The Assistant(24)

“Do you? God, he’s such an arrogant jerk to you. I love it!” She shivered with an excited expression, and I gave her a look of disbelief. “What?” She shrugged innocently, “You’re living my dream. Let me have my moment. Anyway, I just want to know what that little tantrum episode was about. I mean obviously it was about you leaving, but I didn’t know he’d be… angry. It’s kind of a turn on, isn’t it?” She grinned as a glazy look transformed her usually playful eyes and I threw a pillow at her face.

“Amy! A 25-year-old throwing a tantrum is not a turn-on.” I frowned. “It was pretty weird though… I mean, his maid said that it’s only happened once in his life before… and Suzie told me he deals with not getting his way by sleeping with an endless amount of girls until he feels like he’s satisfied. He is honestly the weirdest person I’ve ever come across.” I frowned in thought.

“Come on, he’s nothing compared to sticky Stanley.” We both shared another mutual shudder as the memory of our freshman college days resurfaced in our minds, and the mental image of a tall, lanky boy with slightly crooked teeth and grey eyes sat next to Amy, touching her notebook in class and making it sticky enough to hang on a wall. He did the same thing to a pen I let him borrow. And my arm. I remember taking four showers that day, to try and rub off the sticky fingerprints he left on my arm.

“Okay, maybe not the weirdest. But he’s definitely something else…” I trailed off.

“Sexy. That’s what else.” Amy giggled as I grabbed the same pillow I used to attack her previously, and threw it at her face again.

“You’re impossible when it comes to discussing men,” I declared as the doorbell rang.

“That’s why I’m the best person to talk to when it comes to them!” She grinned. I shook my head at her logic and opened the door to greet Molly and Claire, but they beat me to it.

“We come bearing cookies and cream ice cream!” Molly announced, grinning.

“And lollies! You can’t have a girl’s night without lollies!” Claire added, trailing behind Molly as they entered the house.

“Hello to you too,” I muttered, giving them a sly smile as they looked back and gave me sheepish looks.

“Hi,” they replied in unison, making both Amy and I laugh.

There was a short moment of silence before everyone’s eyes grew wide and I was the first to place my thumb on my nose.

“NOT IT!” I screamed loudly.

“NOT IT!” Molly and Claire repeated shortly after me.

“Aw, man,” Amy whined, “It’s always me.” We laughed. Amy, Molly, Claire and I have had a tradition of an individual in the group being the ‘maid’ for the day ever since we first became close. Amy was usually always the slowest to respond to our method of choosing the maid – but it was the quickest and fairest way to do it.

“What would you all like me to make for dinner today?” she asked in an overly phony enthusiastic voice, glaring at us all once we laughed at her again.

“Emily, it’s your call today,” Molly declared. They all turned to face me.

“Um,” I bit my bottom lip and frowned in thought as I mentally scanned the ingredients I had in my refrigerator. “We’ll just make pasta and hot chips today. I don’t feel like torturing Amy just yet. Go get the plates and chips, Ms. Hale. Chop, chop!” I snapped my fingers and pointed to the kitchen as Amy lazily pushed herself off the sofa and grumbled nothing in particular as she shoved passed us, making us all laugh again.

“I want wine as well please, Ms. Hale!” Claire called out, giggling.

“And a chocolate bar for me!” Molly added, smirking.

“And while you’re in there,” I said, trying to think of a way to complicate my order, “I wouldn’t mind a big cup of cold water. On the rocks.”

“Fuck you all!” Amy called out, making us burst out into fits of hyena laughs, Amy joining in from the kitchen.

Adrian Kingston was temporarily forgotten at that moment.

Almost.

***

The girls left just past 10:30PM, after Amy had taken her time cleaning the living room and throwing smug looks in my direction. She knew I had an OCD when it came to cleaning my apartment, and it wasn’t long before I broke and told her I’d do it myself. She had laughed and told me she’d text me when she got home, and I smiled, happy to know that she knew me well enough.

By the time I was done cleaning the apartment to my standards, it was 11:30PM, and I stripped down to my underwear and a tank top before falling onto the bed with a tired sigh. It was a long day, and all I wanted to do was let sleep engulf me in its endless black nothing.


My phone, on the other hand, had a completely different plan.

It vibrated on the table beside my pillow, and I indulged in a groan before I slowly dragged it off the table and unlocked it, finding a text message from Adrian:

Can I get a picture tonight? ;)

I rolled my eyes and sent a quick no before putting the phone down on my stomach, not bothering to lock it. Adrian replied instantly:

Why not? It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.

I could practically feel him smirking through the phone as I typed my reply:

That was a fluke. Goodnight.

I didn’t even get to put my phone back down when my phone buzzed again.