Chapter 10
LOLA
After drinking one Smirnoff Ice, I switched to Pepsi. I needed to be sober while Willa kept on drinking alcohol with the others. Normally, I would be conversing with everyone, but tonight, there were other things than being stupid on my mind.
I couldn’t shake the idea of the guys being right above my head. I wasn’t sure if they were home, but I had this urge inside of me to go check. I wanted to get a glimpse of them.
“Tell him, Lola! Tell him that I met the man of my dreams last night,” Willa whined, looking rather emotional.
I turned to the guy she was pointing at. Jonah looked amused, grinning like an idiot. He knew how to wind Willa up.
“She really did. And you still don’t have a chance with her, anyway.”
He put his hand to his chest, looking outraged. “How dare you speak like that? Willa and I are meant to be. She knows it. She’s just playing hard to get.”
“I am not!”
“You ghost me all the time!”
I pursed my lips. She really did ghost him whenever she got the chance to. “That should be enough for you to realize that she’s not into you, Jonah.”
He shook his head. “I’m not giving up. What kind of man is it anyway? Can’t be that interesting.”
“He’s actually very interesting. And hot. And older,” Willa stated.
“Since when are you into older guys?” he asked, sounding annoyed.
“Since I met Morris.”
I chuckled and let them go on with their argument. I needed to pee, and I was sure that Willa would survive without me for a few minutes.
I headed down the hallway to get to the bathroom when I heard the doorbell ring. I stopped and looked toward the front door, then Benson came around the corner to go open it. “Didn’t know there were more people coming.”
“Maybe the concert is over,” I said, and Benson shrugged.
I kept standing there as he opened the door, but there was no one out there. I frowned and watched him bending down to pick something up.
“Flowers,” he announced, turning back to me. “Weird.”
“You have a secret admirer,” I told him with a smile. “There’s a card.”
The flowers were beautiful. The bouquet was colorful but not overwhelmingly so. It didn’t look like a bouquet made for a man though, so maybe whoever brought them got the wrong apartment.
Benson took the card while holding the flowers in his left hand, and after reading what was written on it, he started grinning.
“Who are they from?” I asked.
“Four of Hearts.”
I frowned. “What?”
“And they’re not for me, they’re for you.”
I stared at him as he came closer. He handed me the flowers, then the card, and I needed a moment to understand what was happening.
“I forgot to tell you. One of them came by two nights ago, asking about you.”
“Who was it?”
“Uh, Denver…Danny…”
“Kline?”
“Ah, yes. Him. You must’ve made quite the impression on them last weekend,” Benson said with a smile.
I looked at him and pressed my lips into a thin line. They made an impression on me, and now they sent me flowers. “I think I need a moment.”
“Understandable. Want me to take the flowers?”
I nodded and handed them back to him, and once he left, I went into the bathroom. I sat down on the edge of the bathtub and lifted the card to read it. I hadn’t fully read it yet. I had been overwhelmed just reading their name at the bottom of the card.
I took a deep breath before reading what they wrote.
Lola,
We want to thank you for coming to our show last night. It sure was a nice surprise seeing you in the crown. We hope you had a good time, even after we forced pulled you up on stage.
We want to apologize if we made you feel uncomfortable but know that it was never our intention.
We hope that these flowers make you smile.
Thank you again, and if you ever want to come back to The Hot Spot to see us again, use this card as a free ticket for you and your girlfriend(s).
All the best,
Four of Hearts
My heart was beating loudly in my chest. I reread the card a couple of times before dropping my hands to my lap and tilting my head back to stare at the ceiling.
They thought I hated being pulled up on stage. They thought me running off the second the show was over was because of them.
That wasn’t the case, and I had to let them know how I really felt about last night.
After washing my hands and heading out of the bathroom, I went back to the living room to let Willa know I was going to go upstairs. She was sitting next to Gavin now, far away from Jonah who was longingly looking at her from across the room.
I didn’t want to interrupt Willa’s conversation with Gavin, so I went to Benson. “Can you watch her for a moment? I’m going upstairs to thank them for the flowers.”
He nodded and placed a hand on my hip. “You okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” I told him, smiling tightly. “I won’t be long.”
I had never been more nervous in my life. I was normally an incredibly confident woman, and I walked into rooms full of people with my head up high. This time, though, I wasn’t as confident as I wanted to be.
I took the stairs to the fourth floor, trying to figure out what to say to them.
“Just ask them to talk,” I told myself, keeping my voice quiet as I walked up to the large double door.
They must’ve worked on the two upper floors because the one I was on didn’t look anything like the ones below. The stairs ended here, and there was a wall where I supposed should’ve been one more flight of stairs.
My brain was trying to distract me, so I closed my eyes to focus on the moment. “Just talk,” I whispered before opening my eyes again.
Taking a deep breath, I lifted my hand and pressed the doorbell. I took a step back, putting enough space between me and whoever was going to open the door.
My heart was racing, and that very moment was the first time I ever felt so vulnerable.
Though, I quickly found out that I had nothing to be worried about at all.