Adjournment (The Fate Series) (16 page)

“Anything you say…” I whisper with a shaky voice, but he’s gone.

My hand frozen in the air where he left it, I stand here watching him disappear into the sea of people who weren’t here dancing to the loud, rhythmic music that wasn’t playing for the last however many minutes that have gone by.

How does he do that?

Blinking away the hazy state he left me in, I find my way upstairs. I notice it’s a different scene. Everyone is sitting around on couches drinking and talking. I shamelessly look around for Simon, even though I know he’s not here, that nagging pain growing stronger the more I think about him.

“You’re welcome.” GQ lifts his glass to me.

“Thank you.” I smile.

It’s all we say before he walks back over to where Lexi and everyone else is seated.

Now they would make a cute couple.

It’s around four in the morning when we finally drag ourselves through the lobby of our building.

Actually it’s more me dragging Molly through the lobby.

“I can’t even think about taking the stairs.” I lean Molly against the wall.

“Elevator it is!” Molly shouts pointing at the doors in front of us.

“Who let her drink this much?” Morgan, the newly appointed responsible one, sighs.

“The tenders at the bar.” Molly giggles, and I laugh along with her at the idea of chicken tenders working at a bar. 

I’m hungry.

“Can we eat? I’m dying of starvation here,” I plead. Wrapping Molly’s arm around my shoulders, I hoist her back up when the doors open.

Getting in, Molly shouts “Fifth Floor, James!” at the keypad and hits five.

When the elevator opens on our floor Lexi rushes around us to get to our door, and once inside, we all immediately kick off our shoes. The cool wooden floor feels wonderful on my feet and judging by the look on everyone else’s faces they agree. Holding on to the wall with one hand so our feet can adjust to the flat surface we slowly make our way over to the couch to collapse. Since I can barely breathe in this dress I’m going to need to cut it off of me before I can eat. 

I pull myself back into my room to make an attempt at sliding out of it but it isn’t working.

I might never get this off…

Pulling frantically at the bottom, I begin to panic.

I’m really going to have to cut this off of me. This is the last time I listen to Jacob.

“Wear this one, Jacob said…” I mutter to myself. “No, you will be able to get it off,” he also said.

And where the hell was he all night? Not with us!

My fingers continue to reach for the zipper.

I’m starting to think Molly and Jacob set this evening up so I had to go out for a girl’s night… sneaky bastards!

I would ask for help but it always comes at a cost…

Looking around my room, I see a photo hanging on the wall at my level.

Jackpot!

Taking the photo down I grab the small stool from my vanity and prop it under where the nail is poking out of the wall.

If I can catch the zipper, all I have to do is move, and it will unzip the dress!

Getting up on the stool, I rub my body around the wall waiting for it to catch.

“Sid, the pizza is… what the fuck are you doing?” Lexi leans against my door frame, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Unzipping my dress, what does it look like I’m doing?” I give her a sideways glaze.

“It looks like your trying to mark the wall as yours. Shall I leave you two alone?” She laughs, pushing away from the wall to help me.

“Finished?” I raise an eyebrow at her. She begins to laugh again but doesn’t say anything.

Jumping off the stool I stand with my back to her.

“I will do this for you on one condition.” Her fingers hesitate on the little piece of metal.

See… here it comes.

Exhaling, I agree. “What is it?”

“Unzip mine. Your sisters are out there negotiating the other’s help,” she groans.

I have no doubt about that.

“Deal.”

Okay, so maybe I was wrong about Lexi’s motives.  

Once I’m changed, I drag myself back out to the living room where they’re sitting around drinking water and eating with their eyes fixated on the TV. Grabbing a slice of pizza, I sit back in the chair.

“Sidney,” Molly giggles. Not moving my head, I shift my eyes to look at her.

“What?” I ask taking a bite.

“It’s not delivery,” she snorts.       

Yeah, she’s drunk.

“
No
… really?” I take another bite.

“Guess what it is,” she carries on.

“We get it, Molly. It wasn’t funny the first five times you said it,” Morgan snaps.

Turning my attention back to the TV I notice it’s a repeat of what had been on earlier when we were getting ready. They always ask the same questions. “Are you seeing anyone?” they ask in a hundred different ways. “No, not at the moment. Actually, I only like to date my leading ladies,” I’m paraphrasing because if he wasn’t such a dipshit he would see that Lexi is, RIGHT HERE.

The three of them sit here watching him like he’s going to come out of the TV, and my mind wanders back to the events of tonight.

Why is stupid Simon everywhere I am? But most of all… Why can’t I just let him go?

Lifting up my clutch from where I dropped it, I chuck it at the TV.

“Have your fill of him for the night?” Molly laughs, grabbing a slice of pizza. “Are you two really together?” she asks.

I guess I’m a better actor than I thought.

“No, that was all Lexi.” I tip my water to her. “Thank you, Lexi for that by the way.”

She makes a click sound with her mouth.

“But you kissed.” Molly’s eyes widen. “Didn’t you feel anything at all?” She sits back.

Twisting my lips up, I shake my head. “Nope. Nothing. Maybe I’m broken.”

“Oh, thank God,” Lexi breathes out, grabbing at her chest as she falls back onto her chair.

What? I’m broken, and she is happy about this?

“No, you aren’t broken,” Morgan reassures me. “Why is this a good thing?” She looks over at Lexi.

“Because she doesn’t like him! So she won’t ever fall in love with him.” She smiles, jumping up overly excited for this.

“We get that… but why are you so happy?” Morgan’s head moves to the side slightly.

Because she likes him!! She’s going to finally admit it!

“Because she has a type! And it’s not him… I knew it! Jacob doesn’t believe me, but I knew it.” She points at me, her smile stretching all the way up to her eyes.

Not at all what I was thinking.

Jetting up from my seat, I glare at her and grab my water. “Were you saving me or proving a point?” I glare at her.

“Uh… both?” She shrinks back into her seat. “Sid, don’t be mad.” She grins at me, unable to control herself.

“I’m not mad… I just wish you would give up on this. You’re like a dog with bone,” I huff.

“We might have these moments where we… can get along but deep down we don’t like each other.”

“Exactly. I mean, how can you love someone you’ve never kissed?” Morgan says trying to help me rationalize this to Lexi.

“See, she gets it.” I point at her.

Morgan and Molly give each other a look that says someone just ran over their dog.

“You guys never said why you came in?” Lexi changes the subject.

With a groan I drop back to my seat.

“Yes, care to share what the visit is really about?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Oh, yeah, Mom and Dad are having a Thirty-Fifth Anniversary party and dinner thingy,” Molly says while pulling the cheese from a slice of pizza to put on hers. 

Thief!

“She needs to know the shooting schedule for you and Lexi so she can arrange for the caterers and all that,” she says with a hiccup before stuffing the pizza in her mouth.

We all watch, wincing at the way she eats.

“An anniversary party? That’s exciting!” Lexi squeals with delight.

No it isn’t!

“Where is she thinking about having it?” She grins at Molly.

Please don’t say the beach house. Please don’t say the beach house.

“Our house in the Hamptons? I think that’s where she finally settled on. She mentioned something about having us stay for the weekend.” Morgan yawns out the words as she gets up to take over my bed.

Dammit. That evil witch mother of mine figured out a way to get me back there.

Wait a minute…

“Will there be music?” I cringe.

“Of course… it’s Mom.” Morgan shoots me a look.

And that son of a bitch Simon knew exactly what he was doing.

Lexi and I clean up the pizza quietly, as to not disturb Molly who has passed out on our couch, then head to bed.

I can’t wait to have this day over with. I lay down next to Morgan who rolls over putting her arm over me as she lays her head on my shoulder.

“You don’t have a type,” she sighs, drifting into sleep.

It’s the first time we haven’t almost gotten arrested when they came in… mark the calendar!

“Love you, too.” I smile, cuddling into her, and I close my eyes.

“Hard to believe it’s been ten years since your prom, huh?” she sighs.

My eyes open and I roll onto my back to stare at the ceiling while tears force their way to the surface.

“It’s a beautiful night for a dance,” I whisper into the darkness.

Molly sways in moments later and cuddles up the same way on my other side. “Just leave me on the couch, ya jerks!” she bites out causing me to laugh.

“We love you too, ya jerk,” I say back, making myself forget about tonight.

“Oh, by the way, we are moving back to New York,” Molly says before she falls asleep.

Someone hates me.

For the love of hooker heels someone get me a cup!

It’s been around a month since I’ve seen Simon.

Things are looking up.

Since we aren’t currently on set I’ve decided to help Molly and Morgan on their photo shoots and find them somewhere besides my apartment to stay. Right now however, I have to focus on my parents’ anniversary party which was perfectly planned for the Fourth of July, making getting out of it a big fat, “no way in hell,” this time.

The only thing keeping my anxiety from reaching astronomical heights is knowing that the Tuesday after that fun-filled weekend we go back to set.

Craning my neck, I look up at the alarm clock.

Seven am already? I can’t wait to go back to bed.

I hear my phone going off, but I don’t feel like moving yet. I’m not looking forward to today… in a few minutes you’ll see why.

Closing my eyes, I try to ignore the incessant ringing of my phone, but it’s beginning to weigh on my nerves.

Argh! Fine, fine, fine—where the
hell
is it? I need to kill it before the alarm drives me crazy.

Lexi bursts through my door like one of those annoying birds in a fairy tale.

“Just think,” she begins, “in twelve days we’ll be in the Hamptons for a long Fourth of July weekend and then on to a brand new set with new cast—well—kind of. Did you hear they had to replace one of the actors? I wonder who the new guy will be?” She lays down next to me, grabbing the remote to turn on the TV.

I haven’t heard that actually… wait, how did she hear that? I need to start paying more attention.

“I have breakfast and coffee being delivered. I say we lay around all day while we wait for the last of our supplies to arrive,” she sings before putting a piece of hair into her mouth to chew on it.

No, I listen. Apparently she doesn’t though. Can she not hear that damn phone?

Where the hell is it?

After shaking my comforter to see if it’s lost somewhere in it, I dip over the side of the bed to lift the skirt of the bed to look under it. The bed moves, and I’m left to understand she is doing the same on her side. She yells when she retrieves it. “Found it! I am the super sleuth of phones,” she says, bouncing her head back and forth.

“Oh, someone called you.” She holds the phone out like it’s diseased. 

With a yawn, I stretch against my bed. “No, it’s my alarm… I have a meeting with the caterer at ten am which means Momsy will be here around eight am to get ahead of the traffic. So I set it for seven am to get ready…” I begin to explain, when she interrupts me.