by Tiara Bosh
He answered on the second ring. “Kayla.”
“Chad, thank you for the flowers,” she said.
“You’re welcome. I hope you liked them,” he said.
“Seeing them was a pleasant surprise,” she said vaguely, worried she might mislead him in any way.
“Well, I had a good time last night,” he said. “I was hoping to see you again soon? Maybe for dinner this time?”
Somehow she knew that was coming. And even if Kayla had given some thought since they parted ways the previous night, she had to ransack her thoughts for a decision.
“Okay,” she finally agreed.
“Wow, great, good to hear,” he said. “Would you be free Saturday night?”
Kayla was about to say yes when she remembered that was the night of the fund-raiser.
“Oh, sorry, I have to attend a charity event Saturday,” she said.
“That’s okay. Umm… how about Sunday afternoon? We can have a picnic.”
Kayla actually liked that idea. It would be more casual.
“Sounds good,” she said.
“Okay that’s fantastic, I’ll call you Saturday with the details.”
“Okay, thanks again and bye.”
Kayla wasn’t even able to dwell on that fact that she received flowers from a guy who seemed interested in her. Knowing the urgency of the email she had to send out, she spent the next ten minutes finishing the email and re-reading it to make sure she got her point across.
After sending the email out, she opted to do some sketches for a mixed use commercial building they were pitching on to relax herself. Designing has always been restful for her even if it was for work. But thirty minutes in, her office line started ringing.
“Kayla Richardson’s office,” she said.
“Kayla, this is Beth.”
Beth was the secretary of the millionaire’s desperate housewife. Kayla knew a problem was coming.
“Yes, Beth, you received my email?”
“I did, and I have discussed it with Julia just now,” Beth said. “But I’m sorry Kayla, but she insists the revisions could be done without expense. She said they’re paying millions of dollars for everything. What they’re paying should have covered contingencies.”
“But contingencies are only a small fraction of the whole contract cost,” Kayla reasoned. “The contingency is mostly to cover fluctuation in material prices and minor changes. A revision that impacts majority of the structure would require huge costs. Come on, Beth, we’ve spent more than six months developing the design with Julia herself. That was more than enough time for her to request for revisions.”
“I understand, Kayla, but you know how Julia is,” Beth pleaded. After months of working with them, Kayla knew that Beth was a nice girl just stuck with a difficult boss.
“Tell you what. I’ll talk to Bobby,” Kayla offered. “He should be able to talk to Patrick about this.” Bobby was friends with Patrick Mackenzie. He might be able to get his friend to pay up.
“Yes please, Kayla, that would be great,” Beth said. Kayla heard the poor girl sigh with relief.
After the talk with Beth, Kayla dialed Lisa, Bobby’s secretary.
“Lisa, is Bobby in?”
“He’s out meeting some clients, Kayla,” she said. “He should be back later this afternoon. I’ll inform you once he’s back, okay?”
“Sure. Thanks, Lisa.”
With nothing else to do yet on the matter, she got herself to go back to sketching to try relax herself. But almost immediately, her mobile phone started to ring.
“Could you give me a break!” she muttered aloud, annoyed she got distracted again.
“Hello,” she barked out without checking who it was.
‘Whose head do you want to bite off?”
“Alex?” she asked, confused for a while.
“Yup! I’m still waiting for my next scene,” he explained. “Thought of calling you during my break. Looks like you need a break too.”
“It’s just one of those days,” Kayla responded, sighing. “So why did you call?”
“I just wanted to confirm for Saturday. My driver will be at Jenny’s place by seven. The program starts at eight. Is that okay?”
“Yes, thanks again for arranging it,” Kayla said.
“You sure everything’s okay?” Alex asked.
She waited for a second till she responded. “Yes.”
“Okay, I’ll see you Saturday then.”
“See you,” she echoed, ending the conversation.
As she put down her phone, she was wondering why she had this urge to see him right then.
“God, I think I need a drink,” she muttered to herself.
Chapter 14
People were out of the office early the following night, it being a Friday. It was like everyone had plans except for Kayla. Kayla didn’t want to be the last person in the office again on a Friday night, so she left before that happened.
So by eight, she found herself home. She had the cab drop her off at a deli close to her place so she was able to buy a sandwich and a salad before walking home.
She just popped open a bottle of red wine when she heard her phone ringing. She saw it was Alex and she felt her heart skip a beat. Why would he be calling?
“Hello, Alex.”
“Where are you on this lovely Friday night?” he asked.
“Would you believe I’m home already?” Kayla said.
“Really?” his voiced had traces of feigned shock. “I thought you’d still be slaving away in the office.”
Kayla laughed. “Well you and Jenny are starting to get to me. So you should be proud of yourself. Don’t get too cocky though.”
Alex laughed.
“So why did you call?” Kayla asked.
“Just to tell you that you’ve been warned.”
“Huh?”
And the line was dead.
Kayla stared at her phone for a second, deliberating on calling him back to ask what he meant. But Kayla decided against it, thinking it was just Alex’s odd sense of humor.
She was enjoying her food when she heard the doorbell ring. And that’s when she realized what was going on. Walking to the door, she didn’t bother peeking out. She opened the door to find Alex at the other side, wearing another one of his many hoodies, jogging pants and rubber shoes. He had on a crooked smile that he obviously knew was charming.
Even if she knew before opening the door that it would be him, the sight of him blew her away. Good thing she hasn’t changed out from her office clothes. He didn’t have to see her in her sleepwear again.
Leaning against the door, Kayla asked, “What did I do to earn this royal visit?”
Alex laughed. “I have pastries.” He raised a pink box that smelled of chocolate and sugar. “Will it grant me access inside your home?”
Kayla laughed as she opened the door wider to allow him in. “It’s scary that’s you’re starting to know my weaknesses. Have you had dinner?” she asked, as she led him to the kitchen where she was previously having her dinner. She sat back on the bar stool and motioned for Alex to take a seat. He has already lowered the hood of his jacket. “I have a sandwich and some salad. I can split them with you.”
“How generous of you,” Alex kidded, taking a seat. “But no, thanks, I’m fine. They already fed us in the set.”
“You came from filming?” Kayla asked. “Oh wait, I’ll get you a glass.” She stood up and headed to her cupboards.
“Yup,” he said. “We will be done by next month.”
“That’s good,” Kayla said, going back to her seat and placed Alex’s glass in front of him. She got the bottle and poured for him. She also got them plates and forks for the pastries, and if he decided he did want to partake of her food.
She edged the plastic containers of the salad and the sandwich closer to him.
She realized she hasn’t really been looking at Alex, and when she remembered to do so, she found him just looking at her with a smi
le on his face.
She tried to act aloof, but she was pretty sure she blushed right then. “What is it?” she asked.
“Are you feeling better from yesterday?” he asked.
It took a while for Kayla to remember the stressful day at work.
“Oh, there were just a lot of things going on yesterday. I’m fine now, thank you for asking,” she said sincerely. She got to talk to Bobby and assured he would have a word with Patrick about it. Kayla was sure Bobby would be able to handle it.
“I wanted to drop by yesterday to cheer you up, but filming ended pretty late,” Alex explained. “So here I am now instead.”
“Thanks for dropping by today then,” she said, touched by his thoughtfulness. Then not very comfortable with the melodramatic direction of their conversation, she shifted it immediately. “So do you have another movie lined up after this one? Or will you be jobless for a bit again?”
Alex grinned. “Will probably take a break after,” he said. “Might travel.”
“Lucky you,” Kayla said.
“You can always join me,” Alex said with a teasing smile.
Kayla laughed. “As if.” But she could feel her cheeks getting warm with the idea of going with Alex to an exotic place. To distract herself, she just opened the box of pastries to uncover a gorgeous array of eclairs and French macarons.
“Okay we can trade, I get the dessert, you get the remainder of my food,” she kidded.
Alex laughed. “I requested for extra servings since I knew you liked them.” He placed pieces of pastries on Kayla’s plate. He placed some on his too. Alex told Kayla about his day on set over the pastries and some wine.
“No divas in the set? Or is it just you?” Kayla teased with a smirk.
“Thanks a lot, Kayla,” he said, pretending to be hurt. “But luckily, everyone’s getting along in this movie. So far at least. Not like the last one. I trust you won’t tell anyone but in High Alert, Emily was quite the prima donna.”
“Really,” Kayla said in disbelief. “She always plays the adorable girl.”
“Well guess she’s a pretty good actress,” Alex said. “There are a lot of those around Hollywood.”
“Do you get used to it?” Kayla asked.
“They’re buzzkills, alright, but we just have to deal with it,” he said, as he took a sip of some wine. “Just like how you have off days at work too.”
“Oh yeah,” Kayla said, deciding to play with him a bit some more. “I have this one client. Talk about buzzkill. He thinks he’s some big shot movie actor. Thinks he can get everything he wants.”
It was bad or perfect timing – depends who you ask -- because Alex was drinking from his glass and almost spat out the wine when he started laughing.
“I think I’ve been perfectly nice,” he said, defending himself, amiably. Then he gazed at her and in a more somber tone he added, “And no, I wish to, but I don’t get everything I want.”
Kayla looked back at Alex, wondering what he meant. But she got butterflies in her stomach. Feeling like she didn’t really want to know or wasn’t ready to know his answer, she didn’t ask what he meant and just changed the topic again.
“So what happens in a fund-raising event? I haven’t been to one,” she said.
“Oh you know, we just highjack everyone for their money,” he replied jokingly.
Kayla laughed. “So you just send invitations to all the rich men and women of New York?”
“Well, we started with the people we know,” Alex said. “At first it was mainly producers, directors, other actors and actresses I’ve worked with. Then word got out about the foundation through the press. We got inquiries. We chanced upon people who sincerely believed in the cause and wanted to help out. There are some – well -- we just became part of their company’s socio-civic programs. But of course we’re still very grateful to them.”
“Yes of course,” Kayla echoed. She enjoyed it whenever Alex talked about the foundation since his passion came out. Even more so than when he talked about acting.
“Are you expecting a large turnout?” she asked further.
“Not sure how many RSVP’d” he said, “but I think this will be the largest one yet. It kinda helps that High Alert is still playing. They – um – want to see me.”
Kayla looked at Alex and was surprised to see him suddenly become bashful about what he just said.
This guy really was full of surprises.
A thought crossed Kayla’s mind. “Do you get indecent proposals from rich women?”
“I’ve had a few,” he admitted, shrugging.
Kayla laughed. “That’s hilarious.”
“So I might need you to save me from a couple of them during the fund-raiser,” he teased.
“I’m not sure how I can save you, but I’m sure you can take care of yourself,” Kayla teased back.
“Maybe you already have,” he said, so softly, Kayla wasn’t sure she heard it right.
She pretended she hadn’t heard anything, but her heart started beating furiously.
Up until she slept that night, what she thought he said bugged her.
What did he mean by that?
Chapter 15
“Honey, the car’s here!” Ryan called from downstairs. It was the following Saturday, and Kayla and Jenny were back in Jenny’s master bedroom, prepping for the event that night. This time Kayla was in a blood orange strapless gown and Jenny was in an emerald green dress. Kayla had her hair wavy and spilling down.
“Let’s go, we’ve run up in debts with our wardrobe and parlor expenses. Might as well make the most of it!” Jenny joked as the two of them headed down. “Two functions in one month? We’re suddenly rubbing elbows with high society.”
Ryan greeted the two of them downstairs in his suit and tie. He laughed at Jenny’s remark. As a high school teacher, he also wasn’t used to these events. He wrapped his arm around Jenny’s waist and kissed her. Kayla almost sighed at the sight of them.
Ryan and Jenny checked in on the babysitter and Trey before they headed out.
“Bye Kayla,” Trey greeted, also giving her a hug as he stood on the couch.
“Aww, bye Trey,” she said. She ruffled his hair. “Be nice to Rachel.”
He nodded then sat down to read a Marvel picture book with Rachel.
Jenny, Ryan and Kayla headed out, to see a shiny black Lincoln parked by the curb.
“Fancy,” Ryan commented, but was obviously excited to ride the expensive car.
The driver walked out to open the door for them. He was a large guy who seemed like he lived in the gym. He introduced himself as Roy.
Ryan rode at the passenger’s seat while the girls got in the back.
Kayla heard her phone buzz. She took her phone out from her purse and saw a message from Alex. “Where are you?” the text read.
“On our way,” she replied.
“See you, Kayla,” he replied quickly.
Kayla smiled. For someone who was so famous, Alex seemed to have all this time sending text messages and emails. And he seemed so needy. She then remembered what he said about the business to be full of phonies. She was quite moved that he trusted her for the short time they’ve known each other.
They were still on their way when Kayla heard her phone ringing. At first she thought it would be Alex, getting all impatient, but was surprised to see Chad’s name.
“Chad, hi,” she answered. Jenny quickly turned to her and grinned.
“Hi Kayla, I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time,” he said. “I know you have that charity event.”
“It’s okay, we’re still on our way,” she said.
“Okay good, I just called to talk about tomorrow,” he said. “How about four o’ clock? I can pick you up.”
“We can just meet there,” Kayla quickly replied, not sure why. It was like she was not yet ready for him to see her place.
“Oh okay then,” he said. “Can we meet at four in front of The Met?”
“That w
orks for me,” Kayla said. “I’ll see you. Thanks.”
“Great, see you Kayla.”
When she ended the call, she waited for Jenny to say something. After half a minute of not hearing anything she looked to her right to see Jenny just looking at her with a scrutinizing look.
She raised her eyebrows in question but Jenny still didn’t say anything. Kayla just turned her gaze to her other side to see that they were nearing the hotel.
As Roy stopped the car at the hotel drop off, he and Ryan opened the doors for the two girls. They all thanked Roy before he drove away to park. The three of them then made their way to the ballroom, handing over their invitations to the ushers.
As they entered, the sight of the fancy decorations and elegantly-dressed people made Kayla feel nervous. She paused for a while, tightening her grip on her clutch bag and fidgeting with the thin bracelet she had on her left wrist. It was so fancy – even nicer than most of the weddings she’s attended.
The usher pointed out their table but were led first to the cocktails area. They saw Bobby and Cynthia talking to some dignified-looking people. They also saw Brandon and Sara by the bar.
Kayla, Jenny and Ryan were about to join Brandon and Sara when Kayla saw Ben talking to a couple other men in suits.
“Excuse me,” Kayla said then made her way to Ben.
Ben beamed when he saw her. He took her in for a hug. “Nice to see you again, Kayla,” he greeted, and quickly introduced her to the men he was speaking to. The two men excused themselves.
Ben turned to look back at her. “You’re looking beautiful as always.”
“Thank you,” Kayla said, flattered. “You look good too.”
“You stole my line, Benjamin,” Kayla heard from behind her. She turned to see Alex looking dapper in his black suit. The sight of him stole her breath.
“Kayla, hi,” he said standing beside her. He put his arm around her waist and leaned down to kiss her cheek to Kayla’s reluctant delight. “You just made all the other women here look like drab.”
Kayla’s mouth opened in shock. “Alex!” But she couldn’t ignore she was enjoying having his arm around her waist. She suddenly felt at ease being in the sophisticated event.