04.
"I have learnt how to live... how to be in the world and of the world, and not just to stand aside and watch."
-Audrey Hepburn
It was nearing the end of summer when she finally rung my bell again. Her look had changed since then. Her hair seemed a darker shade of blonde and she hid her beautiful sky blue eyes behind large dark sunglasses. The first few days that she buzzed, I didn't even bother to open the door to greet her. All that stuff Axel told me about her just echoed in my head when I heard her voice over the speaker and I couldn't bare the thought of staring at her. I opened the door for her only one day when she came knocking, dark sunglasses and all, to give me a small envelope.
"What's this?" I eyed her knee length trench coat and the scarf wrapped around her blonde hair tightly.
"That is you coming down to my apartment for little party I'm having," she pulled off her sleek white gloves after handing it to me and unwrapping the scarf, letting her blonde hair fall lightly out.
"A party?" my right eyebrow rose up, "For what?"
"Hmmm I don't know exactly yet. I forgot I needed a reason," she twirled the scarf in her hands in thought, "In celebration of my puppies one month birthday."
"You're throwing a party... in celebration of your dog?"
"Yes," she grinned, "Is there a problem?"
"No ma'am," I mock saluted her as she sashayed out of my apartment.
I kept the invite tacked near the door, trying to keep it fresh in my head. Reading it over, she added 'And guest' which caused my mind to spin it around in my head and made it the only thing I thought about. Did that mean she wanted me to bring another guy? Like... Bring your single guy friends so I can sleep with them type of deal? Or did she mean another girl? Did she assume that I had gotten a girlfriend in the time we hadn't seen each other? True, I had gone on a date here or there but I don't remember seeing her around when I was on said date. Not that I had been looking for her, she just never showed up at the places I took out the girls.
I knew I was over thinking everything about her little party, but I could get it out of my mind. Maybe I could make her jealous by bringing another date along with me. Then... then what? Do girls get jealous enough that they'd want to steal another girl's boyfriend? I was never fluent in that sort of thing so I wondered if maybe she would even cared about me bringing my date. Axel had walked in two days before the party in the middle of my pacing thoughts. We had become pretty close friends at this point so he knew exactly what I was thinking about.
"You still thinking about Nam's party?"
"Yeah..." he leaned into the couch kicking off his brown shoes.
"Just bring a girl, I am," the redhead pulled off his grey blazer revealing a white button up and skinny red tie.
"Ya think so?" I asked quickly opening the fridge for two beers, "It just seems so... predictable."
"How so? What is predictable about taking a girl to a party that your friend is throwing?" he dusted his grey slacks of the dog fur that was clinging to the couch still, "It's exactly what you should do."
"I guess I will," I turned to him and handed him the beverage, "So who are you taking?"
"Uh girl from work, kinda hot, pretty funny. She's a model so she's pretty tall, which I like," he ran his hand through his thick red hair, "Who do you think you'll be asking?"
"Maybe that Olette girl I took out last week. I mean, she was nice, pretty, and smart and we had a lot in common. Actually she called earlier about going out tonight, and I was thinking about it."
"Good, go out with her. Ask her to the party."
When I met up with Olette she agreed to join me at the party which relieved and stressed me out at the same time. She showed up at my apartment looking stunning and I kind of stumbled at the sight of her. Her wavy dark brown hair was pulled into a curly side ponytail and landed just on her strapless grey dress that had flowers cascading from her chest down. Her grey heels bumped her up a few inches so that her head was level with my noes.
"Hey Olette," I kissed her cheek making her blush, "You look great... amazing!"
"You look pretty hot yourself," she brushed a hand over my black blazer.
"The party's right down here," I led her to Naminé's apartment opening the door for her.
"Roxie! Yay you came!" the blonde girl ran up to greet me wearing a simple, short red dress that hugged her curves perfectly, "And you used the 'and guest' wonderfully. I'm Naminé."
"I'm Olette, I'm glad I could come celebrate your puppy's birthday," she leaned towards her giving the double cheek kiss.
She drifted away from us and I scurried over to Axel and his lanky date. It wasn't a lively party but it was a nice little get together and Olette hit it off with some of my neighbors. I wandered over to the mini bar and poured something strong over ice sipping it as Olette came over with Axel and his date following.
"She's quite odd you know," she whispered while I kissed her cheek again.
"Who is?" she nodded in Naminé's direction who was leaning off the arm of some older looking man with yellowing eyes.
"She's very different, very eccentric. Don't get me wrong, she's very sweet but different," she leaned into my free arm as I took a swig of my drink.
"Yeah well she's been like that since she moved here with that guy," he pointed to the man she had been hanging on, "He's been taking care of her since she moved into the city. The guy comes around every once in a few months to visit."
"Interesting..." I tried to not let it bother me because I wasn't honestly in the mood to hear about Naminé's life.
"He's like mega rich and he just shows up with money for her," he took a sip of Champagne and handed it to his date, "And-."
"Hey guys, what are we talking about?" Naminé walked up to us holding her dog under her arm.
"Nothing, he was asking me about my time settling in," I covered for the red head.
"Well, are you in love with the city yet Roxas?" she smiled stroking her dog's head.
"Yeah I guess it's better than my little hometown," I chuckled, "And the people aren't that bad either."
"Not that bad? Come on now Roxas I know you love me," Axel threw his arm around me, "And this fine lady you brought is pretty nice too." Olette blushed deep at his comment grabbing a drink herself.
"Okay you all are pretty cool and it's nice to have friends in this big bad city."
The others laughed and kept drinking on and on. Even Naminé grabbed a few drinks and was throwing them back and soon we were left with only us five completely drunk and stumbling our way out of the apartment. Axel and his date practically ran upstairs to get to his apartment, but me and Olette were a bit more shy about getting to my place. I liked the girl and it wasn't like it was my 'first time' so I didn't find any reason not to invite her over for the night.
"Well, I can't possibly let you go home with yourself as tipsy as you are," I mumbled into her ear as I pulled her towards the stairs. I think it came out as more of a purr though.
"I dunno we've only been out like twice," she leaned towards the door blushing furiously.
"Well... it's a new day since it's," I checked my watch, "Three in the morning. Come on... I won't bite."
"I guess you're right..." I pulled her up the stairs and pressed her against the door to kiss her while I attempted to unlock it.
We stumbled into my apartment, as I kicked the door shut and threw off my shoes. I could feel her loosening my tie as I tugged at the zipper of her dress, pulling her in the direction of my room. Our clothing fell periodically as we pushed back towards my room and our kisses grew heated and more passionate. When we got into my room we fell to the sheets in our own excitement feeling the sex already looming in the air.
As I lay there, basking in the light of the streetlamp streaming into my window, I noticed a dark shadow block the light. I looked to the window and noticed the familiar female figure that had hung around my fire escape before. When she caught my eyes, she looked away and down at Olette curled sleepily under my arm. In her eyes was a look of shock and a hint of something else I couldn't quite put my finger on. Quickly she stood scrambling from view and back to her own home.
She didn't talk to me for three weeks after that.
