Drinks (2)

Celine kept scrolling the names on Max’s phone and found Lana was the most frequently dialed number. So she secretly added another Lana entry with her number in it. ‘Hehehe… He will not get my number that easily. Let him figure that out himself,’ she smiled, pleased with herself.

‘Heeeey! What are you smiling at?’ he asked. ‘Don’t think about giving me your boss’s phone number or your favorite chicken restaurant, okay?’ he looked at the number she was entering.

She smiles again. ‘I promise I will not do that to you. Here I’ll even dial it for you so you know I’m telling the truth,’ she said, clicking on the number she added. He believed her only when he heard her phone ring. So he disconnected the call and placed his phone inside his pocket without looking at the entry she made. He wanted to concentrate on her before she walked away.

‘I’m from San Jose, and my team and I came here to meet with a client. You’ll see me here often enough since we are doing a lot of transactions with this company. Would you mind if I call you to go out on a date with me sometime?’ he asks eagerly.

Suddenly, she felt apprehensive. He was from another city and worried she might never see him again. She abhorred the idea of one-night stands, and even though Max was handsome and charismatic, she wasn’t willing to allow herself to be taken advantage of. Her love life is almost non-existent, and now the prospect of a long-distance relationship made her heart sink. ‘Hmmm… I see...,’ she thinks and purses her lips. What she wanted was to meet somebody from out of town, but not a plane ride away. Get to know them, and then eventually fall in love.

Celine wants to marry for life, like her parents. They loved each other deeply, and the tragedy their family experienced did not tear them apart. They even seem stronger now more than ever.

Her dad still blames himself for what happened, but her mom never did. She said it was a tragedy and that they should rely on each other to be stronger. They were childhood sweethearts, so their bond was stronger.

She wanted something like that but was never lucky enough in love. After the accident, they wouldn’t even let her go out with her friends. They finally let go when she started college, but nights like these were pretty rare. Her dad was still paranoid and did not let her out of his sight.

It took a long minute for her to answer. She thought, ‘I should go out with him, right? I worked so hard to win his attention all night, and now I’m backing out? This might not even go anywhere. Who knows?’

She said, ‘Sure, you call me the next time you’re in town. When are you leaving?’

‘We’re leaving tomorrow night. I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me. What do you think?’ he asked.

She smiled, ’Sure, if you can find me.’

Max frowned, not understanding what she meant, so he shrugged it off. He invited her to say hi to his friends. Convincing her that if they were going to see each other again anyway, why not start now? She agreed.

He walked her back towards the group to introduce her to everyone. ‘Guys, this is Celine. We met in the restroom,’ and everybody laughed. ‘This is my brother Jeremy, my sister Clara and this…’

‘Hi Mr. Colfer,’ she said shyly. Everyone knew Mr. Colfer. He has been in the news lately, and all the women have fantasized about him being their husband.

Max frowned at Celine’s reaction. ‘How does she know Sebastian? Did they use to date? You asshole!’ he glared at Sebastian. ‘You can’t have my sister and Celine at the same time.

I’m going to beat this guy up if it ends up that he used to date Celine.’ ’His mind was racing with all these terrible thoughts, and he couldn’t help but glare at Sebastian.

Jeremy shakes his head as he finishes his drink and gazes into the empty glass. It was typical of his older brother to pursue a married woman, look for a cheap thrill, or get beaten up by a jealous boyfriend by the end of the night. He had a reputation for being amorous and not asking enough questions when it came to potential partners.

‘Hello, Ms. Jacobs,’ Sebastian nods at Celine. ‘Nice to see you here. Are you enjoying yourself?’ he asked. It caught him a little unaware when Max said they were all siblings. ‘Siblings, his report said nothing about that. Wait! Maybe it did, and he just disregarded it because none of them looked like the other.’

Clara was having almost the same thoughts as Max. ‘Uh oh, I wonder if Celine is dating this guy. Let’s see who wins this pissing match. I’m with my brother here,’ she thought, looking from one to the other. She was grinning when she saw Max glaring at Sebastian.

‘Ms. Jacobs works in our accounting department,’ Sebastian explains. ‘And her dad works in our finance department,’ he added, ‘I thrive in knowing all my employees, no matter what department they work for.’

Sebastian explained he walks around the company from time to time to observe and talk to people in different departments to ensure that his employees were well cared for. He was more of a hands-on person, even though people always thought he was very standoffish.

This explanation cleared the air for Max, and he was happy that there wasn’t any dating history between them. It certainly improved his chances with Celine.

After some time, Max tries to recount their encounter at the restroom. He tells everyone what Celine said, mimicking her voice, which he was doing horribly, ‘If you stalk me or try to sell me something, I will give your number to the sex hotline.’

She laughed from her belly like she used to do when she was a kid, that kind of laugh that was unique to her.

Clara stared at Celine with outstretched arms and tears slowly running down her face.

‘That’s not what I said? Don’t exaggerate,’ Celine felt embarrassed. She laughed out once more, as she slapped Max’s arm, not aware of Clara’s reaction.