Deal

by Shey Stahl

He’s certainly bold, isn’t he?

  “Are you a thirteen-year-old boy? Who says humping?”

  You do, Amalie. You said it last week to Zane.

  I start to close my door and he stops me. “Wait, are you going to answer my question?”

  “No.” I start to close the door in his face.

  “No, you’re not going to answer, or no, you’re not humping anyone?”

  “Bye, Tathan.” I say and smile to myself once it’s closed.

  I hear him groan and bang his head against my door.

  Leaning my back into the door, Casey comes around the corner and puts on her shoes, one hand on my shoulder balancing herself, the other slipping on her heels. “Who was that?”

  “No one,” I don’t look at her and reach for my own shoes.

  She looks over my shoulder at the door. “There was testosterone in here. I can smell it.”

  “No there wasn’t.” I tell her grabbing my keys off the counter. “I’m running late for work. Pick me up at noon.”

  Casey is easily distracted, just like Zane, so by me grabbing my keys off the counter, she is on to the next topic. The wedding. Which helps me out tremendously because it’s less explaining that I have to do.

  Casey and Zane are beyond excited about the wedding expo. Really, I can’t blame them, it’s exciting. Weddings are meant to be. I agree to just about anything on the way out the door. So she won’t talk about Tathan, I even agree to brunch with her tomorrow to go over the bridal shower next weekend.

  Work is boring, we’re never busy on Saturdays but I do get a lot done with the meeting minutes I was behind on. Casey picks me up at noon and we head into downtown Phoenix. Zane meets us there, already inside and checking out dresses, another thing Casey has yet to decide on. It may seem weird that Zane’s there but he’s the maid of honor. I never even asked to be Casey’s maid of honor because I didn’t want to take that from Zane. They’ve been friends since they were in diapers. And he is perfect for it.

  We lose each other at some point, probably because I camped out at the wedding cakes sampling them. Who better than to sample the cakes but the girl who loves cake?

  Soon Casey finds me because she’s found exactly who she was looking for, Mr. Elliot Warren himself. I heard he was in attendance but really had no desire to actually meet the narcissistic asshole.

  Casey has been searching for a photographer since her and Bryan got engaged on Christmas Day but had yet to find one. This meant she had a very specific mission today.

  Lately she’d been obsessed with Elliot Warren but word on the street was he was pretty much unattainable unless you knew someone who could get in touch with him. It was like he was a damn mob boss. I half expected the guy to have bodyguards surrounding him.

  “Amalie,” Casey sounds excited, much too excited that she’s seen him. “You have to come meet him. He’s freaking hot too!”

  “Doubt that,” I don’t know about you but I don’t exactly think of photographers as being hot, but I guess I don’t know any either. I’m not even entirely sure how Casey knows he’s hot, there’s this throng of women around him and I’m only seeing bits and pieces of his body.

  “He winked at me Amalie, at me!” she says pointing to herself. She looks so happy I don’t want to let her down so I agree, against my better judgment and act excited.

  “I’ll come meet the famous Elliot Warren.” I say giving up because she really is relentless at times. I giggle to myself that I just air quoted his name. Grabbing another bite of the chocolate truffle cake and a bottle of water, I’m dragged away to the photographer area of the expo.

  “Look, there he is,” Casey points to my left.

  As soon as she points I choke on the drink of water I just took.

  Standing there changing lenses while women watch his every move was Tathan. My Tathan.

  With my mouth open gawking at him, he takes that exact moment to look up from his camera to meet my horrified stare, and then gives me a once over and winks.

  Naturally this would be his reaction. Jerk.

  I’m half tempted to run over there and punch him in the face or kiss him—one of the two is a good option.

  He smiles, practically laughing and motions with his finger for me to come over.

  “Have you met him before?” Casey asks, confused by his gesture. “Wait a second, I know that hair.” She says looking closer.

  “Are you blind?” I growl, angry that he didn’t tell me this when I was expressing my hate for his work yesterday. “That’s Tathan!”

  “As in the Tathan who lives next door to you? Tathan that we work with? Like Paul’s son? How did I not know this before?” she says with awestruck eyes. “Wait... so that would mean that Tathan is Elliot Warren? Oh my God! Maybe he’ll take my photos!”

  “If it wasn’t for your math skills, I would think you were like nine years old.” I tell her staring at her.

  She ignores me and pushes me forward. “You should go over there. It looks like he wants to talk to you.”

  “Of course he does.” I start to walk away. “I’m busy.”

  “With what?”

  “Tasting cakes.” I find the cake table again and shove a piece of chocolate mousse cake in my mouth. “We have to find the perfect chocolate cake.”

  “I thought most wedding cakes are white?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Are you mad at him?” she asks trying to take the cake away from me so she can try it. I refuse and hand her a plate.

  “Yes, I’m mad,” I say through my chewing. A few crumbs fly out of my mouth and onto Casey’s plate. Her eyes squint at the crumbs when I speak, not sure if she should be disgusted or listening to me. “I chastised his photograph skills in front of him, making me look like an asshole and he didn’t even have the decency to tell me that he was Elliot Warren or Tathan ... he’s living a double life. Like Spiderman or Batman.”

  “Maybe he was embarrassed after that.” She points out. “You can be intimidating at times, Amalie.”

  “Like when?”

  “Like now ...” She sets down the plate. “Just go say hi. Maybe he has a reason for not telling you.”

  Of course he does.

  Maybe he was ... I was kind of rude, wasn’t I?

  I’m still angry though. He should have said something.

  Casey even looks like she’s about to defend him again but I stop her holding up my hand. “Whatever, he should have said something.”

  I continue keeping busy with the cake samples and the most delicious invention in the world. Cake pops. I’m not sure who invented them but they are pure genius. What’s better than cake on a stick that you can take anywhere and not get your hands dirty? And they are just so damn cute, they come in all sorts of flavors and colors with the most adorable decorations on the outside. A little slice of heaven ... in a ball ... on a stick. Sheer perfection.

  I sneak away later, of course, to watch Tathan in the seclusion of the crowd where I can properly stalk him without him knowing. I never would have expected this but he really is amazing at the way he shoots. About four couples dressed in wedding attire surround him, each one in their own pose as he captures various shots of them dancing. His brooding eyes concentrate on his work, his lips somewhat pouty with concentration while watching them. All I can think about is him taking pictures of me preferably while I’m in his bed. Lighting low. Slowly stripping away all my clothes. Imagine the possibilities and the outcome of that situation.

  After Tathan finishes, the women continue to flirt with him but I see that when he’s taking photographs he’s a in a different mindset, ignoring their advances with a polite smile.

  Before Casey can catch me, or worse, Zane, I sneak away and find Casey paying for a dress she has decided on. She looks as though the she’s about ready to throw up.

  “I can’t believe I spent five grand on a motherfucking dress.” She stares at the dress in her hand. “It’s making me sick.”

  I hand her a
cake pop from the stash I took. “I can.” I eat the one in my hand in one bite. “And you’ll only wear it once.”

  “Fuck that.” She eats the cake pop careful not to get it on the plastic covering the dress by leaning forward. “I’m going to wear this damn thing once a month. Expect me to show up at work wearing it.”

  The entertaining part about that is Casey would do something like that.

  As Casey and I are walking around, Tathan is walking toward us with his camera in hand looking both worn out and curious as to what my reaction will be. I want to run the other way but there are people everywhere and there really is nowhere to go. Especially when Casey refuses to let me run.

  I watch his every move as he approaches, the lightness of the room making him standout in his all black attire. God he’s fucking beautiful, so dark and handsome.

  And then he speaks.

  “Are you trying to avoid me, Amalie?” he whispers in my ear as he leans into my shoulder.

  Zane choses then to find us, confusion all over his face as he has no idea what happened earlier.

  “Yes,” I say turning to stare at him. “You’re making it difficult.”

  “I’m hurt,” he says putting his hand on his chest.

  “Yeah, right.” Putting my hands on my hips, I roll my eyes at him. “I doubt that.”

  He leans closer so his lips are touching my ear. Zane looks like he’s going to have a heart attack as Tathan does this. Casey too. “I don’t see your date with you.” Tathan says, his voice extra raspy that it makes me shiver with excitement ... or anticipation, maybe. I’m not even sure of the emotions anymore but I don’t like it.

  “Why didn’t you tell me your real name?” I take a step back. “Or what is your real name?”

  “You seemed so appalled by Elliot I thought I could continue to be Tathan.” He scrunches his nose a little. “You seem to like him better.”

  “Well, the cat’s out of the bag, isn’t it?”

  He just smirks. Just fucking smirks.

  “What is your name?”

  He holds out his hand. “Tathan Elliot Madsen.”

  I don’t shake it. “Why do you go by Elliot Warren?”

  “Because it’s easier and Warren is my mother’s maiden name. It’s kind of a homage to her.” He shrugs and I feel like a complete asshole. His voice is softer when he speaks, as if he’s trying to maintain some privacy in the thick crowd. “No one knows me as Tathan in photography. Outside of it, I live a normal life. It’s like a pen name.”

  “Why do you sit next to me at work then if you’re a photographer? Clearly, you don’t need the money.”

  He seems nervous for the first time since I met him, probably because Zane and Casey are staring at us and have been watching this entire interaction. “Paul hired me as a contractor. I take pictures for him of homes which I do the editing and posting of them at the office.”

  “So you come into the office for editing?”

  He glances at Casey, Zane, and then me again. “And because of you ...” he says this like he’s afraid of my reaction.

  I turn and run away.

  It’s around six when we get back to my apartment after going to dinner with Zane. I got tired of their endless questions about Tathan so Casey and I left. By the time we get inside, Oliver is cowered in the corner and I realize why fairly quickly. He’s peed on the kitchen floor. Again. Some think, like Zane, that Oliver is a dog and shouldn’t annoy me. It happens to every couple, even in a dog/human relationship. Live with anyone for a longer than a few days and you’re bound to get annoyed with one another. Dogs are no exception.

  “Come on,” I motion for Casey to get off the couch where she’s staring at her dress in her hand. “I have to walk Oliver and I’m not doing it alone.”

  She turns to look at me setting the dress down. “Let’s go in the hot tub.”

  “Fine, but we have to bring Oliver.”

  We both change into our swimsuits and as I’m putting Oliver’s leash on him, Casey reaches for her cell phone. I eye it offensively and she feels the need to explain. “In case Bryan calls me.”

  “Uh-huh.” And then she looks at my body as I wrap the towel around my chest.

  “Damn girl, swimming does your body good.”

  I push her hands away and reach for her towel throwing it at her. “Grab that bottle of wine.”

  Casey smiles staring at Tathan’s door when we pass by it. I know she’s dying to go inside and beg him to take her photographs.

  “Stay off your phone.” I tell her opening the gate to the pool and hot tub. I know she’s on Facebook because I can see the blue login screen as it lights her face in the night.

  “I’m texting Bryan.”

  “You are not.”

  “I am.” She shows me her screen of a selfie she just took of herself in her bikini and sent to him.

  “You guys are sick.”

  All in all, I’m happy for them. Jealous, yes. But happy.

  “You know what makes me mad?” Casey says once we’re in the hot tub and Oliver is lying beside us on our towels.

  “What, Casey?” I ask twisting to the side to fill my wine glass and Casey’s.

  “I’ve sent that dude like a million messages.” She takes her phone and turns on some music for us. “Not once has he replied.”

  “He’s an asshole.” I bring the wine glass to my lips.

  “Or just that famous.” Casey adds playing with the wet strands of her hair as I hand her wine to her.

  “I don’t understand him.” I turn around to face her holding my wine in one hand. “He’s so confusing. He lied to me.”

  “Technically, no he didn’t.” She points out picking up her cell phone beside her, careful not to let it drop in the water. “You never asked him if he was Elliot Warren.”

  “Whatever. He’s my neighbor. You would think I would know something like that.”

  “Like I said.” She sets her phone down turning it over so the screen doesn’t get wet. “You’re intimidating.”

  I get defensive. “What are you going to do when you’re married? You can’t stay here every Friday and Saturday night.” I slump down in the water until the warmth hits my chin and bubbles tickle my nose.

  “I’ll still be with you. Bryan is on the night shift until his residency ends.” Casey tells me as if I should have known this. Which I did. “You know I can’t stay alone at night by myself.”

  A year ago Casey was at home alone and a man broke into their apartment about six miles from here. She was unharmed and the guy freaked out and left when he realized Casey was home but still, it was an invasion and she never stayed there alone anymore.

  “Yes, I know. Maybe you can pay half my rent then since you’re staying here.” I’m joking but she looks appalled.

  “No.”

  “That’s mean. You should at least offer.”

  She rolls her eyes. “You don’t make Oliver pay half the rent.”

  “He’s a puppy.”

  Casey starts laughing. “I still can’t believe Zane named his puppy Prada.”

  “I can.”

  We’re down there about ten minutes and talking about the bachelorette party when I see Tathan walking toward the gate with a towel in hand and his swim shorts on.

  I glare at Casey. “You tagged us in the hot tub, didn’t you?”

  She nods smiling so wide her eyes squint and I splash water in her face. “You’re an asshole.”

  Casey says nothing more as Tathan approaches. “Hello, ladies.”

  I want to drown myself.

  “I’m getting married in two weeks.” Casey says, trying to get her foot in the door.

  Tathan nods and smiles at her but says nothing. He’s polite but there’s a certain amount of shyness that seems present when he’s around a group of people. It’s almost like he’s a completely different person, guarded and unsure.

  “Are you excited?” He asks Casey making an attempt at a conversation when I don’t say an
ything to him.

  “I am.” And that sends Casey into a conversation I’m not sure Tathan is prepared for. “We met when we were fifteen and I just can’t wait to finally be married to him. He’s in the middle of his internship at Deer Valley Hospital.”

  Tathan nods to everything she’s saying as she goes into detail about the proposal and everything she has left to do. He knows what she’s getting at when she says, “I’m still searching for a photographer.”

  A good amount of silence follows that statement and he smiles, knowing what she’s waiting for.

  Only it doesn’t come. He says nothing to her but smiles and takes a drink of his beer. Maybe he’s playing hard to get, I might never know but I laugh despite what happens.

  Oliver, who’s beside me licking my wine glass knocks it over when Casey’s phone starts ringing. She picks it up and answers, Tathan’s eyes shift to mine so I look over at Oliver.

  “Buddy, no.” I tap his nose to keep him from drinking the spilled wine.

  Casey grabs his leash and holds the phone away from her ear for a second. “I’ll take him up with me.”

  I go to get out but she waves me off and gives me that look like don’t be rude. “You stay.”

  I do but I don’t like it.

  Well, I don’t want to like it.

  “Tell me the truth.” He looks at me once she’s gone. “Did Casey tag me down here and that’s why you came down?”

  “I wouldn’t know. Didn’t look.”

  “Why did you come down here then?”

  He shrugs. “Long day.”

  “I bet.”

  He seems hesitant to look at me, his eyes on the palm trees swaying with the gentle breeze. “I never meant for that to be a lie. Just didn’t think it mattered.”

  “I guess it didn’t.” I say, knowing it doesn’t. If he wants to go by a different name for the sake of maintaining privacy, that’s up to him.

  The only reason I was mad was because I was caught off guard by it. At least I’m telling myself that tonight. It’s also the wine in my hand telling me that.

  For now, I’m going to try not to stare him, let the warmth of the hot tub calm my Tathan/Elliott frazzled nerves, and do my best to not dream about hot tub sex with him sitting this close.