“I’m confused.” I sat back in my chair.
“I don’t know. That’s just what he said.” He shrugged his shoulders, and took a sip out of his cup.
“Ok...” I took my plate, swiping the eggs into the trash, and put it in the dishwasher.
He gave me a confused expression, “What are you doing?”
“I’m suddenly not hungry anymore.” I said dryly.
“Sophia, don’t be upset. Stefan’s a dick.”
“I can’t tell the difference between the two of you.” I snapped, and walked out of the kitchen. I heard Sam call my name, but I didn’t want to hear any more.
Dammit I left my coffee downstairs. I really needed to get out of this house and clear my head. I changed clothes, and stuffed my work clothes in my bag. I debated on telling Sam that I was going out, but he was the last person I wanted to talk to at the moment. My day consisted of walking around Central Park, sitting on a bench, reading, stopping to play with a random stranger’s puppy. Work came faster than I wanted. Joe told me that it’s expected to be busy due to some game on TV. I could use the money, so I can’t complain too much.
The beginning of the shift was a slow start; it didn’t get slammed until half way through. That was around the time the game started, and we were packed. I don’t think I've ever made that many whiskey cokes and vodka sprites...ever. Pretty sure Agnes at the end of the bar, who was on her third Tom Collins, knows. She’s kept me entertained with her random jokes about the “20 somethings” as she called them. She ended every joke with no offense, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
Closing time came, and the last few stragglers finally left. I finished up wiping the bar tops off, and stacking the glasses. Joe walked up next to me, and took the drawer out of the register. “Sophia, you can go ahead and head out. There’s not much left to do.”
“Alright, are you sure?” I stacked the last two glasses next to each other.
“Yeah, looks like you have someone that just walked in waiting on you anyway.” He smiled, and nodded to the door.
I looked up, and saw Stefan leaning up against the wall near the door; always turning up out of nowhere. I sighed, and clocked out. I went to the back to grab my bag, and my mind was going over what to say to him. When I returned he was standing at the bar talking to Joe.
I walked up behind him, “What are you doing here?”
He looked back at me over his shoulder, and then turned around to face me. “I thought you could use company on your walk home. I was down the street.”
I laughed, “Did you now?”
“Chivalry isn’t dead yet, Sophia.” He leaned toward me with that stupid smirk.
I mimicked his body language, squinting my eyes at him. “Some days I wonder.” I left him there, walking toward the door.
“What does that mean?” He followed me, trying to catch up.
He was staring at me waiting for a response as we started to walk down the street. I looked away trying to avoid him; I was trying not to laugh from the awkwardness.
“How was your game last night?” I asked.
“Fine?”
“No strange conversations about anyone?” I looked forward. I gave him an open to tell me what he said, but he didn’t take it. “Does just some girl, she’s nothing special sound familiar?”
He placed his hands in his pockets, “Let me guess, Sam?”
“If you don’t like me, that’s fine. Just don’t turn me into another joke.”
He turned, and was almost walking backwards, making me face him. “Not everyone is trying to turn things into a joke. I do like you. I just like to keep things I care about close to me. Others getting involved, they ruin the good things in life.”
Him admitting that about me caught me off guard. My gaze turned into an awkward long stare.
“Sophia?”
I looked around realizing we had stopped walking. “Then what? Keep me a secret forever?” I pushed past him.
“No, not forever; just waiting for when the time is right.” He said calmly, walking next to me. “My life is complicated.”
I looked away from him, my attention settled on an older woman selling flowers on a bench. Weird things happen late at night in New York. I smiled, as we passed her. She returned a weathered old smile. We walked around the corner, and Stefan stopped to turn around. “Wait right here.” He gently touched my elbow, and then disappeared back around the corner.
Moments later, he reappeared with a single red rose. I tried to hold back the smile that slowly formed, but I failed miserably. I reminded myself that I was mad at him, but he was putting on a pretty good defense.
“What’s that?” I laughed, as he approached.
“Well it’s a rose. I told you, chivalry isn’t dead. Plus I like it when you smile.” He held the rose out in front of my nose. I leaned in to smell it, and he bopped the top of my nose. A small laugh spilled out of me.
“Thank you.” I took it from him, and we started to walk again. “What should I wear tomorrow?”
“What's tomorrow?” A flirtatious smile slowly formed across his face, he was looking straight ahead.
“Very funny”
“Wear whatever you want.”
“Don’t say that to a girl, I’ll show up in pajamas.” I walked up the front steps to our home.
We entered through the front door, only to find Jessica sitting in the living room flipping through a magazine. Oh come on...I can’t catch a break. I looked up at Stefan, whose face changed instantly from the sight of her. Why does she always randomly show up? At 1AM at that. Every time I think life is going pretty ok, she pops out of nowhere like a bad stripper in a giant cake.
“I’ll handle this, you go upstairs.” He didn’t take his eyes off of her.
I don’t like being told what to do, but I did what he said. The only reason I did what he said was that I didn’t want Jess to have a chance to say anything to me. My heart got the best of me; I wanted to know what was being said. I lingered halfway up the stairs like a child listening in.
“What are you doing here?” Stefan said firmly.
“I wanted to see you.” Jess whined. “You’ve disappeared the last few days.”
“You have to stop randomly showing up here.” I heard him toss his keys on a table.
She laughed, “Why? Cause your new play thing might get its feelings hurt?”
“I don’t have a new play thing.”
“Then it won’t be a problem with me staying the night.” She said with confidence.
“Yes, it actually will.”
“You’re such an ass, Stefan. She’s just some girl. You’ll screw her, getting her out of your system, and then it will be over. Your parents will never like her the way they like me. She’s just a phase and you know it!” Her voice began to rise.
“It doesn’t matter what she is, you’re not staying.” He was holding his ground, and I was pretty surprised.
“You know I talked to your Mother the other day. She said she’s excited to see you and I together at the Winter Gala this year. You know how she is; can’t disappoint Mother. Can you?” She mocked.
“I need you to stop talking to my Mum.”
“I can’t help that she calls me. She still thinks of me as her future daughter in law.”
“Only because it would be the best business deal for both our families.” His annoyance progressed.
“Whatever Stefan. I always get what I want.” She said snarkily.
“Not with that attitude you don’t. Please go home.”
“Fine. Don’t text me later tonight when you’re lonely.” She snapped. “Because we both know you always do.”
I could hear her feet on the hardwood floors coming in my direction. I got up off of the stair that I was sitting on, and began to rush up the stairs. I fumbled over my own feet causing a loud banging noise. Shit, shit, shit! I made it around the corner just as I heard the front door open. My heart was beating a million miles a minute.
Chapter Twelve
Sophia
The first half of the day I kept replaying Stefan and Jess’s conversation from last night. I’ve definitely concluded that she does in fact hate me, and she might murder me in my sleep. Does this house have an open door policy? Note to self: Lock bedroom door when sleeping. After thirty minutes of fumbling through my wardrobe, I felt defeated. I was joking about wearing pajamas on our date, but at this rate it might actually happen.
“Hey I was going to see if… whoa it looks like a bomb went off in here.” Keira walked into my room, eyes wide as she took in the state of my messy room.
I threw the pile of clothes in my arms onto the floor. “I have nothing to wear.”
Keira walked over to my closet, and began to fan through my wardrobe; only to come up with nothing. She stood there staring into the black hole that was my closet.
I sat down on my bed, “I told you. I have nothing.”
“I think I do.” She had an excited expression on her face and ran out of the room.
Moments later she returned with the prettiest emerald green dress I had ever seen. “I got this dress for last year's Winter Gala that Stefan’s family always hosts, but I ended up wearing something else.”
“You don’t think a dress is too fancy?” I asked her as I ran my fingers along the silk.
She handed me the dress. “If I know Stefan, and I do, he’s going to try to dazzle you. You might as well look the part.”
Once the dress was on, I turned to look in the mirror. The green silk was flowy, the fabric was so light that it didn’t feel like I had anything on. I didn’t know you could love a dress so much.
“It’s like that dress was made for you. Green is your color.” She held my hair up, as if it were an up-do.
“What if I embarrass myself?” I turned to face her.
“You won’t.” She picked up one of my lipsticks. “When is he supposed to be back?”
“In like 10 minutes.”
“Girl, you better get downstairs!”
Keira gave me a pep talk as we walked down the stairs. Once were at the bottom, the door swung open, and there he was, once again making my stomach flutter. He was dressed in a well fitted grey suit with a white shirt underneath. Stefan’s eyes traveled up my body as he took the sight of me in.
Our eyes lingered on each other for a few seconds; until Keira finally spoke. “Where are you guys going?”
“It’s a surprise.” Stefan smiled at her.
“I don’t like surprises.” I tried to give him a pitiful expression to coerce him into telling me, but it failed.
“You can’t know everything, Sophia.” He looked at me knowing he was dangling this secret to tease me. He opened the door back up. “Are you ready?”
“Of course.” I walked toward the open door.
“It’s a bit chilly tonight. Do you want to get a jacket?”
“No I should be fine.”
“Make good choices. Use protection!” Keira yelled as he shut the door. He shook his head back and forth laughing at her.
I froze on the steps as I looked down at the street. A blacked out limo was parked in front of the house. I began to second guess my choices. This was too much. I could turn around, and go back inside. We barely had enough to pay the mortgage growing up, and now I'm just casually going on a date in a limo.
He placed his hand on my back, “Everything ok?”
I snapped out of my thoughts, “Yes, fine.” I smiled.
“You sure you’re ready?”
“Yep, let’s do this thing.” I continued down the steps. Did I really just say that?
“Ok.” He laughed, and followed me to the limo.
As the limo pulled away from the curb, I looked around the inside. Lights outlined the mirrored ceiling and mini bar. The seats were black leather, and there was a window to have access to the driver that was closed.
“I’ve never been in one of these before.”
“You have a lot that you’ve never done before don't you?” His attention was solely on me. Which was making me extra nervous.
“You make me sound boring.”
“You are far from boring.” He laughed. “They don’t have limos where you’re from?”
“Stefan, I’m from a small town that has like 5 stop lights. We don’t have limos.”
He laughed, “I guess you have a point.”
We pulled up to a tall chic building. It looks like any normal skyscraper office building, but what I've come to learn is that anything could be inside these buildings. A unicorn for all I know. The driver stepped out of the vehicle, and walked around to open the door. Stefan held his hand out to help me out of the limo.
“Thank you, Tim.” Stefan shook the driver’s hand, placing his other on top of their grip.
“Do you know him?” I asked, as we walked toward the doors.
“Tim? He was my family’s driver, until I cut most ties with them. He moved to New York when I did.”
We were immediately greeted by an employee when we entered the building. “Good evening, Mr. Edwards. This way please.”
I looked up at him with a perplexed look on my face, “Is this normal?” I whispered.
He laughed, “For you? I can make anything your normal.”
I continued to stare at him for a few seconds. Searching for any hint of sarcasm, but I’m pretty certain he was serious.
The elevator took us quite a few floors up. We entered onto a floor that was nothing but a dark hallway. The floors were black tiling. White lilies were placed in vases between each closed door. The attendant walked up to an empty wall, and knocked in what seemed to have been a code. A door then magically appeared.
We walked through this magical door into another room that led to an outside terrace. My eyes began to dance around looking at the twinkling lights that overhung the entire terrace. You could instantly smell the flowers that had been delicately placed in any open spot that was visible. It was as if this were a secret haven in the middle of the city. There was a simple table with two chairs placed in the center that was plated with the most beautiful china. Stefan pulled a chair out for me, and I just stared at him, frozen once again.
“What?” He looked at me worried. “Is something wrong?”
“Sorry. I’m just not used to…this.” I walked up, and sat down in the chair.
I smiled, as a server poured us both a glass of wine. I picked up the glass, and took a sip. Stefan rested both arms on the table, leaning forward. “You look beautiful tonight. Have I told you green is my favorite color?”
I looked at him, wine still in my mouth as I held the glass. “Thank you.” I choked out, and set the glass back down. “No I wasn’t aware, but I’m getting the feeling that Keira might have known.”
He smiled, taking a sip of his drink.
The server walked up pushing a brass cart. My eyes went wide when I noticed that the cart contained 5 choices of meals. Steak, fish, chicken, pasta, and the last one was the kicker, a beautiful plated Big Mac from McDonalds itself.
“Thank you.” Stefan nodded at the server, dismissing him.
He noticed my reaction and laughed, “You wouldn’t tell me what you wanted to eat.”
“So, you ordered everything?”
He sat back in his chair, and picked up his glass. “I wanted to give you options.”
“I’ll have the Big Mac then.” I smirked, reaching for the plate.
He laughed, “A real American girl.”
I eyed him, “What? Do you Brits not eat Big Macs?”
“Oh, we do. That’s why I’m having one too.” He waved for the server to come over.
Two glasses of wine later I was finally feeling relaxed. I didn’t know what I did to deserve this treatment. Stefan spent most of the conversation asking about where I grew up, my friends back home, and my mom. When I asked about his family, he brushed each question off casually. I didn’t know what he was hiding, but he had his guard up for a reason.
I
got up from the table, while Stefan was speaking to the server. The city from up here was beautiful. I walked over to the railing, and looked out over the city. After Stefan finished speaking with the server he walked up next to me, and leaned on the railing.
I wrapped my arms around myself, “You know, I should have listened to you. It’s quite chilly up here.”
“I told you that you would need a jacket.” He removed his coat, and placed it on my shoulders.
I pulled the coat tight around me. “I didn’t know we were going to be on top of a building.”
“That’s true.” He leaned onto the railing again.
“It’s beautiful here; almost quiet.” I looked out over the city.
“There are special places in the city that help you see past the bad.” He says with a wistful tone. “You see that building over there? That’s the first building my father ever bought in the states.”
I looked in the direction he was pointing. “You don’t care for them do you?”
“I just distance myself.” He says as he stared out at the city. “I have a difficult relationship with my family.
We stood there for a few minutes in silence, as the busy city below rushed around. The wind was blowing, and the lights still twinkled above.
He turned to face me, “Do you want to go somewhere fun?”
“Are you not having fun?”
“I mean real fun.” His eyes were staring into mine, waiting for an answer.
I gave him a questionable smile, “I’m still confused, but sure.” I didn’t know what he was talking about, but his excitement was intriguing.
He took my hand, and led me to the elevator. He pressed the button for the garage. The entire way down I couldn’t help but wonder what he was so excited about. When we walked out of the elevator, he walked up to a motorcycle, and handed me a helmet. Because that’s normal?
I took the helmet from him. “Do you keep motorcycles in random buildings often?”
He laughed, “No. Just the ones my family owns.” He then turned to adjust the strap on my helmet.
“What have I gotten myself into?” I asked, as he shook the helmet on my head.
He smirked, “The best ride of your life.”
Until Then : Book 1 - Until Then Series Page 8