Chapter 10: Chapter Six-1

Chapter Six I am an idiot. A complete idiot. “You are such an idiot,” Candy says, reading my thoughts. She lounges on the bed, going through text messages from Kevin. I think they’re on the verge of being official. We’re in her hotel room right now. She shares it with a girl named Lisa—someone in our class. I’m sitting on the opposite side of the bed, trying to think of ideas to somehow avoid tonight. So far, I have nothing. The party will take off in less than four hours. “Thanks for the support, best friend,” I say sarcastically. “What do I do? Lee refuses to help and I already told Karen I’d introduce him to her tonight.” I groan, falling flat back on the bed. “And this is why you’re an idiot.” I close my eyes and try to come up with ideas. Anything. I jolt up. “Maybe I can just like pretend to be sick. Or maybe trip down the stairs and sprain my leg!” Candy looks up from her phone, sending me a look. “That’s ridiculous.” “I know,” I frown. “I can’t think of anything though.” I run both my hands through my hair, messing it up into a wild frizz. “There’s not that much I can do—time is running out, too.” “Just go to Lee. Ask him for a favor—just this once,” Candy suggests. “Just tell him this is the last time before you leave him alone completely. Maybe, he’ll listen. If not, use some blackmail or something.” She has a point. A low blow but I’m desperate. I’m trouble-prone. It’s a good idea too. I could leave him alone after tonight. Just tonight. I just want one night where I can be right and have the better life. I just want to beat Karen—just once, at least. “I’ll be right back,” I tell Candy before I head out of the hotel room. I don’t think she heard me though. I walk down the hallway and into the elevator to get to the highest floor. Lee lives on the top floor—such a snob. He just has to live on the top floor like he rules the world or something. The elevator dings open and Lee’s standing in front of me. Talk about awkward situations of all time. I wave. “Hi.” He gives me a glare and I blush. This is embarrassing. He rejected me and kind of told me off. What’re you supposed to do in situations like this? Lee walks in the elevator, giving me the cold shoulder. I frown. It stings even though everything is my fault. His rich smelling cologne burns my nostrils. So, he wants to play the rude treatment? We’ll see. “What? Did you not take a shower today? Why the overflow of cologne?” I say, my voice flat. I don’t know why I’m mad he’s ignoring me… but it hurts. “Excuse me?” His eyes flicker over to me. He scoffs as if I have the nerve to even be talking to him. “Me? What’s with your hair? Did you fall off a cliff and run into a toilet?” What’s he talking about? I check my reflection on the silver part of the elevator. My hair looks like a ball of knotted yellow yarn. I remember I messed it up earlier when I was frustrated. Blushing, I pat down my hair until it’s decent. “Shut up.” Lee smirks, knowing he won. Maybe, I should try a different approach. I suddenly straighten up—causing him to look over. He gives me a confused look. I walk closer to him and he strays away from me as possible. His back is on the wall now. “What are you doing, Miss Ivory?” his cool voice says. Of course, he’d stay extremely calm in a situation like this. I put on my most seductive tone. “Doing what, Lee?” Lee’s face is blank. He’s just staring at me, now. I can’t tell what he’s thinking. His face gives off nothing. Is he going to fall for it? Will he start laughing? I can tell he’s trying to hold his laughter. Suddenly, it’s me up against the wall. Lee’s breath is fanned across my face—smelling of peppermint. What kind of businessman eats peppermint? I stray my mind away from these nonsense thoughts and back to what’s happening. Lee leans in until his lips are at my ear. “You’ll have to do better than that, Miss Ivory.” I start turning red. That was too embarrassing. It didn’t even work. What was I thinking? He starts laughing. “You are too funny, Miss Ivory.” My blood boils. I’m about to make a smart-ass retort but the elevator opens and suddenly he backs off and walks out of the elevator suavely. I scramble after him. We’re in the large lobby. There are tons of people everywhere. Everyone is either seated at one of the expensive looking sofas or at the front desk checking in. It looks like his suite except everyone can access it. Lee starts walking off down a hallway. A scrawny looking guy in a suit comes up after us. “Mr. Richardson! Here you are,” he says, pushing his glasses up his small nose. “I have left the files about the park reconstruction on your desk.” “Thank you, Ian. You may leave until further notice,” Lee says without even bothering to look at Ian. Rude, I think. He suddenly goes down the hallway and into a room. It’s an office. His office. There’s a marble floor, white walls, a big desk, and sofas. He takes a seat at the desk and goes through a couple of papers—the files Ian was talking about. “Who was that?” I ask. “Ian,” he says, not listening. I realize Lee’s wearing glasses. Big-rimmed glasses around his eyes that sort of makes him look… cute. I scrunch up my face in disgust. What am I thinking of? “Yes, I know that, I heard you.” I take a seat in front of his desk. “But what does he do for you?” “He’s my secretary,” Lee says. He signs random papers with paragraphs of writing. He looks up at me. “Wait, why are you still here?” He’s so bipolar. One minute, he’s calling me ‘Miss Ivory’ and all that jazz, and the next he’s rude. “I need a favor.” I finally said it. “What kind of favor?” he asks, taking his glasses off. His cool demeanor is back. It makes me even more nervous. I have to tell him now. There’s no going back. “I need you to be my boyfriend—” “We already discussed this. Not happening,” he cut me off. “—for tonight only.” Now, he’s really confused. His eyebrows are arched and I stare straight into his eyes. I need to seem calm and collective. I breathe in and out. He’s waiting for my response. “What?” he finally says. “What do you mean tonight only?” “You know the party?” Recognition fills his eyes. “Yeah, I need you only for that event. I promise not to bother you after.” “No.” “There’s nothing to lose, though! Soon, I’ll be out of New York City and back to my town and we’ll never see each other again. My friends will believe you and I are together and you can go back to your hotel running business. It all works out.” He scratches his chin—a sign for him thinking seriously? “That doesn’t sound too bad,” he says. “See!” I beam. “Nothing to lose!”