Four Reasons to Come

by Sarah J. Brooks

  “Yeah, I’m not too hip on the club scene. Plus we will be safe with him around. You won’t have to worry about us.”

  “Alright. I guess.”

  Liz ignored the attitude Harrison talked with. She knew he didn’t like Ricardo, but he would just have to get over it. Liz would move onto a new partner as soon as this project was done.

  “How is work going? Is Sarah still working with you?”

  “Yep, she’s been great. But Martha should be back soon and she is even better.”

  Liz wanted to keep asking Harrison questions about him and his secretary Sarah, but she decided to let it go. There was no use worrying herself over that relationship if it was nothing but professional. Liz really didn’t have any proof besides an odd text message.

  “Great. Well, I’m going to take a nap before Bella breaks me in with the club scene here in Sidney.”

  “Sleep tight sweetheart. Talk to you tomorrow.”

  Liz blew Harrison a kiss over Skype and then quickly fell asleep. She really didn’t care how long Bella took getting ready. Liz was fine waiting until later to go out, or even not going out at all.

  By six o’clock, Liz had been forced out of bed and forced into one of Bella’s club dresses. Liz hated dressing up and going out, she was perfectly happy wearing her jeans. But Bella wasn’t going to let Liz out of the room until she changed into something cute.

  “Wow, you two girls look amazing. We have to post a picture to my profile. My friends are going to be jealous as hell.”

  Ricardo had a hotel worker take a picture with Bella on one side of him and Liz on the other. He couldn’t wait to upload it and have all his friends messaging him about the two hot girls he was hanging out with.

  At the dance club, Bella and Liz got straight to work enjoying themselves and dancing the night away. Liz decided to stick to drinking soda since she had had such a bad experience drinking the other night.

  Bella and Ricardo seemed to be hitting it off and when Liz needed a dancing break, Ricardo quickly stepped in to keep Bella happy. Liz sat down and was perfectly content to watch the other people for a while and relax.

  Liz didn’t feel the need to drink and party all the time like Bella did. Maybe it was something about her childhood or the fact that she always had to be so responsible. But Liz actually felt much more comfortable in sweatpants curled up on her couch than she did out partying and drinking.

  As she watched Ricardo and Bella dancing, Liz decided she was ready to head home. She gave them a quick hug goodbye and checked with Bella to make sure she had a room key.

  “Make sure she gets home safe,” Liz said to Ricardo.

  “Of course. You know I will.”

  Liz did indeed knew that Ricardo would take good care of Bella. He had been a perfect gentleman the night Liz had drank too much. Ricardo had made sure he got Liz home and even though she had been worried that something had happened between the two of them. They had not slept together and Ricardo had simply brought her to his room because Liz couldn’t find her key.

  By the time Liz got back to her room it was almost two o’clock in the morning. She could hardly keep her eyes open and fell asleep fully dressed on top of the bed covers.

  Around five o’clock in the morning, Liz woke up and looked over at Bella’s bed. She wasn’t there.

  Liz quickly jumped up and found her phone. She was about to dial Bella’s number when she saw a text message from her.

  The text read: “Staying in Ricardo’s room ;)”

  Oh man, oh man, Bella and Ricardo were hooking up? Liz instantly thought about Harrison and how much he would not approve of Bella and Ricardo being together. Harrison did not like Ricardo at all. Maybe it was just his Latin style or his handsome good looks, but Harrison would freak out if he knew Bella had spent the night with Ricardo.

  Just then, Liz heard her phone ring with a Skype call. She answered it automatically, but then instantly wished she would have let the call be missed. How would she explain why Bella wasn’t in the room right now?

  “Hey, baby,” Liz said to Harrison.

  “Hi, sweetheart. How was your night?”

  “It was fun. Still sleeping, but didn’t want to miss you. Can I call you later today?”

  Liz really didn’t want to let this conversation go on much longer. Harrison would surely want to talk to Bella and she wasn’t there.

  “Sure thing. Can I say I to Bella really quick?”

  “Oh, you know how she is when she is sleeping. There’s just no getting her up. We will call you later. Have a good day.”

  With that, Liz blew Harrison a kiss and hung up the phone. She decided to send him a quick text to explain how tired she was and set up a time later for them to talk.

  Liz went back to sleep. There really wasn’t much she could do about Bella and Ricardo hooking up. Bella was an adult and so was Ricardo. But Liz didn’t think it was a good idea for either of them. They were not the right type of person for each other and Liz was going to make sure and talk to Bella about that when she got back to the hotel room.

  Ricardo needed to find a girl more his own age and someone who had a job and career. Not a college student that liked to party and get wild all the time like Bella.

  Chapter 6

  At work, Liz waited for Ricardo to show up to see if he confessed to sleeping with Bella. But around ten o’clock when Ricardo came to work holding hands with Bella it was pretty obvious that the two of them were together.

  “Well look who decided to show up for work today,” Liz teased.

  “I figured I deserved a late day so I could keep up with your working habits lately.”

  “Hi, Bella,” Liz said as she gave Bella a look of approval.

  Although Liz wasn’t entirely sure she approved and she knew Harrison wouldn’t approve at all, Liz wasn’t about to say anything to Bella in front of Ricardo.

  “Hey Liz, want to catch lunch later? I’m going to go shop for a bit this morning.” Bella said as she squeezed Ricardo’s hand and then kissed him.

  Liz stood there as Ricardo and Bella started making out like they were high school kids. She stood there…and stood there…waiting for them to get done.

  “Geez guys, that’s enough.”

  “Sorry,” Ricardo said as he wiped Bella’s lip gloss off of his lips.

  “Yes Bella, let’s do lunch around one o’clock,” Liz said as she rolled her eyes at Ricardo.

  Bella took off down the hallway and stopped to turn around and wave at Ricardo. Ricardo waved back like he was possessed or something, waving his hand back and forth well after Bella had disappeared into the elevator.

  “Wow, Ricardo. What was that?”

  “What?”

  “You’re really going after Bella?”

  “Is it weird? I’m sorry.”

  “No, I don’t care. But she’s a wild one. Do you think you can handle a girl like her? She’s pretty much the opposite of me.” Liz laughed as she sat down to get back to work.

  “I don’t know what to say. She’s not really the type of girl I was looking for, but we click and we talked for hours last night.”

  “Oh, you talked?” Liz said with a wink.

  “Come on. You know what I mean. We really get along. We talked about our dreams and goals. It was one of the best dates of my life.”

  “Wow, that’s exciting I guess.”

  Liz wanted to tell Ricardo to stay away from Bella, but seeing how much he genuinely liked her it didn’t seem like a good idea. Liz knew how good love could feel and didn’t want to take that feeling away from Ricardo and Bella if that was what was going on between the two of them.

  At lunch, Liz sat down and instantly wanted to hear from Bella about what she thought of Ricardo.

  “I know, I know, you don’t want me dating Ricardo,” Bella said as she hugged Liz.

  “Nah, I don’t care who you date. Just make sure you know what you’re getting into. Ricardo is a work-a-holic. As for girls he’s more into the o
ne night stands than an ongoing dating thing.”

  “Yeah, I kind of got that vibe. But I’m not looking for anything serious either right now.”

  “Well as long as you go into it with your eyes open. Have fun I guess.” Liz didn’t want to be Bella’s mother.

  Even though Liz and Harrison had been dating for a year, Liz worked hard to maintain her friendship with Bella without letting it turn into something weird. Liz couldn’t just butt into Bella’s love life now, it just wouldn’t work. Liz had to just be supportive as Bella’s friend.

  “Don’t tell Dad.”

  “Oh geez Bella, I can’t start keeping secrets. That’s exactly what I don’t like about what’s going on with your father and me right now.”

  “Well don’t lie. But just don’t go out of your way to tell him I’m dating Ricardo. Can you do that at least?”

  “Yeah, I’ll just try to avoid the subject.”

  “I’m going to stay for a couple weeks. I’ll have to tell Dad something about why I’m here. I’ll just say something about meeting a boy and leave it at that.”

  “Oh god, Harrison is going to flip out when he finds out who it is.”

  “He knows Ricardo?”

  “He met him. He was jealous, thought I might run off with Ricardo.”

  “Oh, my gosh, that is so funny.”

  “I don’t think he’ll think it is funny,” Liz said as she started eating the bread which had been brought to the table.

  The girls sat and enjoyed their lunch and changed the topic from men to shopping. After a solid hour of shoe talk, Liz headed back to work and Bella decided she needed to catch up on some sleep.

  When Liz finished off her day of work and headed back to the hotel room it was just as the sun had set. She was exhausted but felt really good about the progress she had made on their project. It would only be a couple more weeks and they would be totally done.

  As Liz got to the lobby of the hotel Harrison called over Skype.

  “Hi baby,” Liz answered.

  “How was work?”

  “It was good. Bella and I had a nice long lunch.”

  “Is she around?”

  “I’m just heading up to the room. I think she’s up there sleeping.”

  “You still going to be home around the tenth?” Harrison asked as he flipped through the calendar on his desk.

  “Yep, let’s just plan the tenth. I’ll make sure I’m done with my work and home that day.”

  “Love it! I can’t wait to see you.”

  Liz had just entered the elevator and she started laughing.

  “Oh, you want to see me?” Liz said as she lifted up her shirt and flashed her boobs to Harrison over Skype.

  “Oh my god. I miss those. Again, again.” Harrison joked.

  Liz got off the elevator and started walking down the hallway.

  “I’m off the elevator now. It can be that someone might see.”

  “Do it anyway.” Harrison urged Liz.

  Liz looked behind her and then down the hallway and no one was coming. So she flashed Harrison again. This time leaving her shirt pulled up and moving the camera in close to her nipple, as she stood there and played with it for the camera.

  “Happy?” Liz asked.

  “Oh yes. I can’t wait to see you at home. I’ve got something for you to play with.”

  “Oh, I bet you do. Is it big and hard and likes to be sucked on?”

  “Yes.”

  Liz got her room key out and opened the door to the hotel room. Bella wasn’t there. Liz whispered to Harrison. Liz panicked for a minute. How on earth would she explain Bella being unavailable again? Bella was going to have to start calling her father on her own, Liz didn’t like being stuck in the middle of this.

  “She’s asleep. Do you want me to wake her up?” Liz knew he would say no.

  “No, just tell her to call me.”

  As they hung up the phone Liz let out a huge sigh of relief.

  Chapter 7

  On the last day of work, Liz got in early to clean up her work area. The client had loved their project and even offered to hire them both directly to work for their company. Both Liz and Ricardo turned them down.

  Liz really wanted to return home. She missed Harrison and even the city of New York. There was just something wonderful about that city and Liz wanted to go home.

  Ricardo decided to sleep in and came into work a little later than Liz to clean up his area. Liz found him and Bella having sex on his newly cleaned off desk when she returned from bringing some recycling down to the print room.

  Bella was bent over the desk with her skirt hiked up to her waist and laying face down on the desk. Ricardo was behind her thrusting hard inside her. Bella looked up as Liz walked in the room.

  “Really guys?” Liz screamed as she covered her eyes and went back down the hallway to the lobby.

  Bella and Ricardo had been hanging out a lot over the last few weeks and Liz knew there was no way she could talk either of them out of it. The fact that they had been dating each other for several weeks though was pretty impressive for both of them. Ricardo and Bella didn’t like relationships so Liz had thought for sure that they would have gotten sick of each other by now. But apparently they were not.

  A good twenty minutes later Bella came down the hallway and grabbed Liz.

  “Did you want back in your office?” Bella said with a flushed face and messed up hair.

  “Oh, I can’t even look at you. Just go back to the hotel until we get done.” Liz jokingly covered her eyes as she went back to her office.

  “Seriously Ricardo, you can’t do that at work,” Liz said as she got back to her office.

  “Oh come on. It’s our last day. Our project is done. The client loved it. Relax a little bit Liz.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just really nervous about going home.”

  “Nervous? Why?”

  “You know Harrison and his sexy assistant. I’m just afraid to deal with that whole situation.”

  “He still has her?”

  “Yep. But at least she's nice to me when I call now.”

  “Why nervous though?”

  “Because I really need to talk to him and tell him I don’t want him having her as his assistant. I know it’s childish, but I can’t stop thinking about him cheating on me with her.”

  “I definitely think you should tell him how you feel. But don’t give him an ultimatum or anything like that. And don’t talk about it now. Wait until you get home so you can see how things are going.”

  “Yeah. I think I’ll feel better when I’m at home. Just being so far away is difficult.”

  “Well let’s get our butts back home then,” Ricardo said as he grabbed their box of personal belongings.

  The pair said their goodbyes and headed back to the hotel to get Bella. They had a late night flight and within twenty-four hours they would all be back home and tucked into their own beds. Or Bella might be tucked into Ricardo’s bed instead of her own.

  As the three finally boarded their flight home, Liz realized she would be the odd person out for this flight. Bella and Ricardo were cuddling and whispering to each other. Then making out so much that Liz finally just put her headphones in and tried to get some sleep.

  Liz wasn’t able to get any good sleep. She tried her best, but she kept thinking about Harrison and Sarah. The closer the plane got to New York, the more anxious Liz got about seeing Harrison again. She hated that she kept thinking about him cheating.

  Really if there was anyone who almost cheated it was Liz. She was the one who had woken up in the hotel room with Ricardo. Although they didn’t actually have sex, Liz was sure Harrison would not have been happy about that situation.

  After about an hour of making out, Bella and Ricardo both fell deep asleep. They seemed so happy and carefree. Neither of them seemed to have a worry at all. Liz wished she could feel like that. Just happy and carefree like they were.

  As Bella woke up Liz and her di
scussed what their schedules looked like for the coming weeks.

  “You look so stressed Liz, are you alright?”

  Liz couldn’t take it any longer. She had to tell Bella about her worry about Harrison and his assistant Sarah.

  “I can’t stop worrying that your Dad is having an affair with Sarah,” Liz said as she started to cry.

  “Oh, Liz. No, he would never do that to you. Anyway, I think Sarah is a lesbian.” Bella said with a laugh.

  Liz couldn’t help but laugh. She had never thought Sarah was a lesbian, but it was a nice thought. A hot lesbian assistant would be fine with Liz. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about her stealing Harrison.

  “A lesbian? No, she is not.” Liz couldn’t help but continue laughing.

  “I think she is. I get that lesbian hot girl vibe. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

  Liz didn’t know what it was about the way Bella said that, but she believed her. Liz believed that Bella knew her father well enough to know that he wouldn’t have an affair. Liz felt a sense of relief. Bella obviously knew her father very well and if Bella didn’t think she had anything to worry about maybe Liz needed to try and calm down.

  “I’ll try to get over it.”

  “I suspect you’ll get over it as soon as you see him. I know he’s missed you a lot. When I called him the other day, he just wanted to talk about you.”

  “Thanks, Bella. I really hope things aren’t what I think they are.”

  “Let’s just relax and watch a movie until we get there. There is nothing for you to worry about.”

  The girls sat back and watched a movie on Bella’s Ipad. Liz still hoped for some sleep, but it never came. Instead, she did enjoy the latest comedy movie and a good laugh with Bella.

  As the plane came in for a landing, Liz looked out the window at the New York skyline. She was finally home. She couldn’t wait to see Harrison. As worried as she was about him having an affair with his assistant, she tried not to think about that. Because every time she saw him on Skype that thought went away instantly. She hoped seeing him in person would be the same way.

  Chapter 8