by Laura Gray
“Dibs on using the bathroom first,” Ellie called, rummaging in her suitcase to find her pajamas.
“Too late, I’m already going in,” Archer said as he strode towards the bathroom. He’d already laid out his pajamas on the couch in their room before he left for dinner.
“Come on, man, I called dibs!” Ellie complained.
“Sorry, honey,” Archer mocked her, going in first and shutting the door behind him.
Pfft, Ellie snorted to herself, sitting down on the floor beside her suitcase. She pulled out her jersey shorts and a thin, loose black hoody out of her suitcase along with a toothbrush and toothpaste. Archer took only five minutes to come out of the bathroom. Ellie promptly raced in once he got out—she’d been holding her pee in for the past hour now.
Ten minutes later, Ellie stepped out of the bathroom. With her face washed, makeup removed and her hair pulled up into a high bun, she was ready for bed. She placed the clothes she'd removed into her suitcase and zipped it shut. She glanced around the room, her eyes searching for Archer. He didn’t seem to be in the room at all. Ellie shrugged, shoving her suitcase under the bed.
One more look at that view and I’ll go to bed, Ellie decided, walking onto the gorgeous balcony attached to their room. It was late in the night now and the wind had a chill to it. Ellie wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed her shoulders to get warmth. The ocean at night was nothing but endless black, glimmering now and then under the moon’s light.
I still can’t believe I’m here, Ellie reflected. This whole place, all these people...they’re so unreal. I swear, if Arjun and Connie hadn’t come along, I wouldn’t have the nerve to do this.
“Ellie?” she heard Archer say from behind her. She turned around. Archer had entered the balcony holding a glittering bottle and two glasses in his hands.
“What’s that?” Ellie asked him curiously. The bottle seemed to be covered in gemstones, including a large ruby on the cap.
“This is the whiskey that was in my flask that night,” Archer said as he shut the balcony door behind him. “I thought we could toast the first day of our plan.”
“Yeah, why not,” Ellie said with a laugh. “I could go for a sip of absurdly overpriced whiskey.”
Archer chuckled at her response, placing the two glasses on the table in their balcony. Ellie eyed the bottle of whiskey as he kept it on the table. It was the most extravagant-looking bottle she had ever witnessed.
“Are these real diamonds?” Ellie asked Archer as he opened the bottle.
“Yeah, I think so,” he replied.
“Jesus Christ, that’s excessive,” Ellie said.
“Another gift from my father,” Archer said in a low voice. “I prefer the flask, though.”
“Me too,” Ellie replied honestly. “It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, it is,” Archer agreed with a smile. The windy night blew his dark hair around his cheekbones. Ellie felt a wild urge to reach out and brush away that hair so she could see his brilliant green eyes clearly.
“I could use a smoke, actually,” Archer said to himself, turning towards the balcony door.
“One for me too,” Ellie said.
“Cool,” Archer said, grabbing the handle of the balcony door and giving it a pull.
It didn’t budge.
Archer paused for a second and then pulled once more. The door did not move. He peered at the lock that held the door in place, pushing and shoving at the handle every way he could try. The door refused to move.
Ellie’s face fell as she witnessed Archer struggling with a locked door for the second time in two weeks. She knew that the door wasn’t going to open. She could see it.
The realization seemed to hit Archer as well as he stopped struggling with the door and straightened up. He slowly turned to face Ellie, an unreadable expression on his face.
“Ah, damn it!” he cried.
***
“I can’t believe this!” Archer was yelling as he paced back and forth in the balcony furiously. “I cannot fucking believe this!”
“Why would they make the balcony door lock from outside?” Ellie wondered, her hands in her hair as she sat on the balcony chair. All I wanted was that fucking bed!
“I told you I hated this house,” Archer shouted, waving his arms. “It was built a hundred years ago by a guy who was afraid of a ladder! We own the bloody estate now, there is absolutely no need for this!”
In spite of herself, Archer’s rant was making Ellie feel slightly amused. “I can’t believe I’m actually locked out with you, again,” Archer continued. “And this time I’m the one who fucked us! Me!”
“We’re not fucked, okay? We can call Niles.” Ellie suggested. “He told me to call him day or night, whenever I needed him.”
“Do you have your phone on you?” Archer asked her hopefully.
“No. Do you?”
“No.” His scowl returned, darker. “Damnit!”
“Wow,” Ellie said, settling back into her seat. I wonder if I can pass out right here.
Archer banged on the glass doors so hard that for a second Ellie thought they might break. The glass was thick, however, and stood impervious to Archer’s efforts.
“Hello!” he shouted loudly.
Ellie reached over to the glittering bottle on the table and pulled it towards herself. She opened the ruby encrusted lid off the bottle and poured herself some whiskey.
I’m holding $6 million in my hands, Ellie realized as she filled her glass.
“What are you doing?” Archer asked her, turning around. He looked sweaty and pissed off.
“I’m making myself a drink,” Ellie said. “Do you want one?”
Archer gave her a strange look. “No thanks, I’m going to see if we can get out of here.”
“Go ahead,” Ellie said, sipping her whiskey. Damn that’s smooth.
“Maybe I can break this glass,” Archer wondered, leaning away from the glass wall. “We could throw this chair at it.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” Ellie interrupted.
“There are twelve other rooms here,” Archer snapped. “I just don't want to be stuck here all night.”
“You’re telling me? I want to sleep more than life itself right now.”
“Then why are you making yourself a drink?”
“I just don't think there’s much else we can do other than wait for someone to come by,” Ellie said.
“That might not happen until the morning,” Archer reminded her.
“And that’s why I’m drinking,” Ellie raised her glass at him, taking another swig.
“I’m throwing the other chair at the wall,” Archer announced, walking to the chair that sat across Ellie. “We can get a new room and I’ll have Niles install a door here that unlocks from both sides.”
“Archer, you’re not seriously going to throw the—”
Before Ellie could finish her sentence, Archer had lifted the balcony chair and hurled it towards the glass wall of their extravagant bedroom. The chair bounced back from the glass without leaving so much as a scratch, rolling back in Archer’s direction, who just barely jumped out of its way.
“Well, that didn’t work,” Ellie said with a grin, pouring some whiskey into the second glass. Archer stared at her with defeat in his eyes. Ellie pushed the glass in his direction on the table. “Drink?”
“Yes,” Archer mumbled, pulling up the fallen chair to sit down on it. He reached for the glass and downed the whisky in one draught. Ellie winced.
“That’s got to burn,” she noted.
“More.” Archer pushed the glass back towards her. Ellie obliged, filling up the glass till he motioned with his palm for her to stop.
“So, why is your family doing this vacation thing?” Ellie asked Archer.
“My Uncle and Bennet would tell you it's so that we can heal together as a family since my father was found.” Archer snorted. “But I know what this trip is—it's just a segway to him declaring the will. Uncle wants
to pretend as though he gives a damn about me and the girls before taking away our inheritances.”
“I don't see how just me being here changes anything,” Ellie confessed. “Seems like your Uncle would choose Bennet no matter what.”
“We do have one thing on our side,” Archer told her, is green eyes looking up at her through his thick lashes. “The will my father laid down states that if my uncle finds no suitable trustee from within his direct descendants, he has to establish the reasons why six months ahead of the declaration of the trust.”
“For Regina and Morgana, he listed age as the reason why they weren’t suitable. For me, he listed my lifestyle and my lack of interest in ever getting married or starting a family. The Bradford fortune should go to its heirs, he says, and the heirs thereafter. It isn’t reserved for one party boy.” Archer’s voice had turned bitter by the end.
“75% of the Bradford fortune…” Ellie trailed off. “I do wonder about the numbers.”
“Trust me, you don't want to know,” Archer said.
“I believe you,” Ellie replied coolly. “I might start to hate you.”
Archer smiled. “If you start to hate me, I’ll just pay you to stop.”
“That is such a billionaire thing to say,” Ellie said with a chuckle.
“Everyone has a price, Ellie,” Archer said snidely. “One might have a higher price than others, but there’s always a price.”
“What about me?” Ellie asked, taking a sip of her drink. “Was my price higher than the others?”
“Others?”
“You know, the other girls you asked before me,” Ellie explained.
“I didn’t ask any other girls,” Archer said flatly. Ellie trained her eyes on his handsome face, trying to decipher his unreadable expressions.
“You asked no other girls?” Ellie asked. When Archer shook his head no, Ellie snorted. “That’s nuts! I know tons of girls who would have done this for the free ticket to Europe alone.”
“Yeah, there are many who would do that,” Archer said.
“Then why?” Ellie asked him earnestly. Archer poured himself another drink before he answered.
“I came up with the plan months ago,” he began, “a bit after Uncle had declared his reasons for unsuitability. His argument would be void if I got engaged before the declaration, but my uncle is not a stupid man. He would find out immediately if the woman I’m faking it with isn’t up to the standards.”
“So, I tried out a couple of my actress ex-girlfriends, some of their friends. We’d go on ordinary dates—I wouldn’t tell them about my plan right away, of course—but by the end of most dates, I’d find the woman...incapable of pulling off the role.”
“Why?”
“Because we didn’t get along. My uncle and my mother wouldn’t buy that I was settling with them. Really, it was that simple,” Archer said. “You have to be a person of your own mind, with no arbitrary moral standards to be around me and to participate in this charade.”
“You think I have no moral standards?” Ellie asked him.
“No, you do. But you know that they’re yours and yours alone. You don't care if anyone else follows them and you don't judge them for it.” Archer leaned forward. “Think about it, Elizabeth. How many women would hear my proposition and not decide that I was a soulless dick who didn’t give a shit about my father other than the money he left me?”
“But that’s not my call to make,” Ellie said. “I don't know shit about you.”
“Exactly,” Archer said. “You’d think you wouldn’t have to explain that to people, but you do.”
“So you never got around to actually asking any of those girls?”
“Nope.”
“When did you decide to ask me?” Ellie asked curiously, taking another deep swig. To her own surprise, she was really enjoying this conversation. “Was it the next morning?”
Archer’s cheeks had taken on a light pink color from the liquor. He responded easily, “It was when we’d just left the terrace, actually. We were back in the club. It was just after we’d made out.”
Heated memories flashed through Ellie’s mind and she felt a flush rise in her cheeks. “Then? Why?”
Archer was silent for so long that Ellie thought he wouldn’t respond. He looked down at the table, his breathing steady and even, his eyes hidden behind a fringe of brown hair.
Ellie was just about to prod him when he looked up, his gaze filled with a sudden intensity. Ellie swallowed; her throat suddenly felt parched.
“After we came down to the second floor, you asked me if I had to leave,” Archer said slowly. “You knew I’d just missed my father’s funeral.”
“Yes,” Ellie breathed.
“And I said, no.” Archer’s eyes tightened around the corners. “I chose to stay there, drinking and making out with you. And you didn’t ask me why. You didn’t ask me how long the funeral was and if I could still catch it. You didn’t ask me why I wasn’t calling my family right away nor did you question my enjoyment.”
Ellie stared at him, at a loss for words. She turned her eyes to the table, taking a silent sip.
“Why?” Archer asked her. “I mean, how? How could you understand that? Even now, you haven’t asked me about it. Aren’t you curious as to why I was in a bar when I was supposed to be at my dad’s funeral?”
“No,” Ellie replied truthfully.
“Why?” Archer’s eyes bore into hers with startling intensity.
“When I was seven, they took me away from my mother,” Ellie said softly. “My father passed away just after I was born and she became a raging alcoholic. I think life just stopped making sense to her. She refused to participate in any anything other than drinking.
“She was ill. It took me a long time to understand that, but once I did, I quickly realized that my healthy mother would have wanted me to get away from her sick self as soon as possible. And I felt no remorse—at least not as much as other people thought I would. She already wasn’t my mother when I left her. She hadn’t been my mother for over ten years when she passed away.” Ellie paused. “I didn’t go to the funeral.”
“You didn’t?” Archer looked surprised.
“No. No one would be there that really knew her. No one would understand why I wasn’t constantly bursting into tears. What's the point?”
Archer stared at her with a look Ellie had never seen before. It bordered on respect and something else that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“I wonder how much longer we have to be here,” Ellie said, trying to change the subject. “Too bad there’s no drain pipe we can climb down, or something. You should keep a ladder here, permanently.”
Archer was silent, as though he was pondering over her words. Suddenly his eyes darted to Ellie’s left and then right.
“What?” Ellie asked him warily.
“Drain pipe. Maybe there’s a drain pipe!” Archer stood up with glee glinting in his irises. He quickly brushed past Ellie to go to the right hand side of the balcony. There, he leaned over the balcony, peering at the depths below.
“I see it! It’s here! There’s a drain pipe!”
“There’s a drain pipe?” Ellie asked with surprise. “Why didn’t you say that before?”
“I didn’t know it myself! I told you, this is my least favorite house, I’m rarely ever here—”
“Does it go all the way down?” Elli asked, standing up.
“Yeah, it goes all the way to the ground and it has these steps by the side that we could use to climb down,” Archer pointed downward. Ellie rushed to his side and peered down the balcony. He was right; a cream-colored drain pipe stretched down from the roof to the ground, looking indistinguishable from the chateau’s cream walls in the darkness of the night. Ellie grabbed the pipe with her hands and gave it a shove.
“What are you doing?” Archer asked her.
“Trying to see if it can even take my weight,” Ellie replied, tugging at the pipe. It seemed to be solid and bolt
ed into the wall. “I think this might actually work!”
“Really?” Archer asked her hopefully.
“Yeah!” Ellie assured him. “All we have to do is climb down.”
Then both stared at the drop in silence for a moment before turning back to one another.
“So…” Archer trailed off. “Which of us should try it first?”
“Well, you locked the balcony, so I think it should be you,” Ellie said quickly.
“You’re lighter than me—on the razor thin chance that the drain pipe doesn’t hold, you wouldn’t be able to pull me back.”
“So you would rather I’m hanging there from a broken pipe?” Ellie demanded.
“You won’t be left hanging there, I can pull you back right away!”
“I’m drunk!” Ellie cried.
“I’m drunk too!”
“I’m not going first,” Ellie said with finality, crossing her arms resolutely.
“I’m not going first either,” Archer retorted.
“Well, I guess we’re just going to stay here, then.”
Archer waited in silence for about ten seconds before throwing his hands up in the air. “Fine!” he conceded grumpily. “I’ll go.”
“Are you serious? Wait—” Ellie moved towards him. Archer grabbed a hold of the drain pipe and tested his weight against it, pulling and tugging at the pipe. Then, he hooked his left leg over the balcony ledge so he was sitting on top of it.
“Be careful,” Ellie said reflexively, suddenly wondering if this was a good plan. Archer seemed more confident than her as he maneuvered himself closer to the drain pipe.
“The step is close by,” Archer said as he reached out with his leg. “I think this can work!”
Suddenly, across the edge of the balcony, Ellie noticed two figures walking along the lawn downstairs. Her heart jumped—if they could call out to those people, their whole problem would be resolved.
“Archer, there are people down there,” Ellie said, narrowing her eyes so she could see who it was. One of them was Arjun, that she knew for sure. She could see his trademark black shirt and jeans combo from the distance. But Ellie didn’t recognize the other person with him. The person wore a hoodie and stood with their back to Ellie so she couldn’t see their face.