Picture of the flowers⬆️
I woke up with a throbbing head and a massive hangover at 11 am. I already expected the worst. Mr. Charlie and I had drank one too many bottles last night.
I groggily pulled myself up from my bed and moved to the bathroom to douse myself with boiling water.
I needed some coffee to fully wake up my senses.
Once I was done showering, I threw on an old oversized t-shirt and some sweatpants and wrapped my hair in a towel.
I had taken some ibuprofen for myself as well while getting for my boss, so I swallowed it and finished the water in the cup.
I walked out of my room, rubbing my temple as I made my way toward the kitchen. I was taken aback by the figure I saw in the kitchen and visibly shook in surprise which caused the towel on my head to plop down onto the floor.
In front of me was an equally hungover man who was drinking a cup of coffee and wincing from his obvious headache. He rose his head up and met my eyes. I immediately cleared my throat and picked up the towel hanging it over my shoulder like a bartender.
"Good morning." I whispered and walked over to the espresso machine to make a cup of cappuccino.
We stood in silence while the machine buzzed as my drink poured slowly into the cup. I could feel his eyes bore into the back of my head.
"I didn't know you were already up. I was about making you a light breakfast." I turned to look at him, coffee in my hand.
He didn't say anything and continued to drink his own coffee. I took a few sips of mine and began making his breakfast.
I settled for the English breakfast. I cracked two eggs and fried them in a pan while toasting some bread slices in another. I then proceeded to cut some tomato slices and take out the can of baked beans.
The breakfast was made in a couple of minutes and I gave the plate to Mr. Charlie. I placed our now empty coffee cups in the sink and took out the carton of orange juice when he finally spoke.
"You really like seeing my naked body don't you Louise?"
I dropped the carton to the ground and my face flustered. I tried to regain my composure quickly so I picked up the carton and closed the fridge. "What do you mean, sir?"
"You know exactly what I mean Louise." I swear if he says my name like that one more time I will lose my shit. Not only was my head throbbing, but now my heart was too. I had to get out of here. Did he really have to bring up that part of last night?
"I don't know what you're talking about. I have plans today so I don't want to run late. If you need me, you can call me." I breathed out and briskly walked to my room not looking back as he shouted behind me.
"You can pretend all you want but we both know the truth." He said in a mock tone while laughing.
I ignored him and closed my room door resting against it. Slapping both of my cheeks I chanted a mantra: You have a date today, get your boss out of your head dammit!
I spent the next 30 minutes getting ready for my date with André. I applied light makeup and used my signature red lipstick to finish the look. I then straightened my crazy hair before wearing my outfit.
"You clean up nicely Louise." I mumbled to myself and smiled at my reflection in the mirror. I wore a pastel pink dress that had little strawberry designs all over and accompanied it with my white cotton sweater. I was also wearing some nude wedge sandals on my feet.
A knock sounded on my door and I rushed to answer it. I was met with a grinning André who wore a white button-up and some black trousers along with a black jacket. His hair was tousled and curly and he smelled of soap and cologne. "Wow...You look beautiful as always Scarlet."
"I should say the same about you. You look really good Dré."
"Thank you."
"We haven't gone on a proper date in a while, I'm excited." And I was really. I had so much fun spending time with Dré and I feel like I had taken it for granted.
"Yeah. I'm pretty excited too." He smiled before saying.
"These are for you." The hand that had been hidden behind Dré's back was now in front of me and it was a bouquet of baby's breath.
"Dré." I looked at him with gratitude and accepted the flowers. "These are beautiful. Thank you."
"Not as beautiful as you." He winked at me and I giggled, softly hitting his chest.
"Come on. Let's get going." He stretched his hand for me to take and I placed mine in his.
I put the flowers on my windowsill. "I'll look for a vase when I get back."
I mumbled and rushed out of my room. We walked hand in hand out of the house. The car was parked in front of the house beside the fountain. Dré opened the passenger's seat for me to enter and entered the driver's seat. We began to move soon after.
I looked out the window and admired the buildings. That has become my new habit ever since I started working here and it made car rides go faster.
"So." Dré's voice broke me out of my thoughts after a while.
"We have some time before the movie. Is there anything you would like to do before then?"
"Mm. There." I pointed towards the London eye.
"I haven't gone on it in years."
"Okay. Let's go there." He drive towards the observation wheel and parked some distance away from it.
"Ah. The weather is so nice today." Dré grabbed my hand and lightly jogged towards it. I jogged behind him laughing.
We paid for our tickets and got in the capsule with a few other people. As it started to move I got close to the glass window and palmed both my hands on it, staring in awe. The last time I was on this was with my dad. I just couldn't come to see it without thinking of him. For me to willingly come here now must mean I've gone past the pain.
I sighed and looked at Dré whose eyes were fixated on the view and slid my fingers through his. This little action caused him to turn at me and squeeze my hand. I squeezed his hand back and forced a smile before turning towards the window again.
What am I doing?
"One large popcorn and two Coca-Cola's please." Dré paid for our snacks. We had gone back and forth arguing about who should pay when he said it's his responsibility today since he arranged the date. I reluctantly let it go since his claim was reasonable.
We sat down in our seats as the movie began to play; it was the 1953 film 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.'
From time to time, I stole glances at Dré. Something uncomfortable was settling in the pit of my stomach. I thought the feeling would be resolved once I spent time with him but it just didn't go away.
I shook my head and focused on the movie with one thing in mind. I need to do the right thing.
"Do you think the movie still applies to the modern day? "Dré asked as we walked out of the theater.
"Of course. Marilyn Monroe's iconic quote says 'Don't you know a man being rich is like a girl being pretty?' Most guys are only attracted to a girl when she's pretty and that's okay. But when a girl wants a guy who's wealthy as a requirement for liking them, it becomes a whole issue and men call her a gold digger. So yes, it does still apply to this modern day. No one should judge the other because of their preference, especially if your preference is just as ridiculous as the one you're judging.
"You make a good point. Everyone has preferences and shouldn't be bashed for it but they also shouldn't set unrealistic standards."
"Exactly. I'm starving should we get dinner?" I patted my belly and smiled at Dré.
"Sure. There's a great pasta restaurant nearby."
I nodded and entered the car as he drove us to the restaurant.
"This place is really fancy." I gasped as we walked through the doors. We were led to our table and soon after a waiter came and gave us the menu.
"I'll get the Alfredo Chicken Pasta. What about you?" I asked Dré.
"I'll get the same and a bottle of red wine." We returned the menus and waited for our food to come.
"You know back in middle school, I was a huge Marilyn Monroe fan."
"Well, I could tell from your enthusiastic speaking when elaborating on her quote." We both chuckled at that.
"I might have been a bit too enthusiastic. Anyways. I even almost dyed my hair blonde." I grimaced.
"No. You would've ruined your pretty hair color."
"Yeah. I'm glad my mom refused to give me money to buy the hair dye. I would've regretted it so much."
"Then you wouldn't be Scarlet anymore. You would be...Blondie?" I looked at him and blinked twice before replying.
"Ah. That was so bad. Surely you can do better." I said in a mock tone causing laughter to escape from our lips.
Our food came and we stopped laughing and thanked the servers.
"Wow, this looks tasty." I stated and dug into my food.
I was starving and I hadn't eaten anything asides from the coffee I had this morning.
Morning. Mr. Charlie.
I took a sip of the wine that Dré had poured and set it on the table. I had almost cleared my plate and sighed. It's now or never.
"André." This was the first time I had called his full name and his eyes shot up from his plate and at my eyes. He could sense something was wrong.
"Louise. Is something wrong?" The way he spoke broke my heart and I wasn't sure if I wanted to go ahead with this. Am I even doing the right thing?
Yes. You can't keep leading him on.
I liked Dré. But I think I liked him more as a friend. I really enjoyed his company and had fun when I was with him, but it felt weird whenever we kissed.
"What are we?" I finally said after organizing my thoughts.
"What are we?" I looked at him as he looked up and back at my eyes.
"Aren't we boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"We are? You never asked me out. Did we just assume we were because we went on dates and kissed? You never even told me you liked me." Why was I getting upset with him? I didn't tell him I liked him either. Calm down, Louise. You're in no position to be upset right now.
"You're right. I'm sorry. I kind of already assumed cause it seemed that way when we were together. I'll make it official right now if-"
"I don't think you should." One after the other, word your sentences right Louise.
The expression on his face was confusion as he waited for me to continue talking.
"André. Don't you think this all happened too fast? I came here as an employee and we went on a date soon after. Everything went too fast and I couldn't even properly process my feelings. I don't know if you were able to either."
"I'm sure of what I want Louise. I want you. It may have happened too fast but I've loved every moment of it and I don't regret it. Unless you regret something?"
"It's not that. I like you Dré." His eyebrows softened and he almost gave a small smile.
"But I'm not sure if I like you in a romantic way or a platonic way." The small smile dropped from his face.
"Okay. We can take it slow. I can give you some space or time to understand your feelings. I just want you to know my feelings for you are genuine Louise. Please. We can start over, we can-"
"Mr. Charlie and I kissed." I said a little louder than him closing my eyes. When I opened it, I saw his eyes which looked both angry and sad.
"What?" He asked calmly.
"When we attended the ball, we danced together but he said the kiss was only for show. I even slapped him when he kissed me."
"Okay. But you didn't like the kiss and don't feel anything for him right?" I was quiet and couldn't give him the answer he was looking for.
"Oh." He said quietly. "So that's why you're ending things before they could begin? Mr. Charlie always has to be involved in some way." He said a little angrier than in his previous sentences. Charlie?
"What do you mean?"
"It doesn't matter. You don't want what we have to continue because you and the master kissed? Okay."
"That's not what I'm saying. Can you put yourself in my shoes? I'm living with two men my age that I'm always around every second of the day! That alone can make my hormones go crazy. I just don't want to commit to anything right now till I get accustomed to being around the two of you."
I'm actually quite upset now. Why doesn't he understand me?
"Let's..let's not begin this. I don't want to hurt you. What if something happens with Mr. Charlie again? We'll fight and not trust each other. It's too risky right now." I stood up from the table and grabbed my purse.
"I'll take a taxi home." I turned to leave when I heard behind me.
"Will you choose me when you finally get your feelings in check?"
I didn't reply him and walked out of the restaurant. Tears began to pool in my eyes but I couldn't dare cry when I just hurt someone who cared about me.
This is for the best.
Little😭 Freak😭 from😭 harry's 😭 album😭🥹🫶