Blindfolded Innocence (13 page)

"Sheila thinks you're a sex addict."

"Sheila and I have had sexual tension for the last 5 years."

I gaped at him and he started shaking with controlled laughter.
 
"God, Julia.
 
You're too easy."

"From what I hear about your standards, it's not like Sheila is out of the question."
 
I retorted.

He stopped laughing and looked at me with a grin.
 
"Go with me to Vegas."

"No!
  
This is supposed to be our last hurrah.
 
My wild days are over.
 
Starting tomorrow I am back to being a good girl."
 
I slapped my hand on the table to emphasize my resolve.
 
My sub-conscious was already packing a bag and choosing the proper shoes.

He slapped the table back at me.
 
"Start Monday.
 
Have you ever been to Vegas?"

"No.
 
My parents preferred exciting locale such as Palms Springs and Bismarck, North Dakota."

He reached across the table and grabbed my hand, pulling it to him.
 
He looked solemnly in my eyes, and desire curled in my belly.
 
"Come to Vegas with me.
 
Please.
 
I promise you won't regret it."

I couldn't find anything to say and stared wordlessly into his eyes.
 
I had so many conflicting thoughts running through my mind and didn't know what to listen to.

“No.”
 
I glared at him.

CHAPTER
13

"You're going to Vegas?!" Olivia's shocked expression increased my stress level.
 

"Yes, I mean, I think so."
 

"When?"

"Tomorrow, after work.
 
Our flight leaves at 6:45."

We were in my living room, a bottle of wine open on the coffee table.
 
When Olivia had seen my face, she had walked in straight past me, into the kitchen, and opened the fridge - grabbing the first bottle she had seen.
 
We were now taking turns swigging from the bottle.
 
I know. Super Classy.

"What do you know about this guy?
 
I mean, other than the dire warnings from all members of the CDB staff."

"That's really about it.
 
I looked him up in the State Bar directory.
 
He is active, so he has no criminal history."

"Yet!
 
A rape, kidnapping, and murder charge might be added after this weekend!"

I rolled my eyes at her.
 
"I called you over to calm me down, Olivia.
 
If I had wanted hysterics and gross exaggerations, I would have called Becca."
 

"Did you Google him?"

"Of course.
 
But the first five pages were all news reports about big cases.
 
I didn't want to look through eight million google results."

"Alright then, let's focus.
 
If you're going, then we just need to make sure you do it right.
 
Have you packed?"

I grinned at her.
 
This was more what I had had in mind.

---

One hour and another bottle of wine later, we were surrounded by sequins, leather, and pink.
 
Over half of my closet was on the floor, more clothes were on my bed, and we had both come to the same conclusion.
 
I had nothing to wear.
 
My clothes fit one of three genres:
 
business attire, college-bar dressy, and sorority theme party costume.
 
Too bad we had never had a Vegas-themed social.
 
Hey, that's an idea.
 
Help me remember that at our next Chapter meeting.

"Maybe I shouldn't go."
 
I flopped down on the bed and promptly sank through three layers of girlyness.
 

"Or maybe we should call in reinforcements."

I looked at her in dread.
 
"Becca?"

She nodded firmly.
 
"Becca."

---

I may have mentioned earlier that Becca's family is just a few decimals places short of Rockefeller money?
 
Well, her parent's generous monthly allowance supports two main things - alcohol and clothes.
 
Becca lives in a two-bedroom apartment, and one bedroom is solely dedicated to clothes and shoes.
 
We took a brief appraisal of our intoxicated states, and then called a taxi.
 
We planned on showing up unannounced, with a large suitcase and a bottle of cheap wine, the only thing left in the fridge.

It was a Wednesday night, and one in the morning, so we didn't have to wait long for a cab.
 
By 1:15 we were ringing Becca's bell.
 
She answered the door with music blaring in the background, and a phone pressed to her ear.
  
Her gaze traveled from our pajamas to my suitcase to the bottle.
 
"Jen, I gotta go."
 
She snapped the phone shut and threw the door open.
 

It took about five minutes to fill Becca in on the situation and I was surprised to see that she was in full support of the trip.
 
I should have known that stupid impulse decisions would resonate as logical to her.

We walked into the magic of her closet a few minutes later.
 
Becca and I have fairly similar body types; but I was a lot taller than her.
 
That was no problem, since pants weren't a big Vegas fashion statement.
 

Becca is by far the most traveled of our group.
 
Having been to Vegas countless times, she kept up a running monologue as we shifted through her cedar-lined racks. She listed more restaurants, shows, and stores than I could have possibly remembered, especially given the fuzzy state of my mind.
 
I had pretty much tuned her out when I realized there was an expectant silence in the room.
 
I turned to find them both staring at me.
 

"I'm sorry - what was the question?"

"Sex.
 
Are you planning on having sex with him?" Becca said slowly, as one might to a child.

"No!" I said scornfully, while somewhere inside of me a little woman jumped up and down and screamed, "
Yes
!"

"He is flying you up there," Olivia said carefully.
 
"Spending a lot of money on you.
 
You might want to clue him in to that fact."

"What, that she's a tease?" Becca put both hands on her silk clad hips.
 
"Yeah Jules.
 
You know, some guys don't respond to that very well.
 
You've gotten lucky so far, but one day a guy isn't going to stop when you tell him to."

"I don't think Brad's like that." I hung back the silver mini I had been considering and continuing flipping through the hangers, hoping that they would move to a different subject.

"Really?
 
College girls thought Ted Bundy was a pretty nice guy also." Becca said, a little too cheerfully for the subject matter.

Maybe it was a topic I should broach
.
 
But didn't I communicate that to him last night?
 
I don't have sex with people I'm not in love with.
 
He knows that, just doesn't understand it.
 

"Why are you such a prude anyway, Jules?"
 

"She's not a prude, Becca.
 
Just doesn't believe in giving it to every guy who buys her a mojito."

Becca stuck out her tongue at Olivia in response.
 
"At least suck his dick.
 
That's the least you can do for the poor guy."

"How about we leave me and my sexual future alone?" I suggested.
 
"I promise you.
 
I am a big girl, and I will make it through the weekend without being raped, tortured, or killed."
 
I discreetly reached back in Becca's closet, and tapped on the cedar wall, hoping that I had not just jinxed myself.
 

CHAPTER
14

Rule 3:
 
You may not know what will occur until you arrive.
 
We reserve the right to change the events according to her desires.

"Phone away sir."
 
The meticulously manicured flight attendant shot Brad a stern look as she passed by.
 
Her tone was softened by the lingering glance and hand she patted his shoulder with.
 
I reached down in my bag and unlocked my phone, tripled checked that it was on plane mode, and then stuck it back in my bag.
 
Brad, with a resigned sigh, paused and saved some sports game that he had been intently playing, then turned his phone off and set it on the armrest.
 
I glanced at it.
 

"You know, you don't have to turn it off.
 
You can keep playing the game, just put it in plane mode."

"What mode?"

"Plane mode.
 
As long as it's a game that doesn't use the internet - which from the looks of it it doesn't - you can put it in plane mode and continue playing."

He looked at me star struck, like I had just discovered a cure for cancer.
 
"Are you sure?"

"Yes.
 
I am positive.
 
Hence the name "plane mode"."

"Why has no one mentioned this before!?"
 
He grabbed the phone with gusto and turned it on, then began going through the menus, looking for the Settings.
 

"Here.
 
Let me do it.
 
You won't find it before the stewardess comes back."
 
He hesitated slightly, and then handed the phone over.
 
I had it in plane mode and then back in his grasp within a minute.
 
With a look of pure bliss on his face, he sat back and returned to his game.
 
I pulled a piece of gum out, double checked my seat belt, and looked out the window.
 
Thursday and Friday had passed quickly at work.
 
Brad had stayed in his wing, and I in mine.
 
I had accomplished all of the tasks that Broward had left for me, and looked forward to not thinking about work for the next two days.
  
The first class stewardess walked back by, pausing by our seats.
 
"Plane mode," I said, in response to her quizzical look at Brad's phone.
 
He didn't look up from his game.
 
She nodded.
 
"Champagne?" she offered.
 
"Yes please, " I replied.
 
I elbowed Brad.
 
"Sure," he muttered.
 
I'm sure he had no idea of what he was agreeing to.
 
I looked back out the window as she walked off.