There he is.
Gorgeous in his expensive suit and hair tousled by the winter wind. He is smiling. I feel a twinge in my chest. And further down. Oh God, I need him to notice me. It's, like, a matter of life and death.
"Looks like the boss has arrived," Alan comments on the obvious, but I'm no longer paying any attention.
My feet move as if of their own volition towards the object of my desire. It's now or never. Steve is being greeted by the sycophants on duty. Some women take the opportunity to hug him. Bitches. They'll all be fired when I'm Ms. Rogers.
I smile as I get closer and closer. I'm already looking forward to when Steve will turn around and notice me among the bunch of drunk employees around the open bar. Our eyes will lock and everything will disappear just like in the movies.
Like Elizabeth and Mr Darcy in the Pride and Prejudice dance.
It will be perfect. Will be...
- Damn! I exclaim when I trip over someone, making all the contents left in my glass run down the white dress of the woman in front of me.
Shit! I lift my head to curse whoever it was that stopped me from getting to Steve, but I shut up when I recognized Erin.
A thousand times shit!
- Damn it I say, Natasha! What is thinking? She holds the dress away from her body, red with anger.
"Excuse me, Erin, I was distracted, I didn't see you and..." I mumble.
Erin isn't happy at all right now.
"Don't you get tired of being clumsy?" she yells, making several eyes lock on us.
Blushing with shame. Hell, why did Erin have to be so mean to me? If I'm clumsy in her presence, it was entirely her fault!
It wasn't my fault that she abruptly turned toward me when she ordered coffee my first day, sending the cup flying from my hand and landing on her immaculate table. Thank God the notebook had been spared.
Or if, by doing the favor of opening her office window, being solicitous and proactive when she complained about the heat, a wind from God knows where spilled all her desk papers. She made me take it one by one, taking, like, three hours and leaving me with pain in my knees for days!
And now this!
"You are a walking disaster!" How am I going to greet Steve in this outfit?
"I'm sorry," I say humbly, though inside I'm laughing. One less to approach Steve today.
I cast my gaze forward again and huff as I see he's already disappeared among the staff and waiters serving canapés.
Damn it!
- Feeling sorry is not enough! You ruined my dress! It cost a fortune and I should send you the laundry bill!
"Okay, sure, anything to redeem me..." I quickly agree, with an apologetic smile, while in my mind I'm breaking the empty glass in her clown hair.
"Oh, do you want to redeem yourself?" "She measures me with interest." "Then I think you can change clothes with me."
Which? Has she lost her mind? Swap my beautiful sexy brocade dress for that stained white dress?
Not even dead!
However, Erin is already holding my arm and practically dragging me into the ladies room.
"Erin, it's really not going to work, you're a lot taller than me and...
She was already pulling the dress over her head.
"Hurry up, take off your dress!" Or would you rather be fired?
Losing, I take off the dress wanting to cry, which only increases when I pick up the white one. I run it through my head and look at my image in the mirror.
My God, I look like a lost soul in whose dress someone sneezed!
This cannot be happening to me!
"I think it'll do, although I seem a bit of a bitch," Erin says, looking at herself in the mirror.
The dress is really super short for her. However, the demon has long legs and is looking like one of those Russian models, with that voluminous red hair.
That's not fair. Not even a little.
'Thanks Natasha, I think you can keep your job until Christmas.
I smile grudgingly, and when she turns and walks out of the bathroom, I give her the middle finger.
Well, all I can do is try to sneak up to the exit and get the hell out of this damn party!
And leave my beautiful dream of Steve Rogers behind.
I leave the bathroom and am intercepted by Hill.
"Hey, where'd you go... what a horrible dress is that and... who fucked you?"
I roll my eyes, taking the glass from her hand and turning the contents over in one go. Better get really drunk soon to forget about the fiasco.
"I spilled drink on Erin and she made me change dresses with her.
'Oh, I knew I knew that outfit. She points somewhere in the crowd and I notice Erin talking animatedly to Steve and James Potter.
- Cow! I take another glass when the waiter passes me.
"Hey, go slow there!" Hill says. "I don't want to have to carry you home passed out."
"This party is shit!" I mumble.
- What's it? Just because you're dressed as Gasparzinho? Not the end of the world.
"You don't understand..." I snort. Not really Hill understood.
I'm keeping my crush on Steve well hidden from my friends.
- Come on, let's circulate...
'No, no way. I want to leave.
- No, no, we agreed to share the taxi, remember? And I want to try to be with Alan.
"Alan, really?
"Well, if you want to stay hidden there, you can, but stop drinking, okay?"
I make a face and as soon as she walks away I grab another glass.
Hill be damned. Just like Erin.
I drag my eyes back to where Steve is. So beautiful... Now Wanda has joined the group and another big shot from the board whose name I forgot. All happy and laughing with their drinks and impeccable clothes. It could be me there, in Wanda's anorexic place, for example. Erin had screwed up. Maybe it would be a good idea to put rat poison in her coffee on Monday. Or just spitting was safer, because she wasn't in the mood to be arrested. I don't look good in orange.
"Don't you think you've had too much to drink?" The waiter's voice snaps me out of my murderous reverie and I frown.
- What did you say?
"Don't you think you've had too much to drink?"
- Of course not! I rebut, grabbing another glass, and step a little farther into the shadows when I spot Tyler walking past, probably looking for some pretty drunk victim to take home.
Well I'm not drunk.
I suddenly realize that I am tripping over my own feet and that everything is spinning.
Oh shit.
I'm really drunk. I think it's time to go.
Trying not to fall flat on my face, I stumble to the elevator, praying I can at least get to a cab.
"Hey, Natasha, where are you going, beautiful?"
I look back and Tyler is coming after me.
Oh shit! I press the elevator button harder.
"Leave me alone, Tyler.
- Cat, are you already drunk? He laughs and growls annoyed when he touches my arm.
I smack the bag into her saucy hand.
"Take your hand off me!"
- Calm down, I just want to help you. How about taking you home?
I laugh. Does he think I'm an idiot?
Thank God the elevator arrives and I dash inside, pushing Tyler out without even knowing how.
"Fuck you, Tyler!" I hit the down button and Tyler tries to get back in, but the door keeps closing.
"I'll meet you downstairs..." he still yells before the door closes.
I lean my head against the glass wall, wanting to die.
I had so many expectations for that night... And it all turned into a complete disaster.
Now the photocopy pervert still wanted to take advantage of me.
What had I done to deserve this?
The elevator door opens and I walk with my heels hitting the floor, not quite in a straight line, and I realize I'm not downstairs but in the underground garage full of cars.
"Oh, dammit!
How do I get out of here?
Suddenly I hear footsteps.
Tyler?
Crap! Terrified, I try to get into the first car I find, breathing a sigh of relief when the door opens, and throw myself into the passenger seat.
I can still hear Tyler calling me, until the voice gets farther away.
Okay, I think I can leave now.
But it's so nice in here, so comfortable... what if I just took a nap? No one will notice me, they're all at the party...
I close my eyes and settle down on the bench.
And I fall asleep.
***
The world is spinning.
Why is the world turning?
No. Is the bed turning?
I open my eyes and let out an involuntary moan as the daylight blinds me for an instant. I put my hand over my eyes and sit up, trying to
assimilate why someone would be turning the bed. And I focus my confused gaze on the strange room.
Wait... where am I?
It's a spacious room. Elegant. Very masculine...
I suddenly feel my stomach churning, and it could either be from the hangover I've just realized I'm suffering or from realizing that this is some man's bedroom.
I lift up the fancy sheets and note with some horror that I'm wearing a man's shirt.
- Oh shit! I mutter, terrified.
Who did I fuck?
I try to remember what happened...
I was at the company's Christmas party. And I had drunk a lot, when I should have just tried the different expensive drinks, though...
I hear voices in the hallway and jump out of bed.
Shit, I need to get out of here, wherever I am!
I hunt for my clothes and can't find them, so I see my bag on a chair. I pick it up and quickly decide that I'll have to run away dressed like that. It shouldn't be difficult to get a taxi, but I certainly can't take the bus in a T-shirt. I spot my shoes lying by the door and breathe a sigh of relief.
They are the most expensive items in my closet. It took me a month of lunch at college (I lost three kilos and four centimeters of breeches), but it had been worth putting my foot in the jackfruit and resetting the card limit on those Manolo Amazing red Blahniks and losing them would be a disaster. More excited, I put them on in a hurry and I'm just leaving the room, vaguely noticing that the corridor in which I find myself is also very elegant, which I stop in horror.
Six people are looking at me in surprise.
A very fine lady has her hand over her mouth. The gray-haired man beside her looks dismayed. A blonde girl is frowning with some disapproval as she studies me and the tall guy next to her is holding back a laugh.
Farther back is another young man, who looks everywhere but at me, as if he's saving me, while a girl slips under his arm and points at me, laughing.
"So this is Steve's fiancée?"
Which?
Wait...
Are they talking about Steve Rogers? My boss?
O!
I had done it!
I had sex with Steve!
But...
Like?
I couldn't remember anything.
How did I end up at his house?
Who were those people in front of me and...
Had they called me Steve's fiancée? Since when was Steve Rogers engaged?
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Suddenly, I see the reason for all my confusion appearing in my field of vision.
And what a sight!
He stares at people with an annoyed look.
His hair was in a morning mess, wearing nothing but pajama pants and his broad chest gleaming in perfection.
Wow!
I must have died and I'm in heaven.
Steve decomposed in the morning light is even better than Steve Rogers CEO in an Armani suit.
"Is that the way to talk to your family, dear?" the older woman complains.
"I still don't understand what they're doing here!"
- We came to visit you, now! the blonde girl explains. "I understand why you're angry, since we've caught you and your fiancée in a moment...
intimate.
He suddenly turns around and his gaze is locked on me.
I chorus for several reasons.
Of shyness, fear and silly joy.
He is looking at me. Finally!
And, dammit, if all the clues are right, he did more than that last night and it's extremely unfortunate he doesn't remember anything!
"Hello, I'm Hope, Steve's sister," the girl continues. - What an education of us, we didn't even introduce ourselves! We were dying to meet you! This is my husband, Scott. She points to the shy boy behind her back.
'Yeah, I...' I don't know what to say, but I need to clear up the misunderstanding.
Wait. So is Steve really engaged?
My heart sinks in my chest.
It's not possible!
"And I'm Maggie, Steve's mom," the older woman says, smiling. "This is my husband, Alfred. "Point to the handsome gentleman on your side."
"Sean, Steve's brother! The tall, red-haired boy raises his hand, blinking. - Nice shirt.
I blush even more.
"And this is my wife, Florence. Sean hugs the blonde girl.
- Much pleasure...
- Natasha Romanoff. "I see myself saying my name." Well, I could be polite, couldn't I?
- Like this? Wasn't the name Kate? Mila looks at Steve, confused.
Oh my God, is Steve's fiancée's name Kate?
I feel like I'm going to throw up.
- Oh God. I put my hand over my mouth.
That's it, I'm going to throw up in front of the Rogers.
- Enough! Steve rushes over to me and grabs my arm, practically dragging me to the bathroom.
It's just time to throw myself down the toilet and throw up all the expensive champagne I drank yesterday.
As well as all my shame and disappointment.
And at some point in my disgusting epiphany, I notice Steve holds my hair away from my face.
- Are you okay? he asks carefully when my stomach finally empties.
I lean my head against the toilet lid as I reach out to flush the toilet, eyes closed, breathing hard.
My mind still spins, as do my confused thoughts.
"I'm sorry," I mutter.
He gives me an analytical look now, as if his mind is full of conjecture.
Why hadn't he said outside that I wasn't engaged to him?
"Her name is Natasha Romanoff. "It's not a question. Well, hadn't I even said my name last night? "And you work at DBS Enterprises, don't you?"
"I think you have all the answers," I mumble.
I suddenly want to leave.
I don't want to stand there anymore, reminding myself of what a fool I was getting involved with a guy who was engaged.
"What do you remember from last night?"
"Excuse me, I don't remember anything.
"I suspected."
"I have to go," I mumble, still unable to move.
There's a knock on the bathroom door and Steve walks away, opening it.
"Is everything okay, Steve?" - It's your mother who asks, worried.
'Yes, just a hangover. We went to the company party yesterday.
- Ah understood. Why did she say her name was Natasha? Florence is saying that this is probably not her fiancée, is that true?
'Florence is wrong. Natasha is my bride, yes.
Which? What the hell is he saying?
I finally manage to sit up and listen intently to the strange dialogue.
"Didn't you say her name was Kate?"
"You must have been confused.
'Well, if you're saying...
"Once we've collected ourselves, we'll meet them in the living room, okay?
- Sure honey.
Steve closes the door and comes back to me.
"What the fuck were you talking to your mother? I'm not your bride!
He reaches out and pulls me off the ground.
I stare into his very blue eyes.
Dammit, this close he's even prettier.
Concentrate, Natasha!
"May I know why I suddenly became your bride?" And who is this Kate? You are engaged? Did you cheat on your bride? Disgusting!
"I'm not engaged."
"Your family thinks it is!" And you just told your mother I'm your bride!
'Yes, they think I'm engaged. Only there is no bride.
Which? It's getting harder and harder to follow the conversation.
"Slowly, it's making a knot in my head."
"I lied to them."
"You lied?"
- Yes.
"That he was engaged?"
- Yes.
- Why?
- Do not want to understand my family and me.
- No, I think you owe me an explanation, yes! It's the least I deserve, after all you just told your mother that I'm your fiancée!
- All right. The truth is, my family doesn't understand that I don't want to be committed. They wanted me to marry Sharon.
"Who the hell is Sharon? "That story was getting more and more bizarre.
"An old teenage girlfriend. They were so insistent that the last time I went to visit them I told them I was dating seriously.
"And how did dating turn into an engagement?"
'They didn't think it would come to anything. So I made up that I was going to get married.
"And when did you intend to tell them the truth?"
"I don't know, I didn't think about it. I was having a few months of rest until they decided to come to town to meet my fiancée, as you can see!
he says, exasperated.
"Why did you say I was that bride?" Could have told the truth!
- I can not do this.
"And what do you intend to do?"
He takes me very seriously.
"I think you should be my bride."