Chapter 47 - London with Alexandra Daddario (4)

I woke up the next morning, and found myself alone in bed. I sat up and saw Alex getting dressed.

"Morning, Writer. How'd you sleep?" She asked as she put her earrings on.

"I haven't slept that well in months." I responded it, meaning every word.

"Really? Does that have anything to do with me?"

"I think it has everything to do with you." She came and sat next to me on the bed. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me.

"I have to go to work. I wish I could stay."

"It's cool. How about we meet tonight for dinner?" I asked her, pulling her tight body closer to mine.

"I'd love that. How about around 9?"

"Perfect."

"Text me where? I'll meet you there."

"Works for me." We held and kissed for a long time. This was the only way I wanted to wake up in the morning. We split and I got up and quickly got dressed.

We left the hotel room together, holding hands during the entire elevator ride. We kissed once more in the lobby.

"Have a good day. See you tonight." I told her as she walked away.

"Can't wait." She tossed back, blessing me with her wonderful smile. I stood outside waiting to catch a cab when my phone rung. It was Margot.

"Hey! How are you?" I said, happy to hear from her.

"Duncan, when did you get to London?"

"I got here on friday night, just for a couple of days. How did you know I was here?" I asked perplexed.

"Your picture is all over the papers! You do look dashing in that suit."

"Thanks! How are you?"

"I'm in London as well. Would you like to grab lunch?"

"Yeah sure no trouble. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is great. So see you around 2?"

"Alright. See you soon."

*****

A few hours later, I walked into the imperial. A very high end restaurant in London. Margot was sitting and already waiting. I was directed to the table by the waiter. I had to admit, Margot looked ravishing.

Her blonde hair fell to her shoulders and her blue eyes brightened when she saw me. She rose up and I caught sight of her delectable body, in the gorgeous blue sundress she was wearing. We hugged and it felt wonderful to see her again.

"How are you Margot? You look great!" I told her as we sat down.

"I'm doing well, thanks for asking. Still shooting Suicide Squad"

"How are things on the set."

"Well, they're crazy. But it's incredible. We have such a great group."

"I'm glad you're having fun. How are things with Tom?" I asked perusing the menu.

"Things are going very, very well. He's really been sweet."

"Good. You tell him, if he doesn't treat you right, i'll beat him down." She laughed. "What you don't think I could take him?"

"I'm sure that you could." She said teasingly. "I'll be sure to pass on the message. I doubt you will need to. He's a great guy. You'd like him."

"Since you like him so much, i'm sure that I would. I mean, you do have pretty great taste." We both laughed.

"So do you! I saw you with Alexandra. You two seemed pretty smitten with one another." That word again.

"Yeah, she's great. We just met and are starting to get to know each other. But so far so good."

"I would imagine, that this is pretty serious?"

"I like her. I came all the way to London, just to see her. I really hope it goes somewhere." She took a beat, looking me right dead in the eye.

"Do you think you're ready?" She finally asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You've been pretty hung up on Victoria since your break up. What happened to make you feel you were ready." I caught something in her eye that moment. I wasn't sure what it was, but something was definitely troubling her.

"A lot, to tell you the truth. This past year, has been such a roller coaster of emotions."

"Is there something about her? Do you see something in her, that you couldn't find elsewhere?" She looked down at the table, and I saw a tear hit the tablecloth. "Something you couldn't find in me?"

Hearing her say that last line, nearly made my heart break. It all began making sense. I kicked myself that I hadn't seen it sooner. I was so hung up on Victoria that i couldn't see that Margot had developed real feelings for me.

She had waited as long as she could, before deciding to move on and find happiness elsewhere. Now as things were getting serious with her and Tom, she sees me beginning to move on. It would upset anyone. I grabbed her hand across the table.

"Margot." I said waiting for her to look up at me. The beautiful blonde's blue eyes met mine. I couldn't help but marvel at her. "It had nothing to do with you. You were, and still are incredibly perfect. It was just bad timing.

When we met, I was a mess. I was clinging on to something that had been long gone. Fighting battles that I had no chance of winning. But you, you helped me so much. I'm sorry that i never told you how much your presence and friendship kept me together during this past year. I'm sorry that I couldn't see what was right in front of me."

"It's okay. Not entirely your fault. I wasn't very honest about my intentions either. Always mentioned my career and all the traveling I do as an excuse. It's not that I had an inherent problem with what we had.

I just felt that there was so much more we hadn't explored. And when I saw you in the papers this morning, I saw how happy you looked, I saw how you looked at her. I would have loved for you to look at me like that. Even just once."

"Honestly, if i hadn't been in the messed up place I was. I definitely would have. You're beautiful and an amazing woman. Tom is a very lucky man." She smiled for the first time since we had begun this conversation.

"He is and so is Alex."

"She's not a man. Well I hope not." We laughed.

"You know what I mean. She's lucky to have you."

"You have me too Margot. I'll always be here for you."

"I don't doubt that one bit." We finally ordered, and enjoyed our meal together. She told me more about Tom, and I told her about Alex. Margot had always been a great friend to me, and here we were again, just like old times.

I was relieved to know that this would never change. That no matter what happened in our lives, she and I would find a way to find one another. After lunch we walked outside together.

"You look good Duncan." She said. "You look happy and relaxed. Stay this way. Don't look back." She kissed my cheek.

"I'll do my best."

"Call me, okay? I hope things go well with Alex. Tell her if she hurts you, she'll have to deal with me."

"Who in the world wants to have Harley Quinn after them?" I joked. We hugged and she hailed a cab. She smiled at me through the window as it drove away.

I couldn't help but smile. I called down a cab of my own and headed back to my hotel. After all, I did have a date to get ready for.

*****

That night I was at the Sketch Lecture Room, one of the finest restaurants in London, waiting for Alex. My lunch with Margot, had shaken me a bit, but proved to me that i was doing the right thing.

For far too long, I had sulked and pitied myself about losing Victoria. It was time to move on. When Alex walked into the restaurant, looking ravishing in a tight black cocktail dress, I knew I had made the right choice. I stood up, watching her walk towards me.

Taking in her shoulder length hair, and dynamite body, I felt my mouth go dry. When she arrived at our table, I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her.

"Hey! How was your day?" I asked her.

"Just press. I was sort of distracted the whole time."

"Really why?"

"Why else? You of course. Couldn't wait to see you. You look good." She told me, grabbing my suit jacket.

"Thank you, you look incredible. When I saw you walking in here, I thought my heart would stop."

"Why is that?"

"Cuz I don't know what I did to become the luckiest man alive." She smiled softly, and kissed me again. We sat down and the waiter brought along some menus. I took the opportunity to order us some wine.

"What did you do today?" She asked.

"I had lunch with a friend."

"Anyone I know?" She asked again as she was taking a sip of water.

"Margot Robbie." Alex almost choked on her water.

"You just have lunch with Margot Robbie?" She asked surprised while trying to catch her breath.

"Yeah, we met in L.A last year. We became very good friends."

"Oh, is that all there is?" She asked nervously.

"Yeah. She's been seeing this director. She's very happy."

"Oh okay. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound jealous or anything."

"Oh too bad. I was hoping you would be." She laughed.

"Really why?"

"Well, I thought that you would get scared and take me off the market quick." She laughed her beautiful laugh once more.

"I may just have to do that. Since you have hot australian actresses, that you can just call up for lunch."

"It's just one! And she's just a friend. We met while I was going through a very tough breakup. She helped me immensely."

"Yeah, with Victoria Justice right? What happened between you two?" I took a sip from the wine the waiter had poured only moments ago. I took a beat, to find the best way to answer.

I knew the question would be coming at some point. I just wasn't sure how to approach it. I decided to open up, and just be honest with her. I wanted something real with this woman, and that would only be possible if we were honest with each other.

I told her almost everything. About how we met, working on the show, the emmy, how the network tried to take the show away from me, Eric joining the cast.

It felt good to talk to her about all this. I realized, that as much as it had affected me, I had never told anyone the full story. Not even Margot. I always avoided revisiting these events. It was too painful, but also because, I knew deep down that I hadn't been the best version of myself.

There was a lot I was not proud of. Especially letting Stamp, Eric and the network walk all over me. Something I promised would never happen again. During the entire time, Alex listened intently. She didn't judge, or make too many comments.

She just continued to encourage me to tell the story. When I was finally done, she had her eyes locked on me across the table and the sweetest look one could imagine.

"I'm sorry you went through all that." She finally said. "I understand why it was so hard. You had something very special."

"We did. It took me a while to finally get over it and put it all behind me."

"But you finally did?"

"That's why i'm here. I want to move on, move forward. I want to do that with you." She smiled softly.

"So you don't just want to sleep with me?" She asked seriously.

"Dude, I flew all the way here, just for this. Just for you. I could have waited, but I couldn't wait any longer. I didn't want to. I couldn't go another day without seeing those pretty blue eyes of yours. "

"You do have a way with words." She said laughing.

"Writer!" I said laughing as well. "What's your story?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you so afraid?" She looked down at the table. Her hands were moving around quite a bit.

"I was seeing this guy." She began.

"Axe body spray?" I asked. She laughed.

"Yeah, him. His name is Logan by the way."

"Percy Jackson himself! I had heard rumors, but wasn't sure."

"Yeah. We spent a lot of time together, and fell for each other. We gave it a shot and began dating. All was fine at the beginning. He was a sweet guy and a lot of fun. I fell in love with him and felt that I could trust him completely."

I could tell this was hard for her. I did what she did for me. I stayed quiet and waited for her to be ready to tell me more. " Until he was shooting Fury. We were apart for awhile, and I decided to surprise him.

When I got to his room, him and Jon Bernthal were double teaming one of the girls from the movie. I was crushed. I ran out and I haven't spoken to him since." I held her hand tightly as she finished her story.

"I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve that."

"Ever since then, i've just avoided dating. I had a few one night stands, and probably would have had one with you. But I felt something with you.

When you kissed me, when you touched me, it was better than anything I had felt in a very long time. I felt alive again, like my heart was snoozing and you woke it up." I nodded.

"I felt the exact same thing." I admitted to her.

"That's why i'm so scared. I'm scared that i'll open myself up again, and get hurt."

"That won't happen." I reassured her.

"How do you know?"

"Because, you've done something that I thought was impossible. You made me want to take another chance at something real. I would never hurt the person who was able to do that.

And besides, I think that this is what we both need. We both need to leave the past behind and move forward. I say we do that together." She smiled.

"Well, I was waiting to tell you this."

"What?"

"Lea Michele, was suppose to do this movie with Kate Upton, she turned it down and I was offered her part. It shoots in L.A, so I would be home sooner than anticipated."

"How much sooner?" I asked incredibly excited.

"End of the week soon. So if you're in and want to do this. I'm in."

"You know there's nothing I want more." Our mouths met over the table and we kissed softly. We knew that this kiss was different from all the others. This kiss, was truly the beginning of something new.

We could feel it in the kiss. It was deeper than the ones that came before. We were both fully open to one another, fully vulnerable and ready for the next step.

If you asked me what we ate that night, I wouldn't know what to tell you. Alex and I spent the entire dinner talking and getting to know each other. We laughed and shared stories, we connected and it was great to see that we had a deep connection.

"Would you like to come back to my hotel room for coffee?" I asked her when our meal had ended.

"No."

"Why not?"

"All I want is you." She said before giving me a huge smile. I paid the check, and held her hand as we headed towards the door. We grabbed a cab and told the driver to take us to my hotel.