Autumn and Summer (24 page)

As sad as I was feeling, even that news got my attention. But it was fleeting because the smile that played on my lips ultimately relented to a frown. “I’m just not feeling it tonight, but I don’t want you to miss out on your date and you have to be ready in an hour so… I’ll go.”

Summer looked at me, analyzing me in the way that only best friends can. “Is this because he isn’t Boris or Jordan?  Because that’s not fair to Noah. No newbie is going to compare to Jordan who you’ve hung out with three times or Boris who you talk to every day, multiple times a day.”

I looked down the moment I heard the name
Boris. Summer, seemingly oblivious, continued, “Jordan is great and if you can get over the whole future ex-wife thing, he would be a good match for you. And Boris…mm mmm mmmm! Boris is also a winner. I know how much you like him now, sight unseen. But just wait until you see him!” She wiggled her eyebrows for emphasis.

The mention of
Boris made my face fall.

“
No! What’s wrong? Did something happen, Auty?”

“We really don’t have time to get into it. But I promise I’ll be fine.”
I smiled at her and walked to my closet, pulling out a form-fitting white Grecian-style gown. “You’re going to wear this one. And you’re going to look so good that whatever happened to you on the shoot will become a distant memory.”

“Th
at’s beautiful,” she squealed. “Wait, is this the dress you wore in your cousin’s wedding?”

“Yes…
and it was too pretty to never wear again.” I handed it to her. “Now go get showered and dressed! Go! Go!”

She
rushed out of the room and I called after her. “I’ll do your hair and makeup so hurry. Time is running out!”

Calli
ng Noah, I confirmed our dinner-and-a-movie date and then decided on fitted jeans, a cute top, and killer heels. After styling my hair and makeup, I put on an oversized t-shirt and headed into Summer’s bedroom. She was already showered and dressed and sitting in a chair waiting for me. While I did her hair, she grumbled about her photo shoot with Xavier and his unexpected surprise guest. While I did her makeup, I ended up telling her an abridged version of the conversation I had with Boris. We both held it together, but it was obvious that the events of the day stung.

             
I took a step back when I was done and smiled. “You look amazing!” Seeing my handiwork got me out of the funk that I had been in since I’d gotten off of the phone with Boris.

             
Turning around to look at her reflection in the mirror, she giggled in surprise. “Wow Auty,” she breathed, turning side to side to see the full scope of the outfit. “I didn’t expect this. I haven’t looked this fancy since our third grade glamour shots!”

             
“You are ridiculous,” I laughed as I beamed at my work proudly. “Now I wish we wore the same size shoes because my silver heels would be perfect.  But your black ones are the same height so they’ll be fine.”

             
“I’ve never felt glamorous before. But this dress with the way you pulled my hair back, I feel glamorous,” she said in an almost awestruck tone of voice while she touched her sleek up-do. “Why do we not go to galas every weekend?”

             
I stopped. “Because the tickets were $500 a piece,” I said simply.

             
“Ah…rich people.” She shook her head. “Gotta love them.”

             
Grabbing her last-minute items, she followed me downstairs. I peeked out the window and smiled. Turning back around, I faced her just as she exclaimed, “Oh, I’m so sorry! Between the drama with Xavier and Boris and you dolling me up, I completely forgot about your date tonight. Where are you going?”

             
“Dinner and a movie downtown.” I shrugged and smiled. “It definitely won’t be as cool as the date you will be going on with the hot guy I picked out, but it’ll do.” I said with a wink.

             
“Well, I know you will have fun with this guy. Like I told you on Monday, personality wise, I can’t see a better match for you than Bor—” She caught herself and cleared her throat. “But this guy is one of those fun guys that everyone needs in their life! You will definitely be entertained tonight, guaranteed!”

             
We said our goodbyes and then Summer opened the door to see the town car waiting for her. I was grinning when she looked back at me with her mouth dropped open. “What? Did you get a car for me?”

“Hell no! If I’m taking a taxi to the movies tonight, why in the world would I
get a car for you, silly?!” I was giddily bouncing around behind her as she gawked at the black town car.

“Then what’s going on?” Summer
asked anxiously, turning back around to face me. 

“He sent a car for you!” I
squealed.

“You knew about this?”

“Yes!”

Summer
narrowed her eyes at me jokingly. “Wait a minute… you’re going to let me get into a stranger’s car? This isn’t like you at all,” she acknowledged suspiciously. “My best friend is leery of everyone. She would never let me get into the car with a random coworker. Hmmm… my best friend would only be cool with me getting into that car if she really knew the man who was in there.” Moving her hand to her hip, Summer continued, “So it can’t be a work acquaintance. It’s not someone you know casually…”

I felt my smile shifting from excited to shock at
how quickly she’d put the clues together. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I declared, feigning innocence and biting the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

Leaning forward, Summer
whispered, “I knew Max was going to pop up somewhere in my ten dates.” Then she turned on her heel and walked away.

I laughed
, causing her to laugh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I repeated. “Bye!”

“Bye!” Summer called
over her shoulder as she walked to the waiting car.

I stood on the porch, letting the gent
le breeze tickle my skin. When I saw the next available taxi heading my way, I walked down the steps and flagged them down. It seemed as though I had just gotten comfortable in my seat when we stopped at a small independent movie house I had never seen before. I paid my tab and stepped out onto the sidewalk.

Lo
oking at the marquee, I saw several titles that I didn’t recognize. Shrugging, I walked through the door. The smell of buttery popcorn hit me immediately. People were everywhere, heading in three different directions for the three different films. I looked around for a single man and saw a few. None of them fit Summer’s description of Noah, so I found a seat on a red leather bench near the window and waited.

I wonder if he’s here already,
I thought, checking the time on my phone. I looked around and spotted a cute pair of shoes.
Oh, those are cute. I should go shopping soon. Retail therapy could be good for me. Especially with the whole Boris situation. I wonder what he’s doing. I’m sure he’s at work, but… No! I’m not going to do this. I’m waiting for my date!

I scanned the crowd
until my eyes landed on a crowd of people laughing at something a well-dressed bear of a man with an easy smile was saying. He was cute, but it was the charismatic way he had the crowd eating out of his hand that was sexy.
Nice smile,
I thought as
I checked him out appreciatively before continuing to look for Noah. I stood up and walked toward the door.

As I stood at the column by the door, I heard a voice from behind me.
“Hi! I’m sorry I couldn’t get over here sooner.”

Turning around, I found myself face to face with the well-dressed man with the nice smile. “
Oh, hello?” I responded slowly, my eye brows coming together slightly. I was in a difficult position—I wanted to see what the charismatic man wanted, but I also didn’t want to be rude to Noah whenever he showed up.

“
I’m Darren,” he said, reaching out to take my hand. His smile was infectious and posture was perfect. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

I felt myself grinning
up at him. He was so tall and had the stature of a football player. “It’s very nice to meet you as well, Darren,” I responded. “I’m actually waiting for someone though.”

“
Oh, my apologies…my name is Darren, but you probably know me as Noah.”

Keeping the smile on my face so it didn’t register my
surprise and confusion, I said, “Oh! Okay!”

Ryan Gosling
, my ass.

**********

“Traffic is backed up for miles, ma’am, we should be there in about twenty more minutes. I just got off the phone with your date and he is aware of the delay,” the driver said.

I know my date is with Max. Autumn is convinced everyone is a serial killer
, so she wouldn’t have let just anyone know where we live or pick me up in a dark, nondescript car. It has to be Max,
I thought as we remained stopped in traffic on the way to the Grand Marquee Hotel in the heart of the city.
Unless there’s someone I’m not thinking of that she’s close to at work, it has to be Max. Right?

I started nibbling on the tip of my thumb as my curiosity got
the better of me.
I hope it’s Max. Even though he’s hopelessly in love with Autumn, I hope it’s him. I just need a friend tonight. A friend and some fun. I need a break from dating tonight,
I admitted, shocking myself.
All of these unexpected emotions are wearing me out and I can’t handle it. If Xavier didn’t have a girlfriend, I’d just sleep with him so I could get him out of my system. I think one good time would do the trick and put a stop to all of these unnecessary emotions.

I sighed, looking out of the window.
I can’t even pretend I’m interested in a new guy right now because Xavier has me completely messed up. Ordinarily, I’d just find a fatal flaw in him…or sleep with him. One or the other. But because it’s Xavier, I can’t do it. The latter isn’t an option. Well the former isn’t an option either, because that would mean I’d have to see him again and I can’t be around him right now. So at least for today, I just need to hang out with Max and enjoy being at a cool event.

“We’re here,” the driver announced as he opened the back door. I was zoned out to the point that I didn’t even
realize we had made it to the hotel.

“Oh! Hi! Sorry!” I sputtered as
I let him help me out of the car.

“No worries ma’am,” he said slowly. “Your date is waiting for you just through the first set of doors. Have a nice night.”

I walked up the stairs to the tinted glass double doors of the ritzy hotel, following behind a group of nicely dressed men and women. Getting increasingly excited and curious, I couldn’t stop the huge smile that erupted on my face. Standing in the large space between the first and second set of double doors, I slowly swept my eyes over the people waiting to walk in and the people waiting to walk out. And then between an older, confused couple, he eased into focus.

Wearing
a tuxedo with a white jacket, slicked back black hair and thick, black-framed glasses, he strolled over to me.

Dramatically
fanning myself, I said, “Excuse me, Clark Kent. Is it me or have you gotten hotter since the last time I saw you?”

Flashing his adorable smile
that showed his dimples, he hugged me. “Cut the shit, Summer!”

Laughing, I said, “Hey
, Max! It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you, too.
You look beautiful.”

He offered his arm to me and I took it.
“Thank you.”

Wa
lking in, we were ushered down a huge escalator to the lower level of the hotel. As we descended, we saw people everywhere. We were completely silent as we took in the sight before us.

This is insane,
I thought as I looked around. We stepped off of the escalator and were immediately asked to show our passes. Max showed them and then we were able to move into the main event space.  Decorated with little white lights everywhere, the room glowed. The majority of the partygoers seemed to be gathered together near the entrance of the event space. The glowing lights on the other side of the crowd looked like the light at the end of the tunnel.

M
ax nodded his head as he mumbled under his breath, “Free food and open bar…my kind of party.”

“My thoughts exactly,” I whispered back conspiratorially as we maneuvered to an area with less people.

Once we were able to move freely, we both visibly relaxed. “Fresh air,” I said, taking a deep breath.

Looking back at the crowd near the entrance, Max pointed out, “That’s the problem!” He shook his head and pointed with his thumb. “They put the bar right next to the entrance. No wonder so many people are right there.”

After we made our way to our table, he pulled out my chair and I took a seat. “Thank you,” I said sweetly as I placed my clutch on the table in front of me.

“I’m going to get us drinks.” He glanced around and said, “It’s looking mostly like red or white wine. You have a preference?”

“White is good. But if they have whiskey, t
hat would be better.”

“
You got it.”

He started to walk away and I grabbed his arm. L
ooking up at my handsome date, I cocked my head to the side. “You know I think you’re great right?”

“Right…”
he said slowly, looking at me questioningly.

“
So I don’t understand why you agreed to go on this sham date with me instead of finally admitting your feelings to Autumn?”

Max’s face reddened slightly. “
Because when our boss pulled my name to win the tickets, I marched over to her office and asked her if she wanted to come as my date. She told me that I was such a good friend and though she appreciated the offer, she didn’t want me wasting the date on her when I could make it a special date with someone.” He shook his head with a laugh. “I should have corrected her and told her that it
would
be a special date because I would be with her. But I got tongue-tied with the thought of how the rejection would affect our friendship, work, and everything else. So…here we are.” He shrugged again and gave me a lopsided grin.

“Max…” I squeezed his hand and looked him directly in his eyes. “I know you’re very special to Autumn.”

Max raised his eyebrows doubtfully. “I held off on asking anyone to be my date because I was hoping to get Autumn to come. I brought up the gala again a couple of weeks ago and mentioned I didn’t have a date. She got really excited and I thought I had a chance but when I started to ask her, she cut me off and asked me if I thought you were attractive. And of course, I said yes. Because come on...” He removed his hand from mine to gesture to me.

Putting his hands in his pockets, he continued, “And she took that to mean that I was interested in you so she asked me if I’d be interested in taking you to the gala. I knew
, at that point, she wasn’t going to come around so I said yes.”

“Well
, we are going to have an awesome time. And instead of waiting on Autumn, we will scope the room for some arm candy for you,” I declared with a wink and a smile.

Max chuckled and nodded before retreating to get our drinks.

Although my heart went out to Max, I didn’t know what else to say to him.
Autumn has clearly friend-zoned Max and for whatever reason, Max doesn’t have the balls to tell Autumn how he feels. Maybe they are better off leaving things the way they are between them. She’s never talked about him in a romantic way. Even when she first introduced me to him and I saw the way he looked at her, she was adamant that they were just friends,
I thought as I watched Max disappear into the crowd.
So maybe they are just not meant to head down that path. Just like me and Xavier.

“
How did you manage to get in here?” Gabriella Torres jeered as she walked by my table. Her voice was unmistakable and her presence grated on my nerves, violently shaking me from my thoughts. Wearing a skin tight red dress with a plunging neckline, Gabriella looked amazing. Her personality and general disposition, on the other hand, truly made her ugly.

“
Through the door. And you?” I responded, looking at her with obvious disdain.

She
smirked. “You have a smart mouth, you know that?”

“You haven’t even heard the worst of it.” I rested my elbows on the table and leaned forward.
Sizing her up, I asked, “What is your issue with me, Gabriella?”

Looking down her nose at me, she pursed her lips.
“I’m just not convinced that you’re qualified for the position that you were given. I’ve dedicated my life to Style, and the fact that John Orlando would offhandedly hire an unproven photographer without even consulting with me…” She shook her head, curling her lip in disgust.

“Have you ever even seen my work?”

“I’ve seen the way you dress and that tells me everything I need to know.” 

Without giving me a chance to respond, she turned and walked awa
y.

“Fuck that bitch,” I muttered under my breath. I pulled my cellphone out of my clutch to check the time.
Where is Max?
I wondered. After the conversation with Gabriella, I needed a drink.

“Well
, well, well… I thought that was you, but I had to come closer to be sure. You clean up nice, Summer,” Caleb Stratton said in his Southern drawl as he took a seat next to me. “Very nice.” He licked his lips lecherously and looked me up and down.

I was fortunate enough to not have seen Caleb since the photoshoot at Xavier’s place. But since Caleb
was dressed in a traditional black tux with a crisp white shirt underneath, he looked like every other rich guy in the room and I didn’t even see him coming. I was usually really good about shutting down unwanted attention before it could get started.

Seriously?
I groaned to myself.
I know like five people in this city, and all the ones I don’t want to see have shown up at my table.

             
Crossing my arms over my chest, I looked Caleb square in the eyes. “Does that ever work? On anybody?”

             
His cocky grin widened. “All the time.” He raised his glass before taking a sip.

             
I shook my head and glared at him.  Turning my body toward him, I held eye contact. I saw the twitch in his face as he became increasingly uncomfortable. Once he became so uncomfortable that he looked away, it was my turn to smirk.

             
“Well consider this the first time it’s not working. Now move along,” I snapped.

             
Adjusting his bowtie, Caleb cleared his throat. The look on his face was still smug, but held less confidence than before. He laughed dryly, “I don’t like your attitude.”

             
“And I don’t like you,” I countered.

             
He lifted his glass to his lips and peered at me over the rim. After finishing his drink, he then stood up.  “I like that you don’t like me. It’ll make the sex even hotter when you finally give in to me.” He winked. “Just like all the others.”

             
I stood and with my heels, I was the same height as him. “You’re disgusting. Like I said before, move along.” My fists clenched with barely contained anger. “Now.”

             
“I’m just playing with you,” he scoffed. “Calm down!”

When I didn’t stop glowering at him,
he smiled a taunting smile before walking away. I breathed a sigh of relief as I watched him walk toward the front of the room and sit with his back toward me.

I
need to get some fresh air. The way this night is panning out, Josh and Amber will be the next people to walk up to me. All I wanted tonight was a stress free night with a friend,
I thought in frustration as I swept my eyes around the room, looking for Max.

The crowd had grown signi
ficantly. People were mingling everywhere you looked and the dull rumble of the crowd had elevated to full-blown party status. I didn’t want to leave the table until Max got back, but I needed to go to the veranda and calm down. Dealing with Gabriella and Caleb had me fuming and as a guest of Max’s, I didn’t want to be in a bad mood when others arrived at our table.

I felt a hand lightly touch
my elbow.
Max. With my drink,
I thought, turning all the way around.

             
“Max!” I took the whiskey from his hand and immediately took a sip. “Thank you.”

             
Max gave me a quizzical look. “You’re welcome?”

             
“You have no idea. I just had the most awful run-ins with two—”

             
“Maximillian, it’s so nice to see you,” a woman interrupted as she pulled out her chair at our table. “Who is your gorgeous date?”

             
Max showcased his easy smile and answered, “It’s nice seeing you too, Mrs. Reed. This is my friend, Summer Wilson. Summer, this is Natalie Reed. My supervisor.”

             
I flashed a smile at the older woman. “Hello, Mrs. Reed. It’s very nice to meet you.”

             
“Likewise.” The woman nodded slowly. “Your dress is beautiful. I remember when I could pull off wearing all white.”

             
“You still can, Natalie,” her date responded.