I feel my eyes becoming cloudy as I picture myself twirling around the dance floor, front and center in the perfect dress, into Zayn's arms; in front of a hundred or so people who are here for me. Actually here for me. I quickly try to dash away the tears before they fall or I feel like more of an idiot.
"Miss, are you alright?" the guy asks, concern evident in his voice. I quickly nod and muster a chuckle.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I whisper, as Eleanor throws an arm around my shoulder and pulls me into her side.
"Oh, she's fine," Eleanor adds.
He nods. "May I ask what type of event you're interested in holding?"
"She's getting married, so we'd like to book this for the reception. We figured out a date; Saturday, the twentieth of January, please."
"Oh,"he furrows his brows. "That's pretty soon. I don't know if we can book-"
"Sir, please," Eleanor says. "We need this space." I've never seen her this determined, and I'm starting to think there's a place for her at Malik, Inc.
The man still looks unsure, and just as I'm about to tell her it's fine- that I'll just find something else, she continues. "Look, I don't like to do this. But listen, walk with me," she says, taking the man out of earshot. Oh boy.
They talk for a couple of minutes and it gets a little animated at times, though the man looks frightened, mostly. She walks back over, squeezing my arm and giggling. "Okay, now that that's settled, we'll be in Monday morning with the deposit. Fair?" He nods and shakes Eleanor's hand, followed by mine and I really, really want to know what she said to him.
After all is settled, the gentleman sees us out, promising to make this the event of my dreams. "Eleanor, what did you say?" I laugh as we begin walking in the direction in which we came.
"You know I'm not one to throw money in someone's face, but...desperate times call for desperate measures." I don't know if I want to know anymore, and I definitely don't want to know how much this space is costing us. "Don't look so horrified, Charlie. I just told him that the money is absolutely not an issue-whatever it costs, we'll take care of it. Hell, I said I'll even pay the people who have it booked out of my own pocket so that they'll change the date of their event."
I sigh.
"And I may have mentioned that I really didn't want to have to call the future husband, but if I had to, I would. Cause like, I think we all know dealing with me is much better."
//
Yeah, I'm kind of late. It's 5:40, and I'm just now getting out of the cab to meet Zayn at the place for our 5:30 meeting...oops. At least it stopped raining...which means I can't use that as an excuse.
I see him up ahead, leaning against a building looking absolutely gorgeous in a thin white shirt and gray cardigan left open, paired with dark jeans. His hair is styled and he's shaved, and wow, I'm tingly all of a sudden. His eyes flick to his watch as he brings some sort of something up to his lips.
I've never seen someone so attractive; he's one of those men who I can tell is going to get hotter with age. Like fine wine...it gets better with age. I'm one lucky duck.
He doesn't spot me until I'm nearly on top of him. "Hi," I say, as he offers me a smirk. And oh yeah, that's what he's smoking.
I snake my arms around his waist as he blows the smoke in some other direction. I can feel him moving around, and I bet he's butting out his joint and putting it away before his arms are around my shoulders and his chin is resting on top of my head. He's so warm and cuddly, and I really would like to skip this whole fiasco and just go to a nice, romantic dinner. "I was starting to think you bailed," he chuckles.
Chapter 22
Start from the beginning
