The proposal, p.19
The Proposal, page 19
A concert. Leo had invited me to a concert. The wheels were spinning in overdrive. I hadn’t been to a concert in…ever? There had been some free ones when I was at college, but spending money on tickets to music I could listen to for free never won out over Tyler’s tuition and my food, rent, and student loan payments.
But tomorrow, I’d be going to one with Leo. Hunter the Fixer had a spare ticket, and maybe Leo had figured since I didn’t have many friends my evening would be wide open. Instead of being offended, I was flattered that he’d asked. Maybe we were turning a corner. What did that mean for things between us once we won? What did it mean if we lost?
The door banged open behind me.
“Are you printing out the entire Encyclopedia Britannica?” Andi strode into the room balancing four long boxes in her arms.
“If only it were that exciting.”
“Toner’s low and I replaced these three days ago.”
“Sorry.”
“No problem. It gets me out of my desk for more than coffee and snack runs. Plus, I promised the guys I’d buy them Tastykakes all next week if they did the server migration by five pm and guess who came through? Which means I need to stock up on the way home.”
“That’s a work incentive I can get behind.”
The copies finished and I set the last few on the massive stacks I’d run off already.
“You haven’t been around much.” And crunched behind the printer, opening the massive side door and tugging out the toner.
“The Winthorpe account has been a lot.”
“Is that what this is?” She gestured to the huge stacks of paper I’d be lugging out of here.
I stared at the stack of over three hundred proposal packages I’d had to format and copy, which had landed on my desk at 4:58pm. “No.”
The door flew open again. This time there was a much less welcome visitor to the cramped copy room.
Valerie swanned in with her arms crossed over her chest looking like she’d rather be anywhere except here. Take a number. “Are you finished yet?”
“Yet?” I bit my tongue. She was the boss’s daughter. It had been less than an hour. Boss’s daughter won out. “I’m almost finished.”
“Better late than never.”
Was that blood I tasted?
“Winthorpe should be my account.”
I heard it was until they asked that you be removed.
“I’m sure your dad had his reasons for making the decision he made.” Like the fact that you’re an incompetent coattail-rider who wants nothing more than to boss people around and lord her perceived power over them. Only it wasn’t perceived, since I wasn’t shouting all this in her face right now.
“Once I’m finished, I can set them on your desk like always.”
I grabbed a copy off the top.
Valerie gasped behind me.
“Where did you get that?” I lifted the top packet off and held it out to her. “These are the documents you said you needed for tomorrow.”
She snatched the packet and flung it onto the counter. “Not that. That.” Twisting my wrist—ow! —she shoved my hand back in my face.
Oh. That. After my night of puking, I hadn’t taken the ring off like I normally did.
“It’s nothing.” I tried to tug my hand free from her iron grip.
“It’s a three carat Emerald cut VVS1 diamond engagement ring.” Did she have a bionic jeweler’s eye installed in her head? And there was no way this was real. Was there?
I shook her grip off my hand and snatched it back. “It’s nothing.”
“You’re engaged?” Shock and outrage reverberated through her voice. Like the very idea of me being engaged with a ring like this was a sick cosmic prank. Joke’s on her.
“I’m not engaged. Do you want me to drop these copies off in your office?” I gestured to the stack sitting behind me.
“I’d like to leave. I don’t want to be stuck here checking up on you.”
No one said you had to stay. “Everything will be on your desk by 8am.”
“I heard the Winthorpe event was interesting?” Every bit of her entitled, belittling arsenal was on fire tonight.
“It went well. Everyone enjoyed themselves.”
“They’re not a bunch of pre-teens, Zara.” She laughed throwing her head back.
“Maybe not, but they had fun and there haven’t been any complaints.”
“Not to you.”
Andi slammed a toner cartridge in place.
My stomach dropped. “Someone complained?”
“My father mentioned a message from Winthorpe. I can’t imagine why else they’d call.”
Andi responded, but only loud enough for me to hear. “Maybe that’s because no one calls with anything other than complaints for you. But there’s these crazy things called compliments. People get them when they do their jobs properly.” She slammed the large plastic panel on the side of the machine closed and stood beside me.
“Hi, Val. So nice of you to stay late to help Zara bring all your copies to your office.” She hefted one of the stacks in her arms and dropped them into Valerie’s unsuspecting grasp.
Valerie yelped and teetered, nearly toppling over.
“They’re insanely heavy, you should drop those off asap.” Andi turned her by the shoulders and showed her out of the copy room as collated packets slid off the top of her stack.
“Don’t let her get to you. I’m always here for back up.”
Without Andi, I’d have lost my shit at least a year ago. She channeled my inner rage, saying and doing the things I couldn’t because I needed this job.
“Thanks for saving me from saying something I shouldn’t.”
“Oh, you most definitely should.”
“Not when I’ve got so much hanging on this job. This is my first primary planning position.” I lifted the second stack.
“You mean the one Bill promised you within six months of starting.” She followed behind me with a smaller bundle of papers under her arm.
“Don’t let them walk all over you.”
“Like I have a choice.” I stopped in front of Valerie’s door. Locked and the lights were off.
“That—” I seethed, turning in the opposite direction to set everything down in my office.
“One day you’ll say the word to her face and I’ll dance around the office with a feather boa and tiara.” Andi set down her stack on my desk.
“You’ll be the first to know if I win the lotto.”
My phone started ringing a block from my apartment.
“Hey, Tyler.”
“I made first chair.” I didn’t even get a hello. The words spewed through the phone.
“All that practice paid off.”
“I know, I know. Of course, I listened to you because you’re my wise, all-knowing big sister, and I did it. One week from today, we’re performing at Carnegie Hall. Can you make it?”
“One sec.” Checking my calendar, it was the night before our final presentations to Kathleen. “I have a big work thing the next day.”
“Cool, so you can come, right?” Why did he sound like he was jumping on his bed? How many fourteen year olds wanted their big sister hanging around them? But I got it. We were all we had.
When had I ever been able to tell him no? And breaking promises wasn’t something I did.
“If I can get through everything I need to get done before that, then I can come, but that’s not a yes.” I waved the couple waiting behind me on as the elevator doors open.
“Yes! I’m first chair playing at Carnegie Hall.”
I laughed, his happiness was infections, and so precious from the boy who would barely look at anyone other than me through the long hair covering his eyes three short years ago. “That wasn’t a yes.”
“Of course it was. When have you not finished something early? You’re always twelve steps ahead with everything. I can’t wait for you to see me play.”
“Stop jumping on your bed and get some sleep.”
“How can I sleep when I’m so excited?”
“Soundly. Good night, Tyler.”
“’Night, Zara. I love you. You’re the best.”
He ended the call and was probably seeing if he could touch the ceiling in his dorm room. He’d been through a lot. Hell, we’d both been through a lot.
I jabbed my finger into the button, and the doors popped back open. Leaving him behind had been like ripping out a piece of my heart. But that piece kept beating, growing, and making a life neither of us could imagine. Carnegie Hall. How many high schoolers got to do that?
Steps off the elevator, Stella’s door swung open, but the dread I used to feel when I stalled at my apartment door was gone. She continued to be my wacky neighbor, I continued to be the one who had her shit together—at least in person—and nothing between us needed to change. I loved her for that.
“An early night for you.” She blew on her steaming mug.
“My slacking gets the best of me sometimes.” I pulled the flat pink box from my bag. “But it doesn’t mean I fall down on the job.”
Her eyes widened and she snatched the box from me. “The B&B caramel chocolate chip.” Dropping the mug and box inside her apartment, she came back out clutching the oversized cookie in both hands. “It’s so beautiful.”
“Please don’t cry.”
“No promises.” She took a bite, closing her eyes and bracing herself against the doorway.
“I’m happy you liked it.”
“I love it. I’d marry it, if I weren’t already taken.”
“Is Adam traveling again?”
“More interviews. But they’ll be over in a couple weeks.” Each word was punctuated with a nibble.
“You’re hanging out alone tonight?”
She shrugged. “I’m already in the robe and fluffy slippers, plus I’ve got my cookies now, so I don’t need to leave for at least three days.”
I chuckled. “Sounds like a wonderful night.”
What Andi said stuck with me. I’d been trying so hard to keep everyone at arm’s length.
“Hey, Stella?”
She popped back out her partially closed door and stared at me expectantly.
I bit my lip willing myself not to chicken out. “Can you help me with what to wear for tomorrow?”
“You wanted to borrow something?”
I glanced back at my closed door, sticking the key in the lock and turning it. “Maybe you can help me go through my stuff and find something?”
Her face was a slow-moving transformation from surprise to unbridled joy. “Holy, shit! Yes!” She jumped up and down clapping her hands together. “Yes! A thousand times, yes!”
She stepped inside like she’d wandered into a vault overflowing with shiny gold coins, instead of my no-longer-ransacked, but insanely sparse and sad apartment. But she hadn’t said a word, if she was thinking of how crappy things were inside.
An hour later, I was regretting my invitation.
“You’ve got to show some skin for your date.”
I snatched the tube top from her hands and tossed it in the ‘hell no’ pile. “It’s not a date.”
“A hot guy who nursed you back to health invites you to a concert. How is this not a date?”
“He never said it was a date.”
“Probably because he knows there’d be a Zara shaped hole in a door exiting the room if he did.”
“You don’t know Leo. We’re not playing the same sports.”
“Because he’s an ex-pro football player.” She held up another shirt in front of her face at a half attempt to hide her laughter.
I tugged it out of her grasp. “How’d you know?”
“Did you think wrestling was all I watched?”
I flopped onto my mattress. “Apparently, I’m the only one who didn’t know.”
“You’re busy.” She lay down beside me. “You’ve got Tyler and work and everything else you’re trying to do.”
Those old feelings gnawed at my stomach. Embarrassment. Guilt. Shame.
“You don’t have to tell me anything, of course, but I’m your friend. What kind of shitty friend would I be, if I weren’t there for you when you needed me?” She wrapped her fingers around mine.
Staring up at the ceiling, I blinked back the swelling tide of emotions threatening to make me cry. “I know.” I dropped my head to the side. “Thanks, Stella.”
“Any time.” She popped back up and picked up a skirt, so short it must have been Jeannie’s. “Plus, you’re my catered mini foods hook up. I can’t have you moving out and cutting me off from my supply.”
“The truth comes out. Before you even ask, hard pass on this one.”
“You’ve got to give me something to work with here. We’re on a mission.”
“A mission to what? Freeze my eggs without needing to go to a doctor?”
She waggled her eyebrows up and down. “Mission: Get Zara Laid.”
“No. It’s not that kind of night out. Absolutely, no.” I swiped my arms in front of me.
“That’s what you think. Wait and see, Z. Wait and see.”
26
Leo
Squadrons of people flowed through the street heading to the main entrances of the stadium. Cars honked, not realizing the mistake they had made coming this way an hour before the concert started. The green walk light became more of a suggestion than a strict rule. Groups of girls and guys, parents being dragged by their kids, and couples out for a date night all mingled together for an evening of alternative pop rock that everyone found themselves humming along to without even realizing it.
But we were in the throngs of people headed to the front of the venue. We were at the side entrance where a few people trickled in through an imposing metal door that always seemed to open as someone approached, despite there being no way for anyone to see in or out. That was our door. The one that would take us into the belly of the beast. At least it was Everest’s beast.
He glanced around, folding and unfolding his arms like a junkie looking to score. “Are we going in? Can we go in? What are we waiting for?” His pace-and-observe routine had been ruined by us having nothing more than a brick wall to stare at since we’d gotten here.
“You can go in. I’m waiting for Zara.”
August grabbed Everest and pulled him aside, their heads close and August’s emphatic hand gestures punctuating his words. His hands only came into the conversation when he really wanted you to pay attention.
I should’ve picked her up. But then it would have been closer to a date, and we weren’t dating. She’d made that insanely clear. So now I waited. Her text had said she was ten minutes away, but that had been fifteen minutes ago. How long should I wait before checking in on her?
Jameson stared down at his ticket afraid it would disappear. “What kind of merch do you think they have? Teresa wanted a keyring for her train keys and I promised my mom a water bottle.”
“You know those are going to be a thousand dollars each.” I checked up and down the street, tempted to walk to the cross street to see if she was on her way.
Hunter leaned against the brick wall near us, tapping away on his phone, setting up who knew what kinds of others deals. He was either getting nuclear launch codes for a cartel or arranging a cupcake delivery for a children’s hospital. His fixing and finding skills didn’t know good or evil, only the challenge of making things happen.
“What’s the point of having all this CPA money if I don’t splash it around?” He brushed his hand against his palm, like he was doling out hundreds at a strip club.
I laughed, looking over his shoulder. “Baller.”
He smiled and grabbed my shoulders, turning me around.
Breaking free from the flow of the crowd, Zara rushed toward me with her heels in her hands. She was in jeans, and a t-shirt, but, damn, it looked nothing like that simple outfit would have on anyone else. The front of the t-shirt was slit to just between her breasts and stitched back together with black thread or a cable or something, which made it impossible not to look at the swell of her breasts from my height.
Our group had kept it low key. Jeans and button-downs with rolled up sleeves, or a t-shirt in August and Jameson’s cases, but her jeans hugged her body in a way that made the thought of cupping her ass while peeling them off—with my teeth—unshakable.
“Sorry, I’m late. The bus broke down and I had to run a few blocks.” She waved to the rest of the guys and walked straight up to me. Putting her hand on my shoulder, she leaned in.
My heart skipped a beat and started racing like I was running a 100 for pro scouts.
Her hand slid down my arm and she ducked her head.
I sucked in a breath, not sure what the hell was going on.
It wasn’t until the first teeter that I snapped out of my ice-block impersonation.
She brushed off the bottom of her feet and used me as her steadying post to slip one and then the other shoe on. Flipping her hair back, she grinned up at me, slightly out of breath and with a glowing sheen of perspiration.
“There. I’m ready.”
“Awesome. And your outfit looks amazing.” Why did I sound like I’d run from a broken-down bus to get here?
“Thanks, you guys clean up nice too.”
She brushed her hair back from her face, still taking those heavy panting breaths you need after maximum exertion. The kind of breaths that kept my thoughts drifting to where else her hands might be when she was slightly sweaty and out of breath.
“Hunter, we’re ready.”
He nodded and approached the door, which swung open just like it had for everyone else who’d approached it. And we were in without a hitch.
“How’d you get these tickets again?”
Hunter laughed and waved his phone as though it explained anything. “I know people.”
We walked down the aisle of the floor seating area to find our seats. They were numbered oddly down here and were only folding chairs on a rough mat laid over the cables and other tech needed for the concert.
