Chapter 8
“So, you guys are a thing, an item?” Carly asked. Aurora cocked her head in response. “Sorry, I don’t know if people say that anymore”.
“I think they do”, sighed Aurora as she processed the question. “I’m just not sure how to answer”. Aurora thought about their dates since returning to New York. Lance was taking her out almost every night, but they were heading to private dinners in the buildings that he owned. “Can you be a secret item?”
“No”, Carly’s point-blank delivery caught Aurora off guard and they both started to laugh. “Sorry, that was not judgement. I mean you know why I’m here, so how can I judge anyone. I’m married, and I go to see a masseuse for sexual release”.
“I…um, we’ve never talked about it, but I don’t judge you”, Aurora tried to keep all of the redness out of her face, but the more she fought it, the hotter her face felt. She took a deep breath and looked at the ground. It was weird to think about all the things that she had talked to Carly about, but never the most obvious thing.
“Well, I judge me enough for the both of us”, Carly laughed. “This is not how I saw my life going”.
“What happened?” Aurora asked, she still couldn’t quite look Carly in the eyes. “I mean, if you don’t mind me asking”.
“Ahhhh!” The moans coming from Lydia’s room were starting to get louder. It was an odd backdrop to any conversation, but it was the back drop to almost every conversation that Carly and Aurora had ever had.
“I am married to a man that doesn’t trust me”. Carly looked down at the ring on her left hand. She always wore it. Aurora had never thought much about it. “I slept with his brother. It’s not something either one of us was proud of, but it happened. My husband stayed with me, but he didn’t love me anymore. Our families were in business together and he thought it was important for us to stay together for appearances”.
Aurora watched the pain moving across Carly’s face. Aurora could see the regret, and the hurt. Carly wiped a tear from her eye. She looked over at the closed door, and seemed to long for the comfort she was about to receive.
“The worst part was that once my husband lost interest, his brother didn’t want me either”, Carly said.
Lydia’s door opened and a very flushed looking man walked out of the room. His shirt was buttoned wrong and untucked. What remained of his hair was disheveled. He didn’t even attempt to put on his shoes, the stocky, old man picked up his shoes and stumbled out of the apartment.
Lydia floated out of the room and draped herself over Carly. They kissed as Lydia brought both her hands to Carly’s face, and stroked lovingly along her face and cheek bones. It felt so intimate, that Aurora could feel her cheeks getting red all over again.
Excusing herself, Aurora moved to her bedroom and thought about the story that Carly had told her. She couldn’t believe how long it had taken them to talk about the most obvious subject. Aurora was never one to pry, but she definitely felt comfortable with Carly.
“Are you ready?” The text from Lance shocked Aurora for a minute. Had been holding the phone in her hand, and the slight vibration had made her jump. Aurora grabbed her purse. She wasn’t dressed up, but it wasn’t like they were going out anywhere. Lance’s next message was the address. “Head to the 20th floor”, read the last message.
“Pajamas?” Lance asked as Aurora walked off the elevator. The whole floor was empty, except for a table and two chairs. There were boxes of Chinese takeout on the table.
“They’re sweats, not pajamas and did I need to get dressed up for anything?” Aurora didn’t hide the snippiness in her voice. She made it very obvious.
“No, nothing like that”, Lance laughed. “I just…I mean next time tell me and we’ll make it a pajama party”. Lance could tell that he was tap dancing in a mine field. Aurora was not in the mood for judgement. “What’s going on?”
“What are we?” Aurora asked. “I thought I was okay with this, but I don’t know. I mean, I’m crazy about you, and if you tell me that we’re just friends with benefits you’re still likely getting to have sex tonight…”
“Good to know”, Lance cut in.
“Knock it off, this is serious right now”, Aurora could feel herself getting angry. She wasn’t sure she had a right to be angry. She knew what she was getting into, but at the same time she had the right to clarity. “What are we?”
“Two people…”
“A little more specific please!” Aurora stormed past Lance to the Chinese food. She attacked the cardboard packaging. She wasn’t even hungry, she just needed to be doing something to counteract the awkward feeling she was wrestling with.
“You didn’t let me finish”, Lance said as he moved across the room and sat on the other side of the table. “We’re two people who care a great deal about each other…” Lance stopped talking as Aurora stood up and charged toward the elevator. “We’re going out, we’re at the beginning of a very complicated relationship”.
Aurora didn’t speak, she just kept pushing the down button. The elevator wasn’t coming fast enough. She could hear Lance, he was still explaining things. Everything he said was completely rational, and it all made a lot of sense. If she was being fair, Aurora would have to admit that Lance was making some very good points.
Emotions are not rational, and as the elevator doors opened she got on, and moved right to the back of the car. She folded her arms and turned back to see Lance staring at her with a wounded puppy dog face. Technically, she had promised to sleep with him.
Aurora went home to lay in bed and stare at the ceiling. She wouldn’t sleep at all that night. She was having so many emotions run through her head. The worst part was that she knew she was not done with Lance, not by a long shot.
Aurora walked to work the next day fighting to stay awake. Sheila texted the coffee orders without being asked. Aurora was already late, and she didn’t care how it looked to Max. She wanted him to confront her about it today. She was ready to take him on, after her coffee.
“Thank you”, Sheila cooed as she cradled her coffee in both hands. “I have been dying all morning”.
“Me too”, Aurora sighed. “Where’s Max?”
“He’s in the lunch room”, Sheila’s wicked smile betrayed the fact that there was more information behind those words. Aurora gave Sheila an inquisitive look. “Just go look for yourself”.
“Aurora, my favorite intern!” Max jumped out of his seat like there were electrodes on his balls. He ran over and hugged Aurora, and then jumped back looking mortified. “Sorry, personal space, right. I just like the work you do so much”.
Aurora saw Lance sitting at the table and knew exactly why Max was acting like a mental patient. She started to feel agitated again, but more at Max than at Lance. He wasn’t mad at her, because he thought she was sleeping with Lance for the benefit of the charity. Best case scenario Max thought the intern was sleeping with Lance and it was a benefit to the charity. Either way it was awful.
“I was late today”, Aurora sneered. “Would you like to reprimand me? How many strikes is this for me?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about”, Max said. He stood up and left the room with a little wink to Lance.
Aurora spun on Lance and he almost jumped back. His hands came up in defense. “I didn’t wink, he winked”.
Aurora tried to keep her mad face on, but it was impossible. The second she hesitated to yell Lance smiled and it was all over. Aurora sat on his lap and kissed him. Lance pulled back to look her in the eyes.
“Are you sure?”
“Not in any way”, Aurora laughed. “I have no idea what to tell you, or how to help you. But I think I promised you sex last night”. Aurora used her foot to close the door to the lunch room.
Lance waited in the lunch room after they finished. He said he needed to wait for a minute for appearances, but Aurora knew he wasn’t ready to walk yet. She smiled slyly as she closed the door behind her.
“I eat lunch on that table”, Sheila moaned as she listened to the tale of the lunch room meeting. “So, now Max is setting up a brothel in the office”.
“I am not a prostitute!”
“That’s not what I’m saying”, Sheila tried to defend her statement. “I just mean, Max doesn’t care that you’re using company time to romance clients. It isn’t right”.
“Okay, first of all, don’t pluralize client”, Aurora snapped playfully. “This is one man. A man I happen to be crazy about. A man that I care about”.
“A man that you fucked into temporary paralysis in our lunch room”, Sheila teased. “And a man who gives this organization a lot of money. There is a conflict of interest here, and Max is going to need to explain this to the board. I mean he is at least in some way responsible for what just happened”.
Aurora was about to deny that, when she remembered how annoyed she was with Max. Doing something to piss him off had factored heavily in the decision to have lunch room sex. Now Sheila was taking that satisfaction away from her. Max was likely happy about it.
“You just ruined that memory for me”, Aurora said as she looked out of Sheila’s window. She could see Lance leaving the building and getting into a limo. Sheila was still talking about holding Max’s balls to the flames. Aurora could barely focus. She was worried that Sheila was going to do something to ruin her relationship with Lance.
“Can you just make sure that it stays out of the papers?” Aurora’s words cut right through Sheila’s tirade. She stopped and looked at the intern, the older woman was speechless for the first time that day.
“Yeah, I mean, I think…” Sheila said the words, but she wasn’t looking at Aurora. “I mean I have no idea what the board would do with the information. I mean…I don’t think that you get it. Whether you like it or not, you’re being used”.
“No, I do get that it looks that way, but that’s not how it feels”, Aurora sighed as she turned back to the window and tried to find the limo as it moved through the streets. It had already taken off, but she knew it hadn’t gone too far.
“I know you won’t even hear this right now, and that’s fine”, Sheila said as she put her arm around Aurora. “He is using you, for sex, for love, and for youth. I have been right where you are. These old rich men, they’re like vampires. They make these big promises of a better life, but in the end, they take everything you have and just suck you dry. They leave you a dried up wrinkled sack of sorrow, and I don’t want to see that happen to you”.
Aurora didn’t like the picture that Sheila was painting. It came from a place of love, and that was the important thing. Aurora wrapped her arms around the older woman and kissed the top of her head.
“Stop worrying about me”, Aurora said. “I’m a big girl”.
“I hear a lot of chatter in here. Come on ladies get to wor…” Max said as opened the door and looked into the room. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize…uh, carry on Aurora”.
The door closed and both women stared at it dumbfounded for a second. They turned to each other and then burst out laughing. Aurora had to hold her stomach she was laughing so hard. “Maybe we should let this play out for a while”, Sheila laughed.