Conklin's Blueprints

by Brooke Page

  “What time is it?” I groaned.

  “7:30am, our appointments start at 8:15am.”

  “Why are we getting up so early? What all did you schedule for us anyway?” I grumbled.

  She picked at her nails, “Oh the usual, manicures, pedicures, massages, hair, waxing…” Her voice trailed off.

  My eyes widened. “What kind of waxing, Jamie…”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “Becca, it’s been at least two months since we both have had a Brazilian. I don’t know about you, but I’m due for some maintenance down there.”

  I pursed my lips at her. So what if it had been a while? Not like I was planning on any visitors down there. Not like I was ever into that anyway. I’d be mortified whenever Connor would try, and I was way too self-conscious. I would constantly worry about what he was thinking or if he was enjoying it. After the first few times he just shrugged and never tried again. Then I assumed he didn’t enjoy it and something was wrong with me. I had no intention of ever letting a man go down there again, no matter how good it might feel.

  “Oh, come on, Becca,” she exclaimed. “You know you’ll feel better when it’s cleaned up down there!”

  I blew out air and slowly stood up. “Come on let’s get going.”

  ~

  We took Jamie’s jeep to Tanaz Day Spa. They greeted us warmly with our gowns and asked us what type of drinks we would like. It was all a bit much, and it was everything I had grown up with. The owner knew who I was. My mother had taken me here plenty of times. She was very friendly and greeted me warmly. She even commented on my weight loss, how nice of her.

  The pampering was going to be six hours long, and started out with our manicures and pedicures. Jamie was telling me all about the real reason why we were going out tonight. I guess she had been flirting with this guy, Sean, that she worked with, and he was the one who invited her. She was hoping to get to know him a little better tonight. I reminded her we weren’t going to do that anymore. Jamie rolled her eyes at me and said, “I said I wasn’t going to have anymore one night stands. I know him, and I would like to have multiple nights with him.” I laughed at her honesty.

  Once we were done with our hands and feet, we went to get our massages and waxing done. The waxing was just as horrible as always. It wasn’t as painful as usual, but it was still awkward. I hated it when the lady doing it would try to hold a conversation at the same time. It’s like, really lady? Your hand is on my cooter, can we not talk about your two year old?

  Once we were massaged and waxed, we got our hair and makeup done. The makeup specialist asked what look I was going for, and Jamie piped up, “Fuck-me eyes.” The specialist smirked, and I rolled my eyes as if to say, why not.

  We left feeling pampered and relaxed. My hair had fresh blonde highlights, dark low lights, and nice clean swoop bangs. It was still long. Jamie convinced me to have it curled, so again, I went with it. My makeup was dark and sexy, my nails and toes were a simple French manicure, and my skin felt fresh and renewed. I would be lying if I said I was annoyed Jamie made me go.

  We decided to shop downtown at a few small designer stores to find a perfect outfit to go out in. Jamie decided on a cute red top that showed a lot of cleavage. She was going to need to tape it to her boobs so they wouldn’t fly out. She found a long gold chain and bracelet that looked gorgeous with her caramel hair. She had fire engine red heels that would look awesome with her new shirt. We both decided on our studded Silver jeans. We never wore skirts out. That was just asking for trouble while on the dance floor.

  “Oh Becca, this is gorgeous! It would look so hot with your complexion!” Jamie had found a white sleeveless shirt that had bronze and gold dull jewels outlining the straps and down into the V-slit over where my cleavage would show. I didn’t have a whole lot to begin with.

  “My boobs would not make this,” I said shyly to her.

  Jamie shook her head. “Your hot pink push up bra does wonders! Go out on a limb. This would be so sexy with your big curls. Please, let’s just buy it!”

  I looked at the shirt one more time, and again said, “What the hell,” and bought it.

  ~

  Jamie was right. My hot pink push up bra did work wonders. I hadn’t worn it in a while, and I forgot the wonders it could do. I decided to wear flats. Jamie shook her head at me and scoffed, but I was putting my foot down on this one. I always wore flats out. I knew I would be drinking and walking home in six inch heels would not be fun.

  Once we were all dressed, we went into the kitchen and took a few shots. Jamie’s phone chirped, and it was a text from Sean. She squealed. “He is at The B.O.B, wondering where I am! Oh my gosh! I’m so excited! Let’s go!”

  I smiled at her excitedly and then thought about Tyler. It had been such a good girl's day that I hadn’t thought about him at all until now. I secretly wished things between us would be different. I hid my disappointment and became excited with Jamie. She deserved this; she left everything for me.

  We took a cab and headed to The B.O.B. I was praying the whole way there that no one would recognize me. I didn’t want any special treatment. I just wanted to have fun with my friend, who would soon ditch me for a guy. It was okay though, I was doing this for her, and she wouldn’t completely ditch me. I’m sure I would have to take a cab home by myself. Maybe I would walk home? It would allow me time to get some fresh air. Maybe I could finally wrap my head around my crazy life.

  We got to The B.O.B and gave the bouncer our IDs. I was hoping to God he would only look at my birthday and not my name. He must not have noticed my name and let us in. Jamie scanned the crowd and grabbed my wrist. “There he is!” she yelled in my ear over the loud music. We walked around the bar and past the dance floor to the VIP section. Their whole office had booked it for Sean’s birthday. There were fancy lights and lasers everywhere. The go-go dancers were working it hardcore on their stands, and the dance floor was crowded with young adults.

  I instantly knew who Sean was. He screamed Jamie’s type. He was very tall and thin, and had sandy blonde hair and a huge white smile. His skin was tan, and he was holding a beer bottle. His face lit up when he noticed Jamie. She was going to get what she wanted tonight, I could already tell.

  “I’m so glad you could make it! Hi, I’m Sean,” he said, putting his hand out to me. I shook it and introduced myself. Jamie stood right next to him with her sexy smirk.

  “What would you ladies like to drink?” he said smiling, waving their waitress over.

  “How about a couple birthday blow jobs to start? Then some long islands, does that sound good?” she flirted.

  Sean’s eyes widened along with his grin. “Sounds great.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her. I might lose my friend sooner than I thought.

  We all took the blow job shot then sipped on our long islands. I already had a decent buzz from the few shots we took at home. I wouldn’t be able to have too many more long islands or else I would be sleeping on the dance floor soon. I hadn’t eaten that much today, and that was going to take a toll on how much I’d be drinking. Jamie quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me to the dance floor.

  If I hadn’t been drinking, there would be no way I’d be dancing with all of these people around, but I was getting to the point where my lips were tingling. We danced and laughed with each other to the latest Britney song. I totally forgot about everything as I swayed my hips freely with my best friend, until I opened my eyes and looked up to the second floor. There he was, beautiful as can be, drinking a beer and talking with another man. Tyler was at the club. I froze. Jamie noticed my lack of movement and followed my eyes. A slow smirk came across her face as she saw Tyler’s eyes lock with mine.

  “Well, well, well if it isn’t Mr. Tyler Conklin… if he is going to stare, we might as well give him a show,” she whispered in my ear, very seductively. She must have recognized him from the pictures on the website she caught me gawking at the other night. I smirked as I felt her rub up slowly behind me. We knew wha
t we were doing. It always worked. I kept my eyes on him, hoping they were burning into him the way his always did to me. A few guys came up to us, trying to join us. Tyler’s stare was smoldering when he saw one of the men put his hand on my hip. I gently pushed him back and turned into Jamie. She had a guy trying to rub behind her. Normally we wouldn’t mind, but there were other hands we both wanted on us. We quickly left and went to the bar. The two guys shrugged and went to find other girls. We both ordered another drink and waited at the bar.

  “I think we need to make a trip upstairs,” Jamie teased. I kept staring where Tyler was standing. He wasn’t watching me as intently now, and someone came up to him and started talking to him.

  “Jamie, we can stay with Sean. I don’t need to waste my time with him.”

  She huffed, “Oh please, Becca! He was totally eye fucking you. We are going up there, and you are going to give him the confident moves I know you have.”

  The waitress brought us our drinks, including a dirty girl scout shot for each of us that Sean had apparently sent our way. I tipped the shot back as seductively as I could. The alcohol was making me feel incredibly confident and sexy. I wanted him, and I didn’t care anymore if he would turn me down. Jamie quickly stood tall and grabbed her drink with one hand and my wrist with the other.

  We walked by Sean’s section, and he greeted Jamie by wrapping his arm around her waist, leaning down so he could speak in her ear. She giggled and playfully slapped his chest then whispered back into his ear. His face turned beet red while his grin grew larger. She took a step back from him and took my hand again. I shook my head at her. I’m sure she said something extremely provocative that would keep his mind reeling for a while.

  We headed upstairs in search for Tyler. I saw him standing with a group of people in another VIP section that was roped off next to the bar that looked over the dance floor. A young guy around our age came up to us holding a beer. “Hey ladies, want to join my party?” he slurred. Jamie and I laughed at him; he was very goofy. He had green eyes and brown hair and was vaguely familiar. If Jamie wasn’t going for Sean, I’m sure she would try and work her magic on him. Although, I got the feeling he was already very drunk.

  “Where’s your party?” Jamie smiled at him. Maybe he was with Tyler?

  “Follow me,” he said leading his hand towards were Tyler was, raising his eyebrows suggestively. I hope this guy wouldn’t be hard to get rid of once we got into his section.

  I took a sip of my drink and followed him. Once we got in, Jamie pushed me towards where Tyler was. He was still looking over the railing. A sudden splurge of confidence ran through my veins. I held my chin up high and seductively walked over to him. I trailed my finger down his arm so he knew I was there. He jerked his arm away quickly and whipped his head towards me. I jumped back at his sudden movement, thrown off a little bit, almost spilling my drink. He sucked in a deep breath when he saw me; clearly he was thrown off by my audacity.

  Gaining back my composure, I flirted, “Looking for someone?” I knew he was looking for me, the alcohol in my throat told me.

  His surprised look turned sultry. He cocked his head, “I think I just found her.” I slowly bit my bottom lip in his response and took a step closer to him. Taking a sip from my drink, I checked him out from head to toe. He was wearing work clothes, black dress pants and a dark green button up dress shirt with the top two buttons undone and his sleeves rolled up. His hair wasn’t as tame as it usually was, and was a bit floppy on his head. His appearance went right to my libido. I wanted this man.

  He laughed as I undressed him with my eyes. “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t into clubbing?”

  I shrugged my shoulders and took another sip of my drink. “I’m here with my roommate, Jamie. She wanted to come out with some people from her work.” I looked over at her. She was trying to entertain the guy who let us in. Tyler followed my gaze and grinned.

  “Ah, and it looks like she met my brother, Mitch. It’s his birthday. We promised him we would come out for drinks.” I followed Tyler’s eyes over to another section where Nathan was sitting, talking animatedly with someone, holding a drink of dark liquor in his hand. His tie was loosened around his neck and his sleeves were rolled up as well. I never would have imagined seeing him so casually.

  While I was looking over at Nathan, Tyler was devouring me with his eyes. I smirked at his expression. He liked what he saw and that only got me closer to what I wanted. He shook his head as if to take his mind off something. “Come on, let’s go save your friend from my drunken brother.” I followed him from behind and put my hand on his lower back. I felt his body tense, but instead of pulling away, I simply caressed him with my fingertips. The alcohol was making me brave.

  There you are. I wondered where you ran off to…” Mitch slurred, looking at me. I half hid behind Tyler, wanting to wrap my arms around Tyler’s waist so Mitch would know I wasn’t interested, but I didn’t have that much alcohol in me yet.

  Tyler quickly chimed in, “Mitch, this is Becca. She just started working in the commercial architectural department.”

  Mitch splayed a devilish grin. “Well, would you like to come and draw up some plans with me? I have got a lovely pencil you could use…” He went to reach for me. Tyler quickly pushed Mitch’s shoulder away and glared at him. He was being possessive of me, or maybe it was protective? I hoped it was both. Mitch returned his glare.

  Tyler quickly smiled and gave him a laugh. “You know, there were some twins on the third level playing pool asking who the birthday boy was. They wanted to give him a present.”

  Mitch’s eyes widened and his devilish grin returned. “Excuse me ladies, I have to attend to a birthday present.” Jamie rolled her eyes then turned to me with her, you’ve got him now, grin.

  “I’m Jamie, nice to finally meet you,” she said, holding her hand out to Tyler. Tyler raised his eyebrow and glanced over at me. I blushed at her comment. Jamie laughed, “Come on Becca, let’s get you another shot!” She reached passed Tyler and tugged on my arm.

  “Please, let me get it for you,” Tyler said, stepping past us to walk over to the bar in their VIP section.

  “What the hell was that, Jamie?”

  She smirked at me, “Oh get over it, I totally just distracted that dumbass so you could go make your moves, and they are working. You are so going to get it tonight!”

  I laughed nervously, “I doubt it.”

  She lifted my drink to my mouth. “Drink more. He was totally possessive of you when Mitch was going to maul you. He wants it too, it’s so obvious!”

  Tyler came back with three shots. He handed me a shot glass and one to Jamie. “On three! One, two, three!” Jamie shouted. We all tipped our glasses back, Tyler never taking his eyes off me. I licked my lips as I pulled the shot glass from my mouth.

  “Well, I promised to go spend some time with Sean; it’s his birthday as well. It’s nice to finally meet you Tyler. Becca, can you get home on your own?” she asked, glancing back and forth between the two of us.

  Before I could say it was fine, Tyler spoke up, “I will take you home,” his eyes smoldering into mine. I gulped at his stare. Jamie clearly felt like she was intruding as she slowly slipped away.

  Before she did, she whispered in my ear, “Have fun.”

  Tyler kept his eyes on me. “Want to go sit down?” I shook my head no and smirked up at him. He cocked his head and furrowed his eyebrows with a half grin on his face. I slowly ran my finger down his chest, following it with my eyes. Once I got to his abdomen I took his hand and pulled him with me. His breathing became shallow. The only way I could tell was from his chest flexing up and down under my finger tip. His eyebrows shot up as he walked behind me. I pulled him down the stairs and onto the dance floor. He stopped just as we were starting to enter the crowd of dancers and jerked my hand back, “Becca, I don’t dance.” He was suddenly serious.

  As seductively as I could, I leaned up and whispered, “Good thing fo
r you, I do,” my lips touching his ear. He took a sharp breath in and gulped as I pulled him onto the dance floor. I worked my way around him, turning my backside on his front. He shook his head and held his hands behind his neck. He was smiling, a whole hearted boyish smile. I turned to face him and grabbed his hands from behind his neck, putting them on my waist, urging him to move. He tilted his head down towards mine, shaking it back and forth, with the same grin on his face. Once a few songs went by, he gripped my hips to get my attention. “Come on. If I am going to dance, I need more to drink.” He took my hand and led me back upstairs. He seemed so young and carefree on that dance floor. Even though he was incredibly awkward and not smooth, it was humbling to see. He wasn’t just an uptight business executive but a 28 year old guy, out on a Saturday night for his brother’s birthday. Once we got back into the VIP section, Tyler motioned for me to sit down on the couch. Tyler went to go get another beer and a long island for me. Nathan sat down just as Tyler was getting back.

  “Well Becca, I think you are the first person to ever make my little brother blush,” he smirked, looking at Tyler while he took a sip of his drink. Tyler rolled his eyes and sat down next to me. He handed me my drink and smiled at me. My cheeks heated brighter from his smile and not from Nathan’s comment.

  “Your vision is blurred, big brother,” Tyler said, putting his arm over the back of the couch behind me, careful not to touch me. I pouted in my head.

  Nathan laughed care freely, “That it is, little brother!” He tipped his glass back and finished the remaining dark liquid.

  Tyler took a swig of his beer and looked over at me. He gently caressed my shoulder with a single finger. Tilting his head to the side, he bit his lip then shook his head at me. He couldn’t stop grinning. Was he drunk? I didn’t even care; I wanted him so badly. Even if he was going to turn into the cold businessman I had seen off and on throughout the time I had known him, I would be okay with it.

  I took a long sip of my drink through the straw, fluttering my eyelashes at him.