by Kaci Hart
“That sucks.”
“Wait for it.”
“O…. kay but this better be worth it.”
“Well as luck may have it, he didn’t come inside because apparently he had a big to-do at his job. I know this because he came to the restaurant with a few co-workers celebrating something. So there I was thinking that I was the luckiest girl in town since I bumped into him twice in one day. I thought that we’d had such a nice time in his car earlier that when he saw me, he’d be jumping for joy. Instead, absolutely nothing.”
“What does absolutely nothing mean exactly.”
“That means that all he did was tell me his orders and give me a fat tip. Other than that, he acted like he had no idea who I was. I know he recognised me Ava.”
“Oh you see. Right there. You have said enough for me. I don’t even know why we are having this conversation. Miss I just want to be free. Falling like a ton a bricks for a guy that acts like he doesn’t know you. I would have made sure he remembered me. But you and I are different like that. You were probably never even interested in the first place Chelsea, were you?”
“Well not initially but that was most likely because I was running late for the showcase. I literally bumped into him on the street and fell over. Like I said before, he offered me a ride. I would have said no but I was already behind so I just accepted. And it wasn’t the money because you know for a fact that I don’t care about that. It wasn’t until I got into his car that I realized how beyond gorgeous he was. He’s a stock trader or something. He started explaining it to me at length, which completely bored me…”
“Like you are doing me right now. There is no reason for you to waste another second thinking about this guy. He’s a boring, self-centered moron that doesn’t get to be the focus of our conversation so change of subject. I forgot your showcase was yesterday. How did it go?”
Chelsea’s didn’t really want to talk about this today. Especially not with Ava, the most motivated person she knew. Her shoulders fell in resignation as she responded.
“I was fine. Denard says he was told that he can probably expect an audition call before the end of the month. I’m happy for him but I just don’t know anymore.”
“You don’t know what?”
“I don’t know if dance school is really for me so . . . I decided to put it on hold. At least for little while until I can figure out if I want to keep wasting my money.”
She noticed the look she was getting. Sort of like horns were suddenly growing out of her forehead so she decided to elaborate before the scathing response began. She decided to just be honest. Dancing didn’t have the same enjoyment for her that it once had and she didn’t want to keep spending her money on something that she didn’t completely love. It was hard enough to come by.”
“Come on Ava, don’t give me that look. You know as well as I do that this has been a long time coming.”
Ava understood, which was a complete surprise.
“That’s fine. You don’t have to do that, but you have to do something Chello. I don’t want to sound like a broken record but you aren’t getting any younger. What’s your plan for the future? And before you say waitressing, know that I have a plastic knife within reach.”
Chelsea took her phone out of her pocket and pressed a few buttons before turning it to her friend, a smile on her face.
“What am I looking at?”
“The location for my dance studio.”
“Your dance studio?”
“Yes ma’am. So you can leave the knife alone. I haven’t thought of a name yet but it will come in time.”
“I’m impressed Chelsea. When did you start planning this?”
“A few weeks back actually. I haven’t thought of a name yet so for right now it’s just the building. Like I said earlier, I have been thinking about this dance thing for a while now. I do really enjoy dancing but at school they take all the fun out of dancing. It’s less a pleasure and more a chore so I have been thinking that if I was gonna stick with dance, it’d have to be in the way that drew me to it. Do you remember the girl I told you about a few months back that needed to learn to dance proper formal dances for a debutante ball?”
“Vaguely though I do have this little thing called a life that clouds my memories of the million and one things you have done.”
“Funny. Well she was so happy with the results that she turned a couple of other people on to me. From there a few parents asked me if I can teach other things. Some have kids that want to learn swing dance, others are the cutest little ballerinas. It also turned out that one of them owns a few buildings and was able to rent me out this space at an unbelievable price in return for free ballet lessons for her three girls. Who knows. I may be able to really turn this into something serious. Can you imagine it Ava? Me with a real job like you regular adults.”
“Time out. What did you do with Chelsea? Return her to me or I’m calling the cops.”
“Whatever Ava. You know. Who knows if it will really take off or not but it’s better than what I’m doing right now. And . . . I don’t know. It just feels right.”
“I am so proud of you Chello. I am behind you one hundred percent if you need anything whatsoever. Wait. I have an idea. Maybe you can help Corey. His wedding is a little over a month away and he needs someone to help him and his fiancé with their wedding dance. And by the way, he is still hounding me about your plus one.”
“I know. I know. I’ll get back with you soon, I promise.”
Her thoughts betrayed her as he drifted to the front of her mind once again. Ryder would make a great plus one and he was eye candy to boot.
***
Ryder lay on his couch staring at the television. He wasn’t watching the infomercial for whatever doodad was being promoted in the post-midnight infomercial. He had dozed off a few minutes earlier while watching the Islanders lose a hockey game. Having played a little in high school, he was a huge fan and would normally catch the whole game including the post-game wrap up but he’d been working so hard lately that he was on a completely new level of tired, even for the workaholic he was.
When the infomercial spokesman started shouting about how great this invention was for people everywhere who knew how scary the wrong germ could be, he turned the volume down. He never understood why these shouting maniacs always got these jobs. Not once had a hairy, shouting man convinced him to buy anything at this time of the day. Now if someone like Chelsea was on the other side of the camera—shouting, singing, or just smiling, it didn’t matter—he would probably buy whatever she was selling. In triplicate.
And there it was again. For the second consecutive day Chelsea worked her way back into his thoughts. At first he fought it, trying his hardest to focus on whatever he was doing. When it became apparent that he couldn’t, he just went with it. It was no doubt because of how attracted he was to her. He found her to be beautiful and intriguing.
Of course that didn’t matter. He was fairly certain that she must think him to be the biggest jerk in history. Normally he was so intent on performing at work that he never had the time to worry about what any woman thought of him. He hadn’t had a steady female in his life besides his mother and he was satisfied with that. He didn’t have time for a real relationship and he knew it. So even though he did want marriage and the whole nine yards one day, he never allowed himself to dwell on it.
Until now. Since she’d bumped into his life a little under a week ago that had changed. Now he couldn’t get her off his mind even when he tried.
A ridiculous pounding on his doors jostled him from his thoughts.
What in the world?
“Just a second! I’m coming.”
He shouted towards the door. He jumped off of the couch, bouncing against the center table and almost shouted when his water bottle turned over and spilled on the tile floor and center table. He picked up the bottle, with a sigh of relief that it was a clear liquid. Unless it was the police, he was going to strangle the person
on the other side of the door. It was way too late for banging on his door and if he was right, he knew exactly who it was. When he looked through the peephole, he almost wished it was the cops instead.
He opened the door just barely before it was pushed open the rest of the way from the outside.
“Come on Trent, why do you do this? It’s after midnight.” He hissed at him through clenched teeth before closing the door behind him.
Trent looked at Ryder and laughed before throwing his hands up in a very poor attempt at an apology.
“My mistake. I figured you’d still be up. It’s early and you aren’t that old yet, so why were you asleep?”
“I was up thank you. Well technically I had fallen asleep after the game. I woke up about five minute ago but none of that matters. How many times have I asked you to just ring the doorbell? That’s all I want. Just ring the doorbell man. It’s like you are doing this just to get me in trouble. I know that I’m a Chatham but that won’t stop the neighbors from reporting me for disturbing the peace.”
Trent looked dismissively at him.
“Actually it will completely stop the neighbors from calling the cops on you. And even if they did, having your name in this city is like a guaranteed get out of jail free card. Your family isn’t like the rest of us. Your people are like royalty in this city.”
As much as Ryder wanted to argue, he knew Trent was right. He had been blessed to have been born into the Chatham family. In the state of New York, his family name was almost synonymous with the likes of the Bloombergs. Of course the Bloombergs clan was on another level but the Chathams were nothing to sniff at. At first it was due to all the money that his grandfather had made in most of the financial sector after the depression. He was a savvy investor. When his father had taken over the business, they branched into real estate as a secondary arm of the business and built condos all over the state. They also built high rise units, including the one that they were currently in. His father had built it from the ground up and it was one of his crown jewels of his legacy.
They’d done a good job doing things behind the scenes. Only the people that were in the know knew just how influential his people were. All of that changed when Ramsey stepped onto the political scene a few years back. That was when the family went from being behind the scenes to center stage.
It had really turned his parents off since his father, while he liked most of the things that money afforded, really hated the attention that it brought the family--the tabloids and news media looking for a scoop on the up and coming congressman from New York. People fully expected Ramsey to run for one of the really big offices one day but he hadn’t made any promises. Regardless, the family had been dragged into all kinds of financial reviews and the like when opponents of his targeted his personal life. It wasn’t his fault but it was part of politics. Luckily for everyone, the negativity started to wane as the election ended.
Ryder was the middle son, a full four years younger than Ramsey and they had taken totally different paths. While Ramsey didn’t necessarily care for the spotlight, he did use it to his advantage. On the other hand, Ryder did most of his work in the shadows. Working deals to create capital, and using that capital to strengthen the family business, both domestic and internationally.
He really did hate unwanted attention.
Like being named one of New York’s most eligible bachelors two years in a row. That wasn’t so bad. However, the drama that came with it in the form of some females with less than good intentions was one he could do without. Once he had to speak to a PR guy because his last quasi girlfriend made up a story about him proposing to her and had put it on all her social media pages. His dad didn’t take too kindly to it and his mother had a fit, especially since she had never liked her from the get go.
At least he wasn’t as bad as his trouble making younger brother Royce, who was always off with who knows who doing who knows what who knows where. Regularly. If Ramsey didn’t mind the spotlight, then Royce actually fed off of it. Ryder never wanted to even consider what Royce was doing any given day of the week. He wasn’t a bad kid, but just enjoyed being a young rich guy as much as possible. As long as it didn’t devastate the bottom line of the company, it was acceptable for Ryder, even if it wasn’t enjoyable.
Ryder followed Trent as he made his way to the fridge, grabbing a cola and then sat on the couch, taking a piece of pizza out of the box. Ryder looked at him incredulously.
“You might be right about not getting in trouble but still, try to respect the place and just use the doorbell next time. Either that or call. Better yet don’t even show up randomly to eat my food. I don’t remember inviting you over for a midnight snack. Don’t we pay you enough to buy your own food?”
Ryder sat on the couch next to his friend.
“Dude, can you just relax with that ‘I pay your bills’ stuff man. We are friends right? So then I can come over when I want.”
“Idiot. I mean you are a total idiot. I’m just saying that one day you’re gonna come knocking and I might actually call the cops. You ever think I might be on a date? Maybe cooking dinner for a woman?”
“Never happening Ryder, but the day ever comes that it does, I’ll gladly go to jail in shock. I’m not worried though. Out of all the times I have popped up on you on a Friday night, the most exciting thing you ever have going here is TV and stale pizza.”
He threw the crust of the pizza back in the box.
“Speaking of women, I meant to ask you the other day. Who was the woman that I saw you drooling over at the restaurant the other night?”
“I wasn’t drooling.” Ryder hadn’t realized he was obvious regarding Chelsea. Apparently it must have shown.
“Not drooling? Dude, you’re drooling right now. Look at your table here. Wet with your drool. This is gross by the way.”
Ryder watched as Trent took several napkins from the box and started to clean the spilled water.
“That’s funny.”
“So you find me cleaning up after you drool all over the place funny? All I am saying is that you need to get it together man. Seriously. So what’s the deal?”
“Isn’t it a little bit late for you to be getting into my business anyway?”
“I told you already, it’s never too late.”
“Alright. If it will get you to go home, then I met her earlier that day. You saw how pretty she was.”
“Did I ever. I mean she loo…”
“I didn’t ask for the play by play. Anyway. You didn’t get the chance to spend time talking to her and laughing like I did. When I first met her I gave her a lift to some performing arts college and . . . I don’t know man. We just clicked and just when I was about to get her number, my secretary called. Chelsea was running late herself so she couldn’t wait for my call to finish and you know I had to get to the meeting that morning so I couldn’t go after her.”
“Chelsea. So you got her name at least.”
“Yeah, but that’s about all I got at the time. I thought I’d never see her again by chance. I liked her and figured I would made a way to find her eventually. That was before she showed up at the restaurant. Well you know how my father is, and I in no way felt like explaining to the old man who she was with our clients there. You know he is about that keep-your-eye-on-the-prize thing, right?”
“Of course. I got chewed out once about it and I’m not even his child.”
While it was true that Trent wasn’t a Chatham, he was like the next best thing--his lifelong friend. Ramsey was so much older than Ryder that while they were great brothers they didn’t really hang together much as kids so different schools and different friends. Trent had filled that void as he was Ryder’s best friend throughout high school and college. They hung out so often that people thought that they were brothers, going so far as to call them the twins.
“Close enough. Anyway, I’m already upset enough at myself for not saying anything to her all night long. Just when I was ready to go talk to her, t
hat was when our waitress changed.”
“Wow. You are the only rich guy I know that can make a woman run away from him. All that money and still no luck with the ladies.”
“Shut up man.”
“No, seriously. Let that have been me. I would have been like ‘dad, meet my future wife.’”
“Blah blah blah. It’s easy to say that but you would have buckled too. That’s why you always have stupid advice. Like I even asked for it. Wait a minute. Why did you even come over here in the first place Trent?”
“Oh, I was having so much fun messing with you that I almost forgot. Let me just say that it pains me to see how bad you swung out with her so if you need me to introduce you to a few ladies, I’ll see if I can find anyone willing to take a chance on a moping rich guy.”