Lilly and I headed out together and met Erica in the lobby of The Ink Well. We made our way up to the office, and when I got to my desk, I had yet another gift waiting for me, but this time I wasn’t sure who it was from. I was staring at a rough hardbound copy of the book I had helped Greg with last night. I was surprised to see it bound sofast.
“You were right about the offer. Thank you.” I stared at Lilly as she read the note that was attached. “I guess you made a good impression onGreg.”
“Good job, rookie.” Erica gave me an approving hip nudge before heading to her desk. Today wasn’t going as bad as I had thought, and it seemed to go by fast. So did the rest of the week. Greg had to give me a new client list almost every day, and I had gotten to know Erica a lot more with our daily lunch visits to Baker’s. She wasn’t as shy as I thought, but she most certainly didn’t talk as much as Lilly andme.
When Lilly, Erica, and I came back to Lilly’s apartment Friday night, I couldn’t help but want to go out and clear my head. This week wasn’t as stressful as I had thought it was going to be, but a lot had happened that I just wasn’t prepared for. I hadn’t spoken to Adam in days, and my nerves were starting to get the best of me. I tried calling and texting, but all I ever got back were emails or late-nighttexts.
“I’m thinking going to a club would be fun.” Erica dove onto the couch, taking up the whole space. She had lived in Atlanta longer than Lilly had, and she seemed to know the greatestspots.
“Maybe we could do that tomorrow night. I was thinking dinner and drinks. Something simple after a long week.” My suggestion seemed to resonate with the girls, so we decided on a restaurant four blocks away. Erica said that it was a huge tourist hot spot and she knew one of the seaters there who would be able to get us on the seating list for thenight.
By nine o’clock we were seated on the terrace of a five-star restaurant in our best dresses. Lilly had on a ruby-red dress with a slit along the side that stopped mid-thigh. Erica had on a simple blue dress with a large ruffle skirt. She looked so dainty outside of work, I wouldn’t have recognized her if I hadn’t myself seen her change. I was in a short black dress that was strapless and came down to about mid-thigh. The best part of the outfit, though, was the bright red pumps that matched my red clutch. Lilly had done a few whistles at me when I had come out of my room earlier, but I ignored her. It was my first night out in a long time and I wanted to feel pretty, just thisonce.
I sent Adam a picture text of me once I was ready, but I hadn’t heard anything back from him. We ordered calamari appetizers as our entrée and paired that with blue raspberry martinis. I finished my first drink in ten minutes, with hope that Adam would text meback.
“Am I going to need to take that phone away?” Lilly’s question popped me out of the sadness I knew was about to overcome me. I put it back in-between my thighs instead of answering her. Alcohol slid down my throat while both Erica and Lilly stared me down. “Is everythingokay?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say to her. Everything was okay, but with not having heard from Adam, all I felt was thinking sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Right before I moved out here, there had been some tension between us, but we had always tried to figure it out., We had never gone so long without talking to each other, and I didn’t know what todo.
“I feel like you’re lying.” Erica’s soft voice filled the loud patio. I look over to her and smiled. She was intuitive and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get off this subject forlong.
“Maybe I just don’t want to ruin the night and how amazing this week has been.” I raised my drink to the girls, hoping that they would take the bait. They did, and our glasses clinked together, the sound merging with our laughter. We were there for an hour, three drinks apiece, when the waiter came back to us with three glasses of pinkmartinis.
“Courtesy of the gentleman over there.” We all turned around to the table the waiter was pointing out to see a group of businessmen sitting there enjoying some food and wine. It wasn’t until I caught Max’s eyes that I realized the drinks were from him. He winked at me and I blushed, not able to controlit.
“We don’t want them.” I finally looked away and made sure to put all of the drinks back onto the waiter’s serving tray before I shooed him away. It was one thing to come on to someone at work, but outside was something else. You couldn’t misconstrue flirting outside the office, because that was exactly what this was,flirting.
“What did you do that for? It was free alcohol!” Lilly complained. Disappointment shone on both her and Erica’sface.
“It was from Max.” The women straightened themselves up and searched the table that the waiter had previously pointed to. They found him immediately, concern forming across both of theirfaces.
“Now that’s a first.” Erica’s statement bothered me, not because it sounded odd, but because I thought that she was lying. Lilly had basically said the same thing earlier this week, and I was trying to understand why Max had such a fascination with me. I wasn’t having it though. I needed to make sure he knew that I wasn’t interested in him in thatway.
“Then it will also be the last.” I pulled out cash to pay for our food and drinks. Erica and Lilly protested, but I promised they could pay next time. “Let’sgo.”
We made our way out of the restaurant but were stopped outside by a man in a blacksuit.
“Thank you, Rick.” Max’s voice filled the night air. “I’ll take it fromhere.”
I turned around to see him standing in front of us in a three-piece suit. It was dressier than anything I had ever seen him in at the office, but it suited him well. He moved his attention from Rick to me. The girls stood behind me, waiting, as I was, to see what Maxwanted.
“Nice to see you, ladies. I was wondering if I could steal Alexa from you for the night. I promise to return her safely back homelater.”
Both women stepped in front of me, blocking my line of vision to Max. Lilly chimed in to my rescue. “We were just heading home, so I think the answer will be a no,Max.”
“If Alexa doesn’t want to come with me, I want to hear it come from her mouth, not yours.” The words reverberated from him, sending a shiver through me. He didn’t say another word but waited for my response. I could feel the agitation emanating from Max, but he wasn’t the only one. I took a deep breath and pushed Lilly to the side so that I could make eye contact withhim.
He stood there confidently, with his hands in his pockets, just like he had on the first day I had met him. He didn’t just own the room, he seemed to own the world as the people passing by looked him up and down. This man could have any woman he wanted, so then why was he so focused on me? I was the new girl at work. I shouldn’t matter this much tohim.
“Max, I have no interest in seeing you outside of work.” The words didn’t seem to faze him. He took a step towards me. His hand reached out to grab mine and I stepped back quickly. If Max was oblivious to why I couldn’t see him, then it was finally time to shine the light. Going after a married woman wasn’t goodform.
“Alexa—”
“I’m married.” My words stopped him as he tried to take another step closer. His eyes widened in panic and he took a step backward. Lilly and Erica moved back to their positions, blocking me from Max’sview.
“I didn’t know. I’m sorry, Alexa.” The apology seemed sincere as he went to the town car down the road from us. He didn’t say another word. This situation was over just as quickly as it had started. I stared at his back and Rick opened the door for him. He took one more look back at me, catching my eye before dippinginside.
Erica hailed a cab for us to head back home. Lilly stood with me, both of us staring into the distance as Max’s car drove away from us. No one said a word when we entered our cab. We parted ways once back at Lilly’s apartment, with an understanding that tonight had neverhappened.
