Following her down to the lobby was driving me crazy. I was pretty aroused from earlier, and looking at the back of her wasn’t helping. She peeked over at me, her face was gorgeous. The makeup highlighted her features, and having her hair pulled back drew attention to it. She was gorgeous. I hadn’t seen someone as naturally beautiful as her.

Her dress perfectly complimented my suit. We looked fantastic together. I’m sure we would turn all the heads. We might even take all the attention from the bride and groom. Hand in hand, we glided into the dimly lit room. Tables were softly lit by the centerpieces, and the shadows of the candles danced on the floor. The room was decorated with drapes that made it look like clouds were floating on the sides of the room. The windows showed the early evening sun warming up the ocean, getting ready to take a dip into the night. I hadn’t been to a place this beautiful in a while. Weddings were always so elegant, but this one had a lot of them beat. Even the times before when I had been to this hotel, it had never seemed this dapper.

Tonight was already a great night, and this scenery was making it perfect. We were going to dance. We had to. The band set up. We were there early. We should have stayed in our room for a little while longer. I kept thinking back to before and it drove me crazy. I wanted to go back upstairs and fling her on the bed. I wanted to show her all my learned skills. I wanted her to feel special.

She rubbed my thumb with hers, and it felt so sweet and gentle. April was perfect. We kept hands linked as we walked through the room, greeting everyone. I just kept thinking of before, how her legs relaxed and toes curled. I had felt her hands grabbing at the sheets and I couldn’t get the scene out of my head. It gave me butterflies. I loved pleasing women, that was why I was in this line of business. Pleasing April magnified that. I was proud. I felt like a million dollars. Even if she didn’t want to see me after this weekend, at least I would be one of her firsts, and therefore made permanent in her memories.

We saw the heads turn as we passed through the tables to ours. She smiled. It radiated. This weekend would do wonders for her confidence. “You look lovely.” I whispered in her ear.

She smiled. “You keep saying that.”

“It’s true.”

We got to our table and sat by her parents. I wanted to make a good impression, but I was still sidetracked by thoughts I had about us earlier. I held her hand as I spoke with her mom. Her fingers belonged in my hair, ruffling it up. I spoke about my hedge fund to her parents. It was all fairly boring business stuff, but I knew they would be impressed by it. I kept talking about the success of the business without being too proud. I had performed this dialogue enough times that I had it memorized. It rolled off my tongue as I thought about April in bed. I wanted her again. I wanted her now. I could imagine her body under the outline of her clothes. The image was burned into my mind. It spun in loops, driving me crazy.

When I had exhausted the business talk I thought I would have a moment to think. Her mom kept speaking. I could tell she was charmed by me, she kept asking me more and more about my life, trying to dissect my brain and pull all the information out.

“You are doing very well for yourself.” Her dad said, raising a glass to me.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Now, I bet you were raised by a great family, tell me about your parents.” Her mom said, taking a drink of her champagne.

“Well, they actually are in a different line of business.” I looked to April, wondering if I should be telling this much detail about my life. It made it more realistic, but I wasn’t ready to have my book opened. I got over that quick. I was here on work. I had to do my job. “They have significant interest in a casino in Vegas. That’s where we are from.”

“And what about your mother?”

I didn’t want to say they were divorced. That would ruin the magic of my allure. I decided it was for the best to talk about my parents in the most positive light, even if it was lying. “My mom helps him.”

In reality she wanted nothing to do with my dad. After he was having another kid, she would refuse to be in the same room with him. She thought it was gross. She shamed him every time they had to meet. I couldn’t say any of that. I had to paint a dazzling picket fence life.

“Which casino is it?” Her dad asked.

“Are you a card player?” I asked, trying to detour their questions. I didn’t want to give too much info away.

“Not at all. I dabble with friends, but I wouldn’t dare try professionally.”

“Enough.” Her mom said. She lightly slapped his thigh. “Which casino was it, Grant?”

“It’s called Oasis. It has an Egyptian theme. It’s sort of corny. My dad was inspired by Indiana Jones. It was fun to run around there when I was a kid.”

“I’m sure.” She finished her drink. “I have actually heard of this casino. Isn’t it a hotel as well?”

“Yes actually.”

“Did you have any siblings to run around with you?”

This whole while April was paying attention to me. I could tell she liked having them off her back. I was fine with the questions, but I could see how she was exhausted by them. “I have a few older brothers.”

“Are they in the casino business too?”

“Not quite. Actually my oldest brother just opened up a new hotel.”

“That’s exciting. Do you get to go for free?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to ask.” I assumed that I would. I don’t think my brother would care too much for me visiting, though. Not when he was up to his ears with paperwork for the new building.

“Maybe you can take April on a little trip.” April flushed. Her mom kept talking. “Where is it at?”

“It’s in Seattle.”

“Wouldn’t you like that, honey? That would be fun.” Her mom finally addressed April. She was spacing off a bit, but turned her head quickly towards her mother.

“Yeah, that would be nice. I don’t want to barge, though.” She said. I could tell she was treating it as a real proposition. I wondered if I could actually convince her to go somewhere with me.

“It wouldn’t be barging at all. I’d love to have your company.” We made eye contact, locking our eyes for a while. I meant it. I genuinely did. I wanted to tour the world, holding her on a pedestal. She was gorgeous and smart. I couldn’t stop thinking about her when she left the room. When she was getting ready for tonight, I sat outside the bathroom, waiting to surprise her.

Her mom chimed back in, asking me more and more questions about my life. She was like a detective, trying to pin down every second of my life. April went back to spacing off as I answered the questions. I wondered what she was thinking about. Was she remembering earlier, holding onto the moment as much as I was?

Not much more time had passed before April’s mom began to talk to her dad. They talked about Vegas and the last time they went there. I started to tune them out, paying more attention to April. I could tell something was distracting her, and she looked a little bothered. I didn’t know what by. I squeezed her hand in mine, hoping it would let her know that it was going to be okay.

The room was beginning to fill with more people. It was getting harder and harder to hear April’s parents. I didn’t mind it. I liked having some time to think. I wondered if April wanted to go on the trip. Her hesitation could have been genuine too. It was hard to tell what she really wanted from me. I knew we had something, but I didn’t know how long she would let the fling last.

She seemed totally uninterested in Tom now. She didn’t look at him once this whole time. I kept my eye on them, though. I waited for him to swoop in like a hawk, trying to take her as his prey. He seemed so conflicted about his relationship. I wasn’t about to let him make mine more complicated than it already was.

I wanted April to be happy, but I knew he was no good for her. I think she knew that, too. She had been cold to him this morning, and you could tell there was still some resentment to him. It wasn’t her fault. He shouldn’t have been a dick to her. If I weren’t here to wow everyone, I probably would have given him a piece of my mind. The closest I could come now is bragging about April and I’s pretend happy life. It was enough for me.

It started to give me actual thoughts about our future, too. I wanted to keep her around. I wanted to help her through her tough time. I wanted to show her that she was more important than she felt, that she could achieve much more. April needed to feel valuable, and even though she was becoming more confident, you could tell she was still embarrassed and disappointed in herself. I didn’t know if she got that from her parent’s high expectations, or from Tom’s good fortune but it didn’t matter to me. And it shouldn’t matter to her. This was her life, and they didn’t have to be involved if they were just bringing her down.

Her mom began to talk to me again about Vegas. She talked about how she missed the city. She asked me for all kinds of stories, wanting to know the craziest things that had happened. I kept my eye on April as I spoke, and April seemed invested. She laughed when the stories were funny and looked at me to show interest.

The music started up. I tried talking over it, but it proved to be difficult. As more and more people filtered in the room, the louder the music became and the more isolated I felt. Even just sitting here was making me feel antsy. Normally I was good with weddings and wedding parties, but I was becoming restless. I wanted to talk to April more. I wanted to figure out what was wrong, and I wanted to take her upstairs and escape all these people.

But that wasn’t going to happen. The party hadn’t even started yet. I sat back and talked more and more about Vegas. I hoped that it made April interested. I would love to have her over. I could take her all over the town. She was the only female who I was close to that didn’t have grey roots. I was smitten. She was very different. She had the potential to grow. She just needed someone to show her that. I would happily be that person.