Chapter 20 aka Things Never Go As Planned
Sunday. Afternoon. Five o' clock.
Today was the day. At last. And tonight was the night that Chloe would finally tell Brady what she'd kept hidden in her heart for so long. She loved him, so very much and she was so very ready to start a life together. It was torture, pure torture not allowing herself to pick up the phone and call Brady the past few days leading up to the party. But she had everything planned out. First, when Brady arrived to pick her up tonight, she would invite him inside to dinner where she would have a candlelight dinner set up. Over dinner, she would finally tell Brady she loved him. Then she would serve him a chocolate truffle, where inside, she would have a simple, gold band buried for his surprise to make up for her ring she'd lost down the drain. And then she would ask an unsuspecting Brady to marry her. It was bold; she knew. But she wanted nothing more. And then, if he wanted, they'd be fashionably late for Belle and Shawn's anniversary party at Tuscany. Otherwise, she'd invite him to a little party in her bedroom and call Tuscany sending their apologies. Belle would understand.
Chloe twirled the plain, gold band between her fingers as she stood in the back kitchen of 'The Sweet Bar,' over a stove of cooking wild rice and baking salmon. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the time. "Sh&t," she murmured. In three hours, Brady would be at her apartment waiting to pick her up. She still had to get home, set up dinner, pick up her dress from the cleaners and get dressed and do her hair. The cleaners would be closing in thirty minutes. She was never going to finish cooking by then. Susan had closed up the shop an hour prior. Otherwise, Chloe would have asked her to stay and watch the food. Crap.
**************************
Brady stood shirtless ;) in his old bedroom at the penthouse getting ready for his date with Chloe. His date with Chloe. She [i]should[/i] be in his arms and he should be making passionate love to her. Instead, she wanted to preserve their friendship with a pity date. Well, at least it was something. He'd known if she only wanted friendship from him that it would have to be enough. He would have to accept it. Hell, he should be glad she wanted anything to do with him at all. But it still hurt to think she didn't want him the way he wanted her. Rejection was never easy to handle, but coming from Chloe, it was absolutely unbearable. Brady's thoughts were interrupted by the knock at his door. "Come in."
"Hey Brady."
"Marlena," he gave his stepmother a warm smile. "Hey, how are you?"
"I should be asking you that question," she took a seat at the edge of his bed.
"What do you mean?"
"Chloe," she smiled knowingly, Belle having called her and John, telling them Chloe plans for tonight. Poor Brady. Always the last to know.
"Oh, her," Brady sighed and gave Marlena a small smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. You know, I'm just happy that Chloe even wants friendship from me. She means so much to me and." he felt himself blushing, never comfortable with discussing his feelings with anyone. "And well if she never wants to hear the words 'I love you' from me again, I hope she at least feels it."
"Oh, Brady. I'm sure she feels your love."
"Dark Blue or light blue?"
"What?"
Brady gestured to the two collar shirts on his bed. "Dark Blue or light blue?"
Shaking her head and smiling at Brady's complete change of subject, Marlena looked to the bed where the shirts lie. "Light blue."
"Tie or no tie?"
"No tie."
"Pass me my jacket?" He asked her as he began buttoning up his shirt.
She handed him his black suit jacket and stood. "Brady, everything will work out." She gave him a small wink. She couldn't help herself. "You'll see."
As Marlena quietly exited the room, Brady paused. "Did she just wink at me?"
********************
Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes and Brady would be at her door to pick her up. Chloe could barely keep her feet on the ground; she wanted to jump for joy so desperately. Self-assuredly, she gazed at her reflection in her bathroom mirror. Her knee length, black sleeveless dress was simple and comfortable yet sexy. There was just something about a little black dress that boosted a girl's confidence. Every woman should own one. Lightly laughing, she fastened her hair back on either side with small golden pins and adjusted her other matching jewelry. Dinner was done and ready. She'd gotten to the dry cleaners on time. And now everything was right. Tonight was going to be perfect. The shrill ringing of her phone curtly broke her string of thoughts.
"Hello," she sighed happily into the phone.
"Hi, is a Ms. Chloe Lane available," the gruff voice on the other end sounded.
"This is she," Chloe felt a slow, steady stream of worry pool into her stomach.
"This is the Salem Fire Department. There was a small fire reported in your building housing 'The Sweet Bar.' The fire's out now so no worries. Just your common gas stove fire started in the back kitchen. We'd just like you to come by take care of a few standard, precautionary procedures. Just your run of the mill kind of stuff. A few documents. Things like that."
Chloe tuned him out the minute he mentioned fire and back kitchen in the same sentence. She must have forgotten to turn off the stove after finished up the dinner and bringing it home to set up here. She'd set her own shop on fire. Okay so, it had been an accident and yes, she had insurance but a fire? Oh God. "I'll. I'll be right there," she put down the phone and wordlessly grabbed her purse and ran to her car in a sort of daze. It was only until she was halfway there that she realized she'd forgotten her cell phone and that Brady was probably ringing her doorbell at this very minute. Sh&t.
************************
Half an hour later.
Brady knocked on Chloe's apartment door for the fifth time. "Where the hell is she," he muttered under his breath. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed her home number and listened as the phone rang ceaselessly. He did the same with her cell but to no avail. She wasn't answering either phone. Initially, he was just upset that she would forget about their plans like that but now, with him not being able to get in contact with her, he was concerned. What if she'd had a problem down at her shop? What if she broke her finger again and was sitting in the emergency room? Or worse, what if she was here in her apartment knocked out cold from having being hit over the head by some dangerous assailant that he himself could have intercepted if he'd only shown up ten minutes earlier? Thoughts like these began running through a panicking Brady's mind. "Fire escape," he shouted, jogging to the back of Chloe's building. Ungracefully, Brady began climbing the rickety, metal stairs trying not to make too much noise, it being late in the evening. He might look like a burglar or some pervert or something. "Chloe," he tapped on the glass window of her apartment, his voice barely above a whisper. "Sure Brady, she'll hear you through the glass," he muttered sardonically to himself. "Chloe!" He yelled all the while pounding on the glass. "What's that?" He narrowed his eyes, noticing the table set up for a fancy dinner for two. His face scrunched. "Maybe she stood me up," he murmured. "Oh G-d, maybe she's in there, having sex with some guy." He paused thoughtfully for a moment. "Chloe," he yelled again, beating against the glass. It was then he felt a shining spotlight from the street below cast a blinding glare in his general direction.
"Get your hands where I can see them," the voice through the metronome blared.
"No," Brady shouted, seeing the police cruiser. "No, you don't understand."
"Hands up and away from your body sir!" The young cop looked about as nervous as anything, probably new to the force, his red hair sticking out wildly under his crooked cap, his green yes wide with fear.
"Okay, okay. Just don't shoot. Please!" Brady held up his hands in surrender and watched as another cop climbed the stairs with a sleek quickness. He waited for the said cop to reach him before he spoke again. "You don't understand. This is my girlfriend's apartment. Well, she's not exactly my girlfriend, but you see, I told I loved her last week. Ahhh. this is coming out all wrong." He knew he sounded like some perv, some peeping tom but he was just so flustered.
"Just don't give me any trouble, sir and I won't have to incapacitate you." The officer slowly brought up a stun gun in his trembling hand.
"Incapacitate me!? What the---"
"Hands behind your back," he commanded. And as Brady complied, he gathered Brady's wrists into his shaking grasp and clasped on the handcuffs.
**************************
Chloe sped home. After finishing up at the fire station and taking a quick peek at her shop, she was on her way back to her apartment. Brady might still be there. But regardless, she had to change her dress. Soot was sprinkled haphazardly across her face and caked in her hair. Her pins holding her hair back had conveniently disappeared. She was a mess. "What the," she murmured, pulling into her apartment complex's parking lot. Was that Brady? And was he being lead over to a police cruiser, handcuffed!? Not waiting for her car to come to a complete stop in its usual space, she jumped out and ran towards the two cops and her Brady, her heels clicking along the hard concrete. "Brady!"
"Chloe," he peered through the darkness and spotted her running over to him in the dimly lit parking lot. She was alive. She was okay. "Chloe, thank G-d."
"What is going on here," Chloe shouted at the two police officers.
Brady took one look at her disheveled appearance. "Chloe, my G-d, what happened to you?"
"Ma'am, do you know this man?" The younger officer narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Brady.
"Yes, I do. Now what's going on?" She looked from one officer to the other.
"Well, on our patrol we got a call that a suspicious character was snooping around the apartments, climbing up the fire escape, banging on a window. We happened to be right in the vicinity so it wasn't hard to put two and two together."
"Well, let him go," Chloe sighed, finally looking at Brady. "I know him. He's not going to hurt anyone. It was a mistake."
"Are you sure ma'am?"
"Yes," she shouted, running a hand through her hair. Chloe watched as the officers uncuffed Brady and called back to the station that everything was now under control before driving away. She wanted to scream. She wanted to yell. She wanted to cry. The night was ruined. So now she just wanted to kick someone. Who better than Brady? "What were you doing, Brady?"
"Me!? Chloe, you can't be serious! Did you not ask me to pick you up and take you to Shawn and Belle's party!? I mean, you did ask [i]me[/i], right," he sneered.
"Yes, but-"
"Well, then where the hell were you!? I was worried sick, Chloe! You know, wait! Don't answer that! You could care less that I worry about you, couldn't you!?"
"What?" What the hell was he rambling about? If anyone should be upset, she should dammit!
"Yeah, yeah. On Monday, I declare my love for you, right? I mean I put it [i]all[/i] out there. Damn my pride to hell and say what's in my heart. And what do you do? You run. Oh ho ho," he laughed madly. "Big surprise, big surprise. Not a stinking phone call, not an e-mail, not a damn letter saying 'F&ck off Brady!'"
"Shut up!" Chloe wanted to deck him. Wasn't he the one that had run off to New York only two weeks prior?
"Do you even know how to pick up a phone and call somebody, Chloe? Let me show you how it's done," he took his cell phone out of his pocket and held it up for her to see, suddenly changing his voice to that usually reserved for three year olds. "See these little numbers here, you just---"
"Knock it off, Brady!"
"Too complicated for you!?" His tone was harsh once again. "Okay try this, next time your phone rings, answer it! It's really simple, Chloe and- "
"I love you!"
"It keeps [i]me[/i] from worrying sick about [i]you[/i], and.What?" Had he heard her right?
Sunday. Afternoon. Five o' clock.
Today was the day. At last. And tonight was the night that Chloe would finally tell Brady what she'd kept hidden in her heart for so long. She loved him, so very much and she was so very ready to start a life together. It was torture, pure torture not allowing herself to pick up the phone and call Brady the past few days leading up to the party. But she had everything planned out. First, when Brady arrived to pick her up tonight, she would invite him inside to dinner where she would have a candlelight dinner set up. Over dinner, she would finally tell Brady she loved him. Then she would serve him a chocolate truffle, where inside, she would have a simple, gold band buried for his surprise to make up for her ring she'd lost down the drain. And then she would ask an unsuspecting Brady to marry her. It was bold; she knew. But she wanted nothing more. And then, if he wanted, they'd be fashionably late for Belle and Shawn's anniversary party at Tuscany. Otherwise, she'd invite him to a little party in her bedroom and call Tuscany sending their apologies. Belle would understand.
Chloe twirled the plain, gold band between her fingers as she stood in the back kitchen of 'The Sweet Bar,' over a stove of cooking wild rice and baking salmon. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the time. "Sh&t," she murmured. In three hours, Brady would be at her apartment waiting to pick her up. She still had to get home, set up dinner, pick up her dress from the cleaners and get dressed and do her hair. The cleaners would be closing in thirty minutes. She was never going to finish cooking by then. Susan had closed up the shop an hour prior. Otherwise, Chloe would have asked her to stay and watch the food. Crap.
**************************
Brady stood shirtless ;) in his old bedroom at the penthouse getting ready for his date with Chloe. His date with Chloe. She [i]should[/i] be in his arms and he should be making passionate love to her. Instead, she wanted to preserve their friendship with a pity date. Well, at least it was something. He'd known if she only wanted friendship from him that it would have to be enough. He would have to accept it. Hell, he should be glad she wanted anything to do with him at all. But it still hurt to think she didn't want him the way he wanted her. Rejection was never easy to handle, but coming from Chloe, it was absolutely unbearable. Brady's thoughts were interrupted by the knock at his door. "Come in."
"Hey Brady."
"Marlena," he gave his stepmother a warm smile. "Hey, how are you?"
"I should be asking you that question," she took a seat at the edge of his bed.
"What do you mean?"
"Chloe," she smiled knowingly, Belle having called her and John, telling them Chloe plans for tonight. Poor Brady. Always the last to know.
"Oh, her," Brady sighed and gave Marlena a small smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. You know, I'm just happy that Chloe even wants friendship from me. She means so much to me and." he felt himself blushing, never comfortable with discussing his feelings with anyone. "And well if she never wants to hear the words 'I love you' from me again, I hope she at least feels it."
"Oh, Brady. I'm sure she feels your love."
"Dark Blue or light blue?"
"What?"
Brady gestured to the two collar shirts on his bed. "Dark Blue or light blue?"
Shaking her head and smiling at Brady's complete change of subject, Marlena looked to the bed where the shirts lie. "Light blue."
"Tie or no tie?"
"No tie."
"Pass me my jacket?" He asked her as he began buttoning up his shirt.
She handed him his black suit jacket and stood. "Brady, everything will work out." She gave him a small wink. She couldn't help herself. "You'll see."
As Marlena quietly exited the room, Brady paused. "Did she just wink at me?"
********************
Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes and Brady would be at her door to pick her up. Chloe could barely keep her feet on the ground; she wanted to jump for joy so desperately. Self-assuredly, she gazed at her reflection in her bathroom mirror. Her knee length, black sleeveless dress was simple and comfortable yet sexy. There was just something about a little black dress that boosted a girl's confidence. Every woman should own one. Lightly laughing, she fastened her hair back on either side with small golden pins and adjusted her other matching jewelry. Dinner was done and ready. She'd gotten to the dry cleaners on time. And now everything was right. Tonight was going to be perfect. The shrill ringing of her phone curtly broke her string of thoughts.
"Hello," she sighed happily into the phone.
"Hi, is a Ms. Chloe Lane available," the gruff voice on the other end sounded.
"This is she," Chloe felt a slow, steady stream of worry pool into her stomach.
"This is the Salem Fire Department. There was a small fire reported in your building housing 'The Sweet Bar.' The fire's out now so no worries. Just your common gas stove fire started in the back kitchen. We'd just like you to come by take care of a few standard, precautionary procedures. Just your run of the mill kind of stuff. A few documents. Things like that."
Chloe tuned him out the minute he mentioned fire and back kitchen in the same sentence. She must have forgotten to turn off the stove after finished up the dinner and bringing it home to set up here. She'd set her own shop on fire. Okay so, it had been an accident and yes, she had insurance but a fire? Oh God. "I'll. I'll be right there," she put down the phone and wordlessly grabbed her purse and ran to her car in a sort of daze. It was only until she was halfway there that she realized she'd forgotten her cell phone and that Brady was probably ringing her doorbell at this very minute. Sh&t.
************************
Half an hour later.
Brady knocked on Chloe's apartment door for the fifth time. "Where the hell is she," he muttered under his breath. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed her home number and listened as the phone rang ceaselessly. He did the same with her cell but to no avail. She wasn't answering either phone. Initially, he was just upset that she would forget about their plans like that but now, with him not being able to get in contact with her, he was concerned. What if she'd had a problem down at her shop? What if she broke her finger again and was sitting in the emergency room? Or worse, what if she was here in her apartment knocked out cold from having being hit over the head by some dangerous assailant that he himself could have intercepted if he'd only shown up ten minutes earlier? Thoughts like these began running through a panicking Brady's mind. "Fire escape," he shouted, jogging to the back of Chloe's building. Ungracefully, Brady began climbing the rickety, metal stairs trying not to make too much noise, it being late in the evening. He might look like a burglar or some pervert or something. "Chloe," he tapped on the glass window of her apartment, his voice barely above a whisper. "Sure Brady, she'll hear you through the glass," he muttered sardonically to himself. "Chloe!" He yelled all the while pounding on the glass. "What's that?" He narrowed his eyes, noticing the table set up for a fancy dinner for two. His face scrunched. "Maybe she stood me up," he murmured. "Oh G-d, maybe she's in there, having sex with some guy." He paused thoughtfully for a moment. "Chloe," he yelled again, beating against the glass. It was then he felt a shining spotlight from the street below cast a blinding glare in his general direction.
"Get your hands where I can see them," the voice through the metronome blared.
"No," Brady shouted, seeing the police cruiser. "No, you don't understand."
"Hands up and away from your body sir!" The young cop looked about as nervous as anything, probably new to the force, his red hair sticking out wildly under his crooked cap, his green yes wide with fear.
"Okay, okay. Just don't shoot. Please!" Brady held up his hands in surrender and watched as another cop climbed the stairs with a sleek quickness. He waited for the said cop to reach him before he spoke again. "You don't understand. This is my girlfriend's apartment. Well, she's not exactly my girlfriend, but you see, I told I loved her last week. Ahhh. this is coming out all wrong." He knew he sounded like some perv, some peeping tom but he was just so flustered.
"Just don't give me any trouble, sir and I won't have to incapacitate you." The officer slowly brought up a stun gun in his trembling hand.
"Incapacitate me!? What the---"
"Hands behind your back," he commanded. And as Brady complied, he gathered Brady's wrists into his shaking grasp and clasped on the handcuffs.
**************************
Chloe sped home. After finishing up at the fire station and taking a quick peek at her shop, she was on her way back to her apartment. Brady might still be there. But regardless, she had to change her dress. Soot was sprinkled haphazardly across her face and caked in her hair. Her pins holding her hair back had conveniently disappeared. She was a mess. "What the," she murmured, pulling into her apartment complex's parking lot. Was that Brady? And was he being lead over to a police cruiser, handcuffed!? Not waiting for her car to come to a complete stop in its usual space, she jumped out and ran towards the two cops and her Brady, her heels clicking along the hard concrete. "Brady!"
"Chloe," he peered through the darkness and spotted her running over to him in the dimly lit parking lot. She was alive. She was okay. "Chloe, thank G-d."
"What is going on here," Chloe shouted at the two police officers.
Brady took one look at her disheveled appearance. "Chloe, my G-d, what happened to you?"
"Ma'am, do you know this man?" The younger officer narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Brady.
"Yes, I do. Now what's going on?" She looked from one officer to the other.
"Well, on our patrol we got a call that a suspicious character was snooping around the apartments, climbing up the fire escape, banging on a window. We happened to be right in the vicinity so it wasn't hard to put two and two together."
"Well, let him go," Chloe sighed, finally looking at Brady. "I know him. He's not going to hurt anyone. It was a mistake."
"Are you sure ma'am?"
"Yes," she shouted, running a hand through her hair. Chloe watched as the officers uncuffed Brady and called back to the station that everything was now under control before driving away. She wanted to scream. She wanted to yell. She wanted to cry. The night was ruined. So now she just wanted to kick someone. Who better than Brady? "What were you doing, Brady?"
"Me!? Chloe, you can't be serious! Did you not ask me to pick you up and take you to Shawn and Belle's party!? I mean, you did ask [i]me[/i], right," he sneered.
"Yes, but-"
"Well, then where the hell were you!? I was worried sick, Chloe! You know, wait! Don't answer that! You could care less that I worry about you, couldn't you!?"
"What?" What the hell was he rambling about? If anyone should be upset, she should dammit!
"Yeah, yeah. On Monday, I declare my love for you, right? I mean I put it [i]all[/i] out there. Damn my pride to hell and say what's in my heart. And what do you do? You run. Oh ho ho," he laughed madly. "Big surprise, big surprise. Not a stinking phone call, not an e-mail, not a damn letter saying 'F&ck off Brady!'"
"Shut up!" Chloe wanted to deck him. Wasn't he the one that had run off to New York only two weeks prior?
"Do you even know how to pick up a phone and call somebody, Chloe? Let me show you how it's done," he took his cell phone out of his pocket and held it up for her to see, suddenly changing his voice to that usually reserved for three year olds. "See these little numbers here, you just---"
"Knock it off, Brady!"
"Too complicated for you!?" His tone was harsh once again. "Okay try this, next time your phone rings, answer it! It's really simple, Chloe and- "
"I love you!"
"It keeps [i]me[/i] from worrying sick about [i]you[/i], and.What?" Had he heard her right?