by Alexis Leia
“He’s not. I’m driving myself. Could you give me my towel, please? I’m getting all pruney in here.”
“Why?” Annie asked while handing the towel, worry displayed on her face.
“Because I don’t want this to look like a date in any way. More like a business dinner: get in, suffer in boredom, and get out”, Selene explained and went to her room, with Annie right behind her.
“But what if he thinks it’s a date?” Annie asked her as she plopped herself on Selene’s bed, while Selene searched inside her closet for suitable clothes.
“Yeah, right. You know Chris too, Annie. We all lived together, remember?”
“That’s exactly why I’m saying this. Back then even I thought you two were together, and nothing could’ve convinced me otherwise.”
“Well, you were wrong. And I was wrong, too. For him, this is just a reunion of foster siblings, nothing else.”
“Are you attracted to him?” Annie asked boldly. Selene turned around and put her hands on her hips, defiance etched on her face.
“He’s a very handsome man.”
“But are you attracted to him?” Annie repeated.
“Fine! Yes, I am. Are you happy now?”
“I will be once I see you in my red dress”, Annie said and ran downstairs to her room, where she retrieved that red mass of strips Selene didn’t want to wear a week ago to her party.
“What are you doing, Annie?”
“Giving you a self-confidence boost. This dress is made for seduction.”
“Why would I wear that? I don’t want to seduce him”, Selene said, slightly panicking.
“Who says anything about seducing him? You know how he hated seeing other boys ogling you. This will make him angry”, Annie said with a naughty glint in her eyes and she rubbed her hands together.
“And what exactly would I be trying to achieve with this? Besides, I’m a public figure now. I don’t really think it’s appropriate.’’
“His anger. Why would he enjoy staying here and making you all nervous without a proper payback? This will totally grate on his nerves. Plus, the dress is not vulgar at all. It’s powerful, so no worries about your mayoral status”, Annie answered, a challenge in her voice.
Selene thought about it for a minute and then decided – what the hell. The sexy dress probably wouldn’t have any effect on him, except make him irritated and mad. Well, he’d been making her irritated and mad since the moment he appeared in Mountainview, so she was going to give him a taste of his own medicine. Besides, her self-confidence was at an all time low, so why not?
“Fine”, Selene said and shrugged, making Annie squeal and clap in excitement.
“Now, let me do your make-up. We’re taking this to a whole new level”, Annie said and began working her magic.
Forty-five minutes later, Selene was sitting in her car, on the back parking lot of the restaurant and checked her reflection in the car mirror. Annie was a real expert with make-up, Selene concluded, looking at the sexy black smoky eye effect she pulled of, which made her eyes look huge and intensely green. Her eyelashes were so thick they could stop a hurricane, and her lips were painted in deep wine-red lipstick. Her cheekbones seemed more prominent due to little something called contouring, which Selene could never pull off alone. Her naturally wavy hair was tousled almost carelessly, giving her that ‘just got out of the bed’ look.
She took a deep breath and left her car, knowing Chris waited for her inside the restaurant. She fixed the damn dress that kept on rising up her legs. Wearing the dress now, it didn’t seem cheap like she thought it would. It was a bandage dress, dark red and light red strips interwoven and tight on her thighs down to her knees. Her breasts were tightly covered by the same fabric, and it had built-in bra cups that pushed her boobs up and gave her a generous, yet not vulgar, cleavage. All of that was held together by an only barely visible zipper on her back.
Annie called the dress ‘smoking hot’ and ‘easily accessible’, and Selene desperately wanted to cover herself up because she wasn’t used to dressing like that. But then she remembered who waited for her inside, and she proudly straightened her back, put a little black jacket over her shoulders, and started walking in her five-inch spiked heels that were killing her feet, but made her look more elegant and slender.
As soon as she entered, she felt dozens of pairs of eyes staring at her, and when she glanced at the full restaurant, she saw a fair amount of gaping mouths. Mountainviewers never saw her like that and she had to give them some slack; even she was surprised at her reflection in the mirror. It was a good thing she wasn’t usually worried about people’s opinions about her and her personal life, otherwise she probably would’ve bolted straight out of the place.
The maître d’ approached and greeted her.
“Good evening, Ms. McClaran. Mr. Ledford is waiting for you in the booth on the back. If you will follow me, please”, he said, leading the way toward the partially secluded part of the restaurant, which was divided into two parts.
The bigger part took up most of the restaurant, with twenty tables or so, and the smaller VIP part was hidden by the wall partition. Selene was part grateful and part disappointed. Grateful, because they would be hidden from curious eyes, and disappointed because being alone with Chris wasn’t such a good idea.
The man in question sat in the dark brown booth, his gaze fixed on his smartphone, where he scrolled through whatever he was busy with. When he heard her approaching, his lifted his head up and Selene noticed how his eyes widened, his eyebrows shot up and his jaw slightly dropped. She wanted to laugh and she sent a mental high-five to Annie, who was absolutely right in her estimation of his reaction. Maître d’ started pulling out the chair for her that was across the table from Chris, but the jerk stood up quickly.
“She’ll sit next to me”, he said resolutely.
The man nodded and excused himself, and Chris waited for Selene to sit next to him. Unfortunately for him, she pulled out the chair and sat down, immediately reaching for the menu and ignoring the still-standing madman. She could swear she heard a low chuckle before he took his position back in the booth.
He was wearing black jeans and a grey t-shirt under a black jacket. His beard was a bit longer than usual, like he forgot to shave for three days, and it actually made him look more dangerous, sharpening his features and making him look dark. Well, darker. He put his phone in his pocket, and leaned back in the seat, one arm outstretched on the table with his fist closed, and the other on his knee.
Selene concentrated on reading the menu instead of glancing at him, in order to prevent herself from drooling over the table. He was so freaking gorgeous, he should be banned from being in public. Selene annoyed even herself with those thoughts, but honestly, he was the epitome of ‘tall, dark and handsome’.
“So, this is how the night is going to go by? You ignoring me, not even saying hello?” he asked her, making her feel like she was in court, and he was the judge, the jury, and the executioner.
“Hello”, she said and showed him a ‘peace’ sign with her fingers, glancing up only to see his reaction. His lips twitched in amusement, but he didn’t fully smile. Of course he didn’t, why would he? He was too busy sulking.
“I like your dress”, he said in a voice she never heard him use with her in the past. A heated voice full of promises and double entendre. But that was impossible in their case. He was playing a game.
“Thank you. At first I thought my boobs wouldn’t fit in it, but in the end they did. And it’s not too tight, right?” she blabbered intentionally, combining both Emmet’s and Annie’s advices – go with the flow and make him tense. She guessed it worked because he shifted in his seat, and his eyes darkened.
“It’s most definitely too tight”, he said in a deep, low voice, making her remember how she touched herself in her bathtub earlier, thinking about him. She blushed and heat pooled between her legs. She crossed her legs, wanting to rub her brain with sandpaper to stop th
e embarrassingly hot memories.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked, never taking his eyes off her.
Don’t say bathtub! I repeat, do not say bathtub, her brain yelled at her.
“Bathtubs”, she blurted out and coughed when she realized what she said. He looked confused as he raised his perfect eyebrow.
“What about them?” he asked.
You and me inside one. Shut up!
“I’m thinking about getting a whirlpool tub. You know, for massage”, she lied, watching him shift in his seat again. What was wrong with him?
“You have sciatica or something?”
“No, why?”
“You seem a bit restless and keep shifting in your seat”, she pointed out. He chuckled darkly and leaned forward, with his elbows on the table and leaned his chin on one hand.
“You want me to tell you why?” he asked and grinned slyly, making her breath hitch when those full lips stretched over the straight pearly whites. A true Hollywood smile.
“Knock yourself out”, she said and mimicked his position.
He opened his mouth to speak, but the waiter came and placed a bottle of wine Chris had the liberty of ordering. She did love a good bottle of wine, so she took a sip and appreciated the rich taste that tickled her taste buds.
The waiter took their food orders; she ordered a chicken fried steak with the side of mashed potatoes and black-eyed peas. He ordered chicken breasts, clean with a salad. Hollywood diet, she thought with disgust. There was nothing wrong with chicken breasts and salad, but hey, he was on a vacation. And God knew he could afford a bunch of calories, considering how his body looked. When the waiter left, she expected Chris to continue, but now he looked cold and disinterested.
“You were saying?” she persisted.
“Back pain”, he answered coolly.
“I’m sorry”, she said and meant it. Even after everything, she felt sympathy for the bastard. Wasn’t she pathetic?
“So how did you end up as a politician?” he abruptly asked, changing the subject.
“I was always interested in how things work, especially in how the government works. So I majored in political science, and when I came back to Mountainview, Wilson took me in as his secretary, since I was one of the few with that major. He thought I could be of great help to him. With time, I began attending the Council meetings and proposing ideas for the town's wellbeing that popped into my mind. A year ago, Wilson announced his retirement and suggested I should run for the mayor, since I was actively involved in the scene, people knew me and respected me, accepted my ideas and all. So I did, and the rest is history”, she said and took another sip of her wine.
For a moment she thought she could forget who Chris actually was, but the knowledge was constantly nagging at the back of her mind. The dinner wasn’t natural for her, acting like they were just getting to know each other. But what did come naturally to her was that attraction and desire for him, which was a real bitch.
“How’s L.A.?” she asked him, pushing her grim thoughts aside. He shrugged and shook his head.
“Don’t you read the magazines? Sex, drugs and alcohol”, he said sarcastically.
“The magazines forget to mention the important part. Hard work, Chris. Besides, I somehow doubt you’re very much keen on the drugs and alcohol part.”
“Really? How would you know that?” he asked her challengingly.
Because I know you, she wanted to say but instead mimicked his shrug.
“It just seems that way”, she said coldly. He stared at her for a long time, and just when she was about to snap at him, he decided to spill everything.
“When I came to Los Angeles, I had nothing. No money, no place to stay, no connections. I lived and slept on the streets, literally. That lasted for a few months, since I couldn’t get a job anywhere. Nobody wanted to hire a small-town, underaged foster kid. It is a very merciless city, and if you feel sorry for yourself, you’re probably going to be the only one who does. Pity doesn’t work there. Anyway, one night I crashed in the alley behind Jackson’s tattoo shop. He saw me while taking the trash out and invited me inside. I didn’t believe him at first, because when you spend some time on the streets, you forget to trust people; you see how brutal the world can be. Jackson insisted, though, and after a while, I took his offer to crash in the back room of his shop. After all, I didn’t have much to lose.”
“At first, I helped him with his work in the shop; I didn’t want to use his space without paying him back somehow. I cleaned the salon every morning before opening and every night after closing. After that, I visited all the garbage yards, looking for music instruments that were broken and thrown away, and I fixed them in my spare time. One night, while I was playing on the fixed keyboard instrument, Jackson heard me and insisted I tell him everything about myself, especially what instruments I could play. When I told him, he only said he had plans for me and said to have a little bit more patience. At the time I couldn’t perceive how that would even be possible, I mean, Jacks was only two years older than me and he had just recently opened his shop. How a twenty-year-old guy could help me out, I had no clue”, Selene was so caught up in Chris’s story, she almost forgot to breathe.
“But one day he brought over one of his clients after a tattoo session he did for free in exchange for a favor; the guy looked at all the mended instruments I managed to collect and asked me to play something on each. When I finished, I found out the guy was one of the hotshot producer’s bodyguards and he arranged for me to attend the audition his boss had for the young, aspiring producers. I went and they accepted me due to my perfect pitch, but since I didn’t know how to read sheet music or anything about producing, they took me in as an intern. I had to re-learn everything about music and become the personal assistant of the producer in order to make any progress. The only thing I had was the perfect pitch and the incredible desire to become someone. One day, the producer had an important client, a superstar, and they were making new songs. I was sitting there and my hands twitched, with the want to participate, because by then I’d already learned everything. The producer asked my opinion and instead of verbalizing it, I asked him to move and sat behind the audio mixer. Two years later, I opened my own record label. I was twenty-four back then. And now... well, you probably know the rest’’, he finished his monologue and satisfied Selene’s curiosity in a major way.
She was completely immersed in his life story, her heart breaking when she heard he had been homeless before he finally found his way. If she hadn’t known him before, she wouldn’t have gotten so emotional over it, but knowing everything he had endured as a child and as a young man made her extremely sad.
That was maybe ironic, given how he broke her heart thirteen years ago, but she wasn’t so mad at him as to wish him bad fortune in life. She sympathized with him and understood why he left, but nonetheless, she wanted him gone from Mountainview.
He was a danger to her carefully constructed emotional wall she’d built around herself, and the paradoxical part was that he was the cause and the consequence of that wall. She guessed she could act friendly while he was here, and go back to her old self once he left.
“I’m really glad you made it, Chris”, she managed to say honestly before their food arrived. They ate in silence for a few minutes, but he apparently couldn’t stay quiet.
“What about you? Why did you stay here? I remember you talking about leaving as well”, he said and sharp pain pierced through her chest. She left her food as she concentrated on what to say without getting into details.
She wanted to point out that when she had talked about leaving, there was a fantasy of the two of them leaving Mountainview together, but that was far in the past and she didn’t want him to know her former childish dreams.
“I never really felt too motivated to leave. This town has always been my home, and after I finished college in Denver, I couldn’t really picture myself living and working there. Besides, this town has given me so mu
ch, I always felt the need to give something in return”, she explained shorty, completely losing her appetite.
“What did this town give you?” his question had some cynicism, but it was mostly curiosity.
“Home. It gave me home”, she answered and frowned as memories clouded her mind.
“Eat your food, you’re not finished”, he said in a commanding voice, almost making her laugh. Apart from being territorial, he was always like this – making sure she ate and drank enough, ensuring she remained healthy. But that didn’t mean she always let him have his way.
“I’m not hungry anymore”, she said and finished her wine. He left his cutlery and his food, and examined her with his knowing eyes.
“What happened to you, Selene?”
“What do you mean?” She absolutely knew what he meant.
“Something happened while I was away”, he pointed out, not giving up.
She was never much of a crier and rarely let the emotions get the best of her, but tonight she was definitely riding an emotional rollercoaster, and the name of the ride was Chris.
“You’ve been away for thirteen years, Chris. A lot of things happened”, she said and chuckled, trying to mask the panic that threatened to overtake her.
Despite her not hiding what went down after Chris’s departure, she wasn’t so keen on talking about it with him when she was so pent-up. Mixed emotions were incredibly unpredictable.
“So you’re not going to tell me? You don’t trust me anymore with such details?” he asked.
“How can I trust you after all this time? Trust is something that has to be constantly built and upgraded. You can’t just break it, leave, return and start mending it. Trust is like a mirror, Chris. Once you break it, you can try and fix it, but there will always be some shards missing”, she said, dangerously close to spilling the truth.
His expression turned absolutely blank, devoid of any emotion, but there was a hint of pain flashing in his eyes before he shut down.
“Why did you really stay, Selene? Your love for the town wasn’t all that strong when I was here”, he said gently. She could handle his anger, his smugness, even his possessiveness. But she couldn’t handle his gentle curiosity.
