- Chapter 5
“Yes, Bella made it here alright,” Liz said first thing as she answered the call.
“Great! How are you doing? I miss you already.” Harrison said with a huge smile.
He was at his desk wearing a brilliant blue button up dress shirt. Liz loved that color on him. It made his eyes seem even more vibrant than they already were. The muscles in his arms skimmed the shirt and looked like they could break through with just a quick flex of his biceps.
“I’m good. Bella and Ricardo want to go out dancing though. Ugh,” Liz said as she made a funny face.
“Oh, Ricardo is going?”
“Yeah, I’m not too hip on the club scene. Plus we will be safe with him around. You won’t have to worry about us.”
“Alright. I guess.”
Liz ignored the attitude Harrison talked with. She knew he didn’t like Ricardo, but he would just have to get over it. Liz would move onto a new partner as soon as this project was done.
“How is work going? Is Sarah still working with you?”
“Yep, she’s been great. But Martha should be back soon and she is even better.”
Liz wanted to keep asking Harrison questions about him and his secretary Sarah, but she decided to let it go. There was no use worrying herself over that relationship if it was nothing but professional. Liz really didn’t have any proof besides an odd text message.
“Great. Well, I’m going to take a nap before Bella breaks me in with the club scene here in Sidney.”
“Sleep tight sweetheart. Talk to you tomorrow.”
Liz blew Harrison a kiss over Skype and then quickly fell asleep. She really didn’t care how long Bella took getting ready. Liz was fine waiting until later to go out, or even not going out at all.
By six o’clock, Liz had been forced out of bed and forced into one of Bella’s club dresses. Liz hated dressing up and going out, she was perfectly happy wearing her jeans. But Bella wasn’t going to let Liz out of the room until she changed into something cute.
“Wow, you two girls look amazing. We have to post a picture to my profile. My friends are going to be jealous as hell.”
Ricardo had a hotel worker take a picture with Bella on one side of him and Liz on the other. He couldn’t wait to upload it and have all his friends messaging him about the two hot girls he was hanging out with.
At the dance club, Bella and Liz got straight to work enjoying themselves and dancing the night away. Liz decided to stick to drinking soda since she had had such a bad experience drinking the other night.
Bella and Ricardo seemed to be hitting it off and when Liz needed a dancing break, Ricardo quickly stepped in to keep Bella happy. Liz sat down and was perfectly content to watch the other people for a while and relax.
Liz didn’t feel the need to drink and party all the time like Bella did. Maybe it was something about her childhood or the fact that she always had to be so responsible. But Liz actually felt much more comfortable in sweatpants curled up on her couch than she did out partying and drinking.
As she watched Ricardo and Bella dancing, Liz decided she was ready to head home. She gave them a quick hug goodbye and checked with Bella to make sure she had a room key.
“Make sure she gets home safe,” Liz said to Ricardo.
“Of course. You know I will.”
Liz did indeed knew that Ricardo would take good care of Bella. He had been a perfect gentleman the night Liz had drank too much. Ricardo had made sure he got Liz home and even though she had been worried that something had happened between the two of them. They had not slept together and Ricardo had simply brought her to his room because Liz couldn’t find her key.
By the time Liz got back to her room it was almost two o’clock in the morning. She could hardly keep her eyes open and fell asleep fully dressed on top of the bed covers.
Around five o’clock in the morning, Liz woke up and looked over at Bella’s bed. She wasn’t there.
Liz quickly jumped up and found her phone. She was about to dial Bella’s number when she saw a text message from her.
The text read: “Staying in Ricardo’s room ;)”
Oh man, oh man, Bella and Ricardo were hooking up? Liz instantly thought about Harrison and how much he would not approve of Bella and Ricardo being together. Harrison did not like Ricardo at all. Maybe it was just his Latin style or his handsome good looks, but Harrison would freak out if he knew Bella had spent the night with Ricardo.
Just then, Liz heard her phone ring with a Skype call. She answered it automatically, but then instantly wished she would have let the call be missed. How would she explain why Bella wasn’t in the room right now?
“Hey, baby,” Liz said to Harrison.
“Hi, sweetheart. How was your night?”
“It was fun. Still sleeping, but didn’t want to miss you. Can I call you later today?”
Liz really didn’t want to let this conversation go on much longer. Harrison would surely want to talk to Bella and she wasn’t there.
“Sure thing. Can I say I to Bella really quick?”
“Oh, you know how she is when she is sleeping. There’s just no getting her up. We will call you later. Have a good day.”
With that, Liz blew Harrison a kiss and hung up the phone. She decided to send him a quick text to explain how tired she was and set up a time later for them to talk.
Liz went back to sleep. There really wasn’t much she could do about Bella and Ricardo hooking up. Bella was an adult and so was Ricardo. But Liz didn’t think it was a good idea for either of them. They were not the right type of person for each other and Liz was going to make sure and talk to Bella about that when she got back to the hotel room.
Ricardo needed to find a girl more his own age and someone who had a job and career. Not a college student that liked to party and get wild all the time like Bella.