by Ashley Blake
“Yep, and heels of course!”
“Heels, really? Won’t you be uncomfortable?”
“Maybe. But you know what they say, the higher the heel, the closer to heaven!”
When we got to Kelly's friend’s apartment, there were already a ton of people there. I met a bunch of her friends and I was chatting with Sophie and Rena when I noticed this guy in the corner who was staring at me. He had that dark, brooding, sexy thing going on and he was drop dead gorgeous. Is he really looking at me? Even though I looked different on the outside, the insecure old me was still inside.
“Hey, do you guys know him?" I try to be subtle about gesturing with my head in his direction.
“Yeah, that’s Caleb Morgan. He’s a grad student at the Art Institute. He’s really arrogant and thinks he’s God’s greatest gift. The rumor is he breaks hearts left and right and he’s nothing but trouble if you ask me.” Rena's response was casually dismissive.
Sophie leaned in to whisper the next part to me. “He’s also a trust fund baby, spoiled rotten, and used to getting anything he wants.”
Rena chimed in with a little more information about him. “His parents each manage their own hedge funds, can you believe that? Two hedge funds in one family!”
“Hmmm, I wonder why he didn’t follow in mommy and daddy’s footsteps?” My curiosity was piqued because he seemed to be a non-conformist and I liked that.
“The rumor is that his parents are placating him, waiting for him to get over his art hobby. Supposedly that's what they call it. Apparently his father has wanted him to work for him since he graduated from college, but Caleb loves art and refuses to have anything to do with the world of finance." Sophie seemed all too happy to spill the beans about this guy. "If you think you might be interested in him, don't hold your breath. He’s really picky and I swear he seems to have a different model on his arm each week."
Do I detect a hint of bitterness?
Sophie walked away to go get a refill in the kitchen.
Rena looked at me. “Don’t mind her. She’s still sulking because Caleb has turned her down, um, I think we’re up to three times now. She has had a thing for him ever since she found out who he is and how much money his family has.”
“I bet he gets that all the time, gold diggers can smell money a mile away, and people with money can usually tell if someone only wants them for their money.”
“Oh really? Speaking from experience?” Rena cocked her eyebrow at me curious to know more.
The last thing I wanted to do was appear to be different from everyone else, so I brushed off her question and changed the subject.
"Yeah right. So you're in grad school with Caleb?”
“Yes. We both have one more year to go, my husband will be so happy when I am done with school and using my advanced education to actually make money.”
“Husband? You’re kind of young to be married, no?”
She chuckled at my words. “You’re sweet. No hun, I’m 27 and I’ve known my husband since we were in grade school. We both moved here from Ohio a couple of years ago after we got married. Caleb is actually not too far behind me, I think he’s 26. I didn’t do the whole go right to grad shool after college thing, I worked for a few years after college and then decided to go back to school. I believe Caleb traveled for a few years and then landed in grad school. That’s the life, huh? Jet setting around the world without a care in the world.”
“Yeah, must be nice.” I didn’t tell Rena that I had done something similar the summer after I graduated from high school. I traveled all over Europe that summer with Kelly and we had the most incredible time. I had never been one to brag about what we had, I didn’t want anyone to ever treat me differently because of who my parents were. But I was grateful for what we had because I knew so many people had so little. I also knew that one day I was going to be heavily involved in some sort of charity work. I wanted to give back in some way to those who were less fortunate, I just hadn’t yet figured out what that was going to be. That was something that was a priority on my list since I now lived in Chicago.
“So Emma, any boyfriend?”
“No, doing the single thing for a while. I recently broke up with someone after dating him for nearly two years. He wanted to get married and I didn’t so we parted ways. I’m going to take some time for myself, at least a year, to enjoy being single.”
“A year, huh? You know, they say the best time to find someone is when you’re not looking.”
“Hmmm, they do, do they? And who is they?”
“You know…those people.”
It sounded so ridiculous that we looked at each other and burst out laughing.
I glanced over at Caleb and his eyes caught mine and then slowly pored over my body. I felt my cheeks flush, suddenly very aware of his presence as his gaze nearly brought my laughter with Rena to an abrupt halt. My body had never reacted to a man like this before. He’s totally out of my league and I can see why he only dates models, but I don’t care. Dammit he is good-looking! He was very masculine and drop-dead gorgeous. He had pretty boy looks with his perfect dark hair, straight nose, strong jaw and dark eyes. He could easily have been a model; he was lean but not skinny, with the perfect amount of muscles for me. I had to tear my eyes away from him or everyone would see me gawking and the last thing I wanted to do was draw attention to my instant attraction to this man. Thankfully Rena didn’t notice what happened as she asked me more about myself. I found that I was really enjoying talking with her; she was a cool woman.
“So Emma, Kelly tells me that you are starting portfolio school and you want to go into advertising. Since the Chicago Portfolio school is a one year program do you have any idea which advertising firm you’ll be looking at?”
“I would love to get a job at Ogilvy & Mather and I know that competition is really stiff there, but that is my dream place to work.”
“I have a couple of friends that work there, and it’s a lot of work but they love it. I can put you in touch with them as your interview process gets closer. Let’s exchange info so we can keep in touch.”
“Wow Rena, thank you so much, that’s really generous of you.”
“Hey, we all can use a good contact here and there. It’s no problem at all.”
We took out our phones and finished exchanging info right as Kelly walked up to us.
“Oh good, I’m glad you guys are chatting. I knew you two would hit it off. Hey, there is a ton of food in the kitchen if you’re hungry.”
“Ooh, I am starving. What time did we eat lunch Kelly?”
“I think it was around 1:00, and it’s almost 11:00. I don’t know how you haven’t passed out by now!”
“I didn’t realize it was so late! Yeah, I’m headed to the kitchen.”
We all went to get some snacks and when we walked in Caleb was standing in the corner talking with a really pretty, tall, blonde. Our eyes caught and then held as I walked toward the food tray. My mouth was dry and my heart started to pound as he seemed to focus all of his attention on me. The girl he was with noticed and turned around and gave me a dismissive glance when she saw that I was the recipient of his intense gaze. My confidence began to wane a bit under her withering glance, but then I remembered that it was me that took the attention away from the pretty girl standing in front of him. I know that I was on this whole single kick, but this guy was really beginning to affect me.
I was a bundle of nerves and I dropped a cube of cheese that I had on my plate. As I bent to pick it up, I felt Caleb's eyes on me and I quickly glanced at him as he seemed to be admiring my backside. My cheeks felt like they were on fire and I am sure I looked like I was overheated. I saw the concerned look on Kelly face and I wished that there was a way that I could have quickly disguised my body's reaction to Caleb.
"Emma, are you feeling okay? You're all flushed, maybe you should sit down. Let me get you a glass of cold water.”
I was now even more embarrassed because Kelly was beginning to
fuss over me me and I noticed that Rena now had a concerned look on her face. I had to nip this in the bud before I died of embarrassment.
"I'm fine, really. I think it's just a little bit warm in here for me that's all, I don't need any water or anything. I probably just should have eaten a little bit earlier than now."
"Okay, if you're sure that you're okay then I'll leave it alone."
I smiled at Kelly, she was always so protective of me. "Yes mom. I'm fine."
I glanced over in the corner where Caleb had been standing, wondering if he had seen my friends fawning over me, and he was nowhere to be found. I was surprised at how disappointed I felt and then I told myself it was just as well. There was no way a guy like that would look twice at me, he was way out of my league. And besides, I saw the type of girl that he likes because she was standing right in front of him, clearly a zaftig girl like me was not his type. He was probably just a huge flirt and I was someone new so I probably just amused him for a few minutes. I pushed him out of my mind, determined to enjoy myself the rest of the night.
Most of the people at the party were in grad school at the Art Institute but I did meet a girl who was going to the Chicago Portfolio School. Marta was a really cool, super laid back girl who wanted to eventually be a creative director. We ended up talking for a while because I was also interested in being a creative director down the line.
“You know we have to start as junior copyrighters, right?”
She took a sip of her drink and then nodded her head. “Oh, yeah. I just know that my ultimate goal is to be a creative director one day.”
“I would love to be head of creative one day. Do you have any idea which advertising firm you would want to work at?"
"I would love to work at Ogilvy & Mather, Digitas, or Leo Burnett. How about you?" She leaned against the wall and took another sip of her drink as she waited for my answer.
"Those three are at the top of my list also, but my top pick of the three is Ogilvy & Mather. I know that we are going to have to start at the bottom but I am so willing to do whatever I need to do to get my foot in the door at any of those places."
"I know what you mean. I have already done so much research on what they're looking for, and I am ready to dive in and have a really good portfolio ready to show when it's interview time in a year. I can't wait to just get started with school so that I can get through the year and land a job somewhere."
"Yeah, me too. Well, it's getting late and I think I'm going to go find Kelly so that I can let her know that I am ready to go home. It was so nice to meet you Marta and I guess I will see you at school on Monday!"
"Yeah, nice to meet you too Emma. See you Monday!"
I walked around looking for Kelly to let her know that I was ready to leave, and just as I rounded the corner to the living room I crashed right into Caleb. I was so caught off guard that I stood there looking like an idiot as I stared up at him with eyes that were blinking like crazy.
He grabbed my arms to steady me and searched my eyes as a smile slowly spread across his face. “Where’s the fire?” That deep, sexy voice could melt the clothes right off of me.
Are you kidding me with that sexy smile? He was unbelievably hot! His smile made my knees weak as attraction burned through my veins. “I, I’m so sorry!”
“Hey, it’s alright, no harm, no foul!” I could have sworn that his eyes twinkled at me when he said that. And as quickly as he had appeared in front of me, he disappeared.
I could feel the disappointment sweep over me as I realized that our encounter had come and gone in an instant. I had never been so attracted to a guy in my life, and if I was being honest with myself, I knew that such a gorgeous guy had never looked my way. It made me feel good that Caleb had even given me a first glance. Oh Emma, who are you kidding? You saw that girl he was hanging all over in the kitchen! I had been feeling so good about my transformation the past couple of weeks that I had almost forgotten the insecurity that I felt as the old me. But here it was trying to rear its ugly head again. I didn’t have time for those old feelings of insecurity, I felt more confident about myself than I ever had. I know I looked good that night, so I pushed those negative thoughts out of my mind. My future was looking really bright and there was no room for insecurity for this version of Emma.
I saw Kelly talking to a guy in the corner and decided to give her a few more minutes before I interrupted her to let her know that I was ready to go. The crowd had dwindled and there were just a few people left at the party and I didn’t know any of the people who were still there, so I went back to the kitchen to get something to drink. I grabbed a can of diet pop out of the fridge and was just getting ready to take a sip when I heard that deep, sexy voice again and I almost dropped the can.
“It must be my lucky night.”
I quickly turned to see Caleb leaning against the counter with half of his mouth turned up into a flirtatious smile. This was really happening, this gorgeous guy had his attention focused on me. Where my old self would have been too shy and insecure to even speak to this guy, the new me was starting to feel confident and sexy. I had to remind myself that Caleb had no idea what I looked like a few months ago, all he knew was this new, trendy, pretty Emma that stood in front of him. That gave me even more confidence and I decided to flirt right back. I turned fully toward him so that I was facing him straight on, leaned against the counter, slightly cocked my head to the side allowing my blonde curls to brush my shoulder, and gave him a smile right back.
“Oh yeah, and why is that?”
I know for sure this time that I saw his eyes twinkle as he answered me.
“Hmmm, not shy…I like that in a woman.”
“You do huh? What else do you like?”
His eyes glided over my body and then came to rest in my eyes. “I like jeans that fit just right.”
I felt my cheeks burn crimson red as his eyes did not let go of mine. The intensity of his gaze was a huge turn-on, and I wanted to feel his hands glide over my body the exact same way his eyes just did.
Just then Kelly walked in and I felt a little bit disappointed because I was enjoying flirting with Caleb.
“Oh, there you are!” She smiled at me and she didn’t see Caleb at first. “Why are you hiding in the kitchen?”
“That’s my fault.” Caleb stood away from the counter which was partially hidden by a wall and Kelly looked surprised and then I saw it register that Caleb and I had been in there together.
“Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt!” She started to back out of the kitchen and Caleb stopped her.
“No worries,” he looked straight at me, “I was on my way out. Goodnight ladies.”
Caleb left but before he walked out he glanced at me and gave me a quick wink that only I could see.
“Oh my gosh Emma! I had no idea you knew Caleb Morgan!” Kelly eyes were bright with excitement.
“I don’t know him Kel, I just met him tonight. Well, I didn’t actually meet him, because we never introduced ourselves to each other, he just started talking to me.”
“Well, what did you guys talk about?” Kelly was so interested in what had happened between us that you would think that it was happening to her. Her enthusiasm about my life was one of the many things I really loved about my friend, she was 100 percent in my corner.
“Nothing really, because we were only in here for a few minutes, but I do think that he was flirting with me.” I tried to act like it was no big deal and that my insides were not doing somersaults, but Kelly knew me pretty well so I’m sure she knew what this meant for me. This was a whole new chapter of life for me because I never had anyone who looked like him pay any sort of attention to me, it was pretty cool and at the same time a little bit scary because I liked that mysterious, über sexy thing he had going on, and I had no idea when I would see him again.
“Well, you could do a lot worse than Caleb Morgan, that’s for sure.”
“Oh, it was nothing Kelly, we were just chatting at a ra
ndom party and I probably won’t ever see him again. Anyway, enough about that, are you ready to go home? Because I have to admit I am beat.”
“Sure, let me just say goodbye to a couple of people and then we can go.”
When I got home, I lay in bed and thought about my two run-ins with Caleb earlier that night. He was so good looking and something about him was so intriguing, and I definitely wanted to know more. I was getting carried away with my daydreams about him when I had to catch myself and snap myself back into reality. The odds that I would ever see him again were slim to none; I mean we didn’t even go to the same school so I don’t know when I thought I would even see this guy. And then there was the whole model thing, even though he was being flirtatious with me, there was no way he could ever be really interested in someone like me, was there? I decided it was best to just push him out of my head and try to get a good night’s sleep because I’d had a really long day. I drifted off to sleep feeling happy that I had moved to Chicago, flattered that a gorgeous guy had noticed me, and ready for anything that would come my way in this next chapter of my life.
CHAPTER FOUR
Portfolio school was nothing like I had imagined. Everyone was super laid-back and we were constantly sharing ideas and helping each other. I was used to a much more competitive environment in college and this was a refreshing change. I had just finished my first week there and I was walking into my last class of the day, so happy it was Friday. This was the first time I would be going to this class because it was the only class that was held just once a week. As I walked in I noticed that the room was set up with a circular table so we would all be able to see each other, and I liked this idea. I liked that we would be able to easily see what we all were working on, and it would be much easier to collaborate on ideas this way. This was my editorial design class and it was the class I had been looking forward to the most.
I was getting settled in my space with my notebook and pen, all of the students were arriving and we were just waiting for the professor. I saw Marta walk in and I waved her over to sit next to me, hoping that she would remember me from the party.
