Chapter Eight
Lindsey
Monday
Damn it, does it have to look so good?
I twisted my body from side to side as I examined my appearance in the dress. I knew as soon as I tried it on inside that ridiculously expensive store that it was the one. It must have been the feeling that women got when they tried on their wedding dress and found the one. It felt like a second skin, almost as if it had been designed just for me. I felt like a princess inside of it.
Okay, so I had been forced to style myself, but still I managed to look good. There was just something about the material that made me look incredible. It gave me curves that weren’t there and even made me look like I had the womanly figure I’d always desired.
This must be why everyone is after money, I thought to myself as I smiled at my reflection. It really does make the world go around if it can make me feel this good.
Denise was at her other acting job, so I couldn’t even show her how good I looked. I had to pull out my cell phone and take a photo of myself so I could show her later. It wouldn’t be as good on screen, but it would have to do.
Just as I’d finished taking the picture, my phone bleeped with the message that Adam was outside waiting for me. Obviously the use of the buzzer last time had put him off for life. I could understand that, it was a crappy system.
“One moment, on the way.”
As soon as the message had gone off, I left the apartment and started down the stairs. Because the elevator was still broken, I passed many people on the way down, all of whom gave me funny looks. I already knew what I was going to say if anyone commented, I had a plan to pretend that the dress was a fake that I needed for an acting role so I didn’t get ambushed for wearing a dress that genuinely cost thousands. But no one commented, no one addressed it – they all just continued to look at me strangely.
By the time I descended outside, Adam was stood pressed up against his car. I was a little shocked. I was half expecting the limo again, but it seemed that I was wrong.
“H…hi,” I stammered. “Good to see you.”
Was it good to see him? I just wasn’t sure. He looked good in his charcoal suit, I couldn’t deny that. But I already knew the man that lay inside the suit and he didn’t match his good looks. The person inside was nowhere near as attractive as the man on the outside.
“Yeah, good. Shall we get going?”
His answers were tight and stressed, but I knew that didn’t have much to do with me. I could tell from the way that his shoulders hunched up around his ears that he was stressed. He hadn’t given me much details about his family, just some high expectations, but I could see from the way that he stood that this was more than that. Would I be able to pull this off tonight? Was I going to be able to cope with family drama?
“Sure, yes. Let’s go.”
I slid into the car and clutched my bag tightly into my lap. My body language remained as cold and closed off as his as we pulled the car out and drove along the road. My lips kept parting, wanting to say something, but I didn’t know what the right words were. I didn’t know enough about the situation to comment upon it. I twisted my neck and stared out the window instead. Maybe giving Adam his space was just what he needed.
I needed it, too, it was time to get into character. I didn’t have much information to go on when it came to Adam, and he didn’t have much on me, but somehow we were going to have to make it believable that we had been together for seven months.
It’s just a few hours, I tried to reassure myself. I can do this.
***
Holy hell. I can’t do this!
As I drank in the image of the building that the meal was being held in, I felt blown away. I thought I was ready for this, I’d been preparing myself to be around posh people all week long, but now I didn’t feel prepared for it at all. This was way out of my league, this was serious business, and I just couldn’t do it.
“Is that a red carpet?” I asked Adam in a state of panic. “Is this like, a celeb thing?”
“It’s only for the business media,” he replied with a smirk. “Not the sort of magazines that you read, I’m sure. They won’t be interested in me anyway, so I wouldn’t worry too much.”
I was too freaked out to pick him up on his shitty comment about me and the assumption that he made about my intelligence. If I really thought about it, it hardly mattered what he thought about me. After today, I wouldn’t have to see him again.
“Come on.” Adam linked his arm through mine and he pulled me forward. “Let’s get inside. Get this nightmare over with.”
My eyes closed, and I trusted him to just pull me. Maybe as an aspiring actress, being on any red carpet should have been a dream come true, but it just didn’t feel that way. I wasn’t prepared for it, and although I was dressed for it, I still felt acutely like I didn’t belong. I kept my eyes squeezed shut until the warmth of indoors finally hit me.
“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Adam chuckled. “We’re inside now.”
“Right.” I tried to breathe normally. I desperately did what I could to get all the air that I could into my lungs. I really needed to pull it together if I was going to do this. “Okay, good. I might just…”
I was just about to suggest that I would go to the bathroom for a time out, but I didn’t get the opportunity. A female voice called through the room, grabbing Adam’s attention. As an older lady wrapped her arms around him I had to assume that this was his mother… The mother who desperately wanted him to settle down, oh God!
“And you must be the girlfriend,” she turned to me and said with a bright smile. “It’s so wonderful to meet you. I’m Debbie.”
Her bright grin drew me in. “I’m Lindsey,” I replied, extending my hand to her.
At first she took my hand to just shake it, but she soon pulled me in for a hug. She was obviously a touchy feely person, so maybe there wasn’t any need for me to read into it, but something about the action brought tears to my eyes. She reminded me of my own mother, which left me feeling emotional.
Shit, stop it, I warned myself. This isn’t about me tonight.
“You’re very beautiful,” Debbie declared as she pulled back to look at me. “That dress looks wonderful on you.”
“You look lovely, too-”
“Debbie!” another voice boomed. As I looked up I immediately realized that this had to be his father. He and Adam shared the same tight, strikingly handsome features. Clearly they were cut with the same cloth. “The table is ready for us… Oh, Adam.”
His tone totally changed as his eyes lay on his son which made my heart turn ice cold. There was something about his voice that made me think that this was much more than just an expectations thing. “Glad you’re here, son.”
There was a moment. A tension that was so thick it could have been cut with a knife. I wished that I could say something to break the moment because it was so painful, but what could I do? This wasn’t anything that I was a part of at all.
Then, Adam’s dad turned to see me and he turned on what appeared to be a really fake happiness. “And you must be…”
“Lindsey,” I jumped in, needing to control at least the way that he saw me. “My name is Lindsey.”
“It’s good to meet you, Lindsey.” His eyes lingered on me for a beat too long, as if he was trying to size me up. “I’m Richard. You should meet my son, Brandon, and his wife.”
What? That’s it?
He wasn’t about to ask me any more questions? He didn’t intend to speak to his son more? It was almost as if all he could see was Brandon. This was now much more than a sibling rivalry thing. This was a weird, deliberate separation.
I could barely focus as I was introduced to the brother and his wife, which was just as well because they didn’t seem that interested in me. Helen, the wife, certainly wasn’t. Her eyes seemed to be absolutely everywhere but on me, which was fine as far as I was concerned. This fake tanned, massive eyelashes, loads of make up girl was never going to be the sort of person I got along with anyway. Brandon just looked like he didn’t care much about me. My presence probably pissed him off if he constantly wanted to prove that he was better than Adam.
Eventually we were shown to a table right by the stage. I hoped that sitting down with drinks and food would at least ease the tension somewhat before it got to boiling point, but it didn’t.
Helen twisted around in her chair so she didn’t have to get involved in the conversation, Brandon and his father got involved in a really deep discussion about work, and Debbie made her best efforts to bring everyone together, but it just wasn’t working. I wanted to turn to Adam to tell him to just speak, but I couldn’t. I could feel the anger and hurt rolling off him in waves.
I felt cold and uncomfortable, and I regretted my decision to come here. This was the most unpleasant thing that I’d ever experienced. Maybe getting nude wouldn’t have been so bad after all.
“You know we’re having a barbecue next weekend to celebrate Brandon’s promotion?” The only time Richard involved his other son in the conversation, it was to rub his brother’s accomplishments in his face. “Do you think you might be able to take some time out of your busy schedule to come?”
I bristled, that was such a shitty thing to do. I didn’t even need to look at Adam to see that he was tense. He didn’t like this at all, and despite the fact that I didn’t much like him, I hated this more.
“Lindsey,” Debbie jumped in, desperately trying to negate the awful atmosphere. “You should come, too.”
I glanced at Adam – this wasn’t in the agreement at all. It was only supposed to be one night. I needed to find an excuse, a way to get out of it… But then Brandon snorted as if he knew what was going on, which really wound me up. My blood ran hot and my heart thundered in my ear.
“I will come,” I blurted out without thinking too much about it. “That sounds lovely, thank you so much, Debbie.”
Adam grabbed my hand under the table, as if he was trying not to communicate with me, but I didn’t turn to look at him. In the heat of the moment, I was determined that this was the right thing to do to prove everyone wrong.