have to use you instead!”
She was going a bit far now but I appreciated the new-found warmth. It made me feel like my contribution to the magazine actually mattered. It was the first time I had felt that way since I'd started working there.
“Thanks Jennifer.”
“Come on, walk with me. Ernesto is still setting up here and I think we're just getting in the way. There's an espresso machine in the back room. Let's get you a coffee, honey. We have so much to talk about!” said Jennifer. I let her drag me over and introduce me to Ernesto, the rather tired looking photographer, before she pulled me into the back room.
My boss was seemingly full of smiles today. I couldn't remember the last time that I had seen her this happy but it was a welcome change from her typical sour expression. It was just odd to know that I was the reason why she felt so happy today.
I watched her fiddle with the espresso machine, feeling slightly in awe. A month ago the idea of Jennifer getting me a coffee was absolutely ridiculous. This one little photo shoot seemed to have completely changed her mind about me. I couldn't complain. I guess that I really did owe Vince a lot for coming
through on this one for me. After all, I had broken his conditions by seeing Tom again. That disaster was something I was trying to wipe from my mind so I decided to leave that out.
Jennifer handed me my espresso in a mug with the studio's label on it. I took it and thanked her, trying to sound as grateful as I could though I hated such strong coffee. She nodded approvingly as I drank.
"You know, I was talking to Vince on the phone the other day," she said. My heart stopped and it wasn't the caffeine that was to blame. I hated hearing Vince's name when I wasn't prepared for it. It still hurt like hell though I chastised myself for feeling that way. What we'd had was what a celebrity reporter would call a romp. We had casual fun until it wasn't fun anymore and one of us cut it off. Only, being away from him wasn't fun either. It hadn't been casual to me.
Still, I knew that I should be more prepared to talk about him at short notice. Without him, this fucking photo shoot wouldn't even be happening.
I did my best to appear casual when she said his name.
"Oh really? What were you talking to him about?" I asked. Jennifer smiled. She actually had quite a nice, bright smile for someone who smoked and drank coffee as often as she did. It was definitely fake, but it looked good.
"Well, it's funny Lola but we were actually talking about you," she said. When she saw the panic in my face she added, "No, don't worry. Nothing bad. It was a very positive conversation, actually. Vince really seems to have enjoyed working with you."
Old School: A Bad Boy Biker Romance Page 12
