"Nope."
Val tried to push me off the spot I glued myself to on the sidewalk outside Gran Eléctrica, and she was thus far unsuccessful at convincing me to move. The only reason she managed to get me out of the cab was by guilt tripping me for making the cabbie lose time in finding a new customer along with poking my side until I scrambled off the seat and out of the cab. She may have won that battle, but I wasn't about to let her win the war.
"Come on," she whined. "Why not? You were okay with it five minutes ago."
"I changed my mind," I said, shaking my head. "I'm allowed to do that. Free country and all."
She rolled her eyes, linking our arms together, and tugging me toward the door, "Cait, come on. We're going inside. I paid for the cab here, and I will buy you a drink if you're worried about money."
"I'm not worried about money," I mumbled, dragging my feet as she forced me forward. "I just..."
"Just what?!" She demanded, planting her hands on her hips. "You're against having fun? Meeting up with friends?"
I shook my head, "No."
"Unless you give me a valid reason not to go inside, we're going inside," Val said firmly. "No excuses."
Damn. I didn't want to tell her about Andrew because 1) she'd flip out and 2) I didn't really tell her the whole truth. If, however, he was still inside, the chances of her finding out were still high. As much as I wanted to, it didn't seem like I could really avoid this situation without blatantly lying to my best friend.
"Fine," I sighed, caving. "One drink, then I'm leaving."
She grinned, "If you say so."
"And you're buying," I added, allowing Val to loop her arm with mine and drag me toward the door.
The lights were dim inside the brick building, and there was a surprising number of people lining the bar. I didn't think it would be this busy, given it was a Tuesday evening, but we could barely squeeze through the line of people ordering at the bar. I wanted to scan the room for Andrew and get a visual on him before Val began her assault, but I was too nervous to lift my gaze. Hopefully the fact that my hair was up in a ponytail would mask my appearance, because the last thing I needed was for him to recognize me first.
"Where are Roxanne and Anastasia?" I asked, talking loudly over the noise.
"In the back," Val gestured toward the door that led out into the back patio.
The garden was gorgeous, and - where the inside was packed with standing people - the vibe out back relaxed significantly. String lights draped overhead, and if you looked up, you noticed the Brooklyn bridge well above the patio. A massive brick wall draped with ivy crawling up the sides marked the back of the patio, and a small covered bar was pressed up against the door where we stepped out of the bar and down the steps to the patio.
In the corner, a blonde girl stuck her hand in the air to flag us to her table. She stood as we approached, grabbing Val in an enthusiastic hug, and smiled warmly at me. I'd met Anastasia before, so I was assuming this was her roommate Roxanne.
"Hey!" Val greeted her, pulling out a chair and collapsing into it. "Where's Anastasia? She didn't bail, did she?"
"Nope," the blonde replied with a smile. "She's currently flirting with the bartender."
Val smiled knowingly, "Of course she is. I'm not surprised."
"I'm Roxanne, by the way," the girl said to me, stretching out her hand over the table as I sat down.
I shook it lightly, "Cait."
"It's so nice to meet you," Roxanne gushed. "I've heard so much about you, I feel like Val has been keeping you to herself."
Val snorted, "You can have her."
"Thanks," I said to my roommate sarcastically before turning to Roxanne. "I...don't really get out much. I'm boring."
"Not tonight though," Val added. "We need to get a few margaritas in her ASAP, then you need to tell me where you spotted Lincoln Shepherd because I need to see that gorgeous face in person."
Roxanne laughed, a light and airy sound that reminded me of bells, "I thought you agreed to be cool if you saw him, Val. No freaking out. No fangirling. We're not repeating the street encounter with Chace Crawford of 2014."
Okay, I liked Roxanne already.
"What happened with Chace Crawford in 2014?" I asked as Val glared at Roxanne.
"Nothin--" Val started to say.
"Only the best and most embarrassing thing I have witnessed in the last decade of my life," Anastasia's voice spoke from behind me. She came with her hands full, carefully balancing four margaritas, and I quickly grabbed two so she could sit down. "So, Val saw Chace Crawford in Chelsea outside of a coffee shop, and - clever girl that she is - decided the best way to meet him was to play it cool and 'bump' into him."
Val buried her face in her hands, groaning, and I laughed, "Oh my god. Please don't tell me this is going where I think it's going."
"Oh, it is," Anastasia said with a laugh. "He was holding a hot coffee that she didn't notice. He spilled his hot coffee - all down his white button up - and Val flipped her shit, started crying, and told Chace Crawford that she didn't mean to spill his coffee, she just wanted to meet him and have his babies."
The table erupted into laughter while Val cradled her head in her arms, lifting one hand to flip Anastasia the bird, as we laughed. Roxanne helped distribute the margaritas, placing one in front of each of us, and poked Val's arm until she glanced up and accepted the drink.
"In my defense," Val said after taking a drink, "It was a Sunday, and we had just gotten back from brunch with bottomless mimosas."
"So you were wasted?" I asked, still giggling at the story.
She grimaced, "No! I was not wasted, I was just...not sober. There's a difference."
"The difference was she was cognizant of the fact that she ruined Chace Crawford's shirt and offered to give him her bright fuschia Victoria's Secret PINK t-shirt," Anastasia quipped, causing both Roxanne and I to collapse into a fit of giggles once more.
Val swore, downing the rest of her margarita, and pushed her seat back to stand up, "You're the worst. I hate all of you."
Winking at me, she slung her purse over her shoulder and headed back inside the building. Anastasia, Roxanne, and I continued to laugh as she walked away, and I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye as I took another sip of my margarita.
"Was it really that bad?" I asked them.
Roxanne shook her head, "He thought she was cute, and Anastasia apologized for it afterward. That was the first and last time we did bottomless mimosas, because none of us wanted to touch that much alcohol again."
"It was adorable," Anastasia added. "But I still think she would lose her cool if she met Lincoln Shepherd tonight, which means one of us needs to go chaperone her."
They both looked at me, and my heart sank in my chest. I didn't want to assist Val in her quest to find him, because I really really didn't want to run into him. It was going to look like I meant to bump into him, like I wanted to see him again, and I didn't.
I sighed, "You're going to make me do it, aren't you?"
"We witnessed the Chace Crawford incident," Anastasia teased. "Now it's your turn."
Val wasn't in the bathroom like I thought she'd be, and I exhaled nervously as I stood in front of the bathroom sink. My sweater hung loose on my frame, the front of it tucked in the waistband of my shorts, and I looked completely unremarkable. Even with my bright red lipstick and cat eyeliner, I didn't compare with most of the women in this place. Andrew was used to celebrities and supermodels - women who looked like they walked off the pages of a magazine - and I definitely didn't fit the bill.
I was pretty, and my dark hair accentuated my blessedly flawless skin, but I lacked confidence. My mom always wanted me to be a model, but I told her I had more important things to do with my life. In hindsight, I was terrified of being told that I was too fat, too ugly, too plain, too...whatever to take that risk.
Unfortunately, poor self-esteem was a bitch that continued to haunt me years later.
Smoothing a hand over my hair, I shook my head in an attempt to rid myself of those thoughts. I didn't need to think like that, I reminded myself, because it wasn't true and it didn't help anything.
Everyone is beautiful in their own way, mi corazón, I repeated the mantra my mother told me when I was a little girl. Your beauty shines brightest when you love others and respect yourself.
Chances were slim that Andrew still at the bar anyway, which meant I didn't have anything to be afraid of. Even if I did run into him, I could handle it. I was a strong, independent female, and I lived in Brooklyn. I was out with my friends, and it was simply a coincidence. A coincidence Val orchestrated, I mean, but it wasn't like I intended to hunt him down. Quite the opposite, in fact, as I had seriously hoped I would never see him again.
My inner pep talk fueled me with confidence, so I swung open the bathroom door and stepped out only to be punched in the gut by fate. I froze mid step, eyes wide like a deer in headlights, as I stared back at Andrew, the very man I had hoped to avoid seeing tonight or ever again.
"Cait?"
Well, shit. There went that plan.