“…uhhh… okay…”
I could hear the doubt in her voice.
“I got in because I wanted to get in, Anh,” I said forcefully.
“…and the fact that you had just gotten fired had nothing to do with it?”
“No. I mean, no, it didn’t have anything to do with it.”
I was starting to get annoyed. Half because she was harshing my buzz – and half because she was picking at some half-buried doubts of my own.
“…okay,” she relented. “Just as long as you’re happy. You ARE happy, right?”
I thought back to my conversation with Connor in the car.
And the last 45 minutes.
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, then,” Anh said, as though that settled it.
Then she paused again.
“…50,000 dollars? Are you serious?”
“Yeah…” I said nervously, chewing at my lip.
“Jeez, Lily, you must be something ELSE in bed.”
“Anh!” I laughed, shocked that my roommate would even think such a thing.
“I wish some gorgeous guy would pay ME fifty grand for my poonanny.”
“OH MY GOD, you did NOT just say that!” I howled, caught between shocked laughter and righteous indignation.
“Oh, and way to go on negotiating for a higher – ”
“IT WAS A GIFT!”
“Uh huh… yeah, you’ll notice he’s not giving ME $50,000, though…”
“Anh – ”
“I’m just kidding. You know that.”
“I know,” I said, though I was a little nervous.
As Dr. Sheldon Cooper, my favorite TV nerd of all time, said once on The Big Bang Theory: ‘It’s funny because it’s true.’
But I pushed that out of my mind.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with it yet…”
“Yeah, well, don’t put it all on black.”
“Oh hell no. And I think I can cover rent this month,” I teased.
“You think?”
“Maybe take you out for a deluxe spa day, my treat.”
“Ohhhh – NOW you’re talking.”
There was a pause, and her voice suddenly became serious.
“Lily?”
“Yeah?”
“…be careful, okay?”
“I will,” I promised.
“When are you coming back?”
“I don’t know. It could be a couple of days, or… longer, maybe.”
“Wow… well, just take care of yourself.”
“I will. You too.”
“I’m not the one in Sin City with a guy who thinks I bonk so good he’s putting fifty G’s in my bank account.”
“Anh!” I half-laughed, half-shouted.
“Have fun,” she said sweetly. “Make sure you give him his money’s worth.”
I shouted at her in playful outrage for a couple more seconds, and then we said our final goodbyes.
9
Dinner was amazing.
Hell, the whole evening was amazing.
It all started off as Connor got dressed and I was putting on my makeup.
“Where do you want to eat?” he asked as he buttoned up an expensive blue shirt. “I’m starving.”
“I don’t know anywhere in Vegas.”
“You’ve never been here before?”
“Oh, I’ve been… once. I just don’t think you want to eat at the $8.99 prime rib buffet.”
“So let’s splurge and go for the $12.99 one down the street.”
“What’s funny is, to you, that’s a joke. To me just a week ago, that was extravagant.”
“We’ll save it for another night. I’ve got something in mind, but we’ll need to go shopping beforehand.”
“For what?”
“For you.”
I suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious as I stood there in my bra and panties in front of the mirror. I looked over at my rumpled clothes still lying on the bedroom floor. “I… do I have to get new clothes to go out to eat?”
“No, but it’ll be fun.”
“Maybe we should just order in…”
“Oh no. We’re going out.”
“But if you’re starving – ”
“Room service is sending up a small snack. I’ll be fine.”
“But – ”
“Get dressed,” he commanded. “We’re going out. That’s final.”
10
The small snack turned out to be a bottle of white wine, some amazing cheese and fruit, and a bunch of light-as-air crackers.
Connor made a phone call as Johnny and I had a bite to eat. The wine was amazing – a light chardonnay with hints of pear and vanilla. But Johnny wouldn’t take a sip, no matter how much I tempted him.
“I’m on duty, Lily.”
“It’s just a glass.”
“No.”
“Half a glass? A fourth of a glass?”
“You’re a bad influence, you know that?”
I pulled back, suddenly feeling that I was being cruel. “Just on you, or on Connor, too?”
Johnny laughed. “No, I’d say you’re actually a good influence on him.”
I felt a little bit better after that.
Connor came back into the room groaning.
“Did you call Steven?” Johnny asked.
Steven was supposedly Connor’s other assistant... or the assistant to Sebastian, I forget which. I’d only heard him mentioned briefly before, when Sebastian was going off on a mini-tirade about how wonderful he was.
Just to be clear, that was Sebastian going off on a mini-tirade about how wonderful Sebastian was. Not Steven. Steven was third-class all the way in comparison to Sebastian.
According to Sebastian, anyway.
“He couldn’t get me the reservation I wanted,” Connor said.
I drew my head back in mock horror. “Oh no! Whatever shall we do?!”
Connor gave me a dirty look, but I refused to be cowed.
“I guess it’s the $12.99 buffet,” I shrugged with an Oh well! smile.
Connor kept the dirty look going. “I don’t think so.”
Johnny frowned. “Didn’t Steven just drop your name?”
“Yeah, isn’t that the magic word?” I asked saucily.
“Apparently not. Although ‘Connor Brooks’ seems to work pretty well on some people,” he smirked.
“Agh – you! – ” I yelled and threw a cracker at him.
He dodged it and laughed, then looked at Johnny. “Dare I…?”
“Dare you what?” I asked, a little fearful of retaliation for the cracker.
Like tickling, say.
Although some tickling might be nice…
“Just appeal to his need to be important to you. You do that, he’s putty in your hands,” Johnny advised.
Sebastian.
They were going to call Connor’s regular assistant.
“Oh, come onnnn!” I protested. “The poor guy’s on vacation 24 hours, and already you’re bugging him? Jeez, let’s just go eat somewhere else.”
Johnny grinned, then looked at Connor. “When I go on vacation and you want to call me, do me a favor and listen to her.”
“That’ll never happen, since you’re never going on vacation,” Connor said, then seemed to reconsider. “Maybe I shouldn’t call him.”
I folded my arms. “Finally, some common decency.”
Johnny looked over at me. “Lily, trust me when I say this: the only thing Sebastian likes more than reminding people they can’t get along without him… is hearing them say that they can’t get along without him.”
Connor pointed at Johnny like You win and dialed the phone.
“You’re both jerks, you know that?” I huffed.
“But you’re about to benefit,” Connor said, “and without having to sacrifice your righteous indignation.”
“I’ll take the $12.99 buffet instead.”
“We can drop you off on our way, if you want…”
I flipped Connor off, which he found hilarious.
Then Sebastian’s over-the-top voice erupted from the speakerphone.
“Oh my God, I knew it – has everything fallen apart ALREADY?”
Johnny looked over at me like See?
“I go away for one day, and – what is it? Are you stranded somewhere? Did someone have the audacity to cancel a meeting? Did that little floozy run out on you?”
“HELLO!” I shouted at the phone. “I’m standing right here!”
“Ohhhh, of course you didn’t run out. Silly me, the gravy train’s still running…”
“Sebastian,” Connor warned.
I snorted in mock outrage. “And to think, I tried to get them not to disturb your vacation!”
I wasn’t really angry. Sebastian was outrageous, but he said things in such a ridiculous voice that it was hard to get worked up over them.
But I was determined to get in my digs.
“When the whole world’s gone to hell, you don’t NOT call the President of the United States just because he’s on vacation.”
“Oh, you’re the President now?” Johnny asked, amused.
“I thought you were more like the butler,” I said.
Johnny and Connor both went “OHHHHHH!” at that one.
“At least I’m not the call girl.”
Connor’s face twisted in anger. He was about to throw a fit, but I beat him to the punch.
“You bitch,” I laughed.
“And don’t you forget it, honey,” Sebastian said, followed by three loud, sharp noises over the speakerphone: