Celebrate the Good Times

My first week at Steel Publishing just flew by. I met some more people at the office, got familiar with all the programs, organized and moved my office around in a way that seemed efficient to me, and got coffees with Kathy who was the sweetest person. I absolutely adored her.

I had made plans with Katie to go out on Friday night to celebrate my first week at my new job and the fact that Katie had gotten the full time Kindergarten class she wanted. We invited Chris along, and I had ended up sending a text to Jess to come to because I felt bad for practically ignoring her since we met up for coffee.

Everyone was supposed to arrive at my house whenever they felt like, and Chris was first to arrive. We'd barely seen each other all week because he was so busy at work.

I greeted him in my sweatpants and wet hair fresh from my after work shower and gave him a tight squeeze.

"Is it weird that I missed you this week when we've only known each other for like three weeks?" I said as I took the bottle of wine he was holding and closed the door behind him.

"Not at all, I've missed you too! I want to hear all about your job."

"Come upstairs with me, and I'll fill you in while I blow dry and curl my hair. Your sister is on her way and Jess said she would be a couple of hours still." I filled two glasses with wine and led him upstairs.

He raised his eyebrows and sat on the edge of the bathtub in the master bathroom. "I get to meet the infamous Jess tonight?"

I rolled my eyes. "I couldn't just keep ignoring her. Although I'm not entirely sure why she wants to hang out with me when she's so busy with her fabulous life."

Chris shrugged. "Obviously because you're awesome!" …obviously!!

I blow dried my hair and he filled me in (or shouted over the hum of my blow dryer) on his work. He was designing restaurants for a new chain that was opening up in Seattle.

Katie showed up, in the cutest LBD, just as I was done drying my hair and Chris ran down to let her in. Both of them came upstairs, with an extra glass of wine for Katie, and she gave me a hug from behind while I pinned up my hair.

We congratulated each other on our jobs, and Katie offered to curl my hair for me. It must be a girl thing that whenever someone else does your hair you just feel ten times prettier!

We all hung out in the bathroom while Katie did my hair and caught up on what's been going on in our lives. When Chris mentioned someone would be meeting up with us later, we both perked up.

"Like a man-friend?" Katie asked.

"Just someone I'm trying to get to know better." He said and evaded all out other questions.

We left it at that, not wanting to press the topic any further. Jess showed up a little while later as we all sat in the living room. Of course she looked absolutely flawless in a blue little mini dress. Her hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail and her eyeliner was perfectly winged (jealous! I can never master that). Instead of having wine like the rest of us, she wanted ice water because wine had “too many calories” (I almost rolled my eyes...almost!)

We finished our drinks and called a cab to take us to the first bar we wanted to check out. It was called Re-bar and Chris, Katie, and Jess had all been there before. I ended up really liking it, it had a great atmosphere and apparently also did burlesque shows but we didn't get to see one.

Chris' friend showed up when we were about two drinks in. He was tall and well built, with dark wavy hair and seriously beautiful dark skin. He introduced himself as Daniel. We made some small talk over the music and then let him and Chris get some time to catch up in.

"Omg, you guys!! Rheece said he is coming. Skye, I'm so excited for you to meet him!" Jess exclaimed. She had been steadily downing vodka-waters since we got here and was slightly tipsy. "How do I look? I have to look perfect when he gets here."

Katie gave me a puzzled look as I reassured Jess that she looked great. In the twenty minutes it took for Rheece to get here, Jess was a ball of nervous energy. When he did finally arrive she seemed even more nervous. I didn't say anything to her, but her nervousness, at seeing someone she was engaged to, seemed odd to me and I could tell Katie felt the same way.

Rheece was really good looking, I have to give Jess that. His shirt and trousers fit his muscular built perfectly, his hair was perfectly messy, and he was wearing a Rolex (I didn't know anyone our age actually wore those but to each their own). He seemed like Jess' perfect counterpart. Except for his eyes. They seemed cold and distant, and the smile he gave us as Jess made introductions never reached his eyes.

I mentioned that Chris and Daniel were also with us, and Chris stuck out his hand to say hello. Rheece ignored Chris' hand and didn't acknowledge either man in any way. Awkward!

"A word please, Jessica." He said and Jess gave us a tight smile before she let him lead her away from us.

Katie and I looked at each other. "Um, how weird was he? His eyes creeped me out." She shuddered and took a sip of her drink.

I nodded. "Me too. Super weird. Oh well, Jess is apparently crazy about him so we should give him a chance."

"Yeah, I guess so. Let's go to the bathroom."

We made our way there to wait for free stalls. I forgot all about Rheece and his cold eyes as we chatted in the line for the bathroom. When we headed back we noticed Jess sitting by herself across from Chris and Daniel.

"Hey! Is Rheece getting you two some drinks?" I asked and sat down beside her.

"No, he left." Jess bit out, furiously typing away on her phone.

I was surprised about this seeing as he had just gotten here a few minutes earlier. "Are you okay?" I said cautiously.

"Obviously!" She snapped, she shoved her phone into her tiny and pushed back from the table. We all looked at her with confused expressions. "I'm leaving." With that she walked away.

I made eye contact with Daniel, who shrugged. "What happened there?"

"I have no idea."

We left soon after that when it came apparent that Jess was not coming back. I wanted to text her to make sure she was okay, but after she snapped at me I felt like that would be unwelcome, and in reality I didn't know her that well. What had started out as a fun night out had taken a turn for the weird, and we all felt it.