"Kill me now," groaned Lucy as she shuffled her way toward the living room where Selene and Ben were currently sitting and cuddling. It was around 11 the next morning.
Selene sat up, untangling herself from Ben's arms, and asked, "How are you feeling? Do you want me to get you some water or coffee?"
"Maybe some water for now would be good," Lucy replied as she sat on the couch and put her fingers to her temples. "And maybe something for this raging headache. Please and thank you."
Ben said, "I didn't think you had that much wine last night," as Selene headed toward the kitchen.
"I guess I'm just not used to it," she responded, but without any energy to even smile. Instead, a half-hearted pfft sound came out.
When Selene brought her the drink, she thanked her while getting in a seated position. Then she put the two pills in her mouth and guzzled the water down in one go.
"Do you want some more?," Selene asked, as she took the glass back.
"No, thank you," Lucy replied politely as she lay back down.
Selene sat on the coffee table in front of her and rubbed Lucy's stomach area.
Lucy looked at her and said, "You guys have all been so great to me. I know I'm going to get through this. I can't get drunk and try to hide. I just need to move on."
Selene nodded, "Easier said than done, but if anyone can do it, I know you can!"
Lucy gave a firm head nod and concurred, "Yes, I can do it. Not sure how, but I'll figure it out as I go." Then she smiled.
Selene gave her a sideways look and teased, "Aaaand, maybe Max can help you a little with that? He seemed really sweet last night." She turned to look over her shoulder at Ben. "You've been awfully quiet this whole time. What do you think? Has Max said anything?"
Ben looked at both of them like a parent looks at a child who is being silly and asked, "What are we? In high school now? Are you seriously asking me if Max told me whether he likes Lucy?"
Both women laughed and Selene rolled her eyes as she responded with, "No, of course not. I'm just asking if he happened to mention anything about her to you, that's all."
Ben looked at Lucy with a mock confused look and asked, "Isn't that the same thing?"
Lucy nodded and Selene said, "Ugh, you traitor! I'm on your side here!" Then she laughed. "Fine, whatever. Just answer the question."
"Okay, since you asked. Not really," Ben replied, with a look at Lucy that conveyed that he was sorry. But then he quickly followed up with, "I mean, there has been a lot that's happened, so we've mostly just been focusing on work or, you know…" He trailed off but then continued, "there was the kidnapping and everything that came after. So I'm not saying he wouldn't have said something if he could have."
"Isn't he sweet?," Selene asked, turning to Lucy with a proud smile. Lucy nodded. "Sooo," Selene continued, "what did you guys talk about?"
Lucy blushed and answered, "I don't really remember but I think I was rambling about not wanting a rebound relationship or something like that. Oh! I remember something about a vacation?"
Ben interjected, "Yes, apparently you're going to France next month."
"Or Italy, or Greece," Selene followed up.
Lucy laughed and said, "I can't believe I said that."
They all laughed, and Selene asked, "It's not a bad idea. You could use a vacation."
"True. But I'm think…," Lucy's sentence was cut off by her phone ringing. She saw that it was Max calling and her eyes widened. "It's Max," she whispered.
Selene smiled and said, "Well answer it! And why are you whispering?"
Lucy facepalmed and replied, "I don't know. But should I answer? Oh wait, I told him to call! Ok, I'll answer." She pushed the accept button and her voice changed to a more pleasant tone than her previous one, which was much more tired sounding. "Hey Max!," she said as she started getting up off the couch and walking back into the bedroom she had come out of.
Selene went back to where she had been with Ben, and they resumed their earlier cuddling position. She smiled and said, "He may not have said anything to you, but I think he definitely likes her."
"Seems that way," Ben nodded.
"So, between Max and Lucy and then Johnny and Peter, it's going to be one big happy family around here," Selene giggled.
"Or a big nightmare if it doesn't work out," Ben cautioned, rubbing his chin with worry. He was especially concerned about Johnny. He knew Johnny's plans for revenge consumed him, but maybe Peter could help break down some of those walls he'd built. The man did seem to have an effect on Johnny that he'd never seen before in his friend.
Lucy came back a few minutes later and said, "Max offered to pick me up and take me back to my apartment so I'm going to go get ready."
"Ok," Selene said, "But I expect a full report tonight."
"Yes, ma'am," Lucy replied with a salute then they both smiled before Lucy went back to the bedroom.
"That reminds me," Selene told Ben, "I should probably check in with Peter."
Ben kissed her cheek and said, "Sounds good. Why don't you do that, while I check in with work real quick."
Selene nodded as she moved forward to reach her phone that was on the coffee table. After the call connected with Peter and they exchanged greetings, Selene asked, "Okay, what's wrong?"
Peter laughed and responded, "How do you know something is wrong? We haven't even said anything."
"Because it took you forever to answer the phone and then you said 'Hello' as if I was a client or stranger or something," Selene answered.
Peter laughed again, "You're good." He sighed. "Eh. It's just been an interesting morning, I guess."
"Care to elaborate or am I going to have to drag it out of you one question at a time?," Selene asked, starting to get worried.
He had been at his kitchen table doing some work on his laptop and eating snacks when Selene had called. As Selene was talking, he got up and walked through his place toward the living room so he could sit on the couch and be more comfortable. He could tell this would be a long conversation.
Peter sighed and said, "Let's just say that you were psychic yesterday when you said that there would be misery."
"Oh no. I'm so sorry, Peter," Selene apologized. "What happened? Do you regret leaving with him?"
"I don't think so. I did at first but now I don't know," he responded. He proceeded to fill her in on what happened the evening prior with Johnny.
When he was done, Selene said, "I can't believe he did something like that. What a jerk. I can't believe Ben is friends with someone like that. If I'd known, I would have warned you. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Peter told her. "Even if you had warned me, I wouldn't have listened. I mean, he's totally my type and he's hot." They both laughed. "Seriously though, at least he was honest though, I guess. But it was just weird because I felt like he really meant the kiss and that he really wanted to be with me in that moment but then something switched. Almost like he was two different people."
"That does sound weird," Selene agreed.
"And I haven't gotten to this morning yet!," Peter exclaimed.
Selene didn't let him continue as she asked, "What happened this morning?"
"Who do you think I received a text message from just a couple hours ago?," he asked
"No!," she exclaimed.
"Oh yes. And you won't believe what it says! It says, 'Sorry about last night. I'm just very confused right now. Can we talk in a few days?'," Peter reported.
Selene was surprised and exclaimed, "That is unbelievable! What does it mean I wonder? What could he be confused about? Whether he likes you? No, that can't be it. Whether he wants a relationship?"
"I have no idea," Peter responded.
"So did you reply?," she asked.
"Not yet," he answered.
She followed up with, "Are you going to?"
Peter was quiet for a moment and then said, "Of course. You know me. I mean, despite what happened, I really liked him. We had fun and I thought we really connected, you know? When I got home last night, I was really upset, and I admit I even cried a little." He made a "psh" sound at himself and continued with, "Soo that tells me that I like him more than just for his looks." Then he chuckled. "Seriously though, I don't know. I want to see what he'll say. Maybe he's just been burned before and he's just gun shy, you know?"
"Could be," Selene considered. Then she offered, "Do you want me to ask Ben?"
He thought about it and then said, "No, I don't think so. I think if this is going to turn into something then those are things he should tell me about when he wants me to know."
"That makes sense. Look at you being all mature and stuff. Our little Peter is all growed up," Selene teased.
"Stahp," Peter groaned. "Okay, I gotta get back to work now but thanks for calling."
"Of course," Selene said. "Let me know when you text him and what he texts back."
"Of course," Peter mimicked Selene's tone.
"Okay bye," Selene said while rolling her eyes.
"Bye," he said, and they both hung up their phones.
About an hour later, Max stopped by to pick up Lucy. She had borrowed some clothes from Selene and had a small bag with her clothes from the previous day. Only pleasantries and small talk were exchanged among everyone while at the penthouse, but it wasn't long before Max and Lucy were out the door.
Once they were in the elevator, Lucy turned to Max and said, "I'm sorry if I said anything offensive last night because as I'm sure you saw, I was really out of it."
Max smiled and responded with, "You didn't say anything like that, don't worry. And even if you did I wouldn't have taken it personally since I knew you'd had a little too much to drink."
"A little? Pfft," Lucy laughed at herself. "I can't remember the last time I drank that much."
The elevator doors opened and just as Max walked through them ahead of her, Lucy heard him ask over his shoulder, "Are you always that cute when you're drunk?" She stopped for a second before following him out. Her cheeks were flushed as she looked down with a smile.
When they arrived at his car, he opened the door for her to get in and then as they started driving, he asked, "So, are you still planning on going to France?"
Lucy thought, "Hmm, I guess we are just going to ignore the previous flirtatious comment. I'm okay with that." She replied to his question with, "That does seem to be the question of the day."
Max looked confused so she explained, "Selene asked me the same thing practically the first thing she saw me this morning."
"Ohh," he nodded.
She went on, "I think I am. Not sure if it will be France, but I do want to go somewhere. Experience new things and relax a little too. Italy sounds great too though."
"Italy is great," Max nodded in agreement.
This prompted Lucy to ask, "Have you been there?"
"I was actually born there," he said.
Lucy looked surprised and she responded to the information with, "I never would have guessed that!"
"But it's true," Max teased with a flirtatious tone. Then more seriously he said, "We moved to the US when I was around 7 though so I've been here most of my life. I'm 31 now."
"That's cool," Lucy said. "Was it hard learning English since you started kinda late?"
"Emm...not really," he responded, "because we learned English over there in school. Maybe not to the same extent like here. We weren't fluent or anything, but it made it so that we were able to pick it up quickly once we were here."
Lucy nodded, "Oh that's good. Who is 'we' by the way? Do you have a brother or sister?"
"Yes, one brother. He's younger by two years," he answered.
"I have an older sister," Lucy volunteered.
It was Max's turn to nod as he said, "I see."
"So, um," she started with a hesitant tone, "I know this is going to sound a little maybe stereotyping but I always pictured people in Italy as having more dark hair and dark eyes, but you look more Scandinavian with your blonde hair and blue eyes."
He laughed and said, "No, I get it. Most of my family are just as you described, including my mother and father. But my grandmother on my mother's side was actually from Sweden. She was on a student exchange program when she met my grandfather and they eventually got married. Apparently, I am the only one of the children or grandchildren who take after her."
"What a great family story!," Lucy exclaimed as she turned to him with a smile. She noticed his face darken as Max's body stiffened somewhat. "I'm sorry if I'm asking too many personal questions."
He shook his head and said, "No, it's okay. I was just thinking my family's not all that great, but it's okay, we can talk about something else now. Why don't we talk more about where in Italy you might want to go?"
Max didn't want to admit to Lucy in that moment that the mention of his family did not bring many happy memories. A violent father. An escape to America. A life in poverty. Better to steer the focus on something else.
They spent the rest of the drive talking about Italy. Once they arrived at Lucy's building, Max offered to walk her to her door. When they got closer to her door, they saw that Kyle was leaning on the wall near her door, waiting.
Kyle's face immediately grew angry as he saw Max standing next to Lucy. "Who the hell is this guy?," he shouted at her.
"None of your business," she retorted back, calmly. "What are you doing here in the first place?"
Kyle looked at her, then at Max, and then back at her. "I get it now. So, this is the guy you're seeing. You're such a hypocrite. You accuse me of cheating, but you're cheating on me with him!," he exclaimed as he grabbed Lucy by her arms to shake her.
Max intervened and pushed Kyle away from Lucy. "Get your hands off of her," he said to Kyle as Kyle stumbled backward a little bit. Then he turned to Lucy and asked, "Are you okay?"
Lucy nodded and said, "Yes, thank you." She looked at Kyle and told him to leave. "It's none of your business who he is. Don't come back here," she said firmly.
Kyle looked at her in dismay and asked, "What are you saying? Of course, it's my business. I'm your boyfriend. Who is he?"
Lucy shook her head in frustration and said, "No. No you're not. We broke up remember? You cheated on me. I saw you in San Diego. Any of this ring a bell? We are not getting back together. Max is a friend. Not that it's any of your business. And now you really need to leave and never come back. I don't want to see you ever again."
He simply replied, "This isn't over." Then he looked Max up and down and walked away.
Max looked at Lucy and could see that she was shaken by those words. He reached for her and asked, "Hey, are you okay?," but then he saw that tears were falling down her face so he pulled her into his arms so he could hug her. After a few moments, he said, "Let me take you inside."
Lucy nodded as she tried to catch her breath from crying. Once they were inside, she dropped her bag by the door and then immediately plopped herself on the nearby couch. Max shut the door and went to sit next to her.
"It will be alright, I promise," Max told her.
"Thank you," she said. "I'm sorry for dragging you into our drama."
Max shook his head and then reached to pat her knee. "You didn't drag me," he said. "I came willingly. More than willingly." He gave her a small smile.
She smiled back. "I wish I could fast forward the next couple of months or so and just be over it already so I could move on," she said and then gave him a knowing look. Lucy hoped he understood that she wanted to move on with him, but it just wasn't the right time.
Max was smart though, and he understood what she meant so he responded with, "Time will move forward, as it is known to do, and those couple of months or so will eventually come to an end. Then one day you will find yourself moved on." He smiled. This time, it was not a small smile. In fact, it contained a whole world of possibility.