"You can't seriously want to wear that... Please tell me that you aren't going to wear that." My roommate, Natalie, was flying around me in irritating circles while she checked out what I had on and complained about it being wrong.
"What's wrong with what I have on?" I asked her as I eyed my dress and heels in the full length mirror I was standing in front of. The dress was made of the most luxurious leather that I'd ever seen and it hugged my curves like a second skin. The low back and lack of sleeves or straps showed off how toned my arms and shoulders were while the short skirt showed off how toned my legs were. The dress was dark blue at the top and darkened to black for the skirt and it complimented my tan nicely.
"Seriously, Will? You haven't seen the man for nearly 15 years. And that dress just screams sex. Are you even wanting to go to dinner or do you want to go straight to the closest flat surface you can find?" Natalie's wings didn't make a sound as she made one final circuit around me before she landed on the top of the mirror I was using.
"Nat! This is just two old friends getting together to catch up. Nothing more. We've already gone over this. Jake was my best friend. When his parents died and he left to go live with his grandparents, it about killed me. I've missed him. That's it."
"Uh huh. And that's why you've put on make up and curled your hair. And why you're wearing heels and a dress instead of boots and jeans. Besides, I can still tell when you're lying. I can hear your heart speed up and your scent gets stronger."
I narrowed my eyes at her as I took a deep breath to try to calm down my heart rate. We had been living together for almost a year now and the fact that I couldn't lie to the fairy still irritated me. She could hear it, she could smell it and if she was closer to me, she could feel the rise in my body temperature.
"So what? If something happens, it happens. I want him to notice that I'm not just the kid he grew up with anymore. I want him to realize that I grew up while he was gone. And I'm single. I don't know if he is or not, but we didn't have much time to talk when he called me earlier to set this up. I'll figure it out later."
I turned away from the mirror and Natalie, moving to go to the bathroom for one final hair and make up check while my thoughts turned to the phone call from earlier. How had Jake gotten my phone number? My number wasn't listed anywhere and I hadn't heard from him for the past 12 years. We had kept in touch for the first 2 and a half years after he left, but then it just stopped. Until today. I'd been trying to figure out how Jake had gotten my phone number all day.
Natalie, not one to be ignored or put off, flew right after me, right above head height and behind my shoulder where I couldn't see her as she flew into the bathroom with me.
"How did Jake get your number, Willow?"
"Shit, Nat! I hate it when you do that!"
She was hovering in front of the bathroom mirror with her hands on her hips, waiting for me to answer her. She knew just as well as I did that my number was unlisted. She also knew that very few people had my number and the only ones who did wouldn't just give it out to some random person.
"He probably figured out where my mom went after my dad died and got in touch with her. She would give it to him in a heartbeat. Will you move so that I can fix my lipstick, please? He's going to be there in a little bit and I don't want to make him wait too long."
"Your lipstick is fine. He's not meeting you here?" she asked as she moved out from in front of the mirror.
"Nah. I told him I'd meet him there at 8. Which means I really need to get going if I'm going to find a place to park and make it there on time. I don't want to be late and risk him leaving."
She followed me out of the bathroom and back to my bedroom where I grabbed my coat and keys.
"Where are you even meeting him at?" she asked me while she hovered about an inch in front of my nose looking like a very stern four inch 12 year old.
It hit me again how odd fairies were. They lived somewhere between 35 and 40 years, but they grew up extremely fast. At 6 years old, she looked 12 and had been an adult for over a year. And even though she was average height for a fairy, she was very different from any other fairy that I had ever seen. Her looks were far from average for a fairy, so we weren't sure at all what she was going to look like the older she got. Natalie didn't know where she came from. The only reason we knew how old she was is because of the swirls in her wings, which were shaped like butterfly wings but clear with silver swirls. Each line of the swirl was one year of life. Her physical features made her stand out from other fairies, though. Most fairies had either white or blond hair and dark eyes. But Natalie had black hair and pale blue eyes.
I shook myself out of my thoughts as I put my leather coat on and headed for the front door of the small two bedroom house we shared. I had owned the house for around 6 years now, since my dad died and my mom moved and gave me the house that I grew up in. I brought Natalie here and gave her part of the second bedroom when I found her in the park on my run one morning and realized that she didn't have her memory. In the 10 months that she had been here with me, we had figured out that Nat was an amazing seamstress. She not only made all of her own clothes, but she made some of mine, too. We even sold some here and there when she made extra things that she had the materials for.
"We are having dinner at the Sky Tower. He said he made reservations for us when he first decided to come back here with the hope that I'd still be here and would agree to have dinner with him."
"This is sounding more and more off to me. Please tell me that this sounds off to you, too?" Natalie was in front of my face again, only now she was keeping me from going out the door.
I stopped with a sigh of annoyance. "Yes, Nat. I can see that this is all sounding really odd. I'm not really trusting this, either. But you know damn good and well that I am fully capable of taking care of myself. I know that it isn't anywhere close to the full moon yet, but that doesn't mean that I can't shift if I need to. I even went and bought some bane earlier and put it in some tea to help with shifting if it comes to that. I really don't think it will, but just in case. Okay?"
By this point, I had my arms crossed over my chest and my hip was cocked. Natalie must have realized how annoyed I was getting because she dropped a few inches and her hands fell from her hips.
"I'm sorry, Will. I just don't want anything to happen to you. Just... Be careful, okay?"
She flew to the side of the door and hovered there, waiting for me to leave.
"I've got this. I promise. Don't worry. I'll be back later. Oh yeah! I almost forgot. There are almonds, some honey peanut butter and some crackers out in the kitchen beside the stove for you. I'm guessing you didn't eat before you came home and it's been a while since I got any of that for you, so I picked some up while I was on my way home. I thought you might like it."
She finally smiled at me as she rose back up to eye level.
"Thanks, Willow! I totally forgot about eating. I was so busy today and it completely slipped my mind. But now that you mention it, I'm starving!"
Laughing, I watched as she flew in an arch down the hallway to the kitchen without so much as a backwards glance. I turned and opened the door after I heard the sound of crackers breaking. I heard a very faint and somewhat drunk sounding "have fun" as I was shutting the door behind me while I shook my head and laughed some more. She must have found the tea with honey and vanilla I made for her earlier while I was making mine with the bane. She would get a little tipsy from the honey in the peanut butter and tea, but not too bad. The peanut butter itself would help dilute it. Not to mention that she would get full really quick. I wasn't worried.
I made sure to lock the door to the house before I started down the path to the driveway where my car was. My car was my baby. I had another car that was newer and used less gas that I used for work. I also had a motorcycle that I rode whenever I got the chance, which wasn't nearly as often as I'd like. But I couldn't exactly ride my bike in a dress and heels, so I was taking my baby. She was a 1967 Shelby GT that my dad and I restored together before he died. He always called her Leena, but I couldn't ever bring myself to do it. She was a beautiful shade of maroon with racing stripes that were such a dark gray they were almost black. The same colors were on the inside of the car, too. The seats were dark gray leather with maroon stitching while the steering wheel cover and center console was maroon with gray stitching. Everything else was gray. I also had a flip out touch screen radio installed while we were restoring the car. It was a present from my mom for after I graduated from high school when I was planning to travel and was going to need the GPS. But when my dad died, my plans changed and I never went.
I unlocked the doors with the key fob as I got closer. I never left the doors to either of my cars unlocked. Damn leprechauns would steal anything if it was shiny or if they could sell it. I opened the door and slid my butt onto the seat so that I could bend down and take my shoes off. It's not impossible to drive with heels on, but it's extremely uncomfortable, especially when the vehicle is a standard. I got my shoes unbuckled and took them off before I got my feet inside and shut the door. I tossed my shoes in the passenger side floorboard and started the car before putting it in first gear. It never ceased to amaze me how good this car always sounded. I put the car in first and started heading down the driveway. Looking both ways, I pulled out into the street and headed towards the outskirts of town where the beach came right up to the streets. I only lived a few minutes away, but the streets are always busier the closer you get to the ocean. I'd be lucky if I made it to the restaurant before 8:15. It wasn't long before traffic started getting thicker and I could see glimpses of the ocean between all the buildings. The clock on the dash read 8:07 by the time I made it to the parking garage that was designated for the people eating at the Sky Tower or doing business of some sort on one of the lower floors. I pulled into the parking garage and was directed to the third level after telling the guard manning the entrance what my business here was.
I was grumbling to myself as I finally found a spot and parked my car. I absolutely hated parking in a parking garage. The spots were so tiny. I was always afraid that someone would hit my car with their door while they were getting in or out of their car. I also hated how dark they were. They were the perfect place to attack someone or be attacked. All around, I hated parking garages with a somewhat uncalled for yet still very firey passion.
I was extremely on edge between the parking garage and this dinner date with Jake. I had managed to not think about why Jake wanted to have dinner on such short notice or why he had waited so long to get in touch with me for as long as it took me to get ready and drive here. But now I couldn't get the thoughts out of my head. What the hell was this all about? Why such short notice? Why hadn't he gotten in touch with me somehow before a few hours until he wanted to meet? What the hell was going on? It could always be nothing, but the more I thought about it, the more it sounded off. I couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was, but I had a really bad feeling about all of this.
So needless to say, I snapped one of the straps on my shoes while I was trying to fasten them back around my ankles. Muttering curses under my breath that would make a sailor blush and cover their ears, I focused a small amount of energy into my thoughts of fixing the strap and watched it mend. At times like this, I was very glad that I was a witch-shifter hybrid. The magic from being a witch helped me to fix things that my extra strength from being a shifter broke or screwed up.
I took a few quick breaths to calm down before I even attempted to open the door. It wouldn't do any good at all for me to break the handle on my door. Or to slam the door too hard and break the window or something. Taking one last deep breath, I opened the door and got out, making sure I didn't slam it too hard when I shut it.
I put my keys in my coat pocket after I locked the doors and started making my way to the door that lead inside the building, keeping my arms loose at my side and trying to notice anything that might be odd. Being a shifter, my senses were sharper than a humans, but I still needed to pay attention.
Dropping into a crouch and tensing, I listened to footsteps echoing around me. So close! I was so close to the fucking door! And then I heard the voice, not even close to clear because of the echo, but clearly having a conversation of some sort if the laugh was any indication. I nearly passed out from the adrenaline rushing through my body with relief right behind. Feeling light headed, I straightened back into an upright position and waited for the dizziness to pass and my vision to clear before I continued to the door.
By the time I reached the door and walked into the lobby of the third floor, I almost had my shaking under control. Never having had much money to actually waste on things that I didn't have to have, I'd never been inside the Sky Tower before. Not many people can afford to pay two hundred dollars or more for each person for one meal. And that's not counting any appetizers or drinks. I had heard that each meal got a slice of cake or pie with it, though. And that was what I was looking forward to. If the rumors were true, this place had the best cheesecake in the city. And you could get nearly any fruit as a topping.
I took a second to just look around the lobby. It was huge! Just what I could see of it was bigger than my entire house! The decor was nice, but not anything that I would choose. The floors were white and black marble with the colors swirling together. The same colors and designs were repeated on the walls, but I wasn't sure if the walls were marble like the floor or not. The chandelier was too sparkly and shiny, not to mention bright, to even look at. I glanced in the general vicinity of it only to look away as soon as I did. It hurt to even look at the ceiling, so I avoided it and looked around the lobby again.
Finally spotting an elevator in the otherwise empty lobby, I started towards it. I looked around the room again as I noticed how loud the clicking of my shoes was as I walked, only then realizing that I was the only one in here. I didn't see or hear anyone else. Questioning the lack of noise and people, I quickened my pace. I was starting to feel uncomfortable again by the time I reached the elevator and looked for a button to open the doors. My discomfort went totally through the roof when the doors silently slid open on their own. With my enhanced hearing, I should have heard the motor to move the lift or open the doors. Some sort of noise, even if a human couldn't. I had felt like I was being watched since I pulled into the parking garage. That feeling was only getting stronger the longer I was here.
Fighting the urge to turn around and run back to my car, I forced my feet to move forward and into the elevator. I looked around as I stepped into the box and moved to the back wall before stopping and turning around. I faced the doors as they were closing and finally noticed something normal. There were buttons for the floors! Breathing out a sigh of relief and relaxing a tiny bit, I stepped forward and pushed the button for the top floor and moved back to place my back against the back wall again.
Once the elevator started to go up with a gentle pressure that was barely noticeable, I started paying attention to the interior of the elevator again. I had somewhat expected some sort of seat or mirror lined walls or something. But the elevator was surprisingly plain compared to the lobby that I had just left behind. The walls were a beautiful and highly polished wood, quite possibly cherry, but I wasn't completely sure. The floor was similar to the marble in the lobby, only it was carpet instead. The ceiling was some sort of brushed metal, shiny but still dull enough to not create a reflection of anything except the glow from the lights that were in sconces of the same metal and placed in the corners of the lift.
The elevator stopped almost too soon for me to believe that I was at the top floor. The building was 40 stories tall and I had been in the elevator for less than 3 minutes. But as the doors silently slid open, I glanced over at the key panel to check the number that was lit up. Sure enough, the number 40 was bright where the rest were all dark.
Taking a deep breath to settle my nerves and gather my courage, I stepped off the elevator and into a small waiting area. I was immediately greeted by the hostess after she directed a man to take my coat.
"Do you have a reservation, Miss?" she asked me after the man had taken my coat.
She was eyeing my dress with an odd mix of disdain and admiration. Disdain probably because my dress wasn't exactly the correct style for a place like this. And admiration either because I had the guts to wear it or because I had the curves to pull it off while she was nearly completely without them. Oh well. This was the nicest dress I had. She would have to deal with it.
"Yes. I am here to meet a Mr. Jake Sinclair. Has he arrived yet?" I replied as I stood up a little bit straighter and tried not to sound defensive. The look she was giving me was making me feel even more out of place than I already felt.
"May I have your name please, Miss...?"
"Willow Reynolds", I unintentionally snapped at her. She had no right to keep me from this place and it was pissing me off that she was making me feel unwelcome.
Her face went from disdain and admiration to surprise and then to fear in an instant. Confused by the fear on her face, I didn't notice her rush around her podium until she stood right beside me and grabbed my elbow.
"I am so sorry, Ms. Reynolds! I didn't realize it was you! I will take you to Mr. Sinclair right away, ma'am!"
She was rambling on and repeating how sorry she was, but I had tuned her out as soon as she started pulling and tugging on my arm. She was pulling me to move so fast that I kept stumbling and losing my footing. After a few feet of her rushing and rambling, I gave up on trying to keep up with her and stopped dead in my tracks, jerking her to a halt with me and nearly pulling her off her feet from the sudden stop because of her hand still holding my elbow.
"Stop! You have got to slow down. Me having dinner with Jake Sinclair is not more important than my ankle or neck", I said as I let her start to lead me forward again, keeping her pace in check by pulling my arm back every now and then.
I started to look around again since the hostess was still guiding me with her hand on my elbow. I wasn't really worried about tripping over anything or walking into any tables or chairs or anything. I found it odd that not only was she leading me in a winding path through the tables instead of along the bar where it was more of a straight line, but also how few people were here. I was expecting more people to be here considering how many politicians lived and worked here in the city, but only 5 tables had people at them and they were spaced so far from one another that it sort of created an illusion of privacy. The room itself was huge with at least 100 tables that I could see. Most of the tables were the small ones meant to seat one or two people, but there were a few that were meant for more than that. Each table had small bowls with lit candles that were floating in about an inch of water. The lights in the ceiling were turned down low, barely giving off any light at all, but when combined with the candles, it was enough to see by without being too much to see out the windows that made up nearly the entire wall surrounding the restaurant. The only part of the wall that wasn't glass was behind the bar and that only took up a small portion of the restaurant where none of the ocean would be able to be seen. The restaurant was placed on a little piece of land that was nearly completely surrounded by water with only a small strip of land to drive to it, so the view from the windows was only of the ocean and the sky. Needless to say, the view was breathtaking, quite easily being one of the most beautiful sights that I had ever seen.
The hostess was leading me to a cluster of small tables that I was only now noticing wasn't one of the larger ones. There were five men clustered together in a group but sitting at different tables that were strategically placed to make it seem like they were all at one individual table. Noticing how four of the men were placed to surround one man in the center, I was guessing that they were guarding the one in the middle, but I couldn't be sure about that since they were all in suits.
They must have heard us approaching because all five men turned to look at us at the same time. Once they realized we were coming towards them and not just passing by to another table, they all stood but only the one in the middle stepped forward. He took my arm out of the hostesses grip and guided me to the seat across from the one that he had just vacated.