Today is Monday and the day at school seems awful long. I have been trying to concentrate a lot more on my lectures as we are moving closer to the finals. The semesters are moving faster than I thought, that's why I'm lacking a little behind.
As I get my phone out of my pocket, Adrien's business card falls out of it. I pick it up and observe it again, reading his number over and over again. Vicky's words haunt me since yesterday, making me overthink my decisions. Maybe I should see what he has to offer.
I'm always secretly complaining, that I'm not able to build a relationship with a guy, now here I am, yet I back out like a coward.
"Shit." I cuss in my breath and take the route to my dorm.
Vicky is not there, her courses go longer on Mondays. I have the room all to myself and decide to clean up, before she gets home and makes a mess again.
After half an hour of tidying up, I'm fatigue and let myself fall on my bed. I bite my lip as I stare at the business card again. My phone is in eyesight and I could just give him a quick call.
I shakily take my phone and dial his number with a hammering heart. Sweat starts to form on my palms and forehead. At the second ringing, someone picks up.
"Coste Entreprise Unipersonelle à Responsabilité Limiteé." A female voice answers.
"Um, hello my name is Lola Montgomery, I would like to speak to Adrien Coste."
"You can leave your number, he will give you a call back when he is out of his meeting." I hope, that it won't take long until he calls me up. This will give me too m h time to reconsider my decisions.
"Of course, thank you, bye." I hang up and press my phone against my chest, with my eyes shut. I really did it and there is no going back.
I take my notebook and open google, typing Adrien Coste in the search bar. When I press enter, various pictures of him pop up. A few where he is shaking people's hands, and in other ones he is just photographed alone. There is even a Wikipedia of him and I wonder if that's enough to find out about him. There is nothing that says more about his corporations. I know his age, and that's about it.
I continue to look his pictures up, what I notice is, that he isn't smiling in any of them, he constantly has the same stern look. I wonder if it is just for the pictures or because of how he just is. I mean, he has an amazing smile, it wouldn't hurt to show it.
I go to the website of his company which is based in Paris and read about the partnerships his corporations. Basically his company is conglomerate and specializes in luxury goods. There are big names like Chanel and Dior on the list. I gasp, visibly shocked about the big names.
Suddenly my phone vibrates, an incoming call. The number is unknown to me and I'm debating whether to hang up or pick up. I press the green button and close my eyes.
"Hello?"
"Lola?" A deep voice tones. Goosebumps raise on my skin and my breathing becomes rapid.
"Hey um, I called you before." I bite my lips in nervousness.
"I know."
"I thought about it, I will just go on one date with you, to see what you have to offer." He let's out an airy chuckle. Gosh, that was sexy.
"I appreciate it. Do you want me to pick you up?" I bite my lip.
"I'm not gonna to tell you where I live." I scoff.
"It's okay, I could pick you up somewhere else." He suggests.
"Fine, pick me up at café from yesterday. At seven." I say.
"I will. Lola, I really appreciate that you gave me a chance."
"I had no other choice than to say yes I guess." I add a nervous giggle. "Anyway, I have to get back to studying. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Of course, I'll see you tomorrow."
I stare at my phone after we hung up and eventually let out a shriek.
***
Towards the evening, Vicky comes back exhausted. Seeing her like this is a rare sight, she's practically always photo shoot perfect, but the finals are really breaking her nerves.
"I'm just glad when we graduate, I'm so sick of college." She rambles.
"I'm glad too when we have the finals behind us. I'm starting to lose my hair."
She makes two tuna sandwiches and offers me one, but I politely reject.
"Are you on a diet?" She questions with a full mouth.
"No um, I'm going out." She swallows her sandwich with furrows eyebrows. Her eyes skeptically scan me.
"You called him?" I nod. "You did?!"
"We're going to eat dinner." Vicky jumps up and hugs me tightly, leaving me gasping for air.
"I'm proud of you!"
"Do I look okay?" I slide my hands along my dress shirt, paired with plain black jeans and boots. She eyes me intensely and with every millimeters her eyes wander down, he expression changes.
"Oh, I thought those was your every day clothes." I roll my eyes. "I like your boots. Aren't they mine?"
"Yes they are, to my defense, you always let me wear your stuff."
"Fine, as long as you treat them well."
I look at the time in my phone and notice, that I have about five minutes to catch the bus.
"Damn it, I'm running late. I gotta go now, bye love you." Quickly, I grab my trench coat and spurt towards the door.
"Have fun and loosen up. Be yourself okay?" She yells after me as I close the door.
***
I take the bus to the petite jardin café and wait inside for Adrien to come. My stomach twists, as I look out the window and see a black car drive up. It's definitely his car. I grab my purse and jacket, walking out. Carefully, I walk down the steps and feel how my stomach twists from all the excitement. It doesn't take long as soon as I recognize him. I can't believe this is really happening.
Adrien greets me with an incredibly sexy smile.
"You look beautiful." He acknowledges and I try not to blush.
"Thank you."
He opens the backseat door of the black Rolls Royce and I get in, then he closes the door as we both are inside. I expected him to drive himself, but instead he shows up with a chauffeur. Definitely making sure, that I know how rich he is.
"Where are you taking me?"
"It's a surprise." He says. I'm not really into surprises, they make me nervous. I roll my eyes and sigh. "You have an attitude, did someone ever tell you that?"
"No, you're just irritating."
"If you were mine, you would think twice of talking to me like this." My jaw falls. What is that supposed to mean? As I feel his finger tracing the hickey on my neck, I freeze. He lets out a chuckle and licks his lips.
"Does it hurt?"
"A little." A faint smile curves on his face. "You shouldn't have done that."
"You didn't do anything to prevent me." His finger trails up behind my ear, goosebumps forming again. Luckily my skin is covered, so he can't see it.
"I tried." My voice comes out hoarse. "You were pretty persistent."
"I was just after what I wanted." I gulp. The car ride is silent, but comfortably silent. I'm glad I don't have to do much talking yet.
We reach the restaurant in about half an hour. Adrien gets out first and helps me out of the car.
"Thanks." I thank him, his hand never letting go of mine. I should pull away, but the warmth of his hand is comforting.
My eyes widen as we enter the fancy place. The restaurant is decorated very classy, chandeliers with diamonds hanging from the high ceiling. On each corner, there are sculptures of what you would see in art museums. The people here look very affluent and well dressed, making me look more out of place than I already am. I don't fit in here at all.
"Are you okay?" Adrien notices my indisposition.
"Yeah." I lie.
"You don't have to pretend to feel comfortable." He bluntly says. I look at him surprisedly, "I took you here for a special reason."
"And it is?"
"I want to show you what you can have."
"How?" He only faintly smiles, before leading me to the table he already reserved for us. He places his hand on my waist, as he guides me towards our table, following the host. I watch him pull out the chair for me and sit down as graceful as possible.
"I must be honest, I never came across a man like you." He grins. Since he is sitting right at the opposite of me, I can admire his beauty. It makes me nervous, how a man like him who has all this, wants to take me out. He is handsome and rich, what's the catch?
"Is this a trick?" I question carefully.
"What?"
"All this. I mean..." I bite my lip.
"You're doubting yourself again." He rubs his stubbled chin. "You think that you're out of my league?" I stay silent. "Look at me." I do what he says, even though I find it hard to keep long eye contact with him.
"I'm the one who is after you. You're more than what you think you are." I shift my gaze at my hands. "Let's order, okay?" I nod and he calls the waiter to our table. The menu is full of overly expensive dishes, they cost more than the clothes I'm wearing.
"You can order whatever you want."
"I don't even know what half of the stuff here is." I admit. Beef bourguignon. Sounds delicious and Adrien confirms that it's a pretty good dish. I order this, while he orders Cassoulet.
"So Lola, tell me about yourself." I gulp the food down and clear my throat, not knowing where to even begin. I'm living a pretty mediocre and boring life compared to his.
"I go to university." I begin.
"What do you study?"
"Literature."
"Literature? Sounds interesting. Who are your favorite writers?"
"I like Brontë, Voltaire, Jean Barbier and many more."
His eyes blaze and he takes a sip of his champagne. "I like Brontë too. Do you know where you'll work after you graduate?"
"Honestly, not entirely."
"If you struggle to find anything, I could always offer you a job." He let's me know.
"As nice as it sounds, I can't take your offer."
"Why not?" He questions, taking a sip from his champagne.
"You know the circumstances Monsieur Coste. Or do you prefer Adrien?"
"I prefer anything that comes out of your mouth." I blush once again. "Do you live with your friend?" He takes bite of his food.
"Yeah, we live on campus. But as soon as we graduate we will move to Paris."
"When are you graduating?"
"In less than two weeks." He nods shortly.
"Why Paris?" I inhale deeply.
"Paris fascinates me and they have really big publishing companies there, where I'll hopefully be able to work. Also, I've always been interested in seeing the Petit Palais."
"You should see it it's beautiful. I can take you there sometime and show you around since I live there." Seeing Paris with a handsome man, sounds like a fairytale or like a romance movie.
"That would be nice." I rub my neck. "How did you become a CEO at such a young age?"
"Young age?" He raises a brow with a smile.
"Yeah, aren't you like twenty five?"
"You got it right. Guess the Wikipedia research gave you a head start." I press my lips together.
"Um..."
"Don't worry, it's a thing most women do when I take them out. Always hoping they'll find something out about me, so they'll know how to play their cards right."
I'm silent for a moment and redden in embarrassment, "I couldn't find much about you."
"You'll have to ask me if you wanna know more about me, and even then I don't reveal much about myself."
I bite my lip and look down on my hands, trying to cover the smile that has formed on my face.
"Same for me. You won't even find me on social media."
"I figured."
"Is there anything else you wanna know about me?" His eyes become darker.
"There is a lot that I would like to know about you." He licks his lips, a weird tingling feeling forms in the lower part of my body.
I take a sip from the Jenssen Arcana Grande Champagne Cognac and let it linger in my mouth, the flavor stimulating my gustatory sense. It's really the best champagne I have ever drank in my entire life.
"Mmmh." I lick my lips, Adrien's eyes narrowing. "This is better than anything I've ever had."
"You won't ever see me giving you anything less than that. Unless you ask me to of course."
"Gosh that's probably not even the tip of the ice berg, you must've had even better champagne or wine." I take another sip.
"You sound like a wine lover, I could take you to a wine tasting."
"I'm just a wine drinker but not really an expert," I laugh. "But I wouldn't say no."
"Lola." He says and I look up at him. "This shouldn't be our last date." I take my bottom lip between my teeth and blink rapidly for a few times. "Do you wanna see me again?"
"I can't complain about you, except for when we first met. Also, my friend won't allow me not to see you again, she wants me to try hard for romance. No, she insists on me going out-"
"Romance?" I sit up and nod slightly. Adrien rubs his forehead visibly frustrated. "I should have known." He mutters.
"What?"
"Look, we can't see each other again. I'm not someone you want." I confusingly shake my head, trying to get out words. "Come, I'll take you home."
"I don't get it." He calls the waiter and pays the bill. I take my jacket and follow him outside, with many questions on my mind.
"Adrien, I don't know what you mean."
"Lola don't get me wrong, you're an amazing woman, you're exactly what I want, but you deserve more than I can give you." He cups my cheeks and traces my bottom lip with his thumb. I try to hold back the devastating feeling, that hits me. What have I done wrong? Am I just not good enough to date?
"I'm sorry for not meeting your standards." My voice breaks and I get inside the car.