Eruption - Chapter 22
Saturday
I wasn't sure how long I stood there, staring out the window.
The sun had set over Central Park and the lights were coming on, lighting up the walking paths.
It was so beautiful that it didn't even seem real.
That was the same conclusion I had come to about my relationship with James too.
It was too good and too perfect to be real.
I knew he was out of my league. But I thought he loved me.
I knelt down in front of the window and pressed my forehead against the glass.
I closed my eyes and savored the feeling of the cool glass on my forehead.
There weren't any tears left inside of me.
I had tried to call James a few times, but it always went straight to voicemail.
It wasn't his fault, but each time he didn't pick up it just validated all my fears.
This was how Isabella wanted me to feel.
She had won. It hadn't been a fair fight at all.
I touched my cheek where she had slapped me.
She had even warned me. I shook my head.
No. Isabella had said she had two weeks to win James back.
If she was sending me this stuff, I didn't even want to know what she was doing to him.
I already knew she had kissed him. Maybe that wasn't the end of it.
My phone started buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out. Mason. I quickly answered it. "Mason!"
He laughed. "Hey, Penny. Having a good weekend?"
"Can I talk to him?"
Mason laughed again. "Jumping right into things, then? So, about that...you need to stop calling. You're distracting him from having fun."
"I'm sure he's having quite enough fun."
My comment was greeted by silence.
"Where are you guys?"
"Costa Rica."
What the hell were they doing in Costa Rica? "What hotel?"
"Nice try, Penny. I'm not telling you where we are. You're not allowed to infiltrate his bachelor party."
"Mason, I really, really need to talk to him."
"Umm...I would hand the phone over, but he's currently indisposed."
"Indisposed? What have you been doing?"
He laughed. "I'm just kidding. He's taking a shower."
I breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't matter how upset I was, I would always worry about him. "Has he been getting packages? Or any mail there?"
"No?"
"Has he been acting weird?"
Mason laughed. "He's not getting cold feet, if that's what you're worried about."
"Okay." Well, that's good. Isabella probably didn't know where they were.
"I promise I'm taking good care of your fiancé. You don't need to worry. I'm not going to let him fuck up the best thing that's ever happened to him."
That was sweet. It was also apparently untrue. "That's not what I'm worried about."
"Are you okay, Penny? You can talk to me you know."
Talk to James' best friend about this? No, I can't. "I need to talk to him, Mason."
"I'll give him a message for you."
"That's okay. I'll just...see him tomorrow night. Right?"
"I'll have him back before midnight. I promise."
"Okay. Bye, Mason"
"Wait. There was a reason I was calling."
I didn't say anything.
"I think Bee's phone died. I haven't heard from her all day. Could you go over there and see if she's okay? And tell her to call me?"
"So you want me to tell Bee to call you, but you won't let me talk to James?"
"Yeah."
"You're a terrible person." I couldn't help but laugh at the irony.
"And that's why you love me."
There was some noise in the background.
"Rob's back," Mason said. "I have to go. Please check on her, Penny." The line went dead.
***
Even though I wasn't allowed to talk to James, at least I knew he was safe. That was the only reason I had walked over to Trump International. And because Bee's phone had gone straight to voicemail when I called her.
I paused in the lobby, remembering the day that James had brought me here when he was still my professor.
It had been perfect in every way. I laughed to myself.
This was also the first place I had ever met Mason.
I remembered how his stare had made me uncomfortable.
It was almost like he could see me. Really see me.
But he was probably just sizing me up for his side business.
Bee worked hard. She had probably just fallen asleep early in front of the T.V.
or something. I got onto the elevator and listened to the fancy elevator music playing.
It was strange that Bee and Mason lived in a hotel.
But they had made their apartment very homey.
I always felt comfortable there. Besides, living like you were in a hotel was kind of fun.
Even though their apartment was technically classified as a condo in the hotel, they could still order room service whenever they wanted.
I stepped off the elevator and made my way down the hallway. The sound of music blaring got louder and louder as I got closer to Bee's apartment. I stopped outside her door and knocked. The door flew open.
"Welcome to your bachelorette party!" Bee screamed. "It's about time you got here." She grabbed my arm and pulled me into her apartment. "I was starting to think Mason forgot to call you."
Bee, Kendra, Marie, and Melissa were all decked out in sparkly dresses and looked super excited. And maybe a little intoxicated. Melissa was even smiling at me, which was a good sign.
"You're two shots behind," Kendra said.
"This is really nice of you guys, but I don't really want a bachelorette party," I said and stood in the doorway. "Can't we just stay in and watch a movie or something?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Kendra said and brought two shot glasses over to me. "Besides, it's too late. We've already planned the whole thing."
I looked down at the two shot glasses she had shoved into my hands.
"Come on," Marie said. "With everything we have planned, you're going to need that."
Oh God.
"Don't be such a party pooper," Melissa said and gave me another smile.
She used to say stuff like that to me all the time in college.
It was nice that she was finally talking to me again.
I didn't want to fight with her. All I really wanted was to be curled up in my bed back home, though.
I sighed and downed one shot and then the next.
"First things first," Bee said. "Put this on." She grabbed the shot glasses from me and handed me a sparkly dress.
James didn't like when I wore stuff like this. At least, in public.
"Melissa picked it out for you. So you know it's going to fit perfectly. Go change."
"Can't I just wear what I have on?" I was wearing jean shorts and a baggy t-shirt.
Kendra laughed. "Absolutely not. Get to it. We have a huge list. It's going to take us all night to get through all this stuff."
Maybe this was exactly what I needed. I wanted to have fun tonight and forget about everything that had been going on.
That probably wasn't possible though. I walked down the hallway and into the bathroom.
The dress was tight and ended right below my ass.
My boobs weren't big, but this dress made them look huge.
I looked like a total slut. Luckily I was wearing flip flops.
Heels would have tipped the scales to making me look more like a hooker.
I didn't dwell on the fact that my eyes were still red from going in and out of hysterical crying fits all day.
"There's a pair of shoes out here for you to wear too!" one of the girls yelled from the other room.
Shit. I walked back out into the kitchen and looked down at the stilettos they wanted me to wear. "What are we doing exactly? Are we going to be walking a lot? I think I'll just stick with these shoes."
"You can't wear a dress like that with flip flops," Melissa said.
"And everyone's going to be looking at you, because you're the girl of the hour." Bee pulled a pink sash over me and added a sparkly tiara to the top of my head.
I looked down at the sash. It had 'bachelorette' written across it in a fancy font. I could feel my face turning red.
Marie clapped her hands. "You look perfectly embarrassed. Penis cookie?"
"What now?"
Marie held a plate of cookies shaped like penises in front of my face.
I started laughing. "No, I'm good right now. Thanks, though. They're very anatomically correct, huh?"
"Thanks, I made them myself," Marie said. "I'll bring a few with us. Let's get going."
"Really, no movie?"
Bee laughed and hooked her arm through mine. "Trust me, this is going to be so much better. We can watch a movie tomorrow while we're working through these hangovers."
***
"So, you need to ask a random guy to buy you a drink," Marie said as she looked down at a list she had.
"Can I see that?" I tried to snatch it from her, but she moved it away too quickly.
"How about him?" Kendra said and pointed to a guy at the bar.
He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. His hair was shaggy.
It looked like he belonged at the beach instead of in a bar in New York.
He was probably a tourist. Which meant he wouldn't want to pay for a drink that was way too expensive for a girl he didn't know.
"He looks like a tourist."
Melissa laughed. "So? That means he's here to get laid. He'll definitely buy you a drink."
"I don't want to lead him on."
"You aren't. You're wearing a freaking sash that says you're getting married any day. You're fine. Go ask him."
Bee gave my shoulder a little nudge. "You aren't going home until you do everything on that list. You might as well get it over with."
This was going to be mortifying. I slid off my bar stool and walked over to him. I leaned on the counter next to him. "Hey," I said. My voice sounded nervous and not flirtatious at all.
He turned away from the guy he was talking to. "Hey." He looked down at my sash and smiled at me. "One more crazy night, huh?"
"Not exactly. Look, so my friends over there..."
He looked over my shoulder.
"No, don't look." I grabbed his arm.
He laughed. "Okay, not looking."