Darcy

Feeling depressed became my new forte. After Sarah’s words had pushed the reality of Leo and my situation upfront and Centre in my mind, all I could think about was how painful it was going to be to let him go. How painful it would be to go home and leave him and our love in Greece. Leo must have come to the same realization...That, or Sarah gave him the talk as well because I had no messages on my phone, nor had my short-term lover visited me in the past three days. I had even gone down to the beach and the water hole, our two favourite places. And, no Leo in sight. In order to numb the pain that was shooting bullets at my heart, I took to bed, comedies and track pants with a loose-fitting t-shirt. I hadn’t showered in days, and I didn’t care. I only got up to brush my teeth and get more comfort food. What I would give to have Lizzy here right now.

I was perfectly fine wallowing in my misery when I heard a knock at the door. “Dad, door!” I shouted. He didn't reply. Annoyed that I had to remove myself from my more permanent, than temporary spot, I huffed and slouched to the door, throwing my messy bed hair up into a less messy bun before answering the door. Fixing the placement of my top that had fallen off my shoulder, as I twisted the handle with my other hand, I opened the door to Sarah, her hand on her stomach, tears streaming down her face.

She swiftly walked past me and into the villa. Puzzled by her unannounced arrival, I followed her to my room. She paced back and forth, running her hands through her perfect hair. Judging by her face, she was lacking sleep. Her forehead was creased, and her tears fell.

“What's wrong, Sarah?” I asked, remaining seated on my bed, not feeling quite comfortable enough to be there for her in the way that she needed.

“I don’t even know where to begin.” She continued pacing and wiping tears from her cheeks. “It's probably best if you stay seated.” She looked at me, swallowing her tears for a few moments.

Sarah sat next to me, turned to face me, and crossed her legs. She ran her hand through her hair one more time and then she said two words that shocked me. “I'm pregnant” She cried again and held her stomach. “And that’s not the worst part. The guy, Dylan, well, we kind of had this crazy love affair, and dad doesn't approve of him. And the worst thing? He's nowhere to be found. I can't believe it! Dad’s furious, as is Leo! They have both been spending the past few days trying to hunt him down. But I love him, Darcy.” She cried more at her last sentence.

So that’s why Leo hadn’t been contacting me? He could have told me instead of leaving me sitting here thinking I was dumped... And then I realized I hadn’t responded to Sarah.

“You’re pregnant, and the guy has done a runner? No wonder the guys are after him,” I said, shaking my head and pushing myself to place my hand on her back to comfort her.

“You don’t understand. He’s not like that! He’s like Leo - humble, kind, loving… and I love him, I love him so much!” She paused. “I asked him to meet me for lunch after I met with you so I could tell him, and when I did, he said that he loved me but had to leave. I don’t know what to do. Dad is so mad at me, he won't talk to me unless he is yelling. Leo, of course, is still lovely to me but furious with Dylan. He kept it a secret that he knew I was still seeing him despite dad's wishes, so he blames himself.”

“Why doesn't your dad approve of him?” I asked, intrigued. Her dad was so nice; I couldn’t imagine him being judgmental of anyone.

“His family doesn't have very much money, so Dad thinks he is only with me for the money.”

Her reply shocked and disgusted me. I couldn’t believe it... What must his dad think of me then? “Surely Leo doesn't agree?” I said, anger seeping through my voice.

“No, he is like me, believes in true love,” she said lightly, brushing it off as she went onto the next thing. “So that’s why Leo hasn’t spoken to you. He’s just trying to sort everything out. He sent me to tell you. It’s the least I could do. He loves you, that’s undeniable. You could tell in the way you two danced, the way he is around you, and how he talks about you.” She smiled at me in gratitude.

This was all too much to take in, “I’ll go see him. Where is he?” I asked urgently, suddenly wanting to see him right away.

“Before you do that, there is something else I have to tell you.” She paused. “He has been doing a lot of work for Dad. In fact, he’s knee-deep in work. Got his own office and everything. You will probably need to make an appointment to see him.”

I gawked at her words, mouth open in shock, and then my expression turned into anger. “As if! That’s so ridiculous.” I shook my head.

“No, I'm serious. It's annoying, I know. I'll set up an appointment tomorrow for you. I'll tell them you're coming in at ten in the morning?” She smiled apologetically.

“Fine.” I sighed.

“Okay, well that settles it. I’ll be off, then.” She patted my leg and stood up.

“I'll walk you to the door.” I followed her, my hand in my pockets. When she opened the door, I hugged her and watched her leave. I couldn't believe she was pregnant. I couldn’t believe that was the reason Leo hadn't contacted me. I decided that the next morning, that I was going to state my arrival and make him tell me everything. I would make sure that he knew I was in it for the long run, and I was going to look good doing it. He wouldn’t ignore me anymore.

The next morning, I spent longer than necessary doing my hair and makeup, making sure that everything was perfect. I curled my hair and pinned it up around the front, made my face flawless with foundation, applied red lipstick on my lips, big winged eye-liner along the tops of my eyelids, and added just the right amount of blush.

Pleased with my appearance, I pranced to my room in my carefully picked out floral lingerie, push-up bra, cheeky-cut bottoms and suspenders that clipped into my knee-high stockings. Rolling the knee-high’s stockings up my thighs, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Damn, girl. you look good. Leo is in for a treat. I stepped my dainty feet into black stilettos. Which I only ever pulled out on special occasions.

Over the top of all my surprise layers, I went with a white floral dress that looked like it belonged in the nineteen- fifties.

Reaching Leo’s office by taxi, I observed the tall buildings covered in reflective silver metal. It looked like a very large art piece. Each shard of glass looked as if it had been shattered and strategically placed back together to create a visually pleasing aesthetic. I continued inside where a gorgeous blonde receptionist greeted me. Her light-brown eyes stood out next to her olive skin and light hair. I told her I was after Leo, and she politely buzzed his office, while subtly looking me up and down.

“He’s ready for you.” She nodded toward the direction of his office.

I walked down the carpeted halls and trailed my hand along with the glass office barriers until I saw Leo standing there, suit and all. His dark hair held back with gel, his demeanour was serious. Leaning against his desk, he spoke on the phone. He looked so handsome, so mature. A way I had not experienced him. I lightly knocked on the glass wall of his office causing him to look up. The moment he saw me, his eyes lit up and he coaxed me in. He stood there looking at me, staring me down. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought it was lust. I inched forward and his arm wrapped around my waist in an instant, pulling me to him. He covered my face in passionate kisses.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you, baby. I’m so sorry I haven’t been in contact. I wanted to ... I just ...” He looked sad.

“It’s okay. Sarah told me everything. I’m sorry you’re going through this. What can I do to help?” I asked, and as I did, he pulled me even closer.

“You can take my mind off it. That’s what you can do.” He pushed me toward his desk and lifted me up, propping me onto it and forcing my legs around his waist.

“Won’t they see us?” I was exasperated.

“They won’t see us. The office is empty today … only the receptionist, Rita, and me. She’s at the other end of the hall and won’t come down here anyway.” He slipped his hand around my body and pulled me to him, his body tense and muscular, I could feel him through his suit.

He swiped everything off his desk in one motion and pushed me onto it, lifting my dress over my head. I arched my body in suspense, causing him to gasp at what I was wearing. For a second, I thought he might not have liked it, but then he looked at me with such desire before kissing me, and tangling his hand amongst my hair. He easily unhooked my bra and flung it across the room. I became consumed with heavy breathing and lay back down on the desk, inching my back as he lay softly on me. My head was resting back on the desk when I slightly turned it and glimpsed out of the corner of my eye. I saw Rita standing there watching, so plainly as if this was a regular occurrence and no surprise to her at all.

I gasped and covered my breasts, sitting upright. Leo very quickly stood up and looked, seeing Rita briskly walked away. He quickly buttoned up his half undone shirt and rubbed his forehead with his hand. He passed me my dress, and I pulled it back over my head, not wasting any time. He buzzed Rita’s line on his work phone and grabbed my arms with both of his hands, “I’ll come see you tonight. I just have to sort this out.” He kissed me and looked through the glass as if to see Rita.

I looked where his eyes were leading before turning to leave the room, brushing my fingers along his chest, which was peeking through his two open buttons.

As I left the office, I made sure to check out Rita’s expression. She glared at me blankly, which frightened and concerned me. I made a mental note to text Leo and warm him of her odd behaviour.

Lying on my bed, I opened the messages on my phone and texted Sarah. Hey, Sarah, I visited Leo at the office today and there was a girl called Rita working at reception. She seemed to be acting a bit strange when I was there. And I was just wondering if there was anything off about her?

I changed into my track pants and a baggy t-shirt and climbed back onto my bed. I picked up my laptop and opened my internet browser, typing ‘Tumblr’ in the search bar. After scrolling through my dashboard for a few minutes, my phone buzzed. Picking it up from its place next to me, I saw I had two messages. One from Leo and one from Sarah. I opened Leo’s first. Hey, babe, coming over this afternoon, see you soon.

I then opened Sarah’s message. Hey, yeah. Rita is an old flame. She and Leo have a history. That was over a long time ago, but that’s probably why she acted weird. It was last summer.

Furious at the fact that Leo didn’t tell me, I threw my phone onto my bed and crossed my arms. I sat there, my anger brewing every minute I waited. When Leo finally arrived, I opened the door and walked back to my room, and crossed my arms.

Leo entered, holding my bra on his two fingers, laughing and swinging it around. He walked toward me and saw that I was less than impressed... “What's wrong?”

When I didn’t answer he followed up his question with another. “I know today was awkward, but Rita is very sorry, and I really didn’t know she was going to walk down the hall.”

Anger consuming me, I shouted, “When were you going to tell me about Rita?”

“What about her?” he asked, surprised by my tone.

“That you two were in love,” I said, eyeballing him.

“Who told you that?” he asked in surprise.

“I got weird vibes from her, and then Sarah confirmed it.”

“Sarah said we were in love? Hardly. We had a fling last summer. Nothing too serious. Did Sarah actually say that we were in love?”

“Well, not in so many words, but I certainly got that impression. She said that she was an old flame,” I said, suddenly feeling a bit bad that I was so quick to anger.

“She might think that,” he replied, “But I don’t. So you have nothing to worry about. It's all over on my end. It may not be for her, but that doesn't matter. I love you. That is all that matters to me.” He kissed me and pulled me in for a hug.

Suddenly it dawned on me, “Then why does she work for your dad?”

He looked at me and replied softly, “Our fathers are friends. That's all. My father could hardly fire her just because we were over.”

“Well, if you're sure, I believe you, and I love you too,” I reassured him, still not feeling too reassured.