Chapter 30

**Lily**

I had not heard from Matteo in a couple of days, so I assumed we were still on for the date. I know that I had told him when and where, but he didn’t seem to mind at all at the time. I guess I was just a tad disappointed that he had not even sent me a text. I’m sure that there was a good reason for it. And let’s be clear, it’s not like I had sent anything either.

I had prepared myself, I had even gotten myself waxed. Yeah, not ever going to do that again! I’ll stick to shaving next time. Norah came over earlier to pick my clothes because she still didn’t trust me when it came to dressing myself for dates. I believe I’m getting the hang of it, but she is not buying it. Anyways, I got dressed up for the date, put on make-up, styled my hair, and I waited. And waited. And waited.

By the time it was 7:15 I sent him the first text. At 7:30 I called him, but he didn’t pick up. At 7:45 I texted and called him, without an answer. At 8:00, I gave up. I drew my conclusions, he stood me up.

I grabbed a bottle of wine from my cupboard and took a big gulp straight from the bottle. I should have known it was too good to be true. Why did I think that such a tall, dark, and handsome man would want simple, old me? He would have gotten bored of me anyways, so maybe this was for the best. I took another big gulp from the bottle. And another. And another.

By 9:00PM I had emptied the bottle and started a new one. To say that I was drunk was an understatement. I promised myself one night of self-pity, and tomorrow I was going to pick up the pieces and move on.

*‘Keep it PG-13 tonight!’*, Norah texted me. Yeah, that won’t be a problem tonight!

‘He never showed up. So, I’m going to wallow in self-pity tonight and get drunk of my ass. Tomorrow we’re going dancing!’, I managed to type back thanks to auto correct.

I never got to check Norah’s reply, because I continued to drink the second bottle. And somewhere along the way, I passed out.

I woke up to some incredibly loud banging on my door. Groaning as I lifted my head off the couch, I dragged myself to the door to let Norah and Emma in. As I walked back, I felt my stomach turn around and everything that was in it was coming back up. So, I ran to the toilet, and I vomited. I vomited until everything was out of my stomach, and out of my system. I quickly wiped my mouth and walked back slowly to the living room to lay back down on the couch.

“Here, this will help.”, Emma said as she handed me a cracker, a glass of water, and an advil. I smiled weakly when I took it all from her. I nibbled on the cracker after I had taken the advil.

“I guess we don’t have to ask you how you feel.”, Norah chuckled. I tried to shake my head, but my headache prevented me to do so. I just groaned and massaged my temples with my fingers in an attempt to alleviate my headache.

“Are we still going dancing tonight?”, Emma asked while looking at me. “I’m not going to babysit a vomiting Lily, you know.”

“I swear, no more vomiting from me. And yes to dancing. I want to get out of here and have fun without any men.”, I said. Though I wasn’t sure my legs were going to be able to actually carry me anytime soon, I did want to get out.

“I can get us on the list of Golden…”, I said pensively. Norah and Emma looked up immediately. Golden was the hottest, new club in town and normally I wouldn’t even know how to get on any lists. Let alone the list to Golden.

“How on earth?”, Norah asked curiously.

“Guilia said they owned it. She told me to call her if we ever wanted to go there.”, I explained.

“So, what are you waiting for? Call her! I want to go there!”, Norah exclaimed, but then she realized something. “Unless you are afraid you will run into him.”, she added softer. I was afraid of it to be honest. But I guessed that if he didn’t want to see me anymore, he would avoid being there, right? I’m sure Guilia would mention it to him.

I sent Guilia a text message, and she responded within minutes. *‘Nice! You’re on the list +2, go to the VIP space. We’ll see you there!’*

Not exactly what I needed, but I guess it was fair. And I didn’t mind seeing Guilia, I was just not in the mood to see Matteo. At least, I kept telling myself that, but in the back of my mind there was this nagging voice that was wondering why I was going to a club I knew was owned by him, if I didn’t want to run into him at all?

Norah and Emma had run home quickly and came back with a change of clothes for clubbing. Norah brought some possible dresses for me as well, knowing I didn’t have many that would pass her judgment. She took immediate control over my closet.

“So, you have your own silver dress, or you’re wearing one of mine.”, she said as she pulled my short, silver dress out of my closet and put it next to a royal blue one and a dark red one. The thing they had in common was that they were short and revealing. It was crystal clear what Norah wanted to happen tonight!

“I like my silver one.”, I said. Somehow it felt better just wearing my own dress. So, I put it one and let Emma and Norah do want they wanted with my hair and make-up. They would always make me look better in no time. Before I knew it, we were ready to go.

I was in awe as I walked in. Guilia had kept her word, we were on the list, and we were whisked upstairs to the VIP areas as soon as we entered. It looked amazing! Obviously, Vita and Guilia were really good at their job!

“Did you sell your soul to get on the list?”, Emma asked while she looked around in the VIP area. Well, sort of, I guess. The VIP area was the same size as the normal club, and just as busy with the who is who of the town. We made our way to the bar, and I ordered some drinks for us. I was ready to hand over my credit card when the bartender waved it away.

“Drinks are on the house for Emma Brown.”, he said. “Guilia ordered it.”, he added with a grin. Well, if that was the case, I was not going to complain about it. I took the drinks, handed them to Emma and Norah, and we made our way to the dance floor. I wanted to go dancing and forget about all my frustrations for a few hours.

After a bit of dancing, we were ready to get some more drinks. I walked to the bar and ordered, and I felt a tap on my shoulder. When I looked around, I saw Guilia, Vita, and some more guys. Some I recognized from meeting them before, some I had never seen before. Guilia pulled me in a hug, as did Vita, and I just waved a pathetic, little wave to the men behind them.

“Oh, you must have been so scared!”, Guilia shouted and pulled me in another hug, this time it was more of a hug in order to comfort me. I was dumbfounded, why would she think that I was scared? I wasn’t, I was livid! I felt like a fool at this point, waiting for a man that was obviously not that into me. Clearly, I had moved on from sadness to anger.

“Well, it’s good to see you out and about, I guess.”, Guilia said, but it seemed as if she was doubting her words. As if she wanted to convince herself.

“I think so yes, I need to get my mind off of things.”, I replied, and Guilia just nodded. Meanwhile, Emma and Norah joined me at the bar. Not so much to defend me, but more to get their drinks. It felt very awkward meeting them here. It felt like they were angry at me for some reason that I didn’t understand.

Emma, Norah, and I walked over to a booth, just to have a short break. When I was almost there, Vita stopped me by grabbing my upper arm with a lot of force. I winced and turned around to tell her to stop hurting me when I saw her angry face.

“Why didn’t you visit him?”, she asked with a menacing look in her eyes. It gave me goosebumps over my entire body to see her that angry, but I turned livid again at her question. Why should I visit? He stood me up!

“Why would I want to visit someone who stood me up? Clearly, he wasn’t that into me, but only into the sex.”, I snarled, and I pulled my arm from her grip so I could get into the booth. Vita shook her head in confusion.

“What did you just say? Who’s not that into you?”, Vita asked, calmer than she did before.

“Matteo! Who else should I be taking to you about?!”, I answered. Did she think I was stupid?

“Huh? Why would he not be into you?”, Vita asked. “Is he not treating you well?”, she added. It felt like she was earnest about wanting him to treat me right.

“He stood me up! We had a date yesterday, but he never showed up!”, I shouted. I needed to get the anger out of my system, clearly.

“Lily, you need to come with me for a second. We need to talk.”, Vita said, grabbed my arm, and dragged me to one of the doors that said ‘no entry’. Behind the door was a hallway with some offices. Vita entered one of them and waved for me to sit on the chair while she leaned against the desk.

“Lily, Matteo got injured a couple of days ago.”, she told me, holding my hand.