by Amy Muscat
Then, I think it all got a little too much for my mum and dad, and they decided to make the company bigger and to do that, they were to move over to the States. I was eighteen at the time and I had been so angry with them for making me go with them. I had wanted to stay there and be with my friends– friends I no longer talk to. I had begged them to let me stay in England with my nan and granddad, and at first they had agreed; after hearing me badger on about it for months, and then three days before they were to leave; I realised I didn’t want them to leave without me. I didn’t want to not see them every day, didn’t want them to miss me and me, miss them. So, I told them that I was coming, and even though it was hard for the first year, I got past it. I met Peyton and Ivy and they made everything better. Made me feel accepted here.
“So, Hayley said you wanted to see me about something?” I asked him, wondering what it was he wanted this early in the morning.
“What? Can’t a dad just want to see his little girl and there not be a reason?”
I raise an eyebrow at him and say, “Yeah, of course, he can… only I know you and I know there’s something you want, or you’re going to ask me. And, I'm not a little girl, dad. I'm twenty-bloody-four.” I huffed at him.
“You’ll always be my little girl, Lottie. Always. But, yes there was something I want to ask…” He was hesitating. Michael Carter never hesitated.
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion.
“So… ahem, err, anyway. Your mum’s sort of set you up with a date and she wanted me to tell you…” he told me in a low, rushed voice.
Silence.
That’s all you could hear. Well, actually, I think I could hear my dad’s heartbeat racing.
Three… two… on–
“What the fuck, Dad? No! Tell mum I said ‘no’. Please, I can’t go out on another date she’s set up; the last one she arranged for me was a disaster!” I shouted over to him.
“Pumpkin, please. The last date weren’t so bad…” His voice drifted off as he remembered the last one. Let’s just say, the man was so boring, I could’ve happily chopped off my ears, so I wouldn’t have to listen to him drone on about himself.
“Err, yeah, it was. You know it was. I'm twenty-four dad; I can find my own dates. Jesus Christ. Where’s mum now? Call her and get her on the phone!” I stood up and started pacing up and down his big, spacious office.
I was fuming. How dare she?
“We did try and ring you yesterday, but you never answered your phone.”
“I was hung-over yesterday. I also cleaned my place, and I just forgot to ring you back.”
“Okay. Well, what do you say, he’s the son of one of our friends? He’s a really nice guy; I've met him. He also seemed very interested in you, too, well according to your mother. Come on, pumpkin. Just go on one date with him, and if you don’t like him, then that’s it. But you never know, you might really like him.” My dad says, looking hopeful.
“Fine…” I finally agree exasperated, after I’d thought about it for a couple minutes. It was one date. One stinking, fucking date, with probably a stuck-up arsehole, one that my parents thought was good for me.
Jesus.
“Thank you, pumpkin. This’ll make your mother happy,” he grinned a relieved smile at me, his straight white teeth glinting back at me.
“I'm a little confused as to why you're okay with this set-up, you’ve never liked anyone I've dated or was interested in.”
“Well… that was when you were younger, so obviously, I didn’t like you dating. And I don’t know, what with Peyton and Ivy moving out, I know that’s gonna be hard on you, and your mum and I just thought that maybe if you were seeing someone; it might help you keep busy or something.” He said, sheepishly shrugging his shoulders, with a slight grimace pulling at his mouth.
Aww…
Bless them.
I walk over to my dad and wrap my arms around his neck and give him a hug and a kiss on his cheek. “Thanks, Dad. But you guys don’t need to worry about me; I'm fine. I promise. Peyton and Ivy leaving isn’t going to make me go nutty, dad. I'm busy with work, and I do have other friends; I socialise.” I tell him the truth,
“Okay Lottie, thank you, though. For going out on the date, I mean. If it turns out a bad move, then I'm sorry, we won't interfere again… well, I won't, your mum, though? Well, I don’t know. Maybe, you never know with her, do you?” He says with a humorous chuckle.
I laugh along with him. Yeah, that was my mum all right. She couldn’t help but get involved in people’s business– she liked to know everything, but I will give my mum props, she only does it so she could help.
“Yeah, okay, so– who’s my date anyway?” I ask, curious about the man that I would have to endure at least two hours of my life with.
God… please don’t be some boring drip. Please.
“Oh, his name is Walker. Blake Walker. He’s into security, was in the army at one point.”
What the fuck?
“What?” Maybe I'd heard my dad wrong. Maybe subconsciously my brain had said his name and–
“Blake Walker, pumpkin.”
“No…” I breathe out I horror. It couldn’t be. How do my parents know his?
I asked my dad that question. “Oh, well his dad is my lawyer. He owns the law firm Walker& Son Law. It was Kyle’s dad's and then it was passed on to Kyle when he passed away a couple years back. So that’s how we know them. Blake's a good kid. I've met him a couple of times at functions and the sorts. But, anyway your mum and Cecilia– Blake's mum– were out on a lunch date and your mum was going on about how your roommate was moving out and how she was worried that you might be lonely, and Cecilia said something about going on a date with Blake and, well… you know your mother, she couldn’t resist.”
Fuck my life.
“Dad, I already know Blake.”
“Well, that’s great, then you know–”
I cut him off. “I know him because he is Keller’s best friend, dad. We aren’t on the best talking terms right now,” I tell him. I really didn’t want to go out with the jerk again.
“What, why?” Ever the nosey parent.
“We just aren’t, dad. Please don’t ask me to go out on a date with him… wait a minute. Does Blake know whom he was going on a date with? When he agreed? Did he know?” I narrow my eyes again.
“I don’t know, Lottie. Maybe? I don’t know you'll have to ask your mum for that; I wasn’t there so I don’t know.”
“Well, I don’t want to go now. If I wanted to see Blake, I could just call him and ask him to come around or something!” I said with a grumble.
“Pumpkin, please. It’ll shut your mother up for a day. She’s worried. Please? She hasn’t stopped going on about it for weeks now. Ever since you told us that Peyton and Ivy were moving out, she’s been worrying about you, so please; for me, just go out with the guy, please?”
“For fuck’s sake! Fine! I'm not happy about this, not at all.” I was pouting, and I most probably resembled the little girl my dad thought of me as.
But… Goddamnit! I really didn’t need to see him this soon after… well after last time.
His lips split into another big grin.
“Thanks, pumpkin,” he sounded so relieved. My mum must have been driving him mad if he was this grateful.
“Yeah, yeah. When is this bloody date, anyway? I'm assuming mum’s already picked a day?”
“I don’t know, you’ll have to ring mum and ask her.” He replied.
“Oh I will be ringing her, don’t you worry about that,” I told him, still not happy about everything. “Okay, if that’s all Dad, I've really gotta go; I've got a book to go through.”
“Oh, yeah? Who’s the author?”
“Her name is Layla Wright, and she sent me the synopsis for her book, and chapters one to five, and asked if I’d have a look at it. I really like the sound of it, and I wanna have a good read of it today. So that’s what I'll be doing all day.”
“Ahh… roma
nce novel?” My dad knew me too well.
“Of course,” I grinned a happy grin at him. I loved my romance books, they could be any sub-genre; Contemporary, Erotica, Historical, Humour, New Adult, or Paranormal. I didn’t mind, as long as it was a romance. My dad did the horror/ thriller books, my mum read the more true stories– you know the ones where the main character gets abused when little and all these bad things happened to them, but nine times out of ten, they come out on top of it. And I'm the one who loves the romance. Very versatile family, huh?
My dad just smiled back at me and said to enjoy, he went back to whatever paperwork he was sorting out before I came in. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and told him to tell my mum to expect a phone call from me.
Arriving at my office– that was just down the hall to my dad’s– I thought about all that had gone down this morning, and I hadn’t even been at work for half an hour!
God! Life can suck sometimes.
My office was like a smaller version of a library. It was decked out with wall-to-wall shelves with hundreds of books. My glass desk took up a big part of my office, and on it were all my essential stuff: pens, pencils, post-it notes, folders, books, and my Apple iMac computer.
Then there was my cream leather sofa, which could fit four on. I didn’t really like sitting on that, I had my own chair for reading and that was one of those big spinning chairs. I loved it.
But, there was one thing about my office that I loved more than anything, and that was the view of Central Park. It was stunning. The green trees went on for miles. They reminded me of ginormous Broccoli. The lake, the people; no matter what time it was in the day, there was always so many joggers out, pounding the pavement, the fountains… just the whole beautifulness of it all.
Sighing, I turn away from such a sight, I wondered over to my chair, with my iPhone, coffee, and Layla Wright’s manuscript.
FOUR HOURS LATER, I was a sobbing mess. I was very sure my make-up had been washed from my face due to all the tears I had cried; thank God for waterproof mascara. Jenny, the main female character, had just gotten the news that she had breast cancer. I hate any sort of news like that, whether it be in a novel or in real life.
I had to put the book down after that and have a break.
Putting the book to one side and picking up my phone, I stand up and stretch my arms over my head. I moan in relief.
My stomach decided that it was hungry. It rumbled and growled so loud I'm surprised that the people outside of my office didn’t hear.
Walking back over to my desk, I picked up my bag and keys before walking out.
Hayley, who was sitting at her desk, was busy on the phone, so I waited until she put the phone down so I could ask her if she wanted anything from the local deli.
“Sir, I understand that you would like to talk to Miss Carter, but as I said, she’s busy at the moment… if I could just take your name, I will let her know you called.” She looks up and sees me standing there and smiles. “Your name sir?”
“Who is it?” I whisper to her.
“Blake Walker? Okay, sir, I'll tell Miss Carter you call–”
I grab the phone from her before she could put it down. What the fuck was he doing ringing me at work?
“Blake, what are you doing calling me at work?” I snapped the question at him. I couldn’t believe it.
“Oh, hey Lottie.” He greeted, sounding surprised.
“Don’t ‘Hey Lottie’ me, mister! What do you want?”
“Erm… I just wanted to know what you were doing for lunch.”
“I'm going to the local deli to get a sandwich.” I was being very abrupt with him, but I didn’t care.
“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to grab a bite to eat with me.” He sounded all coy, and very un-Blake.
“No, not particularly.”
“Come on, Lott's. Don’t be stubborn. Please? I wanna apologize for the Saturday night–”
“You can just say sorry over the phone, it’s fine,” I tell him.
I hear him puff out a breath. I can just imagine him running a hand through his soft inky hair in frustration. I grinned at the thought of him becoming frustrated. Hey– I never said I was easy to deal with.
“Fucking woman.” He growls.
“Pardon?” I could hear the laughter in my voice.
He must’ve too, because he said, “Don’t laugh at me Beauty, I'm deadly serious,” he tried to go for the stern tone, but it was sort of a flop; I could hear the humour in his voice, too.
“So am I, Blake.”
“Please, just let me explain. Please?”
“Fine. But, I can’t do lunch, I'm too busy, I'm literally running out going to get my chicken wrap, grab a coffee, and then I've gotta be back at the office; I'm finishing off a manuscript.”
“Okay, dinner then?”
“What, is this gonna be the date that our mothers set up, hmm? Did you know about this?” I enquire.
“Well,” cough, “Err, yeah, sort of,” he was being elusive. Fucker did know.
“Yes, or no, Blake?”
“Yes, I did know. When my mom asked me, I initially said ‘no’, but then my mom said it was Michael and Lacey Carter’s daughter, I said yes. I figured, if you wouldn’t talk to me willingly, I'll get the chance to, with a set-up date from our parents.” I could just imagine him shrugging his strong shoulders as he finished his sentence.
“Fuck me, you're a sneaky prick.” I tut down the phone to him.
“Ha-ha. So, dinner tonight?” Anxiousness was in his voice.
“Tomorrow night at seven? I really am busy today, and by the time I finish this up, it’ll be too late and I won't have enough time to get changed.”
“I'm sure you look stunning already, but okay, fine. Tomorrow night will be perfect, any preferences?”
“Thank you,” I said smiling about his ‘stunning’ comment. “As for the preferences, no, as long as they actually do proper food and not any of that small portion shit, I'm fine. Oh! No, fish. I don’t do fish,” I told him. Urgh, I shuddered at the thought of eating anything fishy.
“Okay, no fish. I’ll see you tomorrow then?”
“Yep, I'll see ya tomorrow,” I grin looking down at the ground, twirling my finger around the cord. I felt like a young teenager. Jeez.
After saying bye to each other, I passed the phone back to Hayley, who was smiling curiously at me.
“Sooo, who was that? Boyfriend?”
I raise an eyebrow at her before replying, “no, not a boyfriend. Pain in my arse maybe, but not boyfriend.”
“Hmm… the flush in your cheeks tells me you like him…”
“Well, yes, no…yes. Okay, a little. But we’ve had a couple hiccups already and I'm weary of what to do. I mean he’s a player for God’s sake! I'm not really into the whole sharing thing like I wouldn’t want him to come over and shag me when two days after– he’s out fucking some other bird, you know? I'm confused about the whole thing,” I was pouting. I really didn’t want to get hurt again by Blake; he’d already done it twice now. I was a little apprehensive about him. Would he hurt me again? Did I want to give him another chance? I just didn’t know!
“Aww, Lott's.” Hayley’s normal smile wasn’t present on her pretty face.
“I'm making something out of nothing really. Don’t worry about me, love. I'm going to go get my lunch anyway. Do you want anything?”
“Erm, I'll just have the same as you– are you sure you don’t mind?”
“No, don’t be silly, I'm going there now anyway– don’t even think about it!” I say to her sternly, raising my hand and pointing my finger at her when she went to get money out from her purse.
“No, Lottie let me give you the money!” The blush creeping up her neck let me know that she was embarrassed.
“Pfft… It's like five dollars for the wrap, Hun. Shut up and let me get it– you can get me lunch tomorrow,” I tell her. It was $5.
“Okay, if you're sure.”
&n
bsp; “I'm sure, Hale’s.”
“Thank you,” she smiles at me, causing her small button nose to crinkle and her black-framed glasses to lift from their position.
Hayley was a pretty girl, what with her chestnut coloured hair that was cut into a cute bob, petite 5’4 foot frame. But, unfortunately, she covered it up with big cardigans and long dresses.
“You're welcome. Right, I shouldn’t be long,” I grab my bag off from her desk and walk out to go get our lunch.
When I got back, we went and sat in my office, ate our lunches; before carrying on with our day.
By the time I was going home, I was again a sobbing mess due to the book and I'd told my dad to sign Layla Wright.
IT WAS 6:44 PM AND I was running late for Blake’s and my date. Again.
I was still deciding on whether to wear the black Grecian dress or a lacy red peplum top and skinny jeans…
After ten minutes, I decided on the top and jeans.
I was just pulling the jeans over my hips when I heard a knock on the door; Blake was here.
“One minute!” I shouted, walking to the door and trying to do the zipper up at the same time. “Hey, come in I won't be long,” I say as I look up and saw Blake.
My breath got caught in my throat as I looked at the sex-God in front of me.
All I could think of was, #FuckMeBlakeWalkerWasHot.
Yes, I totally just hashtagged in my mind.
His inky black hair was windswept and messy; just-fucked hair. He had a pair of dark blue jeans on and a black dress shirt, with the sleeves, rolled up his arms, exposing his tattooed forearms. He had a pair of black matted shoes. Very handsome.
Knicker-dropping-handsome.
