Christian
I laid awake at night, staring at the light fixture on my ceiling.
The time on my bedside clock read 3:12 am. In about three hours, I was going to need to get up and start getting things together for the launch, but sleep was the hardest thing for me to find tonight. My mind was running a thousand miles an hour.
I thought back to the conversation I had with Alex just before he left the office. When he mentioned Bridge, that brought on a familiar feeling of irritation. Not towards Alex, but rather the situation. It felt like every time Alex and I were making strides to talk about us, life would throw us another fucking curveball that derailed our chances of having that conversation.
Of course I wanted to make things official with Alex...
...but I wanted to do it right.
I had made many mistakes in my previous relationships, and this was mainly due to the fact that I didn't give a rats ass about my partners. Everyone I dated had been set up through my mother. She made those decisions based on who would fit well with the company, but never who would fit well with me. Alex was my first real choice I had made in terms of my romantic relationships, and I wanted to make sure he understood how special that was for me... how much he meant to me.
I had something planned. Something special. We just needed to make it through this launch first, then we'd be off to Hawaii. When I discussed that with Alex last night, he seemed surprised to hear I had still kept everything as planned in terms of our trip. I wanted this getaway with him so that we could spend time talking about us. No work distractions. No life distractions.
I sent Alex home around 7 pm last night. I ended up staying at the office until close to midnight to assist in some smaller work that had been missed by Marketing. I could see the visible worry Alex had when he saw everyone working late, and I wanted to make sure that the launch exceeded everyone's expectations... even his. Plus, Ivanov Corp needed another win.
My thoughts were interrupted by a knock at my bedroom door.
"Come in." I called out. Nathaniel entered moments later with a cup in hand.
"Whiskey on the rocks. I know you didn't request a night cap, but I thought you might need one. Big day ahead and you need every second of sleep you can get, sir." He set the cup at my bedside table, with a coaster underneath.
"Thank you, Nathaniel." I gave him a smile. "You always seem to know when I'm having trouble sleeping."
"You never sleep well before big events." He replied. "Don't forget I used to change your diapers, Christian. I know you too well."
I chuckled at his words. Nathaniel always had a way of making me feel like I could never repay what he's done for me and this family.
"Don't overthink it. Drink the drink and go to bed. Whatever will be, will be." His hand reached up to ruffle my hair a bit, the way he used to when I was younger. I couldn't help but broaden my smile at the warm and thoughtful gesture. "Goodnight Christian." He said before he left.
"Goodnight Nathaniel." I replied to an empty room.
-
The night cap Nathaniel had brought me, worked wonders. I finally drifted off to sleep around 3:30 am, and didn't wake up until my alarm went off at 6:30 am. I felt myself jolt awake from the ear deafening tones that blasted through the still dark room. I was slightly disoriented from the drowsiness, and didn't manage to turn off the fucking thing until an entire minute later. By then, I was sure I woke up everyone in the tri state area.
After that, I did the best I could to pull myself together. I took a piping hot then freezing cold shower. Nathaniel had breakfast prepared by the time I got fully dressed and ready.
"Looking good, sir." He gave me a nod.
"Thanks, Nathaniel. The event will start a little after noon. It will run officially for three hours, then I'll need to hang back one extra hour to entertain the remaining guests. Mine and Alex's flight will be at 10 am tomorrow morning. I booked something at a later time after seeing how disastrous New York went." Nathaniel had already flipped open his notepad to start scribbling things down. "I'll be at Brad's place for the next few hours after the event today because we have some things to run by each other. Alex and I should make it here around 9 pm tonight.... Do you think this will be enough time to get everything packed and ready for me?"
I watched as Nathaniel quickly flipped the page to scribble down more notes onto the pad. "This will be perfect, sir. I'll make all the arrangements. Should I have dinner ready for tonight when you and Alex return?"
I took a second to pause in the middle of mixing up my protein breakfast bowl. "No, I'm sure Brad will make us something. Don't trouble yourself with that." I settled on.
"No trouble, sir. No trouble at all." He replied with a small grin as I dug into my breakfast.
Alex
"God, I swear I love that business if finally doing well... but if I have to buy another formal suit, I'm going to go into debt." Derek whined as he began his nineteenth attempt at tieing his own tie.
"First off, that ridiculous neon green suit could not have cost you more than twenty dollars. If it did, I hate to break it to you but you've been robbed," Joan chimed in from her position in the bathroom, "and second, you're already in debt."
I looked over at Derek and watched as he dramatically clutched at his heart, before falling back on my bed. "Why must you hurt me with such unkind words." He whined. Joan rolled her eyes at him through the reflection of the bathroom mirror. She was just finishing up glueing on an eyelash.
"Sit up." I told Derek, as I made my way over to my bed. He just as dramatically rolled his slumped body up to the edge. I took the tie fabric in my hands and asked "Why do you have a real tie anyways? Usually you just wear clip-ons right?"
"I forgot the clip-on at home and I already made it here and this was the only tie I had in my car so I decided well fuck it it can't be that hard right? Right." Derek rambled on. "So I thought I'll bring it up here anyways and figure out how it goes which meant I had to observe how you tie your tie but when I started watching when you were tieing yours you made it look so easy then I tried tieing mine and that was an entirely different story." By the time he was done with his long drawn out story, I had already finished tieing his tie.
"All good." I nodded to him. He glanced at himself through the full body mirror in my closet, and gave me a big thumbs up.
"Thank you my good sir."
"Pleasures all mine." I replied sarcastically.
"Y'all are hilarious." Joan shook her head. "But the time has come, gang. Are you ready to get your party on?"
"Technically, this is a work event." I reminded her quickly. I didn't need these two getting shit face wasted in front of our distributors.
"I won't let you ruin this for me, Alex. I've worked too hard not to take full advantage of the open bar." Joan replied. I mean, she wasn't wrong.
"A few drinks, just a few. I need you to be able to answer the questions our guests will have today." I explained to Joan. " And that goes for you too, Derek. I don't want to see you held up at the snack bar."
Derek grasped at his chest again. "Who me? I. Would. Never."
That got a laugh out of both Joan and I.
-
When we pulled into the parking of Ivanov Corp, the lot was just as packed as it was on the night of the Gala. The same signs were up, directing us to the side entrance where undergrounding parking was located. A valet driver welcomed us at that entrance. Joan, Derek, and I all climbed out like the three musketeers, before I handed the valet driver the keys to my baby.
Before I could say my iconic line, the valet driver chimed in for me. "No worries Mr. Hamilton, I'll take good care of her." He gave me a polite smile. That's when I realized he was the same valet driver from the night of the Gala.
"Thank you." I replied with a grin, before I left him to catch up with Joan and Derek. So far, the event signs looked to be set up correctly.
The live music sounded great through the halls.
The building wasn't on fire yet.
Everything seemed to be going well.
But from what I've learnt, only time could tell.
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