Chapter Five
“Oh my God! Tell me everything!” Lotte screamed as she came running up to me, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing me tight. She pointed over to the booth that she and Raven had already claimed near the very cute singer who looked like he was just about to start.
It was just past two on Sunday afternoon and we all met at the Barton as promised. As I took a seat down in the booth opposite the girls. Raven pushed a margarita across the table towards me. We clinked our glasses together before even properly greeting each other. Raven butted in on Lotte.
“Yes! Please! Tell us everything, we need to know every single detail. I can’t believe this. This is so wild! This is like a fairytale. Got rejected from ‘The Bachelor’ and then you still find a prince on the same night! This is just too wild.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. I hadn’t told either of the girls any details about last night’s date, but Lotte must have filled Raven in. I didn’t know what to tell them, I didn’t know what to say since I was still not quite sure if what happened was real.If Henry was real and the way that we had connected… if it actually happened.
“Have you spoken to Henry?” I asked Lotte. Henry had elaborated more on their friendship yesterday. The two of them had grown up together, almost like they were brother and sister, Henry had lived on and off with Lotte and her family since his parents fateful ending. If there was anyone that Henry was going to tell the truth to about how he was feeling about last night, it was Lotte.
“Argh! He told me nothing! I messaged him first thing this morning asking about how it all went, and he just replied with: Thanks for inviting me out. I think I was meant to meet Molly.”
“What?” Raven’s jaw dropped open as she spun around to Lotte clasping onto her arm, steadying herself, making sure that she heard the words out of her mouth correctly. “You do realize those are possibly the most committed words that could come out of a guy’s mouth, right?” she said.
Okay, last night was real, and he was a man. I couldn’t help but smile, my body still felt light and fluffy after last night. I had literally become a cloud. I was a fully smitten cloud, and this was the moment that I was sure so many people spoke about. When your life suddenly changed, and you couldn’t remember who you were before that moment. There was a before Henry and an after Henry and I was completely swept away in the latter.
“I know, it’s cute. But I need details! I know he is into you, very into you! He’s never spoken to me about any woman like he has you, well not since the only long-term relationship that I knew him to have and that was so long ago, back in college days. The last ten years of his life, he really has been single. I know that he works a lot which I really hope is not a deal- breaker for you, Molly, I’ve honestly started to worry about him.” Lotte sipped down on her Aperol Spritz as she peered at me over her thin Prada sunglasses. Her hands were clasped together on top of the table and I couldn’t help but count the many dainty diamonds that were wrapped around her fingers and wrist.
Raven began bouncing in her seat rubbing her hands together in front of her, tucking her newly appointed short black bob behind her ear, she couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. “Oh my God, this is absolutely perfect! You know all of his past as well. What a great set up. We can debrief on that after. But please, Molly. Tell. Us. Everything. And I also need someone to give me the rundown on who this guy actually is because other than the fact he is your friend and he very politely drove me home the other night, I really have no clue who Henry is.” Raven and Lotte both glared at me scooting closer on the seat and leaning across the table, margarita in hand.
I sighed, shaking my head as I tried to put all the pieces together of last night. The time that we had together, the vortex that I felt completely wrapped up in every single time that oureyes met. There was still so much of it that I didn’t know if I could put it in words.
But Raven and Lotte weren’t going to budge, they wanted every single detail as they glared at me wide eyed, holding the silence.
I cleared my throat. “Henry is a tech genius. Like a serious genius. He owns a lot of the major technology platforms that help run a lot of different government operations, and he has a couple of non-profits that are creating more available and helpful technology for those suffering with blindness or loss of hearing. Not to mention, he’s hot as hell, has built everything from the ground up. Invests in a lot of tech start-ups and also owns some real estate, that includes the building he took me to last night,” I said. Raven’s jaw dropped open and I had a feeling it wasn’t going to close back up for the rest of this story.
“Yeah, that’s why he works all the time,” said Lotte with a particular emphasize on the “all.”
“Well, let’s just say that he pulled out all of the stops to make it more than a one-date thing. He organized a private dinner for us, which was an incredible five-course degustation at his restaurant that’s on the ground floor of his building. And I don’t know what else to say other than we just connected. Like truly connected, in ways that I have always wanted to but didn’t know how. I thought that I had always had issues about truly opening up to someone but now I realize that it’s actually because I haven’t met the right person. It’s like he just gets me. Our banter is hilarious and it’s like he cananswer the end of my sentences before I’ve even said them. Everything with him is just so smooth. He understands my drive, he understands my rut, he understands the relationship dynamics I have with my sister. It sounds like he comes from literally the same situation as me.” I was as comfortable with Henry as I was with Raven and Lotte right now. It was like one random night had cemented what I had been wanting for so long.
“Oh, Molly, I’m so sorry,” said Lotte, as she furrowed her brow and reached her hand out to touch me, but I pulled away shaking my head.
“No, it’s fine, it is. I just don’t want to get into that right now.” I did not want to talk about the fact that my sister and I became orphans so young. And the fact that a very similar scenario happened to Henry at the same age, just six years old. It was just as he said. The two of us were really meant to meet.
Raven had no idea what I was speaking about but just as she went to ask a question, she instantly shut her mouth. It was obvious that Lotte had just pinched her under the table. She knew enough about Henry’s story to know that now wasn’t the right time to dive into the depths of mine.
“Sooo…” Raven said rubbing her hands together in front of her chest again. “Did you sleep with him?” She pursed her bright purple lips that matched the handbag she had sitting on top of our table, and I could tell she was waiting for some seriously juicy details.
“I used every single little bit of willpower that I had to make sure that I didn’t…. To be honest, the urge to not get an Uber to his building right now and let him undress me is still strong.”
“Why? I don’t get it. He’s hot, he’s rich, the two of you get on like a house on fire, why didn’t you sleep with him?” said Raven, stunned. And for a second, I regretted how much I had held myself back. I’d never been like this before. There were so many moments last night that would have been perfect. But something told me that I didn’t want to give it away just yet. I wanted to hold onto the feeling that we had. And I thought that maybe, even though I wanted to feel him pressed up against me and inside me I didn’t want to risk this ending. God, I didn’t know who this new version of myself was.
“No, no, I think that you’ve done the right thing. Make him wait and take your time. Even though it’s obvious he’s completely smitten. I think the powers in your hands now, Molly, and if he is what you want, then you get to play the game,” said Lotte.
Raven pouted her lips and furrowed her brow. I watched the thoughts in her mind run in overdrive until she nodded in agreement. Aside from the one night that we had spent together on Friday, I didn’t know Lotte and Raven very well. From the look in Raven’s eye, I think that she suffered from the exact same thing that I did. She’d tried to pick up many different barmen last night. She just loved sex. The idea of having to hold yourself back was very foreign.
“No, you’re right,” said Raven, finally wrapping her head around the concept. “If you want to start seeing this guy officially, then make him wait. In fact, make him wait till he’s on his knees begging. Now that’s sexy. A wealthy man who thinks he holds the power to the world in his pocket, when really, it’s in your jeans.” Raven winked as the two of us laughed.
Henry had been kind, and he was far from egotistical. But still I liked to think that there was some power that I had, that he wanted. My feminine power. If our physical touch were the same connection as the way that we communicated, then I hoped the moment it finally did happen. It would be an orgasmic vortex that we wanted to become locked in for as long as we possibly could.
“So, what happened after dinner?” Lotte asked.
“He took me up to his penthouse where we sat and had one more drink as a night cap. We just talked more, cuddled on the couch and looked out at what I believed to be one of the best views of the entire city. And then I went home.”
“It really is the best view,” Lotte agreed with me as Raven’s jaw almost hit the table.
“You went to his penthouse, and you still didn’t sleep with him?” Raven screamed and now I was sure that we had a couple of spectators listening to our conversation.
