“I’m being pathetic, aren’t I?” she asked rhetorically as she looked down at the bright pink garment she was wearing. “I shouldn’t let Daniel get to me like he does.”
“I’m not judging you,” Nick insisted.
“No, I’m judging me!” Emma corrected him. “And I’m being pathetic, and you should be pulling me out of my funk!”
“Well, what do you want to do?”
“What do normal, emotionally stable people do on a Friday night?”
“They go out and get drunk,” Nick replied.
“Then it’s settled.” Emma got up off the sofa and dusted down her pajamas. “We’re going out!”
“You sure?” Nick eyed her warily.
“Yes!” Emma enthused. “I’ve been sitting here wallowing for too long! Daniel Richmond doesn’t own me! He can’t stop me from going out and enjoying myself!”
“Might I suggest that the first step is you stop looking out at his apartment all the time?” Nick offered. He’d noticed that when she spoke, she subtly glanced out of the window in the direction of his building at least half a dozen times.
“I’m not.”
“Is the light on?” Nick raised his eyebrow.
“No.” Emma groaned at her own weakness. “Which means he’s out. And I don’t want to know that. I don’t want to keep thinking about him!”
“Then go shower and put on your sexiest dress!” Nick ordered, pointing towards the bathroom.
“We’re going out?” Emma suddenly just wanted to remain in the security of her apartment rather than risk facing the wider world.
“We’re going out!” Nick confirmed, smiling. “You’re right, Emma Delacourt. My job as new friend should be to remove you from your self-inflicted funk. The first step is to take you out tonight and get you so drunk that you can’t even remember Daniel’s name!”
“Okay.” Emma nodded nervously. “But not drunk enough that I forget where I live. That’s too drunk!”
“I promise to get you home in one piece.”
“Okay, good.” Emma smiled, but her eyes briefly flickered back beyond the window, towards the building where Daniel lived.
“Second step is no more watching Daniel Richmond!” Nick cried as he stood up, went to the large window overlooking the city, and promptly closed the drapes.
“There!” he declared in triumph. “And these are to remain closed until I tell you otherwise!”
“Jeez, you can be stern when you want!” Emma noted.
“When I have to be.” Nick nodded in agreement. “Did you forget who my father is?”
“Just promise me that if I don’t get over Daniel, I’m not going to wake up and find a horse’s head in my bed?”
“I can’t promise that.” Nick winked.
“You’re such a joker, Cardelinni!” Emma exclaimed as she headed towards the bathroom.
“Takes one to know one, Delacourt!” he playfully called after her.
EMMA ADHERED TO NICK’S instructions. She showered and then got into the sexiest dress she owned, which was a short purple number with a sweetheart neckline she’d had for years but never actually been brave enough to wear. She remembered buying it for a New Year’s Eve party, thinking it looked sexy and sophisticated, but then on the night opting for something safer to wear.
After almost an hour she was ready to go out. She stepped back into the lounge area, and Nick gave a long, low whistle in appreciation.
“You’re a knockout!” he told her fondly.
“Thank you.” Emma blushed slightly.
“How about we take those legs out for a spin.” He winked. Emma glanced self-consciously down at her exposed legs.
“Seriously, Delacourt, you should whip those babies out more often. You’ve got a killer pair of legs!”
WHEN THEY ARRIVED AT the club, it was relatively busy but not heaving. As usual, Nick had them shown straight to the VIP area, where they settled down at a table and ordered drinks.
“What’s your poison?” he asked Emma from across the table.
Emma thought for a moment. “Vodka,” she eventually decided.
“On the rocks,” Nick added to the waitress.
“On the rocks?” Emma exclaimed as the waitress walked away. “Nick, I’ll be drunk in no time!”
“That’s the point!” Nick laughed. “You’re out to loosen up and have fun!”
“Have fun, yes, but no redecorating my apartment with my own vomit.”
“We’ll take it slow, promise.”
TWO VODKA ON THE ROCKS later, Emma felt herself swaying along to the pulsating music lifting from the nightclub below them. She was pleasantly buzzing.
“I like this song!” she declared happily to Nick, who didn’t appear nearly as affected by his own intake of alcohol.
“Yeah, it’s good,” he agreed.
“Damion likes it too,” Emma added. “We used to sing along to it each time it came on the radio.”
She smiled at the memory, but then her smile fell away.
“You know what? I can’t believe Damion!” She was over gesticulating with her hands when she spoke, a side effect of the vodka in her system.
“How so?”
“He’s abandoned me for Daniel!”
“He hasn’t abandoned you.”
“He has!” Emma insisted drunkenly. “He was my friend! He’s supposed to stand by me!”
“They’re just having fun and letting off steam,” Nick reassured her. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“But I can’t help worrying!” Emma continued, getting emotional. “Damion is a good guy. A decent guy. But under Daniel’s influence, he risks becoming... Daniel! And Daniel is a pig! Crazy good in bed, but still a pig!”
“I think it might be time to cut you off,” Nick suggested, removing Emma’s current drink from her reach.
“You’re a good friend.” She smiled at Nick. “Why can’t Damion be a good friend?”
“He just needs space.”
“From what?” Emma cried indignantly.
“From you,” Nick told her bluntly.
“From me?” Emma sounded and looked horrified.
“Just like you need a break from Richmond, he needs a break from you,” Nick quickly explained.
“Unrequited love is a bitch. It can destroy you if you let it.”
Emma thought on this for a moment.
“Can’t he still be my friend?” she asked, her voice small.
“Sure,” Nick confirmed. “But it takes time. He’ll come back to you when he’s ready.”
“I’m just jealous,” Emma admitted, exhaling and blowing a straight piece of hair out of her eyes. “It was always the three of us growing up. Ever since prep school we were inseparable, and then they’ve become this duo and I’m pushed out.” Emma looked down forlornly at the table.
“It’s only temporary, Emma.”
“Is it?” There was deep sadness behind Emma’s eyes when she spoke. Nick realized that perhaps she was reaching the stage of forlorn drunk, and he needed her to be happy drunk, determined for them to have a fun night together. He pushed her drink back towards her.
“Drink up,” he ordered. “We’re ready for the next round.”
Emma downed the rest of her neat vodka. The clear fluid burned against her throat and caused her to cough.
“It tastes like medicine!” she blurted, coughing.
“And like medicine, it’ll make you feel better.” Nick winked. “At least for tonight.”
Downstairs in the main club a new song came on.
“I love this song!” Emma insisted, standing up. “Let’s go and dance!”
Nick followed her down to the packed dance floor, where they danced along to the next three songs. The vodka worked its magic, and Emma went past being depressed and became alive and exuberant, raising her arms and spinning around in glee.
“I love all these songs!” she enthused.
“You having a good time?” Nick leaned in and asked.
>
“The best!” Emma cried heartily. Nick smiled, glad that she was finally enjoying herself and breaking free of Daniel Richmond’s spell.
“Spin me!” Emma ordered as she lifted Nick’s arm and began to pivot beneath it. He couldn’t help but laugh at her antics. So many girls, when they dance, they try to be provocative to get attention, but Emma didn’t care about other people, she would literally dance as though no one was watching. She was doing it for herself and having fun, and her attitude was refreshing and infectious. Nick found himself making stupid moves and laughing along with Emma as they danced away.
He continued to spin her, shimmy next to her and make stupid moves when prompted. After a while, Nick felt his face beginning to ache. He realized with pleasant surprise that it was because he was smiling so much. The night was turning out to be equally cathartic for both of them.
“I’m having so much fun!” Emma giggled drunkenly at him.
“Me too,” Nick agreed. And he was. He was actually having an amazing night. Without the sexual tension of being on a date, he could just let himself go with Emma and relax. It was easy to see why Daniel and Damion had become such firm friends with her during their prep school days.
“I DON’T KNOW IF THIS is such a good idea,” Damion declared as he downed another shot while sitting in Daniel’s apartment.
“Nonsense!” Daniel responded emphatically as he sauntered into the room, his balance already slightly off.
“Emma is so mad at me.” Damion glanced down sadly at the now empty shot glass he was holding.
“So?” Daniel scrunched up his handsome face in anger. “It’s Friday night! What does she expect you to do? Sit in and mope?”
“I guess.” Damion shrugged. He still felt awful about what had happened with Emma at Delacourt Designs, but with each shot he downed, he began to feel a little better about things.
“Hit me up again, then!” Damion extended his empty glass towards his friend, who was holding the bottle of tequila.
Daniel was standing, bottle in hand, gazing out of one of the large windows in his apartment, looking down at the city beneath, which was lit like a Christmas tree.
“Hey!” Damion tried to attract his attention, but Daniel focused on whatever had caught his eye beyond the window. As he stood there, he lifted the bottle and drank directly from it. Then he suddenly snapped back into the moment, came over to Damion, and dutifully topped up his shot glass.
“What were you looking at?” Damion enquired.
“Huh? Nothing,” Daniel replied, though he still appeared distant.
“It didn’t look like nothing.”
“Just take the shot,” Daniel ordered, resisting the urge to drift back to the window from which he could see Emma’s apartment building located over in the old district. Worryingly, he’d spotted that all of the lights were out, which was strange as they were usually on.
Damion knocked back the shot and coughed as the alcohol burned on its journey down his throat. He could feel his body relaxing as he began to enter a drunken state.
Daniel swigged from the bottle of tequila several more times until he was certain that he was drunk enough to enjoy his night. He slammed the almost empty bottle down and pointed directly at his friend.
“Are you ready to have some fun?” he asked eagerly.
“Always.” Damion nodded.
“Are you ready to get laid?”
“Sure.” Damion’s enthusiasm waned slightly. Although he was certain he’d had sex with at least one of the girls who accompanied them back to Daniel’s apartment on their various nights out, he couldn’t remember any of it. Huge parts of an evening would be lost to drunken blackouts. Damion couldn’t help but wonder that if he could barely remember an event, had it even truly happened? And he can’t have been enjoying the sex if it was so easily forgotten.
“Let’s go.” Daniel strode over towards his front door and almost lost his footing.
Behind him, and slightly more sober, Damion voiced his concerns. “You’re pretty drunk already. You sure you want to go out!”
“It’s Friday night!” Daniel cried, raising his arms. “Tonight, we drink ourselves into oblivion!”
Damion nodded and followed him out of the apartment, not sure he truly wanted to cross over into oblivion.
“WOO!” EMMA LAUGHED merrily as she spun around Nick on the dance floor. Her laughter was so light and carefree. Nick wished he could bottle it and open it up on days when he was feeling the weight of his family’s legacy upon his shoulders. Being around Emma was like therapy for his soul.
“Spin me again!” Emma insisted eagerly.
“If I spin you anymore, you’ll be sick!” Nick smiled.
“No, I won’t!” Emma pouted. “Spin me!”
Reaching out, he grabbed her hand and spun her around the dance floor one more time. All the while, she laughed heartily, swept up in the jubilance of the moment. She was about to request another spin when she suddenly felt overwhelmed by the need to vomit. As the feeling of nausea became unbearable, she ceased moving and looked down uneasily at the floor that seemed to be spinning even though she was now still.
“Emma, you okay?” Nick noticed her skin turn gray and instantly wrapped an arm around her, helping her stay on her feet.
“Do you feel sick?” he asked, keeping his voice low so that other revelers didn’t overhear and react.
“Uh-huh.” Emma nodded. She felt so queasy. She placed a hand over her mouth.
“Let’s go get you some water,” Nick decided. Carefully he guided her away from the dance floor and back up to the relative quiet of the VIP area.
“I’m sorry I’m drunk,” Emma told him, on the verge of tears.
“It’s all right,” Nick said softly.
“No, it’s not!” Emma protested as she ascended the staircase with Nick’s assistance. “I shouldn’t be in this mess! We should be having fun!”
“We are having fun,” Nick promised her.
“Normally it’s Damion propping me up,” Emma noted sadly. “But instead he’s out with Daniel all the time, forgetting about me.”
“Speak of the devil,” Nick whispered as they re-entered the VIP area and he spotted Daniel and Damion slumped down in a booth, sharing a bottle of tequila. Thankfully, they hadn’t spotted him and Emma.
“What?” Emma looked up at him through watery eyes.
“Nothing.” Nick shook his head. “Maybe we should just get you home.” He tried to turn and head back down the stairs, but Emma struggled free of his grasp and headed over to the bar.
“No.” She waved a dismissive hand at him. “I’m not ruining our night!” Then to the bartender, she said flirtatiously, “I’d like a drink, please.”
“She’s had enough.” Nick was swiftly by her side, canceling the order. “But a glass of water might be good.”
The bartender nodded and went to get Emma a tall glass of water.
“I really think we should go back home,” Nick advised, warily eyeing Damion and Daniel, who were talking amongst themselves, oblivious of the world around them.
“No.” Emma smacked her hand down on the polished surface of the bar. “I want to stay out!”
“I think it’s time to call it a night,” Nick told her as the bartender returned with the water.
“Thanks.” Nick nodded at him and passed the glass to Emma. “Here, drink this. It’ll help.” Then he rummaged in his pocket for his cell phone. “I’ll have my driver come pick us up,” he explained.
“My head hurts,” Emma moaned as she took tentative sips of the water.
“I’m not surprised.” Nick smiled sadly at her.
DANIEL COULDN’T HEAR the music clearly in the club. In his drunken state, all the sounds swirled together in an indefinable medley that hurt his ears.
“Why did we come here?” he moaned to his companion.
“It was your... idea.” Damion waved a hand at him as he tried to down yet another tequila shot. He was now so drunk t
hat it felt like his body was overwhelmed with liquor.
“Maybe not my best one,” Daniel admitted flatly. He’d had high hopes of chatting up women and maybe dancing, but all those ideas had fallen away as he struggled to even walk. Besides, he could sleep with all the women of the world, but none of them would be her. Nothing seemed to ease the pain. Not the drink, the women, nothing. Angrily Daniel knocked back another shot, desperate to fill the emptiness within him.
“Hey,” Damion hiccupped. “Go easy on that.”
Daniel suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to go to the bathroom. Clumsily, he got to his feet and scanned the VIP area for the restrooms. Then he saw her. At first, he assumed he was hallucinating in his drunken stupor, but then he spotted him beside her.
“What the fuck?” he barked fiercely.
Damion, alerted by his tone, spun around and saw her too. “Oh, jeez,” he muttered to himself.
“Why is she here, with him?” Daniel demanded.
“I’ve... no idea.” Damion was struggling to formulate his words.
Daniel watched Emma as she stood precariously at the bar, having to lean against Nick to support herself. She was drunk, which meant she was vulnerable. Nick was clearly trying to take advantage of her.
“That pig!” Daniel cried in disgust. “He’s going to take her home and have his way with her!”
“They’re just friends!” Damion protested as he climbed to his feet, aware that he needed to control his friends.
“What, like you were just friends with her?” Daniel spat the words viciously at him. Damion froze, hurt by the sudden scorn. He was about to speak when Daniel started charging across to the VIP bar where Nick and Emma were standing.
NICK NOTICED DANIEL approaching, taking jerky, awkward paces. He was obviously completely out of it, which meant there would be no reasoning with him.
“Time to go.” Nick placed an arm around Emma and began pulling her towards the staircase that led out of the VIP area, but he wasn’t quick enough. Daniel was upon them. He reached out and grabbed Nick’s shoulder.
Designing Emma (Volume 5) Page 6