Chapter 7: Spill the Tea

Katie's POV

“Olivia!” I called out.

I couldn’t wait to tell everything to my best friend and roommate as I soon I got home. I rushed up the stairs, and ran into our apartment door. I locked it behind me in the most unladylike manner, resting my back against the cool wood, my skin still flushed from my date. I was out of breath from my brisk sprint into our apartment on the fifth floor.

“Katie!” Olivia exclaimed with concern and surprise, her voice muffled from her room.

“Katie? What’s wrong? Why are you being so loud?” she said as she found me rounding the corner from the hallway that led to our bedrooms.

“Nothing wrong. Nothing at all. Everything is perfectly perfect,” I said leaning my head against the door, closing my eyes.

“Date went well, did it?” Olivia asked me, crossing her arms against her chest, popping her hip out.

“It was divine,” I whispered.

“Sit on the sofa before you faint like one of those old-time black and white silent films. I’ll make us tea and you can tell me about Mr. Divine,” Olivia said with a chuckle as she padded her way towards the kitchen.

I slowly pushed myself from the door, my feet aching slightly. I hadn’t really noticed the discomfort until just now. Our sofa was purchased second-hand, tears had been made in the arms by the previous owner’s cat. I said it gave the sofa and its old vintage floral pattern character. Olivia wholeheartedly disagreed. She said it gave it edge and grit.

Sinking into the sofa, I wasted no time unbuckling the straps to my borrowed sandals, massaging my aching toes that cried in relief to no longer be trapped inside the patent leather. I curled my toes under me, the dress restrictive enough to not make me completely comfortable, but the buzz from my date with Arrow enough to keep me high off the pure adrenaline. I didn’t care about comfort.

“Alright miss,” Olivia said, returning with two mismatched mugs of tea.

She handed me my favorite, as she held hers.

“Spill the tea, and tell me all about Mr. Hot and Gorgeous and what the cause is of you being all twitterpated?” Olivia demanded as she sat next to me on the sofa, both of us with our backs against the arms of the sofa, facing each other.

“I don’t even know where to start,” I confessed, a smile teasing my lips.

“Was he as perfect in person as he was in his picture?” she asked me.

“His picture doesn’t do him justice, Olivia. But it was more than his picture. Not only is he gorgeous, but he’s confident, and successful, I don’t know how to explain it, he’s not like anyone I’ve ever met, or dated before. Totally different from the men I’m used to. I’m afraid he might be bored of me, that I might not be enough. Not like the women he would be used to dating,” I confessed, the wine still coursing through my veins.

“How many drinks did you consume?” Olivia asked me, a teasing smile lighting up her face.

“Only one, but it was really good. Olivia, he bought us a bottle of wine of the world’s fifth most expensive drink.”

“Big Baller,” Olivia gasped in shock.

“Right, but he wasn’t changed because of it. He didn’t do it to show me he could. I think he did it because he truly enjoyed the flavor and it just happened to be expensive,” I said.

“Wait go back. Why couldn’t he tell you everything if he wanted to?” Olivia asked me.

“I don’t know. I didn’t get to ask before we were interrupted,” I told her.

“Who interrupted you?” Olivia asked me, intrigued.

“I think it was his driver?” I answered her.

“His driver interrupted him while you were eating?” Olivia asked me.

“Well, we were done eating. We were talking and he came in out of nowhere,” I explained.

“Where did he take you for dinner?” she asked me, kicking her legs out in front of her.

“That fancy swanky place next to that dive bar we go to all the time,” I vaguely explained.

“You’re horrible with names. Do you mean The Garden?” she observed.

“Yes!” I laughed.

“Are you going to see him again?” Olivia clarified.

“Well, I didn’t think I was. I was sitting in the car he had sent for me to take me home, thinking that would be the last time I would ever see him again. Then out of nowhere, just before the car pulled away, he ran over to ask to see me again. He’s just not like any other man I have ever been interested in before,” I admitted.

“I sure as h*ll would hope not,” Olivia remarked. “I’d be worried if you acted like this and he was like that bum Sam.”

“Speaking of Sam, you’ll never guess who I ran into on my way to The Garden,” I told my best friend.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Katie. He’s quickly merging from the lane of an ex-boyfriend who’s not picking up the signals to a creepy stalker,” Olivia said.

Olivia quickly turned from the attentive friend to the frustrated and protective best friend. We had both grown tired of Sam’s tactics and behaviors. It was enough that I had to deal with him at work on a daily basis, but to not be able to go anywhere without running into him was quickly nearing suspicious, if not completely creepy.

“I think it was purely coincidence, but I did have to lie to him and tell him I was meeting you for drinks,” I told her, hoping we could change the subject back to Arrow.

“And he believed you, dressed like that?” Olivia said as she looked me up and down.

“Let’s just say I made it convincing,” I replied.

“You need to say something to your principal about his behavior, Katie,” Olivia said, much to my disappointment not changing the subject back to Arrow.

“He’s harmless Olivia,” I insisted.

Before she could reply, the message alert from my phone sounded off. I jumped off the sofa and ran to my purse, which I had accidentally dropped by the front door. Opening the clutch and fishing out my phone, I quickly read the name that the message was from. The butterflies that were once quiet in my soul took flight once more.

“Who is it?” Olivia asked from the sofa.

“Arrow,” I said turning back to her.

“What did he say?” she asked her excitement matching mine.

“I don’t know I’m afraid to open it,” I confessed.

“Why?” she asked me, her excitement melting slightly.

“What if he’s changed his mind?” I said.

“Sit down and open the text message,” Olivia demanded.

I walked back over to the sofa, our apartment small enough that five steps closed the gap. I sat back down and unlocked my phone to the message from Arrow, reading it to myself first before to Olivia. His words ignited the embers that had been sparked in the two hours together.

“What did he say?” Olivia pressed.

“He said ‘Katie, I hope you made it home safely. My driver informed me of your safe arrival, but I still find myself looking for any excuse to hear from you. I found myself, writing texts only to delete them. To re-write them again. The simple fact that I can’t seem to find the right words for is that I like you. It might be too soon to confess this, I know the rules of dating is to wait a day or two, go on a few dates and see what happens, and up until tonight I would have been one for following rules, but something tells me you’re going to have me breaking a lot of omy rules. Here’s to the future. Arrow.'” I read.

“So, do you? Feel the same?” Olivia asked me.

“Wholeheartedly,” I replied.