Chapter Twelve
My phone rang. "Hello?"
"Miss Echolls this is Victor." My lawyer said that he would call with news.
"Your appeal is scheduled for next Tuesday. I think that we have a good shot at winning. I need you to bring your boyfriend as a witness to the events at your home on Christmas Eve." I could feel the blood rush from my face. I didn't want him to hear everything that had happened in detail.
"No problem."
"I have also submitted a no contact order for Mr. Harlow. He cannot be within 1500 feet of you."
"But he will be in court."
"Yes." I sighed. "Don't hesitate to call the police if he's sighted."
"Yes, Victor." I hung up the phone. I expected Eli and Veronica to be here for the concert any minute now, and I needed to stop thinking about my ex.
"What does one wear to a gangster rap concert?" Logan asked from behind me.
"I think you'll stand out no matter what." I said trying to cheer up. I had decided to go with club wear. If I looked too white and rich to be at the concert at least Eli will have the privilege of walking in with a fine ass bitch.
"I see you went with hooker chic."
"Did you order the limo?"
"Yes complete with a full bar."
"Planning on getting Veronica drunk again?"
He dramatically crossed his fingers, "One can hope."
"You know there's always some truth in a joke."
"Shut up." He said but I could see his face turn a little red. The doorbell rang. "I'll get it. I don't want you to break your neck walking down the stairs in those heels."
"You're always looking out for me." I said in a syrupy voice. I followed him but stayed just out of sight of the front door. I couldn't help but make an entrance.
"Hey Logan."
"Weevil." He said politely.
"Is Emily ready?" He asked. I could hear the curiosity in his voice.
"Hey guys." Veronica must have snuck in the open door. I took this as my moment.
"Are we ready to go?" I asked walking slowly down the stairs.
"Damn girl." Eli said his mouth hanging open.
"You like?" I asked innocently.
"You look good enough to eat." He said while giving me a hug, and grazing his hand on my ass letting it linger for a second longer than normal.
Emily was sitting next to me in the limo. She looked sexy as hell. It took all the self-control I had not to stare. I loved how she normally looked so tough; like we belonged together. Tonight though I knew that I had the best looking girl in southern California on my arm.
"So are we gonna break out the booze?" Logan asked. He was already pouring shots for everyone.
"Do you two ever do anything sober?" Veronica asked amused.
"Life is more fun with a buzz." Logan responded. He handed Emily a shot of whiskey, and everyone else a shot of vodka.
"Why do you only drink whiskey?" Veronica asked Emily.
"I love the taste."
"It's the only alcohol that doesn't make her an angry drunk." Logan replied dryly.
"Is not!" she responded.
"Remember the last time you had vodka. Dick still doesn't walk the same."
"What happened?" I asked wanting to hear this story.
"We were getting drunk and Dick hits on her." No surprise I thought. "He was too persistent so she pushed him off the balcony."
"I did not!" She squealed. "I shoved him and he was drunk so he fell off by himself. Plus he landed in the pool, so really there was no harm done." I was actually impressed, and made a mental note not to let her have drinking contests with Felix again because I'm sure he would piss her off and there aren't that many pools in the 02.
"There's just so much anger in such a small package." I said jokingly.
"Not anger just spunk." I choked on my drink. "Not that kind of spunk." She elbowed me lightly.
We got to the concert, but didn't pull up to the front door. "Where are we?" I asked.
"The back door. We don't have to wait in line." Logan responded. A large black man opened the door and took our tickets.
"Up the stairs to your left." The large bouncer said.
Veronica must have caught the bouncer checking Emily out, "Love to see 'em go hate to watch 'em leave. Am I right?" she said. We all chuckled. We walked to an elevator and there was a man sitting on a stool reading a magazine.
"What floor?" the elevator operator asked in a bored tone.
"Suite level." Emily said. I looked at her with a surprise on my face. "What? It's Christmas you don't think I'd spring for a suite just for you?" I couldn't help but smile. I hated that I didn't have money to spend on her, but as much as I hated to admit it I kind of enjoyed how the other half lived.
We walked into the hallway where the suites were and we walked to the one that was ours. We waked into the room and there was a full spread of food and a full bar. The stage was extremely visible, and just in case we couldn't see there were three big screen tvs where the concert was on. "Merry Christmas to you Weevil." Logan said his voice dripping with sarcasm. We filled our plates and cups with our alcohol of choice and sat in the big plush seats waiting for the concert to start.
The door opened and a woman walked into the room. "My name is Marjorie. I am here to make your experience as excellent as possible. Here are your backstage passes you are welcome to call me on extension 1743 and I will escort you down."
"Thanks Marge." Logan said handing her a $20 bill.
The music started, and it was actually pretty good. I wasn't much of a rap fan, but I could get used to it. The best part of the night though was watching Eli have so much fun. I could tell that he was torn about accepting anything from me. His pride was bigger than any part of him, that I'd seen at least. There was an intermission. "You wanna go backstage?" I asked him.
"Yeah." He said with the enthusiasm of a small boy in a candy store with his mom's platinum card. I dialed Marjorie's extension. "Hi this is suite 204 we would like to go backstage now."
"I'll be right there to escort you." She said politely. I was a little nervous to meet Dime Bag actually. I knew that I would be the one out of place this time.
"You two go. It's Weevil's Christmas present." Veronica said.
"Yeah I'm not sure I'm up for being the minority." Logan sarcastically agreed.
"Suit yourself." I replied. We followed Marjorie to the elevator to the backstage area. Eli grabbed my waist and pulled me close as we walked into the hall with the dressing rooms.
Marjorie knocked on the door where Dime Bag was sitting. "Come in." A voice called.
"Sir, these are the people with the backstage passes."
"Wassup." He said and took a swig of Hennessy. He stood up and grabbed Eli's hand and they thumped each other on their backs. "Hello." He said obviously impressed by what he saw when he looked at me. They had a conversation, and Dime Bag kept eyeing me greedily. I wasn't paying much attention; I was only here for Eli, and he was loving it. When the stage manager came back and said it was almost time for the intermission to be over we went back to the suite. We walked into the suite and Logan and Veronica were sitting very close to each other, and the bottle in front of them was much emptier than when we left. Veronica's face was flush, and Logan had a stupid smile on his face.
"What have you two been up to?" I asked with a smirk on my face.
"None of your beeswax little sister." Logan responded coyly. Eli and I sat in the chairs in front of Logan and Veronica. I slipped off my heels and rested my legs on Eli's lap.
The limo was bringing us back to the Echolls's house. I was glad I had limited the amount of alcohol I had drank tonight, but I still felt too drunk to drive all the way back to the barrio. Emily and I went up to her room; she didn't have to say that she expected me to stay and not drive home, but I assume she was glad that I didn't look in danger of throwing up all over myself.
She sat on the chair by the window, and I sat opposite her. "Did you have fun?" She asked me.
"Cupcake do you even have to ask?"
"Nope. I have a knack for giving the best gifts ever."
"I don't know how you'll top this when my birthday comes around." I said jokingly.
"I'll think of something. I always do." She said sweetly. "Eli, can we talk about something?"
My face must have shown how scared I was to hear those words.
"Not about us. I still like you. I got a phone call from my lawyer. They scheduled my appeal, and they need you to testify about the beating my dad gave him."
"Of course I will, but they probably won't take my word for it."
"I'm just worried."
"He can't do anything to you in court."
"I know that. I'm scared of what you will think after you hear the details."
"Nothing I hear will change how I feel about you."
"You say that now, but I haven't told you everything." I was in between a rock and a hard place. I could ease her nerves and admit I hired Veronica to spy on her, or end up being the super supportive boyfriend that hears all these terrible things and still stands by her. I chose the second, call me a coward if you like. I was scared to hear what, if anything he had to say.
"I promise that nothing I could hear would make me change my mind about being with you." She got up and sat in my lap resting her head on me. It took me everything I had to control myself.