Chapter Eleven #2
Me: Nope I’m taking a long bath and I’m sleeping til it’s time to go out tonight. Thank you though *kissy emoji*
Rome: Sleep well, J
I plan to. Tonight we are having the bachelor and bachelorette parties for Arnold and Ri.
The men are going to a nighttime pool bar and hookah lounge and the women are going to a dance club.
I need to get all the rest I can get to be prepared to socialize tonight.
By the time I see Ri tonight I’m sure our mom will have told her about our conversation so she may be expecting me to confront her as well.
It’s well past time we had a talk but because old habits die hard I’m willing to grin and bear it until the wedding is over.
Twenty minutes later, there’s a knock at my door.
I open it to find Javier and another concierge who push two carts into my room.
The first cart is packed with lunch consisting of tostadas and elote; different desserts including sopaipillas, tres leches, and chocolate-covered strawberries; a bottle of white wine on ice; and a glass of Mezcalita.
The second cart is filled with self-care essentials from bath bombs and salts to body creams, massage oils, a candle, and a sleep mask.
Javier hands me a note to accompany the goodies, giving me a knowing smile. He protests when I give him a tip because whoever had the items sent already tipped him, but I insist.
I’m proud of you. -RM
My teeth sink into my bottom lip as I look over all the things he sent for me. How is it that I’ve owned bras for longer than I’ve known this man but he’s so in tune with exactly what I need? And to think, I almost let him slip through my fingers. I won’t do that again.
I pull out my phone and snap a picture of myself with one of the tostadas raised to my lips, the food cart in front of me. I send it to Rome with a message.
Me: You wanna be a book boyfriend so bad
Rome: I wanna be a two-dimensional man who doesn’t even exist? Pass
Me: See all that hater energy? A book boyfriend would never
Rome: Put my girlfriend on the phone she talks to me nice
Me: Me: *eye roll emoji* She’s busy
Rome: *eye emoji* Without me!? *insert Soulja Boy meme*
Me: Omg thanks for the goodies Rome byeeeeeeee
Rome: Wowwwwww
Rome: Essence would never
The sound of banging on my door jolts me out of my sleep. I check my phone to see that I had five more minutes on my alarm until I needed to meet the ladies in Dani’s room. Whoever cost me five minutes of sleep better be dying.
I open my door to find an alive and well Arnold.
He’s dressed for the evening in his gray and white plaid linen pants with a black muscle-fit knitted T-shirt tucked into it.
He’s fitted with his signature Patek watch, his single gold hoop earring, and the gaudy-ass ring I hate that he wears to every special occasion.
The thing is the size of a championship ring and every time someone asks him about it, he feels the need to regale them with the story of how he bought it for himself to celebrate his own championship of opening his agency.
“What’s up, Arnold?”
He stumbles over his own feet, using the doorjamb to catch himself. I may have spoken too soon about him being both alive and well. One look at his red rimmed eyes lets me know he’s far from sober.
“Heyyyy, Ellie-Elle.” I cringe at the nickname he always used for me whenever he was drunk. I know when that nickname comes out that he’s fucked up. He once repeated the name to himself thirty times in a row because he was so tickled by it.
“Pre-gamed a little too hard, huh?”
The force of his laughter tips him over and I throw my hand out to help balance him. “Ha, I’ve been drinking since ten a.m.”
I peek out into the hallway, trying to see if any of the guys are walking by so they can help him get to where he needs to go. If Ri sees him like this, there’s bound to be a fight.
“Well, good for you. Did you need something?”
Confident that he’s steady on his feet, I move my hand from his arm, but he grabs it with a vise grip. “I need to talk to you.”
I shake free of his grip and back away to grab a water bottle from the dresser.
His eyes track my every movement until I’m standing in front of him again.
“Okay, why don’t you have some water and then we can talk.
” I try to step around him outside of my room so we can talk in the hallway, but he holds firm to the door.
He’s so unsteady on his feet I can’t tell if he intentionally blocked my path or if the door is the only thing keeping him up.
He takes a swig of water, letting some of it drip down his chin, and blinks a few times. “I drank it. We can talk now?” He holds the bottle out to me, but I wave my hand to tell him to keep it.
“What do you wanna talk about? You should probably be going to sober up so Ri doesn’t see you out like this.”
He blows out a raspberry. “Psh, Ri’s always nagging about something.”
He’s not wrong but I’m not about to sit here and co-sign on shit talk about my sister from her man. “She just worries about you. You’ve got a long night ahead of you and you’re already sauced.”
“She ain’t worried ’bout me. She just wants to show you up.
” I freeze in place. I can’t take any more revelations about how my family feels about me today.
Whatever issues Ri has with me, I want to hear them from her and her only.
Arnold laughs to himself, dropping the hand holding the water and I subtly tip the bottle up, keeping it from spilling on the floor.
“You wouldn’t nag me. You never nagged me when we were together. ”
His eyes roam my face, landing on my lips. Oh fuck. My alarm goes off on my phone, piercing Arnold’s concentration long enough to give me a reprieve from his intense gaze. “Maybe you should go find Ri and talk to her if you’re upset.”
He takes a step toward me, holding his hands out in front of him for balance. “Mmm mmm, I don’t wanna talk to Ri. I wanna talk to you.”
“Arnold, go sober up and get your shit together before you do something you regret.” I don’t want to have to break Arnold’s jaw before his wedding, but I will. I glance over at my phone, wondering if I can grab it without him stepping any closer to me.
“The only regret I have is you losing. Is you. Is losing. ” He clears his throat and blinks back into focus. “Is losing you. I made a mistake. I chose the wrong sister.”
Good lord. I just scolded my mom for implying anything would happen between Arnold and me and here this fool goes, saying dumb shit like this.
“Arnold, please shut up. I don’t have time for this. Leave my room.” I point behind him at the door, waiting for him to give in but he steps closer.
“Come on, Ellie-Elle. We were so good together.” He takes another step closer, and I take two large steps back. He follows suit, crouching in on my space, so I back up again and reach for my phone. “You’re so sexy. I wanna try again.” He leans in to kiss me and I duck away from his hold.
“No! What is wrong with you?”
“Don’t you mean what’s right with me? I love you, Ellie-Elle.”
“Fuck off, Arnold. I’m so serious. I’m trying my best not to beat your ass but you’re making it hard.”
He reaches for me again and I slap his arm. “You’re making me hard. We can start over. Come on, baby.”
“You can start over by yourself because when I tell Ri about this, it’s over for you.”
He rolls his eyes. “Please, you don’t want that nag in your life either.”
“You have one more time to call my sister a nag.” He thinks I’m such a prize because I never nagged him during our relationship.
The truth is, I never cared enough to nag him.
We spent a year together and I emotionally checked out six months in.
I didn’t see a real future with him, so I didn’t care what he was doing.
I stayed in the relationship for as long as I did because I didn’t want to lose him as a friend.
Ri may be obnoxious and she and I have a whole host of issues to solve between us, but the love she has for Arnold is obvious.
If he doesn’t appreciate that, then he doesn’t deserve her.
In my shocked haze, he manages to sneak up on me, forcing me back as his lips descend on me. Before they connect, I bow my head and swing my arm, connecting my hand with his right cheek.
The slap reverberates through the room, echoing off the walls and shattering any illusions he might’ve had about what would happen when he came here tonight.
“Get the fuck out of my room. Now!” I give him a look that says “ try me again if you want to.” If he so much as breathes at me, I will take the past six months’ worth of pent-up aggression out on his face.
With his hand caressing his bruised cheek, he walks backward sloppily toward the door, hauling ass down the hall once he reaches it.
I drop my head into my hands, letting out a small scream. This must be a joke. This can’t possibly be how my life is going right now. Of course, my phone picks this very moment to ping with back-to-back messages from Evie and Dani asking where I am.
I already wasn’t looking forward to tonight and now I’m fully dreading it.
When I get to Dani’s room, I see that I’m the last to arrive.
Despite the room being filled with fifteen other women, it somehow still looks organized.
Dani has makeup stations set up in different corners of the room to keep everyone in their own spaces.
She has two cameras set up: one in the corner to capture everyone’s process and one directly in front of her so that she can record a Get Ready With Me video.
Ri’s station is set up directly next to hers because she’ll be making an appearance in Dani’s upcoming video.