"Welcome home Miss Graham."
"Great to be back." I huffed out, climbing out of the Limousine. After almost a month of solitude and somewhat peace in Switzerland, I was back. Well, only for five days. But five days was long enough to stir up some shit. The Upper East Side was where drama reigned, and I wasn't ready to be thrown into yet another stressful situation.
The streets were bustling with yellow taxis, cars, and limos. The sidewalks were in a constant rush of different people, ranging from businessmen to tourists. The air smelled of smoke, nothing like the clean air of Cambridge. I was back.
The glass doors to the apartment building was immediately opened for me by the doorman, who gave me another welcome back.
The concierge gave me a welcome back.
The Van Acker family who lives on the tenth floor welcomed me back.
The only person who has yet to welcome me back? I mean, not even a simple text? We get it, he has a whole company to run, but by dragging me back here and clearing his schedule to make me miserable you would think my father has time to give me a call. Maybe even to just check and see if his second favorite jet didn't fall into the Atlantic during the ten hour flight.
Once the elevator was empty, I entered the password on the control board of the elevator and put my finger onto the fingerprint reader. Immediately the option to go to the sixteenth floor lit up, and the lift made its way towards the sky. Private elevators do have its perks, I can't lie.
The elevator made its stop into the familiar apartment. My own personal refuge in the concrete jungle. And yes, I had lived on my own before leaving.
Before it being only me, Margot had lived with me. After moving in, we gave the once minimalistic house some personal touches. Splashes of colors, fresh flowers, and artwork made the apartment a home. And yes, it was a little much for me to live on my own in a multimillion dollar penthouse. But my excuse was, my father was unbearable.
Walking into the penthouse, the smell of lavender greeted me. I was always big on essential oils so during the summer and spring months I'd always have some lavender being diffused into the air. The large glass wall gave me a view of the city, the Empire State Building in my peripheral. Outside the glass wall was my balcony and pool, which I did use quite often.
My suitcases had already been delivered into my room, courtesy of the staff elevator. So, like always when I was tired and jet lagged, I stumbled towards the closest bed.
My room was left completely the same. I really should have cleaned it out honestly, because so much had changed. A purple John-Richard painting was hung above my dresser, and sitting atop the dresser was picture frames.
These frames ranged from my childhood to the end of the school year before shit hit the fan. There were photos of me and my sister, me and my mother, some family pictures (once upon a time my father had a soul), school pictures, and a lot of pictures of him. I wanted to get rid of those pictures, I needed to. But whenever I would take the cardboard backing off the pictures, I just had to put them back. Well that was in the summer. It was now fall, and I had to be strong.
But I would be strong tomorrow, because I was exhausted. After a full day of school I had left to go to the airport, then from the airport we flew for nine hours until I landed at JFK. Then the drive from JFK to here took about an hour due to the traffic. I had left Switzerland at six in the evening, and arrived in New York at about nine at night. It was currently almost eleven at night and in Neuchâtel time, five in the morning. This bitch needed her sleep.
With sluggish steps, I begrudgingly made my way to my bathroom and began washing my face. I mentally praised the cleaning staff for coming in because god knows what would've been awaiting me if they hadn't come. After almost passing out while brushing my teeth, I pulled on a large tee shirt, discarded my pants, and snuggled into my bed. Almost immediately, I was in dream land.
Most people say that dreams are formatted to reflect the previous days thoughts. So let's say hypothetically, if you were thinking a lot about a boy, he would ambiguously appear in your dream that night. And hypothetically speaking, he could play a romantic interest in that dream, even though you don't see him romantically. Hypothetically that is.
My dreams were always a little odd. Like during the dream, it seemed completely normal that I was getting married to someone who's face I didn't recognize while I was only sixteen. It was completely normal that my maid of honor was Nico Caldwell, and it was even more normal that Clark Ellington had appeared at the end of the dream five seconds before my alarm went off. Scary right?
Waking up from that dream to the bright light streaming into my room, I felt weird. Kind of awkward, kind of confused, and a little bit concerned for my mental health. I mean, why is my subconscious thinking about this shit?
But as the minutes passed by, my memory of the dream got foggier and foggier, until I could barely remember what was happening in the dream. I didn't really dwell on it, it wasn't important. Weird dreams were normal for me, especially if I was jet lagged.
I stayed in bed for an extra thirty minutes, just scrolling through my phone. I was in the midst of texting one of my distant friends, when I realized that I had to get ready for brunch with my father. If I was late, he would have my head and put it in one of the science labs at one of his facilities. Just kidding.
After doing the whole shebang of cleaning myself, I began to do my makeup. As I was blending concealer under my eyes, my phone began to ring.
Please don't be dad, please don't be dad, please don- Oh thank god. I answered the FaceTime call to see Dakota and Nico grinning at the camera.
"Happy Saturday!" Kota sang.
"How's the big city treating you?" Nico yelled over Kota's speech about how much he loved the weekend.
I shrugged, continuing on with applying my makeup. "I wouldn't know, I haven't stepped out yet." I took out a brush, "But I'll for sure let you know how bad it is."
"Yes please, we're terribly bored here. All we have is Luca and his sense of humor is drier than Dubai."
"I heard that!" Luca's voice rang from a distance.
"You were meant to!" Nico called back to him.
Luca appeared in the frame, "Excuse you, I think I'm everyones favorite. Everyone loves a good mysterious boy."
Kota scoffed, "What about this ladies man?" He pushed his hand through his hair.
"You mean manwhore? No one can beat the nice guy."
"What about Mister golden boy?"
"He doesn't deserve golden boy." Nico grumbled.
"Ah, don't be jealous dear Nicholas, that title will be revoked once a pap spends at least half an hour with him."
I snorted, agreeing with Kota's consoling. "Speaking of the golden boy, where is he?"
"Already missing his bitching after less than twenty four hours?" Kota raised his brows suspiciously at me.
Shaking my head, I pulled out a tube of mascara. "Nope, just wondering why you three are hanging without him. Did you finally make the smart decision to drop him?"
Letting out a loud laugh, Nico spoke: "He's actually gone right now."
"Doing what? He doesn't have that much of a life." I scoffed, layering my eyelashes with mascara.
"That is correct, spot on actually." Luca's voice floated through the room.
"So what's he doing?" I switched eyes.
"He's doing some business."
"Ah, so he's locked himself away to attend to business?"
"Yeah, whenever his father calls him, he's forced to run away and to help with the business."
I capped the tube, pulling out some lipgloss. "I don't get why he can't wait two years for Dean. Or not be misogynistic and have Finley take over." I referred to Jasper Ellington's insistence of making his middle child take over the company.
"I always forget how much you really know about his life." Luca chuckled slightly.
"Childhood enemies are privy to so much information." I replied sarcastically. I was finished with my makeup.
"Yeah but he's escaped for business. Like you."
I put the rest of my makeup away, "This isn't business per-say. He's planning some shit but I know it's more of show of how mature I am. It's all a build up, so I can be ready to take over the business in time."
"Champagne problems am I right?" Nico snorted.
"Yeah exactly. But I can't complain much, I'm currently sitting sixteen floors up in the sky in a penthouse, in a city where I flew into on a private jet."
"Touché." He replied, while I was checking the time on my phone. "Shit, I gotta leave in a couple of minutes to meet my dad. I'll tell you how it went later." I pointed at the screen.
"You better, we need more entertainment. The highlight of our day was prank calling my father." Nico chuckled, reminiscing to his earlier day. "Bye."
"Later!" I wave, hanging up. With fifteen minutes left before I had to leave, I began to get dressed. I always tried my best when it came to dressing, but sometimes I couldn't be bothered to wear anything other than a romper or dress. Or maybe, god forbid, leggings.
I picked up the neatly ironed black romper I had set out. I really had to make sure I didn't drink much, because peeing was gonna be an issue. I shrugged on a black blazer, really going for the the black on black look. To nail looking like I was going to attend a funeral, I pulled on some black peep-toe Louboutins.
After spraying a light layer of perfume I grabbed my oversized sunglasses and my phone, then began the walk towards the living room.
I pressed the button to the elevator, and while waiting for the lift to make its way up, I called our driver. After confirming that he was outside, the doors to the elevator opened. Thankfully, the elevator made no stops, so I was down within four minutes. And within minutes, I was in the back of the limo.
Limos always drew a lot of attention, but in Manhattan it was normal. That little shred of normalcy would hopefully shield me from everyones prying eyes. I didn't want anyone to know I was here, that's why I was wearing darker colors and large sunglasses. Everyone wore dark clothes unless we wanted to stand out. The one percent loved to stand out.
We arrived at the bistro that my father had chosen for brunch. It was one of those places that had a patio, and served overpriced Avocado Toast. My door was opened for me, and I thanked the driver quickly before making my way in.
After giving my last name to the server, I was led outside to the patio. Of course he would choose the patio.
Excruciatingly slow, I dragged my feet towards the table. I got a few odd looks, but I kept going until I found the table. Two chairs were set, one already occupied.
Harrison Graham was once known as a heartthrob. Golden boy of the eighties. Dark brown hair that was slowly gaining gray streaks, high cheekbones, and icy blue eyes. He looked the same as the last time I saw him, which made since because that was only two months ago. The man who aided in bringing me into this stupid world had smile lines that were almost gone. He never smiled anymore.
I can't lie and say my father was always an asshole. After my mothers illness and death, he shut himself away. His true love was dead and he couldn't bear to see the two reminders of her. Margot was eighteen and I was thirteen when our mom died. We both needed our father, but he left us high and dry. He threw himself into work to ignore his grief. He was still working and ignoring the heartbreak from only three years ago.
"Dad." I said the one word that I had started to dread.
"Blakely, please sit." Right to the chase, not even a halfhearted 'how are you?'
"I haven't ordered yet, take your time."
"I'm good I know what I'm getting. I've been here before." I waved at the waiter.
After my father ordered, I stated mine: Berry crepes and a bottomless mimosa. As always, my father didn't even react.
As the waiter left, my father began the real talk.
"How are your grades?"
"All A's."
"Even in the honors?"
"I'm in all honors." I rolled my eyes at him.
"How's the medical course?"
"Easy." I shrugged, "Nothing I didn't already know from my internship."
"Good, you're taking it again next year correct?"
"Planning on it."
"Perfect." He leaned forward slightly. "So for the debutante ball we need to plan it. The most important part will be your introduction."
"You write it, I don't care." I sipped some of my mimosa. Sixteen and drinking, what a perfect golden girl.
"I'll have Janey write it. Next is your dress."
"I don't care who designs it."
"I'll choose the designer then. But I'm not choosing the final dress, that's your job."
"Fine." The food had arrived faster than what was normal.
My father cut into his salmon. I hate salmon.
"Lastly, before the planning actually starts we need to discuss your escort."
"My escort?"
"Did you forget about that part?"
"No." Yes.
"Well, we need to discuss your options."
"Again, I don't care."
"Blakely, you're very complicated to deal with sometimes. Just cooperate."
"I am!" I argued.
"Well our best bet-" I loved how he said our like it wasn't a big thing for me, but for him. "-is Parker."
My eyes widened, and my heart began to beat faster. "No! No, no, no! You can't do Parker!"
He narrowed his eyes at me, "And why is that?"
"Because we broke up!"
"He would be perfect, his family is very influential."
"No, I refuse."
"We need someone on our level, there's barely anyone up there. I don't see anyone that can bring us business."
"I'll find someone just please don't do Parker." I pleaded with him.
"Who else would work? We need to make the business look good."
"I'll find someone." I scanned the sidewalk around us, trying to think of someone. When I spotted a familiar figure walking down the sidewalk, my eyes immediately narrowed. What the fuck? This had to be the biggest joke of all time.
Unedited