New York - Chapter 9
It’s been forever, I know. I’ve really missed these two, so it’s good to be back with them. This is short, but I hope it was worth the wait. x
P.S. - Shout out to @sippin-on-red-wine for being such a good hand-holder and to E for being awesome.
“So much for Sober January,” I say, holding up my glass in mock salute. After my slightly drunken Christmas, I’d decided that a month-long detox wouldn’t be a bad life choice.
January, it seems, had other plans for me. Specifically, that it wanted to defeat me. And it had come damn close to succeeding. I’d spent much of the month on planes and in airports, traveling back and forth to Denver and San Antonio, wrapping up the merger of two companies we’d closed just before the holidays.
One thing had kept me going throughout all the stress and craziness of work - knowing that I would be seeing Ed in a few weeks. We’d planned a long weekend together in Austria at the end of the month, just before his tour kicked off. I even had a little countdown app that I looked at when I needed a minute to collect myself between meetings, and seeing those numbers growing smaller made me happy, no matter what was going on in the workday.
Ash and Dani touch their glasses to mine. “Sober January is an idiotic concept that I will never understand,” Ash decrees. “January is the most depressing month of the year. Why would you voluntarily give up something that makes it bearable?”
Laughing, I take a sip of my Old Fashioned - wine was simply not strong enough right now - and shrug. “Seemed like a good idea after the whole Christmas Eve fiasco.”
And it had, until January had upped its game. What should have been a simple merger was threatening to fall apart at the eleventh hour, that was about to close, requiring me to stay in New York and cancel my weekend with Ed. Which is why I was currently in a bar in the East Village with my friends and not snuggled up with Ed in a ski chalet in the Austrian Alps. Sigh.
Dani’s voice snaps me back to the present. “But that worked out well! I know you, Spence. It would have taken you months to get out of your own way and admit you had feelings for him if that hadn’t happened.”
She’s not wrong. I can be pretty damn stubborn. And I couldn’t be happier with how things did work out. Well, you could be wrapped around a beautiful ginger boy in front of a fire right now…
Ed had been incredibly understanding about the whole thing. “Trust me, I get work getting in the way. We’ll figure it out.”
“It does suck that you had to cancel Austria, but at least you have us as a consolation prize,” Dani jokes. “When do you see him next?”
“We haven’t been able to find another time that works - every break in his schedule is a deadline or work trip for me. He’s going to be here at the end of March for promo - that’s the next time we’ll for sure see each other.” I shrug and make a little face as I take another sip of my drink. “Anyway, I’m happy we get to hang out. I’ve missed you guys!”
It was true - because of the general craziness of the holiday season, the three of us hadn’t seen much of each other since Thanksgiving and it was nice to be with my girls again. A few more rounds are spent catching up before we decided that for this to be a true pub crawl, we had to actually go to other bars.
We wander along Avenue A for a few blocks before turning onto 7th Ave. “Hey, let’s try this place - I read something about it in NY Mag the other day. Their cocktails are supposed to be incredible!” Ash has come to a stop in front of a dingy looking doorway, above which is a sign reading ‘Lovers of Today’.
“This place? Really?” D sounds skeptical, but Ash is already heading inside.
Dani and I shrug at each other and follow our tiny blonde friend down a few steps and into the bar. The inside is super cozy and chic, lit by hundreds of candles all over - a total contradiction to the grimy exterior. It’s also packed. Ash, clearly our self-appointed leader now, gestures to us to grab a table that just freed up and heads to the bar.
“She really is a bossy little thing,” Dani grumbles as we slide into the booth, but she’s smiling.
My eyes flit around the room as D and I chat, taking in a particularly intimate little booth tucked away in the corner. Making a mental note to bring Ed here to take advantage of that little nook, I don’t even realize that Ashleigh has returned, drinks in hand, until she nudges me to move over.
“So, you know you’re being stupid, right?” She slides my drink, a frothy little concoction in an old school champagne bowl, in my direction.
Taking a sip, I raise my eyebrows at her in a “Please explain” gesture. Ooh. This is good.” I taste champagne and lavender and… something else that I can’t quite put my finger on.
“Waiting. For a break in his schedule or for the perfect time to come along. Just fucking go. Turn up and surprise him.”
Another sip. “This is good. What is it?”
Now it’s Ash and Dani who are exchanging a look. “It’s called Fan Mail. Seemed appropriate. Don’t change the subject.”
Slowly, as if that will help them understand, I explain, “I can’t just go. I’ve got work. He’s got work. He doesn’t need me there, getting in the way. It’s better to wait until we both have downtime.” I don’t understand what they’re not getting about this.
“Spencer.” Ashleigh is looking at me like I’m the one who’s slow here. “You can work from anywhere, right? So, go. When’s the next time you’re not traveling or closing something? Go then. Work while Ed’s doing promo and stuff.”
Dani chimes in. “Or go when he’s off but work from there. Ed won’t care that you have to work - he’d just be so happy to see you.”
Maybe you are the slow kid, Spence.
“You think? Just show up? I mean, that - it just seems too… simple.”
“Absolutely!” (from Dani)and “Yes! It really is that simple, Spence. God, watching you live your life is exhausting!” (from Ash) fly across the table at me.
A little more gently, Ashleigh adds, “At least think about it, okay?”
A few weeks later and Ash’s words haven’t left my mind. Just fucking go, indeed. When the merger from hell was finally signed, sealed, and delivered, I’d spent a day or two trying to keep myself busy and ignoring Ashleigh’s voice in my head. Then I’d pulled out my calendar and called Stu.
Which is how I find myself in Berlin being hugged by Ed’s manager who ushers me into the back of a small room that looks into a radio booth with a quick “He’s gonna lose his shit!”.
There he is, chatting to the radio host. He’s telling a story about the most recent torture he’s bestowed on Stu - that cheeky Ed smirk, his blue eyes full of mischief behind the chunky black frame of the glasses he’s starting to wear more and more often lately - and he glances over to see Stu’s reaction as he finishes. He scans the room and his eyes widen for a fraction of a second before his entire face lights up, the rest of his sentence trailing off. His smile is so big, so genuinely happy, that it makes my heart skip a beat.
Be more of a cliché, Spencer. But I’m grinning idiotically back at him, mentally thanking Ashleigh for being a bully.
The interviewer asks Ed a few last questions which he answers as best he can while still glancing in my direction every few seconds, as if to make sure I’m really there. He shakes the man’s hand, pausing for a photo before making a beeline in my direction.
Ed stops just in front of me, ear-splitting grin still firmly in place. He’s wearing a blue and white plaid flannel that has a little bit of red running through it. The top two buttons are open, and his lion is just peeking out. He clearly hasn’t had his hair cut in the six weeks since he’d left New York, nor has he been trimming his beard regularly; his hair brushes against the collar of his shirt combining with that perfect scruff to make him look deliciously disheveled. The leather and cinnamon of his cologne wash over me. Damn.
Being this close to him, smelling him, make me realize how much I’d missed him, how much I needed to see him, to touch him. All the things that I hadn’t allowed myself to feel.
“Surprise.” Suddenly I’m shy and awkward and have entirely forgotten the English language.
“You know how I feel about surprises, darlin’,” he teases. His arms wrap around me, his lips brushing against mine briefly before he pulls back to grin at me again.
“Oh, yes. I’m very sorry.” I return his grin, but I need to feel his lips on mine again, so I let my fingers sink into the curls at the back of his neck and pull his face back to mine for another kiss. His tongue glides over my lower lip and slips into dance with mine. This is bliss.
Ed breaks the kiss, his fingers and thumbs cupping my face and tracing the line of my jaw as he looks down at me. His expression is a mixture of happiness and wonder, like a little boy who’s gotten the best birthday present ever. “You’re here.”
I reach up to brush a copper curl off his forehead. “I’m here.”
Love this 💗