22. Laila
Laila
Sonny
Are you working from home or in the office today?
me
The office
sonny
If you aren’t busy, I have something for you.
Back door.
I shut my laptop and stand from my desk, walking quickly to the back door of our office. I open the door and standing there with a beautiful bouquet of pink roses is Bryce. I can’t stop the grin that instantly comes to my face.
“Wow these are beautiful,” I say, taking the flowers from him.
I step back to let him step inside the building and we walk together back to my desk. I set the flowers down next to my laptop.
“You didn’t think I forgot did you?”
Like clockwork, as my previous flowers started to brown and wilt, the delivery man would arrive with new ones to replace them. Every. Single. Time. Since the first time he bought me flowers.
“No,” I say. “We’ve just both been very busy and we haven’t seen each other in a minute, so I would have understood if you were too busy.”
“You know you don’t have to do that right?”
“Do what?”
Bryce takes my hand and rubs the back of my hand with his thumb. “Lower your expectations of other people.”
“Easier said than done,” I reply. “Sometimes giving other people the power to let you down leaves you as the one with hurt feelings.”
Bryce cocks his head to the side and looks at me intensely. I can tell he wants me to elaborate on the little piece of my trauma that I just shared. Before he can respond, I change the subject. “I thought you were going to be in the studio all day today.”
“I am, we made a lot of progress today cleaning things up and putting finishing touches on the album. I just needed a little bit of a break. Also like you said, I haven’t seen you in a minute so I thought I’d bring you your flowers before I head back.”
“Thank you,” I say. “Does that finally mean I can get a little sneak peek?”
Bryce has spent hours and hours in the studio working on the album, but he’s kept it very close to his chest and hasn’t shared any of it with me.
“Maybe,” he says, an amused look on his face.
I take it as a victory because everything before this has been a hard no. He hasn’t wanted to share anything about the project yet, the whole thing just between him and Blue.
“What you got going on today?” Bryce asks.
“Actually,” I say, grabbing my laptop. “I just finished editing some of the spreads from our photoshoot and was going to send them over to Morgan for approval.”
I flip the computer around to show Bryce the things I’ve been working on. He scrolls through the photos and graphics.
“Damn, you really did your thing with this photoshoot. This is amazing.”
“Thank you,” I say, smiling. “If Morgan doesn’t have any notes we plan to release this next week right with our summer restock.”
“Are you busy tomorrow night?
I shake my head.
“Good, I have a surprise for you. I’ll have a driver come and pick you up at 7.”
“Are you asking me on a date?”
“If I say ‘yes’ is it going to scare you off?”
I bite my bottom lip, those flutters that plagued my body when Bryce and I first decided to be friends, back again. I don’t trust myself to speak so I just shake my head.
“Good, because I am asking you to go on a date with me. Don’t overthink it,” Bryce says, his dark brown eyes staring into mine. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
I nod. “See you tomorrow.”
Bryce brings my hand up to his lips and kisses my knuckles. I watch him walk away, leaving through the back door just like he came.
***
Bryce refused to tell me where we we’re going for our date. I texted him while I was choosing my outfit, fishing for any details he would give me. He didn’t reveal anything, simply telling me that whatever I chose would be perfect.
I opt for a black satin wrap midi dress, that hugs my body in all the places I want it to, with a slit on one side that shows just the right amount of leg. I pair it with a simple pair of heels.
The click of my heels echo as I walk through the lobby of my building. A blacked out SUV is parked right outside the doors, a man in a dark gray suit standing on the passenger side.
I step out the door and make eye contact with the man.
“Ms. Eden?” the man asks.
I nod and he steps aside, opening the back door for me to get in. Once I’ve slid into the seat, he closes the door and walks around to get into the driver’s seat. He puts the car in drive and starts on the way to our destination.
I sit back in my seat and watch the buildings pass by as we leave Rosewood, heading towards Chicago. My phone chimes and I pick it up, seeing it’s a message from Zara.
She wasn’t home yet when I was getting ready, still at the shop with a late night client. I sent her a picture of me in my outfit on my way out to get her opinion. I open her message and giggle at the fire and heart eye emojis that she sent in response.
I am so wrapped up in texting Zara, I don’t notice when the car stops until the driver says something.
“We’ve arrived, Ms. Eden.”
My head snaps up and I look around, trying to find my bearings and figure out where I am. I’m confused, seeing only the water of the lake until my eyes land on the ferris wheel.
The Pier.
I haven’t been here in years, probably since middle school for a field trip. Parked next to us is an identical blacked out SUV and I watch as Bryce steps out from the backseat.
Bryce always looks good, but something about the calm confidence of his demeanor as he strides past the front of the car dressed up just for me has me clenching my thighs together as I wait. He pulls my door open and flashes me a smile, both of the dimples in his cheeks on display.
He offers me his hand to help me out of the car. As I stand next to him, he does a slow perusal of my body, starting at my feet and working his way up until we lock eyes.
“Perfect. Just like I said,” he murmurs.
Warmth spreads through my body at his words. Bryce takes my hand in his and starts to lead me away from the trucks. I scan our surroundings, searching for the crowds of people I know are usually always abundant especially during the summer.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Bryce says, acknowledging the fears I hadn’t voiced aloud.
I scrunch my face in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“You made it clear that you want this,” he motions between the two of us. “To be private. I wouldn’t ask you on a date just to violate that.”
My shoulders, that I hadn’t realized were raised, relax. I allow myself to let go of the lingering tension in my body. Bryce takes my hand in his, interlacing our fingers as he leads me to our destination.
We walk past the row of boats lined up at the dock until we reach the one at the very end, the largest of them all.
My eyes widen at the yacht in front of us. “All of this is for us?”
“Of course.”
The sun is just starting to set as we step on the boat. One of the members of the staff greets us telling us to enjoy ourselves and that dinner would be ready soon. Bryce leads me up to the top deck.
The sky is a beautiful combination of yellows and pinks, the sun passing behind the buildings. I smile at the beauty of it all. With no other boats around it feels like we’re in our own little haven.
My eyes land on one of the many pots of flowers around the deck, reminding me of something that had been on my mind for a while.
“Why do you always send me flowers?”
“When I first looked at your Instagram you had a bunch of pictures with you and your friends but two of your highlights were sunsets and flowers. I can’t give you sunsets, that’s all straight from the man upstairs, but I can give you flowers.”
“Oh,” I say softly, taken aback by the deep meaning behind his actions.
The boat is moving, pushing further away from dock and out onto the lake. I watch as the buildings retreat, getting further and further away when Bryce speaks again.
“Why do I make you nervous?”
“Who says that you do?” I ask.
“You do,” Bryce replies. “Everytime you realize that you’ve let me in, you shut down again.”
I take in deep breaths of the fresh air, preparing myself to tell a story that I’ve never had to tell in its entirety to another person.
“A few months before we ran into each other again, I got out of a really bad relationship,” I pause, needing a minute before continuing.
I feel Bryce come up behind me, his front to my back and his hands placed on the railing right next to mine. It’s an action that would feel constricting with anyone else, but it’s comforting from him.
“He was my first serious relationship. I had dated some before, but nothing significant or long term. Things moved fast but he seemed to be everything that I wanted. He said and did all the right things until he just didn’t. It felt like he changed overnight.”
“He put his hands on you?” Bryce asks, his voice low.
I shake my head. “No, nothing physical. He started lying. It was little things at first and then it turned into him lying about his whereabouts and hiding his phone. When I would bring it up he would always talk himself out of it, tell me that I was crazy or looking for things to be wrong.”
I let out a humorless chuckle. “Until he couldn’t use that excuse anymore, because he had gotten another woman pregnant.”
Bryce lets out a breath. “Shit.”
“That’s when I finally woke up and stopped being so oblivious to his bullshit. But the damage was already done.”
“You can’t blame yourself for the actions of someone else, Laila.”
“No, but I can blame myself for my own actions. I should have seen what was happening for what it was.”
“You should give yourself grace. You didn’t deserve what you experienced and you shouldn’t minimize the trauma of the experience.”
“That’s hard to do when it’s the reason letting you in feels so damn daunting.”
We both stand in silence for a moment, the last remnants of light giving away to the night sky.