Vancouver Nights

by Blythe Stone

  “We’re fine,” Nat said. “What are you going to order me sweetie?”

  “Eggplant Parmesan or Tuscan Chicken with cherry tomatoes,” I replied.

  “Mmmm, they both sound good,” Nat called.

  Olivia consulted her menu for the first time, like maybe she didn’t know it had been there before.

  “What about you, Olivia?” I asked.

  “Um. I uh- haven’t even looked yet,” she smirked and glanced up at me sheepishly. Her fingers traced over the items as she read them.

  Nat tilted her head back and looked at me before dramatically rolling her eyes. She put her arm on my shoulders and repositioned us so we’d both be more comfortable.

  “This place is nice,” Nat said, biting her lip and looking down at my cleavage before looking back up at my eyes.

  I shook my head and laughed. “Yeah I looked it up while you were running for your life,” I told her.

  “Mm. See anything else you like?” Nat wondered.

  “This menu is fantastic,” I heard Olivia mutter. She didn’t notice Nat baiting me. She must’ve thought Nat was speaking to her. I watched Olivia grab for her expensive wine and drink some down, completely caught up in her choices.

  Nat lifted her eyebrows and made a face- teasing Olivia behind her back.

  “Oh Natalie,” I sighed.

  I put my hand over hers and squeezed. She was fucking adorable when she was being silly.

  She pulled me closer and kissed the side of my head. I leaned into her.

  “You're so sweet. I'm glad we're going to have this house. You can get more rest and we'll have more privacy,” I said.

  “Mm. It'll be perfect,” Nat said.

  “I rented a car,” Olivia said. “I wanted to go up into the wilderness at some point. Explore.”

  “Very interesting,” Nat said. “Not sure how I feel about you wandering off all alone.”

  “Come with me then. I'll wait for you,” Olivia said, looking between us.

  “Oh- um, sure,” Nat said, looking over at me carefully. “Are you sure you want to wait that long? The filming should slow down soon. Just ADR. We just have to get through the next two weeks of madness. Then I'll have some time.”

  “I'll wait,” Olivia said. “I'm sure.”

  Nat hugged herself to me as she stared over at her.

  “If that's okay,” Olivia asked.

  “I'd love it,” Nat said, staring. “Really.”

  I heard Nat clear her throat somewhere in the middle.

  Olivia's eyes trailed over to mine.

  “What?” I looked at Olivia and then over to Nat. “Oh, sure,” I said.

  She twisted a little and kissed my head.

  Across the table, Olivia picked her wine back up and drank some. Instead of watching us she stared out at the other patrons and the people outside.

  “I need to actually get some work done soon on the new book so you guys can go explore and I'll try to find myself,” I said.

  Maybe Olivia would be more forthcoming with Nat if they were out all day and away from all the distractions of filming and me.

  I drank the rest of my wine and reached for the bottle to fill my glass again. Wine always made me feel delicious and warm.

  “Well you can't ditch us all the time,” Nat said. “But I know how distracted you get while I'm working so I get it.”

  She held my glass for me as I poured.

  “Plus, it'll be great to sneak back into the house and watch you writing. You're always sexy when you're all serious.”

  “Ha! I'm glad you think so. I'm pretty sure to anyone else my writing mode wouldn't be as attractive. I don't want to ditch you at all. I just thought you guys might like to go out on your own once.”

  “Nat's right about the whole attractive thing,” Olivia mumbled. She was staring out into space, not paying attention. The wine in her glass slowly spun with the twist in her wrist. If I knew her any better I might say she was actually down in spirits, even more so than before.

  “See,” Nat teased. “Even the sexy robot finds you attractive."

  Olivia swallowed and I could tell that she'd heard Nat but she kept her thoughts and feelings to herself, choosing instead to stare off some more and drink her wine quietly.

  “She's being nice and she's definitely not a robot,” I said.

  It was silly. I shouldn't feel so pleased that Olivia found me attractive. I knew my cheeks must be red by this point.

  “So, Olivia are you excited about the house?” I asked.

  “What?” It took her a second to come back to us mentally. “Um. Yeah,” she smiled nervously. “It's really nice. Lots of space.”

  “I can't wait to find a good writing spot,” I said.

  “There are a lot of them,” Olivia stared. “The rooftop deck is lovely and the entire third floor has this natural lighting that just sets it apart. I can see myself just lying in there.”

  “Party animal,” Natalie teased.

  Olivia shook her head, and blushed, a little frustrated with her.

  “So. Should we go tonight or tomorrow?” Olivia asked.

  I shrugged. “I'm okay with either one. It's not as if we have tons of stuff to move.”

  “Tonight sounds good,” Nat decided. “I’ll just have to inform the producers. For safety reasons.”

  “Right,” Olivia nodded.

  “How much do I owe you?”

  “Oh, don't worry about it,” Olivia said.

  “Oh come on Ms. moneybags,” Nat groaned.

  “It's really fine,” Olivia persisted.

  The sigh Nat made was very loud.

  “Do you even understand how much I can make by selling just 1 share of my company stock?”

  “Right,” Nat said, unimpressed.

  “I've been playing with my money for decades,” Olivia reminded. “Don’t fight me. I have enough of it.”

  “Got it,” Nat said. “I'll be sure to write that down somewhere so I remember.”

  Olivia got quiet.

  “So, tonight… Yay!” I added.

  Money was stupid and arguing about it was even worse. They both had too much of it to really care who was paying for the house. I was the one stuck in the middle.

  My books didn't make enough money to make me rich like them. The money went into my own bank account and I paid personal expenses like my student loan and credit card out of it. Nat never let me pay more than that though.

  She considered her money our money and I did give her access to my account but she never touched it and she didn't let me merge it with hers. Sometimes, in quiet moments, I felt guilty about that.

  “More wine?” I asked them.

  “Sure,” Olivia said, pushing her glass towards me.

  “A little,” Nat smiled.

  I filled both of their glasses and put the bottle back on the table. There wasn't enough left for a full glass.

  “Maybe we should go wine shopping tomorrow so we can stock up,” I suggested.

  Nat would be busy filming again and Olivia and I could find the best places to get good liquor. That was something we could agree on.

  “I'd love that,” Olivia said.

  “As long as you get food too, I'm all for it,” Nat said. “The hotel has room service so someone is going to need to cook for me. I'm used to service.”

  “I’ll cook,” Olivia said, a little excited.

  “Mmm. I miss your cooking. You were always way too involved with it which made me fat.”

  “You've never been fat,” Olivia laughed. Her cheeks grew red with it.

  “Oh, I gained weight,” Nat confirmed. “You just didn't mind it.”

  “Of course not,” Olivia sighed happily.

  “But yes. Wine. We have to do that,” Olivia said, lids heavy with adoration as she looked from Natalie to me. “Wine and food and books. My favorite things.”

  “You mean your favorite things besides us,” I teased.

  “Uhhh, sure,” Olivia thought about it
and then agreed. She smiled right at me afterward.

  I was feeling a little tipsy from the wine and happy. I didn’t fill my glass again. That answer felt a little different than the one I wanted. It wasn’t like I needed someone to adore me but the vibes I got from Olivia were so different. They had their own temperature. She concealed a lot but the clues came in the form of glances and lingering looks that felt more like tactile spells.

  I cleared my throat and smiled back at her, blinking to try and clear the haze of alcohol from my sight.

  She smirked a little, noticing something in me.

  “The service here is kind of shit,” Nat openly whined.

  “It really is,” I commented, looking around for our server.

  “Is it bad I'm just happy with the wine?” Olivia laughed.

  “It’s not bad but if they don’t come and take our order we should just leave and go through a drive thru or something. I’m going to need food before I get cranky and I wouldn’t want to subject you to that yet,” I said to Olivia.

  “Oh well, I'm curious so…” Olivia teased.

  “She's cute when she's cranky,” Nat confided.

  “That’s a falsehood. I’m a snarky little bitch,” I admitted.

  There was a time between hunger and past the point where I cared about food and in that space of time I became a little angry bear. I’d rampage through anywhere for food when that time came.

  “And spanking you is fun,” Nat teased.

  “Oh, god,” I said, flushing red.

  By now Olivia had to have read something along those lines in my book so it was even worse to think of her knowing that detail already.

  “You’re going to give away all my secrets, aren’t you?” I teased back.

  “That's the plan,” Nat chuckled.

  “Hey, you never know. Olivia might not want to hear about this stuff. Reading it is one thing but you have a way of making everything sound so sexual when you say it,”

  “Oh, I um- I don't mind,” Olivia laughed, a little embarrassed by us.

  “Of course she doesn't mind. She's obviously curious,” Nat smiled at me. “But you are really terrible at bluffing,” Nat laughed.

  “Maybe we should just give her a show then,” I got out.

  I shifted in my seat and tried to settle myself again. Obviously, my irritation was going to really be an issue only for me.

  “I'm up for it,” Nat laughed, surprised by me.

  “Um. You two do know I can hear you, right?” Olivia asked.

  “She’s baiting me and I’m too hungry to resist,” I challenged.

  “Perhaps I should catch a cab back and leave you two to your engagement celebration,” Olivia offered.

  “You don’t have to do that. I’m sorry if we made you uncomfortable,” I turned to Olivia.

  “I'm- I’m not uncomfortable, really. Just don't want to intrude. You're both in high spirits. I see that.”

  “Don’t be silly. You’re not intruding,” I said, giving Nat a look.

  “I'm beginning to think my fiancé has a crush.” Nat kept teasing me.

  Olivia cleared her throat and laughed a little.

  “Natalie, you’re about an inch from making me hangry,” I hinted.

  “Hey. You can't blame me. You picked this place,” Nat said.

  “What does that mean exactly?” I quirked an eyebrow.

  She was begging for a fight or at least for me to get so irritated with her that I’d stop speaking to her for a while.

  “It means none of us have eaten,” she said, sipping her wine. It was a backhanded comment.

  “That’s it,” I said, getting up. “Let’s go, you’re taking me to Taco Loco and then you’re going to be very nice to me for the rest of the night,” I demanded.

  “What? Why?” She asked, feigning innocence.

  Olivia chuckled.

  “Come on,” I said, motioning for them to get up. They didn’t move so I sighed and turned to walk away. “I’ll find the server.”

  I wandered through the busy place and stopped cold when I found the server that had brought us wine. I walked right up to him and squared my shoulders.

  “You’re going to get your manager to comp our wine since it’s been forty-five minutes and we haven’t even been asked for our order. Then, you’re going to serve the rest of your customers in a far better manner than you served us tonight. Okay,” I looked down at his little name tag. “Charlesssss?”

  He sputtered and looked around wide-eyed. None of the other servers at the station close by said a word and the patrons nearby stared.

  “Y-yes ma’am,” he stuttered.

  “Good, now go on,” I said, shooing him away.

  I turned and walked back to our table about twenty feet in all and stood beside the chair I’d been sitting in.

  “You coming?” I asked.

  “Well. I mean, if I have to,” Nat groaned, getting up.

  Olivia seemed a little confused but she gathered her things and tried to leave a tip in cash.

  “You sure you wanna do that?” I asked Olivia, locking her with a direct gaze.

  “Um…” She looked at me, trying to read me. “No?” She asked.

  “Sorry,” I softened. “Leave it if you want.”

  I turned away from the table and pushed down the gnawing feeling that took over my insides. Neither of them deserved my ire but Olivia had done nothing at all and I was being a horrible person to her. Nat had picked it out of me for some reason. Sometimes I wondered if she had a light sadistic streak. That was unfair. She just liked to get me riled up.

  I stepped over to her and leaned in to whisper.

  “If you’re wondering… Yes, you’ll be the one being spanked later,” I disclosed.

  I heard her swallow and noticed as she tried to quell her amusement.

  “Whatever you say,” Nat continued to bait.

  When they were both ready I led the way out of the restaurant and into the open air. I took a deep breath and tried to settle myself. I hated that I got like that. I’d feel guilty for days. It didn’t matter how long I’d known Nat; she could always get a rise out of me. I knew her games so well but I still couldn’t resist most of the time.

  This time she had hit on something real and I knew it now. We had a lot to do if we were going to move things tonight. I’d have to come back and check out of the hotel and make sure that we returned the room keys. Nat had to call the production assistant and we had to pack.

  “Food first and then moving,” I said.

  They both followed me over to the car and I wondered what Olivia was thinking about me now. My head was a jungle. No one would understand it, especially not me.

  18

  (Olivia)

  To say that the night had been interesting was an understatement.

  Something happened between Avery and Nat and I was left to sort of quietly wonder if they were really fighting or not.

  Of course, I felt a little to blame but I also felt bad for the waiter at the Italian place and then for myself because I really wanted to try some of their food. A delay service rarely bothered me. I loved to dally with them. It wasn’t a perk I could afford in my everyday life.

  Both of the girls seemed stressed out as I followed them around.

  Now it was daylight in the new place, the perfect sun warming me in my new bed through the private open window.

  I can't shake it though.

  They'd obviously stewed, danced around each other, fought, and then wildly fucked. Loud enough that I heard pretty much everything. So now, the confused repressed footnote at the bottom of their page? That was me.

  Nat had gone to work really early. I don't even think she slept.

  I worried about going downstairs.

  Had I started an unnecessary fire for them? Or was this normal and nothing to do with me...

  The sun burnt my face and I let it. Laying back and not moving, I wondered again what the hell I was doing and why I’d come up here.


  Natalie was practically shutting me out while also promising me some future connection.