We checked into the hotel soon after we arrived and now we were all in Mr. Charlie's suite sitting in the living room waiting for him to finish his conversation with the person on the other side of the phone.
I looked to my side and saw Dré looking down at his phone. Okay, that was it.
"How long are you going to give me the silent treatment?" I spoke out and he lifted his head to look at me.
"I'm not giving you the silent treatment."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you- you know what forget about it."
I turned my head to look straight ahead and away from Dré while folding my hands, and pouting my lips.
Dré scoffed lightly and turned his body fully toward me. "Louise."
I didn't look at him, waiting for him to proceed with what he wanted to say.
"I only gave you space because I thought that was what you wanted me to do. And besides, it's not silent treatment if you never tried to talk to me in the first place."
I turned to face him and he smirked at me. It was my turn to scoff. "Well it's not like I totally disliked the space you gave me, it helped me organize my thoughts." he nodded in agreement.
"And I didn't talk to you because I thought you hated me. I knew you were angry at me so I didn't want to say anything that would aggravate you."
"I was angry. I mean the girl I like friend-zoned me, it's not exactly a happy experience." Gosh, when he put it that way I felt so guilty.
"But the space we had also made me organize my thoughts and acknowledge one thing."
"Which is?" I looked at his face and his expression turned serious, eyes holding mine in a fierce gaze.
"I'm not giving up."
I opened my mouth to say something but no words could come out so I just stared at him.
"What's going on? What's with the faces?" a voice broke me out of the trance I was in.
"Nothing." Dré replied before I got the chance to.
Mr. Charlie looked between the two of us. It seemed like he wanted to say something but he didn't but said instead "We're visiting our gallery tomorrow so you two are free to sightsee today. Come back to the hotel before nighttime so we can have dinner together."
"Was that last part directed toward me or Louise?" Dré said daringly.
Mr. Charlie's eyes narrowed and he glared at Dré but Dré's eyes had the same look.
"O...kay. This is getting pretty tense. I'll be leaving now, I'll make sure to be back before dinner too." I grabbed my purse off the chair as I stood up, hurrying out of the room and out of the hotel.
"What is with those two? It seems like they have some kind of history between them."
It was a hot afternoon and all the 'hot spots' here had a plethora of people so I decided to go have lunch instead.
I went to a restaurant that I was familiar with. You know when you don't have memories of a particular event but little things like the restaurants you went to, things you ate, kind of stick with you no?
I recognized this restaurant and loved their croissant and hot chocolate. My mouth was watering from the thought of it. I wiped the back of my hand on my mouth and entered the restaurant.
I sat down in a booth and a waiter came to take my order. "Bonjour. What can I get you?"
"Bonjour. I'd like a croissant and hot chocolate. Sil vous plait." I said excitedly and the man just nodded and walked away. I felt proud for saying the only two French words I knew in Paris.
I walked around for a bit when I was done eating and took pictures of everything like the tourist I am. It started getting late so I went back to the hotel.
"Now what am I going to wear?" I soliloquized.
It shouldn't be a big deal to wear an outfit for dinner but:
1.
I was in Paris. The city of fashion. I couldn't look like basic, old Louise. I needed to look fancier.
And 2.
The guy I liked and the guy I think I like are having dinner with me. I needed to look different. In a good way.
I settled on a little black dress and decided to wear a white coat over it. The temperature was much lower at night. I coupled it with my most expensive pair of shoes, Louboutins.
I got them while I was shopping for outfits for the trip. The price almost gave me a heart attack but I squeezed my eyes shut and slid my card for payment.
They're so pretty. I don't regret it.
I quickly assembled my outfit and styled my hair in wavy blowouts before finishing off with my favorite red lipstick. I stepped back and looked into the full-length mirror.
This reminded me of the day I went to the ball with my boss. I stared at my reflection and I looked really pretty. "Louise, Louise. You never fail to clean up nicely." I mumbled to myself smiling.
I grabbed my black purse and took the lift to the dining area. The hotel had a restaurant inside which was located on the top floor.
I took a couple of deep breaths as I stepped out of the lift. Why is your heart pounding Louise?
Exactly, why is it beating fast? I was super nervous and my palms became sweaty. I rubbed them on my coat and walked into the restaurant.
My eyes searched the room for the two men and I immediately found them. Their eyes met mine soon after and I smiled at them.
One of the staff helped me take off my coat and I thanked them before walking to the table. I tried so hard to maintain both their gazes, walking one step at a time till I got to the table.
How embarrassing would it be if you fell flat on your face right now?
I mentally groaned at my subconscious. "Good evening gentlemen." I greeted. They wore different outfits too and both looked very delectable.
They both stood up to pull out my chair for me to sit in. I smiled awkwardly and sat down as they both pushed the chair in.
Would I be able to make it through the night? I sure hope so.
"You look so beautiful Louise." Dré said from beside me and I fought back a blush.
"Thank you Dré. You look pretty impressive yourself." he smiled at me.
"Ahem." Mr. Charlie cleared his throat unnecessarily.
"You..you look different today."
"Yes. I thought I should try something new."
"You look even prettier today." Did my boss just call me pretty? The heart I was doing a good job calming began racing again and I could feel my face get hot.
"Thank you." I muttered sipping my glass of water.
I breathed out and gave him a compliment in return. "You look handsome as always, sir."
Mr. Charlie froze like he didn't expect me to say something like that and just stared at me with an emotion I could not recognize in his eyes.
"Have you decided on what you would like to have?" A waitress's voice caused all three of our heads to turn toward her.
"What would you like to eat sir?" I asked flipping through the menu.
"I'll get the-"
We finished eating our main meals in complete silence and when I tell you this food has to be one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth.
"So. I heard the two of you are childhood friends." That's one question that has been bothering me for a while.
"Uh. Yeah." Dré answered looking between Mr. Charlie and me.
"How long have you two known each other?" At this point, I was just asking anything because no one was talking and it was awkward.
"I'd say 15 years." Mr. Charlie was the one who replied to me this time.
"So you guys are like best friends. Then why have you been glaring at each other the whole dinner?" I folded my arms asking. In the back of my mind, I quietly hoped that this wasn't going too far and my boss wasn't going to get upset from my forward question.
"Well, the master here became super busy and didn't have time for his only friend."
"You're not my only friend. I have many friends."
"Right. Daniel?"
"You don't know them." Mr. Charlie folded his arms and looked like a little kid. I bit my lip to hide the grin on my face from their bickering.
"Okay, okay. So Mr. Charlie here, became so occupied with work that your friendship fell off even though you live in the same house? Also, what type of relationship do you guys really have? I've never seen someone call their best friend master. Unless..."
They looked at each other quickly and I saw the fear on their faces before they looked back at me.
"It's not like that!" They both said at the same time.
"Sure it's not." I drank some water and had an idea. I wasn't sure if Mr. Charlie would be comfortable with it though.
"I was fine calling him Mr. Charlie whenever he was working and just his name any other time. But one day, he suddenly shut out and got so cold demanding everyone calls him master." Dré rolled his eyes after speaking. The sass is killing me.
"You don't know anything. Don't be quick to assume."
"Whatever reason there is, me calling you master makes me feel like you have a praise kink of some sort."
I glanced between the two of them and once again they were glaring at each other, eyebrows furrowed. At this rate, the two of them are going to need some eye drops from all that staring.
"Well, maybe now Dré doesn't need to call you master?" I said carefully as he turned to me, eyes fierce before sighing.
"Suit yourself."
"Cool. Now that that's settled, shall we go to the rooftop for some drinks?"
"You know we have to go to the gallery tomorrow. We can't exactly be drinking." Mr. Charlie argued and had made a good point.
I sighed and tilted my head down in defeat as Dré spoke.
"Is that the excuse you're going with? You don't want to drink simply because you can't hold your liquor. Everyone knows that." I laughed at what Dré said because it was the complete truth, but Mr. Charlie shot daggers at me and I clamped my mouth shut.
"That is very untrue. I hold my liquor very well."
"Only one way to find out." I quickly chipped in before they could begin arguing again.
That was how the three of us rode the lift to the rooftop for some drinks. I had picked up my coat because it was a more open area and my choice of outfit wasn't really suitable for this weather.
I excused myself to go to the restroom and told the guys to go ahead. I finished easing my bladder in the toilet and washed my hands before applying a new layer of lipstick.
By the time I got to where Mr. Charlie and Dré sat, I had already seen empty glasses. "Hey! Not fair. You guys started drinking without me."
I quickly sat down at the bar and ordered a Martini.
"We're having a competition to see who holds their liquor best." Dré said before downing his shot glass.
"The competition's useless if you know who the winner is." My boss downed a glass too.
"This is not going to end well." I took a sip of my drink.
"Less talking more drinking, Charlie."
"The alcohol must have begun working for you to call him that." I chuckled.
They both ignored me and continued downing shot glasses as the bartender kept the drinks coming. That went on for an hour and they had started staggering a little.
I ordered another Martini and left it at that because these two were going to get very drunk. I stared at the men trying to protect their egos by burning their liver and sighed.
"Did the chairman threaten you with me and my mom?" Dré suddenly asked.
Mr. Charlie's figure swayed a little as he drank some more alcohol before answering him. "Does that even matter? You of all people should understand how my father is."
This felt like a conversation I shouldn't be a part of but my curious self decided to listen. I would get to know what happened between them if I stayed.
"Why didn't you tell me? We could've figured it out together." Dré's voice slightly cracked as he looked at Mr. Charlie.
"I had to protect you. As you know, that man is capable of doing many things. I couldn't risk putting you and Clara in danger."
Dré didn't say anything, drinking from his glass and twirling the cup in his hand.
"You were going through all that on your own. I always thought of you as a brother. Who says I didn't want to protect you too?"
Oh my gosh. Are they going to kiss now? I'm living for this bromance.
"That's exactly why I didn't tell you. You were much safer being left in the dark."
"And you? How were you coping? With all that burden? I hope you wouldn't leave me in the dark from now on."
"I can't make any promises." They both drank one more glass before passing out.
"Woah, woah. I exclaimed as both their heads hit the table.
"I knew this was going to end like this."
"It's a tie guys." I said loudly as I stood in between them.
One of the security men was kind enough to assist me in getting these guys into the hotel room.
Once we got to the room, I thanked the man and trudged to the bed with the half-conscious men before I was pulled down by their bodies and trapped in the middle, their hands blocking me from escaping.
"The two of you owe me for this." I scrambled from under their frames, pushing their hands away, and got off the bed.
Blowing a strand of hair away from my face, I placed my arms on my waist and examined the two of them. I decided to leave them in Mr. Charlie's room because I couldn't be bothered struggling to take them to their individual rooms.
I took off their shoes and socks and placed them beside each other and moved towards their torsos. Like I did before with my boss, I took off their shirts.
It took a lot of effort to perform that small action because they both were fully asleep, their breathing steady. I tried to carefully unbutton and take their shirts off, so as not to wake them up.
I pulled the sheets closer to their bodies and moved toward the fridge. Grabbing two bottles of water, I set them on the bedside table.
I looked at their bodies once more and they were cuddling with each other. "They're going to freak out when they see each other in the morning."
I chuckled quietly and turned off the lights before retreating to my room which was thankfully, in close distance.
"I am never going drinking with those two ever again."
I said to myself as I kicked off my heels and dropped my exhausted body onto the bed, too tired to even wash up.
"Those two are gonna wake up with the worst hangover." was the last thing I murmured before slipping into darkness.