"So, Sydney said you had a meeting with Mr Hemmings" Alex said, directing all the attention to me.
"She did. He's quite the demanding type" Sydney added.
"Only when he doesn't get his way"
"What does he want anyway?"
"What do you think?"
"You?" Dani suggested.
"God, no. He wants to have a share in the company so he has a bigger empire and gets more money"
"I hope you said no"
"Of course I did. I'm not an idiot"
"We know but Luke's charm can make a fool out of anyone"
"Have you heard anymore from him?"
"He came over the other day. I left the design book there and he brought it back" I told them. "He's not giving up on having a share in the company"
"Maybe Dani's right though. Maybe it is you which he wants which is why he's not giving up"
"Alex could be right, you know. I mean how often does Luke personally attend meetings? Never"
"Guys, in case you've forgotten, he's married and has a kid"
"So, doesn't mean he can't like someone else"
"It's called an affair, Mads"
"You should go out with him" Dani said.
"Have you guys been listening to anything I just said? He's married and I'm not going to go out with him so he can cheat on his wife"
"I'm sure you wouldn't be the first person he cheated with"
"Not the point, Dani"
"But just think if he wasn't married and didn't have a kid. What about then, would you go out with him?"
"No"
"Why not?"
"Because we all know how it would end"
"But it's Luke Hemmings. He must be pretty into you because he keeps coming back to try and persuade you" Alex added.
"He's never been with another CEO before. All those girls were either strippers or just damn right idiots" I said.
"If I went out with him I'd just become an idiot myself"
"No, you're too smart to let him walk all over you"
"You never know, maybe he's got a kink for woman with power"
"All he wants is for me to be a part of his empire and that's not going to happen"
"You can keep saying all of this but we all know you'll get with him eventually"
"Yeah, no"
"Maddie, what's the big deal if you do end up hooking up with him?"
"You've answered your own question. The fact that all you are to him is a hook up"
"So?"
"It's belittling"
"How is the happy couple anyway?"
"Who? Luke and Kylie?" When we say Luke's married, he's married to our best friend. Well, I don't really like her that much anymore, we've always been competitive and bitchy towards one another. They've been on and off for about four years. Luke used to cheat on her all the time until he proposed, surprising us all. They have a kid together too. She's almost five, they had her pretty early on in their relationship. We all thought Luke would leave her but he didn't. Well, he did for a night. She wanted to leave more than him. God knows why.
"I saw Kylie out the other night with a guy"
"Not Luke"
"Definitely not"
"Maybe it was her brother"
"Maybe" None of us had ever met her brother so it was a likely assumption.
"Are you guys all going to her dinner party in a few weeks?"
"We don't have much choice really, do we?" Dani replied to Alex.
"I might be working" I told them.
"That's your excuse every year"
"Well, Kylie and I aren't exactly the best of friends anymore, are we?
"She thinks you are though. You have to go"
"I'll see. She knows I'm busy, so does Luke. They wouldn't suspect anything of it"
"You're going, Maddie"
"Yeah, you're not getting out of it"
"We'll see"
