I look up and see the packed, trendy restaurant, and I know Emerson is inside. She’s already text me three times since I left. “Thanks.” I smile.
His hand is resting on the steering wheel. “Have a great night. Be safe.”
I stay seated in the car, and he looks over and raises an impatient eyebrow.
Oh shit! Get out, you idiot.
I climb out of the car and lean in through the window. “I’m glad the cab company couldn’t bring me. That was way more fun.”
He smiles sexily and revs the engine.
I laugh and shake my head. “See you in the morning.”
The car pulls out and roars up the street as I watch on.
Wow, that was unexpected. Who knew?
I walk into the crowded restaurant to see Emerson waving from her table at the back. I laugh and almost run to meet her. “Oh God, it’s so good to see you.” I smile into her hair, hugging her tight. It feels like so much has happened since I saw her last.
“Look at us being all hot and grown up in London.”
“I know.” I giggle as I fall into my seat opposite her. “Can you believe we are actually here?”
“Yes.” She smiles broadly as a waiter comes over with two margaritas and puts them in front of us.
I hunch my shoulders together. “Are we are drinking cocktails?”
“Why not? It’s our opening night. Screw it.”
I pick up my drink and take a sip. Heaven in a glass. “Ah, that’s the stuff.” I eye my glass suspiciously. “How much are these babies?”
“More than we can afford, but who cares?” She holds her drink up and we clink our glasses together. “To London.” She smiles proudly.
“To London.” I giggle.
“Tell me everything.” She widens her eyes.
I shake my head and hold up my hand. “You wouldn’t believe the three days I’ve had.”
“Try me.”
“Well, Mr. Masters picks me up, and you saw what he was like…”
“Cranky. Has he got any better?”
I shrug. “I don’t know, but get this… I think he jacked off to my photo.”
Emerson spits out her drink and nearly chokes. “What the fuck?” She then goes into a full on coughing fit as she tries to deal with margarita up her nose.
“He showed me to my room and wouldn’t come in, and then later that night, when I was spying on him-”
She scowls hard. “Wait, what? You were spying on him?” she interrupts.
I put my hands over my face. “Long story, but he’s kind of hot.”
“He’s old, Brell.”
“He’s thirty eight… or nine. I’m not actually sure, to be honest,” I reply dryly.
“Either one is still old.”
I roll my eyes. “Anyway, I was spying on him and I saw him take my photo off the fridge. Then he put his hands down his boxer shorts and played with himself.”
Emerson’s eyes widen, and her mouth falls open.
“Then he took the photo and went upstairs to his bedroom.”
“Fuck off.”
“I’ve still got it.” I giggle, and we clink our glasses together.
We smile at each other as we sip our drinks. This is so much fun.
“Oh my God, tell me about Mark?”
She twists her lips. “He’s okay, I suppose.”
I wince. “Just okay?”
“He’s a bit of a dick, to be honest.” She thinks on it for a moment. “I’ve met a few dicks this week, come to think of it.”
For some reason I get the giggles and hold my glass up in a cheers symbol. “Well, I got fired. Beat that.”
Emerson chokes again. “What?” She begins to drain her glass, and I throw my head back and laugh. “What the hell, Brell?”
I shake my head. “The first morning I’m working, the little boy, Samuel, comes into my room sleepwalking. Mr. Masters then came into my room to get him.”
She frowns as she listens. “What are the kids like?”
“Sammy is eight and beautiful.”
“That’s the boy?”
“Yes, and the girl, Willow, is sixteen, and she’s a witch.”
“We were all witches at sixteen.”
“Exactly,” I reply. “She’ll warm up to me.” I sip my drink. “Anyway, after Mr. Masters leaves for work, I go upstairs to check on Sammy. He was fine and asleep, so I’m walking back to my room and I walk past Mr. Masters’ room, and I think to myself… I wonder what his room is like, you know?”
“Of course, good question. Anybody would want to know that.”
“So I go in, and I’m looking around, and then I open his bathroom cabinet.”
She lifts her glass at me. “You can tell a lot about a person from their bathroom cabinet.”
“Exactly.” I point at her.
“What did you find out?”
I sip my drink. “That he smells fucking good and he has a lot of sex.”
She giggles.
“Next minute, he’s behind me growling and raging with anger when I look up to see his reflection in the mirror. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Her eyes widen. “He came home?”
“Yes. In some kind of bust a move, backdoor attack.”
“Oh no.”
We burst out laughing.
“Then I got caught lying about waking the kids up already when they were still in bed. After that, Willow and I had a stand up row and told each other to fuck off on the way to school.”
She puts her hands over her mouth in horror.
“And then he and I drank some freaky truth serum while he fired me.”
She downs her drink again. “Are you for real? Did this shit really happen?”
“I swear.”
“But I talked him round, and now I have nineteen days to prove myself before he fires me again.”
She looks at me, speechless.
“But…. it turns out he’s a scotch nanny virgin, and he is kind of hot, in a rich old guy way. So, I ‘m going to try and be good so I can stay there. I think I can actually do it.”
Emerson holds her hand up. “You’ve completely lost me. What the hell is a scotch nanny virgin?”
“He’s never drunk scotch with his nanny before.”
She frowns. “And we played this mind fuck of a game where he dared me to ask him anything.”
She bites her fingernail as she listens, fascinated. “And?”
“And I asked him how he liked his women.”
“You did what?” she shrieks as she puts her hands over her eyes again. “Oh God, you really are going to get fired. Do you have to be so damn honest all the time?”
“Yeah, but I wanted to know the answer.”
She laughs. “So do I. What did he say?”
“He said he likes his women to be pure and wholesome with a side of dirty and slutty… but only for him.”
She bites her bottom lip as her eyes hold mine. “That’s kind of hot.”
“I know, right?”
We both sip our drinks as we think.
“Oh.” She smiles. “I met a pig.”
“You met a pig, as in oink oink pig?” I giggle.
“When I bought my ring.”
“Oh, show me your ring.”
She holds out her hand and shows me a gorgeous emerald ring. “I love it, I’m so glad you got it.”
“Me, too. But get this… I’m trying the ring on, when suddenly, this arrogant twat makes an offer on it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I had the ring on my finger and this weird, rude guy starts bidding for it.”
“While you were still looking at it?”
“Yep.”
“You’re joking?”
“Nope. So then I had to buy it just so he couldn’t.” She smiles as she looks down at her hand and wiggles her fingers. “Sucked in, Mr. Twinkle.”
“Twinkle?” I frown.
She rolls her eyes. “He calls himself Star.”
I laugh and put my hand over my mouth. “Are you for real?”
“Yes.” She frowns as she thinks. “It was weird, you know… I felt like I knew him somehow.”
“Did you?”
“No. We’ve never met. He was Irish, had a beautiful accent. Shame he was such a pig.”