An Old Flame

by Raquel Belle

  “Hey, you? Did you hear anything I just said?” Leena nudged me as the bartender set our drinks down. It was a fruity looking cocktail.

  “No, what’s up?” I paid for our first round and tipped him. I tasted the drink, it was deceptively sweet and refreshing. I barely tasted the alcohol.

  “Oh, he’s good,” Leena said, and took another sip from her glass.

  “They serve with glasses at the bar, not plastic cups,” I said, as I remembered our other category for rating.

  Leena’s eyes widened, as she took another quick sip before she set her glass down. “Yep, this place is legit.”

  “Well, let’s see in a couple months if they still have glasses,” I said. A couple of guys sat down at the empty chairs beside us, and the guy next to me did a double take at me and Leena. I braced myself and glanced at her. She already had her antennae up and was watching them through the corner of her eye.

  “So today at work, I got this crazy e-mail …” Leena said, partially mumbling.

  I wasn’t going to try and hide it. I glanced at the guys again. They were looking at us. The one next to me smiled sheepishly—they’d been caught.

  “Hey, I’m Tosh, this is my friend Bryant,” he said, as he gestured to the guy beside him. Tosh looked like he stepped out of an episode of Baywatch. He had golden, tanned skin, ocean-blue eyes, and dirty-blonde hair. Bryant was admittedly hot. His skin was a light caramel color, his eyes were honey brown, and his black hair was curly and cut into a faux-hawk.

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Steph—.”

  “I’m Leena,” she reached over me, and Bryant reached over Tosh, so that they could shake hands. They made it clear who had dibs on who. I wanted to roll my eyes, but I held back.

  “Have you guys been here before?” Bryant asked.

  “It’s our first time here, so far, and we give it a three out of five. It still has some categories to pass for a full approval,” Leena said, making him laugh. We should’ve shuffled seats, but I took another sip of my drink instead of making the suggestion. Bryant stood up to sit on the other side of Leena,

  “So, uh, what’re you drinking?” Tosh asked. He smiled at me, and I got the feeling that he was a bit shy.

  “The bartender just made us a drink per our request to get us ‘tastefully’ drunk,” I said. Tosh chuckled and then flagged down a bartender. The same one who served us came over.

  “Hey, can I have whatever she’s having?” I thought it was an interesting tactic. Usually guys who tried to talk to me at bars ordered beers, or cocktails that could pass as manly.

  “Are you from Seattle?” I asked.

  Tosh chuckled. “Nah, I’m from California, but my brothers just moved out here for work. The company they were hired for is still hiring. So my buddy and I were gonna see if we could get positions as well.”

  The bartender handed Tosh his drink and took a flat fifty from him. I marveled at how someone who just admitted to being jobless, was throwing around cash like that.

  “Seattle is an expensive city, so I hope the job is worth it,” I said.

  Tosh nodded. “Totally, it’s at a mega tech company. All that’s right up my alley, and it pays well too.”

  I nodded, slightly impressed. He seemed quite sure of himself. He tasted his drink and then his eyebrows lifted. “This is pretty good,” he said, and then took another sip. “What about you, what do you do?” he asked.

  “I’m a second grade teacher,” I said.

  Tosh smiled, his grin made his face look so good-natured and carefree. “That’s awesome,” he said. “I grew up around teachers. My mom, grandma, and aunt were all teachers. It’s a noble profession.”

  I smiled. He just earned himself a few more points. I glanced over at Leena and Bryant, and they were already leaning close to each other, giggling about something.

  “So …” Tosh said, “Are you seeing anyone?”

  “No, how about you?” I asked slowly, veering into awkward territory. Tosh shook his head, and his cute grin widened into something mischievous. “What do you hope to get out of this conversation?” I asked boldly. I don’t know what made me so serious all of a sudden, maybe it was the drink, but something in me had turned. The idea of simply hooking up with this guy wasn’t appealing to me, it actually felt unfair.

  “Oh, I dunno, something mutual and un-messy. You know … a fun night, no strings attached—full disclosure,” he said, and grinned at me innocently.

  “I appreciate your honesty, Tosh,” I said, and sighed. “Want to see who can chug this faster?”

  His eyes widened, and it was clear that he was taken off guard, but he lifted his glass to mine and we toasted to nothing. We both chugged our cocktails.

  “Whoa!” Leena said, laughing at us, though I knew she was using our code for chill the fuck out. I waved my hand at her dismissively. Tosh beat me, but at least I finished my glass.

  “I didn’t take you for that kind of girl,” he said and chuckled.

  I dabbed at the corners of my mouth with my napkin. My head was honestly and rightfully swimming. I laughed. “I’m not, and I’m not interested in the whole no strings attached thing,” I added.

  Tosh’s jaw fell slack, as if he’d just been duped. Which, I guess he had been. “Sorry,” I said and laughed again.

  He smiled and rubbed his eye, then gestured to his friend. “It was nice meeting you, Steph,” he said dispassionately. I saw Bryant hastily give Leena his number before they left us.

  “What the hell was that, Steph?” Leena asked, incredulously.

  I shrugged. “I was just testing him.”

  She looked at me in concern but didn’t say anything else. I was going to have to prepare myself for the lecture later. But at least she had Bryant’s number. Who knew, maybe they’d end up falling in love and living happily ever after. I stared down at the clean, dark-tiled floor while Leena asked the bartender for a glass of water for me.

  Chapter Five

  Mark

  I caught myself counting the number of white stripes painted on the tarmac as we walked to one of the many hangars in the private airport. Yeah, the guys and I were jet shopping. I had to keep reminding myself that that was normal behavior for billionaires. It was surreal to me because only a few years ago were we mere mortals with a few million to our names. Then, after a string of lucky mergers and good deals, Neil, Jimmy, and I became billionaires. JNM—our official company name—was a Fortune 500 tech company and hell, life was pretty damn great.

  I’d tuned out to the representative who’d organized our tour of the jet Neil wanted to buy—he insisted that it was for the company, but I knew better. I didn’t think it was completely necessary to buy a jet, but honestly, there was a lot of money in company resources, and we’d have to spend it on something, or lose it in taxes. The guy droned on and on about the specs and amenities the jet had. I glanced up at the sky and pulled my coat closer around me. It hadn’t snowed yet, which wasn’t unheard of so early in winter, but the air was definitely icy, and the sea breeze made Seattle feel more like Chicago. We finally reached the hangar. The larger than life warehouse door was opened a sliver, but it was wide enough for us to walk through.

  Inside, the floor was white and polished, and two jets were comfortably parked beside each other. They were sleek, one was silver, the other black. I whistled, impressed. “Which one did you have your eye on, Neil?” I asked him.

  He turned his head and grinned like a kid in a toy store. “The black one—it’s sexy, right?” He rubbed his hands together and glanced at the jet company’s rep. Though it had been some years since Neil, Jimmy, and I got our first, big break, we hadn’t really changed. Neil was still the crazy, fun-loving guy he’d always been, and Jimmy was still just as down to earth. Me, well, the only thing that had changed was the fact that I lost Stephanie so long ago, and I still thought about her, almost every damn day. She was the one that got away, over a stupid mistake that should’ve never happened.

  “Can we g
o inside?” Neil asked the rep. I forgot what the guy’s name was. Jeffrey kept coming to mind.

  “Of course, that’s why you guys came out here, right?” he said. Jeffrey—I didn’t care if that was his name or not, but it was what I’d call him—had that glint in his eye that said he knew he was making a sale soon. No doubt he was going to get a fat commission. Jeffrey led us around to the front of the plane. The hatch was already open, and the steps were descended. We walked into the plane, and the first thing I noticed was the smell of new and expensive leather.

  “Shit,” I said. Jimmy laughed, and gave me a knowing look.

  “That’s our boy, huh? Extravagant,” he said. Neil ignored us. He let Jeffrey tell him all kinds of stuff the jet had as we walked into the spacious main cabin. There was a bar inside, a flat-screen TV, and there was even a couch. We walked to the back of the plane to discover two sleeper cabins.

  “This seems to have everything,” I said, once we all stood in the main cabin again. Jimmy took a seat on the couch and opened the armrest compartment. Neil was still grinning, as if it were already Christmas.

  “Everything but attendants ... For each flight you can contract one to two of the company’s freelance attendants. We also provide certified veteran pilots, so you’ll never have to go hunting for a crew to take care of you for a trip.

  “If we wanted female flight attendants, could we get that every time?” Neil asked.

  I rolled my eyes and hit him on the arm, but of course, the guy laughed it off.

  Jeffrey smiled and didn’t look all that surprised by the request. “Actually, you can specify whether you want male or female flight attendants, sir.”

  I held my hand up to stop Jeffrey from enticing Neil any further. “We don’t need the encouragement ... Neil, what’s the matter with you? They’d be working anyway.”

  Neil chuckled. “I was joking, lighten up. Obviously if we wanted to take someone to the Mile High Club, she’d be our guest.”

  Jimmy groaned and stood up from the couch. He clapped his hand on Neil’s shoulder to shut him up. “He gets excited when we’re about to make big purchases,” Jimmy said, apologetically.

  Jeffrey nodded slowly, but it seemed that he took Neil’s strangeness in stride. He finished giving us the rundown of the jet, and Neil bought it outright for the company. As we left the hangar, walking towards the airport’s parking lot, Neil appeared to be psyched.

  “Come on guys,” Neil said, “why aren’t you more excited? That was crazy. My dad’s company doesn’t even have a jet.”

  Jimmy snorted.

  I shrugged. “It was more like your dream than ours, man,” I said. “Anyway, I hope you don’t get any lawsuits thrown at us for trying to hit on flight attendants.”

  Neil pushed his hand through his hair—it was getting more silver in color by the year, which worked in his favor when it came to women. They really liked his sleek aesthetic, since he was pretty much a vampire already with his night-life habits.

  “Nah, but who knows …,” Neil said. “Maybe I’ll meet one of them, and we’ll fall in love and have a hot, taboo tryst while in the air. There’s nothing I can do about love, man.”

  Jimmy cracked up. We had to stop walking for a second because he was bent over, chortling so hard. Jimmy had let his curly hair grow out, and it was long enough that it had passed the afro phase, so that he was able to tie it in a bun.

  “You? In love?” I said loudly. “Okay, Neil—keep dreaming. As a matter of fact, it’s more like you think you’ll fall in love with a flight attendant, until the other one comes into view, and you realize you were just horny.”

  Neil laughed. “Whatever … you guys are haters.” We continued walking through what felt like a campus of warehouses until we came to the parking lot. It was relatively empty since the airport was closed for the day. The sky was getting cloudier by the second, and I hoped the first snow would come soon already. I mean … it wouldn’t feel like the holidays without it.

  I shook my head at Neil, and my smile disappeared fast. He was one to talk, yet, still, the words fall in love, shouldn’t even be in his vocabulary. A small part of me, that hadn’t completely gone away, still blamed him for putting me in the position to ruin my relationship with Stephanie. Of course, I could never blame him for it out loud. Ultimately, it was my actions, and I had ended up kissing that woman and messing around. All Neil did was put her in my lap and say, Hey look, Mark—it’s Stephanie! I was too drunk to focus on her face. All I saw was flawless skin and auburn hair. Even, the next morning I didn’t even remember much, but the woman had been in my bed and somehow, pictures of us at that club had been forwarded to Stephanie. I suspected that Neil had sent them, but the chances were that the girl had sent them. Steph’s contact name had a ring and a heart next to it back then.

  I walked to my Mercedes and waved to the guys. It was Saturday, so Neil would no doubt call later with plans in mind. But, in the meantime, I just wanted to go home and chill for a few hours. I’d just pulled out of the airport, when my assistant, Tamara, called me. I answered, and her voice came through the car speakers.

  “Hey, Mark! I’m sorry to bother you with this, but they’re being really pushy and annoying about it,” she said. Mara often did that—she launched into a subject without much context first.

  “Who, what, where, when, why …?” I prompted.

  She chuckled. “Sorry. Okay …”

  I pulled onto the long, private road and sped around the small airport, until I turned onto the main road, which was chock-full of traffic. “The private school you send donations to every year, okay, well, they’re having the annual donor’s dinner, and they’re really pressed for someone from the company to attend.”

  I eased to a stop at a green light, as the Volvo in front of me had suddenly pressed on the breaks. “Someone?” I asked, thinking I might as well send Tamara.

  “One of the founders, I mean, but Neil stopped answering my calls, and Jimmy has another charity event to go to tomorrow evening,” she said.

  I rolled my eyes. “Why are they hounding you? Can’t they just take the money and leave us be?” I honked for the car ahead of me to go, but it didn’t budge, and then the light turned red. I shook my head and tried to peer into the car to meet the person’s eyes through the rear view mirror.

  She sighed. “It’s the third year in a row we haven’t had anyone from the company attend. They just want to make sure that we—and this is their exact wording—are truly the ‘kind and philanthropic’ folks behind the yearly check.”

  I closed my eyes briefly and laughed. “Okay …”

  “It sounds like they want to make sure they aren’t being used for any sort of tax evasion,” she said, “or fraud.”

  “Right, so it’s tomorrow?” I asked, sighing.

  “Yes,” she said. “I can send you the invitation. You already have a seat reserved under JNM.”

  “Alright, fine, I’ll go,” I said. “Anything else?”

  “Nope, we’re all caught up. Though, come Monday, we’re going to have to start heavily preparing for the final quarter meeting across the divisions,” she said.

  “Yeah, I’m not looking forward to that,” I said. Writing code and coming up with Internet tech was one thing I could do for hours on end. Looking at financial reports and discussing sales projections? Well, that was for the birds.

  “It’ll be loads of fun,” she said sarcastically. I snorted, and we ended the call after that. The light turned green again. I laid on the horn, so the Volvo would move. It waited a whole ten seconds before slowly letting off of the brake. I shook my head and took a deep breath. Road rage only ever got people into trouble. I had to remind myself of that constantly. As the car pulled away, I noticed a bumper sticker on it that read: “Norman Port Teacher of the Month.” How funny—it was a damn small world.

  ***

  The donor’s dinner was held in the banquet hall of a luxury hotel. The hall was filled with round tables, and it was d
ecorated as if for a gala event. The dress code was formal dinner attire, and all of the donors were dressed to the nines. On the dance floor of the hall, was a small stage. It had a podium and microphone set up. No one had yet settled in their seats. I drifted to the open bar and then stood on the hall’s patio. It was cold out, but there was at least a nice view of Lake Washington and Mercer Island in the distance.

  No one else was outside but the quiet was a little lonely. I thought about going back inside to mingle a little. Instead I just sipped my gin and looked for the moon between the clouds, a real lone-wolf style.

  “Excuse me, sir? Dinner is about to be served, if you could come inside?” an event coordinator—I guessed that was what she did, from the walkie talkie she carried and the badge around her neck—waved me inside.

  “Thanks, I forgot which table I’m at though,” I said while stepping into the warmth of the hall. “I’m Mark Mason,” I said. She stared at me for a second, her eyes wide but unsure, as if she were trying to place me.

  “Mark Mason of JNM?” she asked tentatively.

  I nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s me,” I said. I hoped she wasn’t one of those eligible-bachelor watchers. I’ve had a few of those types of women come up to me. They watched Forbes lists, or thumbed through Page Six to keep tabs on wealthy single men.

  “Wow, I can’t tell you how awesome it is that your company opened up another branch in Seattle. My sister just got a job as a coder. Every day she talks about how she landed her dream position,” she said gratefully.