Brilliant Disguise : FT IFC Entry

Fast Times at Barrington High Inspired Fiction Contest
Name of story: Brilliant Disguise
Penname: heavyheart21
FTABH Song Inspiration: His Girl Friday
Fiction or Fan Fiction: Fan Fiction
Rating: PG-13
To join this contest, or for more information, please see the Fast Times at Barrington High Inspired Fiction Contest posting on the fan fiction blog:
If you have questions about the contest, please PM heavyheart21.

 

Disclaimer: I do not know the members of the band The Academy Is… I do not own the song His Girl Friday.  This story is merely a figment of my overactive imagination. Oh, and La Quebrada is a real restaurant and I have absolutely nothing to do with it. Also, I admittedly don’t know much about photograph development, because it’s never really been a hobby of mine, but it’s in the song, so I felt like I should include it. I tried to keep it simple.

Author's Note: I wanted to explain that I actually began writing this using William's name, but thought I would change it to a fictional character, so I never really ended up describing him. I also continuously called him William rather then Will or Bill throughout the story, because in case I wanted to change the name, I could easily have replaced all the Williams with another male name (rather then having the computer replace all things "will" and then the word "will" turns out to be Fred or something... 'And then I Fred have to go to the Good Fred to donate some of my used clothes.' ... you get the point). And then I ended up not changing it at all. Oh well. I like him too much. Also, I wanted you to know that the length of this is 7550 words (not including this A/N), so your stories shouldn't be much longer then this (17 MS Word pages). And I also wanted to say that I miss you guys sooooooooooooooo much!!!! I miss the crazy connection we all had, and I think we should start up a new forum, which is something that maybe I'll start working on after school gets a little less crazy.  Remember that my story won't be used in the judging at all, but I spent FOREVER writing it, and I'm really excited about it, so if you read it and want to write feedback, that would be awesome and very much appreciated. 

P.S. Sorry if the formatting seems a little off on this, but I think it's the blog, because it didn't look this way until I posted it as such. Sorry :(

 

*****

 

Brilliant Disguise

 

“Will I see you on Monday?” he asked, biting down on his lip.  His eyes betrayed him, gleaming with hope, and they both knew at that moment that things were going to be different.  Now there were feelings attached.

 

Vanessa Westman didn’t have the patience for trivial things like feelings. “I don’t know,” she let a sigh escape her lips, “It doesn’t really depend on me. You know that.”

 

“Will you call at least?”

 

“I’ll call and let you know if I can make it or not,” she pulled her shirt on and started buttoning from the bottom up.

 

“I meant if you can’t come.  Can you call and talk for a while?” A little bit of whininess teetered on the edge of his voice, and Vanessa immediately became frustrated.

 

“I guess we’ll have to wait until Monday and see then,” she answered him curtly.  She checked her hair in the mirror before heading for the bedroom door.  He started to get off the bed, but she held up her hand for him to stop, “I can let myself out.”

 

Hurt filled his eyes, “I know.  Can I have a kiss before you leave at least?”

 

She hesitated at first and then leaned over and gave him a sultry kiss, “You know that things between us are purely physical, right William?” she asked, trying to pull away from him.

 

“Purely physical.  I know,” he repeated, still holding her tightly against him.

 

“Good,” she pushed away roughly, “I’ll call you when I can,” her last words rung out and she was already down the hallway and almost to the front door of the small apartment.

 

The cold air had a soothing effect on her mood, and Vanessa immediately lightened up.  She was still annoyed with William for getting attached, but a small part of her liked it.  She liked that there was someone who actually seemed to give a shit about her.  And really it wasn’t a surprise.  She knew that he had always had a little crush on her, from the moment he had ruined her film in the darkroom that she had rented at the Community Recreation Center.  Vanessa laughed to herself thinking about how he had annoyed her even from the very beginning.

 

*****

 

She had been so excited to develop this film.  The pictures were from her day off that she had spent in the park, and nature pictures were her favorite to take.  She loved capturing the brilliance of a sunset, and the random twists and turns of bark on the willowy old trees. She had decided on this one day to forgo the loneliness and familiarity of her in-home darkroom, and chose instead the less convenient option of renting out one of the darkrooms in the CRC. To her, this was an adventure of sorts, something that she had never done.  And it had all gone smoothly until the door opened and a gangly young man stood there, not blocking enough of the offensive bright white light that seeped from the connected room.

 

“Hurry up,” she had yelled at him, “Get in or out, and do it quickly.” The man had jumped into the room, startled at the severity in her tone, and the door slammed loudly behind him. Vanessa rolled her eyes.  When she had said, ‘get in or out’ she had meant, ‘get out’.  Now she would actually have to talk to this amateur idiot while she tried to save her photographs from the offense.  “Didn’t you see the red light that indicates that the room is in use?” she asked as politely as she could.

 

“Uh yeah, sorry about that,” he shuffled his feet embarrassed, “I guess I just wasn’t paying attention.”

 

“Well that would be a good thing to pay attention to next time,” Annoyance now ringing through her words.

 

“Yeah, uh, sorry.  I can leave if you want?”

 

“Don’t you dare open that door again,” she warned, “You’d better make yourself comfortable.  I’m going to be in here for a while.”

 

“Well in that case,” he said, settling into a folding chair in the corner, “I’m William.”

 

“Vanessa,” she said, turning back to her work.

 

“Vanessa, I’m really sorry. Did I ruin your pictures?”

 

“Only a few.”

 

“Can I make it up to you?”

 

She didn’t answer.  She didn’t know how he would make it up to her.  She could never get those same pictures back.  That was the thing about nature; it always was changing.

 

“Let me take you out to dinner.”

 

“I don’t even know you, and besides, I have a boyfriend.”

 

“Well we’ll go as friends,” he said, undeterred.

 

“But we’re not friends,” she pointed out, looking at him over her black framed glasses.

 

“Oh, but we can be,” a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

 

“But we’re not now, so why would I go out with you?”

 

“Because that’s how friends are made, V.  You aren’t magically born with all your friends; you have to make them somehow.”

 

“V?” she asked, raising her eyebrows high.

 

“Yep, because friends call each other nicknames.”

 

Vanessa threw her head back in laughter.  “You are not going to give up, are you?”

 

“Nope, you’re stuck with me now.”

 

She scrunched up her nose and smiled a skeptical half-smile.  “Fine. Wednesday night, seven o’clock, La Quebrada. And it’s a BYOB, so don’t forget to bring a bottle of champagne, friend.”

 

*****

 

Vanessa laughed again, struck with the memory of William showing up to La Quebrada with three bottles of champagne that Wednesday night, not sure which kind she would like.  Something about her, ‘probably my unabashed bitchiness,’ she thought to herself, had made him quite nervous, and she was still teasing him about the cork that popped out of his shaking hands and smacked into the head of their waiter as he was coming to take their order.

 

An intense shiver ran down her spine as a gust of frigid Chicago air blew around her. She pulled the collar on her dark gray pea coat up and buttoned it at the uppermost button near her shoulder, and quickened her pace.  It was only a few blocks to her house, but in winter, those few blocks seemed like miles.

 

Finally spotting her apartment building, Vanessa broke into a slow run, not stopping until she was inside the high-end stuffy lobby with its tacky fake flower arrangements and the hotel reception area look-a-like furnishings. Stopping to check her mail would subject her to talking to Mrs. Andrea (“It’s Ahn-dre-ah, with a long-A, dear”) Klinger, the older woman who lived down the hall, with the yappy puppies and a knack for gossip. Instead, she decided to walk straight to the elevators, keeping her head forward and her eyes down, trying to avoid contact. The elevator was already there and opened right away and Vanessa pressed the number 4 repeatedly, nervously, willing the door to close more quickly. Just as the heavy mirrored doors were about to meet in the middle, a wrinkled hand stuck itself in between them, forcing them open again, and Mrs. Andrea Klinger stepped into the elevator.

 

“Good afternoon, Vanessa,” Mrs. Klinger looked her up and down, obviously searching for something noteworthy that she could turn into gossip.

 

“Hi Mrs. Klinger,” Vanessa mumbled, pushing a strand of shiny black hair behind her ear.

 

“How’s Cole doing, dear?” The old woman asked the same loaded question that she always asked. What she was really asking was, ‘are you and Cole having any problems, and if so, what are they?’

 

“He’s great. Thanks for asking.” Vanessa always answered with the same thing, and a polite smile to finish it off and make it believable. Not that it wasn’t the truth, but even the slightest thing like, ‘Cole’s putting in some extra hours at the office’ or ‘Cole’s very busy with work lately’, could put the woman into a frenzy.  Automatically to her old ears, these statements would translate to ‘Cole is working a lot because we’re running out of money’, ‘Cole isn’t home much because he has a mistress’, or ‘Cole spends extra time at the office to avoid being home with me’. Only the last statement was true, but truth wasn’t something that Mrs. Andrea Klinger cared much for.  Who wanted truth when gossip was so much more interesting?

 

The bell rang indicating their arrival at the fourth floor and Vanessa stepped out quickly, her key already poised for quick door opening. “See you later, Mrs. Klinger,” she gave the woman one last glance before heading inside.

 

For most people, their home is where they feel most comfortable. For Vanessa Westman, home was like an alien planet.  As she set down her purse on the antique table by the door, and hung up her coat on the designer coat rack, she rolled her eyes.  All this stuff: from the white Italian leather sofas she was afraid to sit on, the designer kitchen counters that she wasn’t allowed to use to make “real food” in case she stained them or cut into one with a knife (as if she didn’t know how to use a knife), down to the china that they ate on every night. None of this stuff was her stuff.  None of it was even stuff she liked.  When Cole’s mother and her personal interior designer decorated the apartment using Cole’s father’s lofty budget, no expense had been spared.  This was how the apartment of a successful lawyer was supposed to look, and Cole was a successful lawyer.  Vanessa and her “silly artsy fartsy stuff” had been confined to the smallest of the three bedrooms.  That one 12x12 room housed everything important to her, including her darkroom, which she had personally designed out of the closet. Her entire life was a façade.

 

After poking her head in the freezer to see if there was any frozen food that didn’t involve “real cooking”, and coming away empty handed, she changed course and decided on a hot shower.  She grimaced as the stark white-on-white tiles seemed to scream at her as they glowed and gleamed in the earth-friendly fluorescent vanity lights. Cole’s mother didn’t care about the environment. She only cared that caring about the environment was currently stylish, and so she pretended to care, just the way that someone pretends to care when a stranger starts talking about their children’s achievements, or when a neighbor tells a story about how amazing their pet is. Cole’s mother pretended to care about pretty much everything in her life. Vanessa was convinced that she had to even pretend to herself that she really cared, just to make her life seem less miserable.

 

The shower head sputtered to life and after a moment of warming up, the water was steaming. As she stepped into it, Vanessa’s mind wandered again.

 

*****

 

It had only been 13 hours since they had left the little Mexican restaurant, and already William’s name was blinking on her phone’s screen.  “Aren’t men supposed to wait a good week or so before calling?” she joked, not bothering with a typical greeting. Vanessa could already tell this wasn’t a typical friendship that she was forming.

 

“No V,” he sighed dramatically, “Obviously that’s only the case when we go out with women that we actually like.”

 

Vanessa laughed, pleased that he was starting to feel more comfortable using her brand of sarcastic humor, “Oh William, how you’ve hurt me so.”

 

He chuckled, “Not my intention at all, I assure you.”

 

“So why did you call if not to break my fragile little heart, yet not because you - and I quote, ‘actually like’ me?”

 

More laughter from his side, “It’s Thursday,” he stated as if that explained it all.

 

“I need more information then that. I already knew it was Thursday, but what about Thursday has you calling me?”

 

“I’m lonely and –”

 

“How sad for you,” she interrupted with a smile, knowing where this was going.

 

“Yeah… well, you should come over and play with me.”

 

Silence emanated from Vanessa’s side of the phone.  What exactly did that mean? Play was such an interesting word. Used so innocently in childhood and so naughtily during adulthood that one could never know, unless it was specified, which meaning was intended.

 

“Uhh…” William had apparently noticed his blunder, “er… I mean play, play games. Will you come over and play games with me? Not play like, play that way… ugh. Games.”

 

Vanessa giggled this time at his awkwardness, “That all depends on what kinds of games you have.”

 

“All kinds. What kind of game do you want to play?”

 

“You’re the one who invited me over, William. What games do you have?”

 

“Video games, board games…” he stopped, trying to think of what other kinds of games there were.

 

“What board games do you have? Do you have Clue?”

 

“Yeah, but you can’t play that with two people.”

 

“I’m only coming over if we can play Clue,” Vanessa smirked. She was bluffing. She was so bored that she would’ve gone over his house if he said that his only game was Risk (which she despised), but there was no way in hell that she would ever let him in on that.

 

“Fine,” she could hear his smile on the other side of the line.

 

“Good. I’ll come over now. Text me your address,” she smiled as she hung up the phone without a formal goodbye.

 

They had spent the entire afternoon playing games, and when she received the traditional “I’m probably sleeping at the office tonight because I have so much work to do” Thursday night call from Cole, William invited her to stay for a glamorous dinner of pizza and beer, picnic style in the middle of the living room floor. The informality of it all was so appealing, that there was no way that she would have turned down the offer, even if she’d gotten another call from Cole stating that he would not, in fact, be staying at the office over night and would be home for dinner for a change.

 

Beer had turned to wine after dinner, and games had turned to lounging on the couch and having one of the most in-depth conversations of Vanessa’s life. She hadn’t remembered falling asleep, and certainly did not recall when William had draped a blanket over her in the middle of the night.  That had been the first Thursday that she’d stayed at his place. The first of many.

 

*****

 

Rinsing the last of the conditioner out of her hair, Vanessa leaned over and turned the water off.  As she stepped out of the shower she could hear the phone ringing, but not really wanting to run for it, she let it ring. After the third ring, the answering machine clicked on, “This is Vanessa and Cole,” her own voice rang out through the apartment, “We’re not available right now, but leave a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.”

 

“Vanessa,” Cole cleared his throat after saying her name, and the habit clued her in to what he was about to say, “Um, listen, I’m working real hard on the Smith’s case. I’m going to be here late tonight. I don’t know what time I’m coming home, if I’m coming home, so go ahead and have dinner without me.  Sorry, sweetheart.”

 

He didn’t sound sorry, and Vanessa knew that he probably really wasn’t.  Being the youngest lawyer at such an established firm meant that Cole usually got all of the worst cases, but he loved his job so much that he would put all of his energy and devotion into those dull, boring cases.  She pictured him huddling over his desk until the wee hours of the morning, and then passing out on the couch in his office with some boring law book on his chest, and a dozen folders scattered on the floor around him.

 

If he was anyone else, she probably wouldn’t have believed that he was actually working all these late nights. She would picture him instead, taking a leggy blonde to dinner, or meeting a beautiful brunette woman at a club.  But Cole was Cole. He was sweet and loyal and dull, and had absolutely no sex drive. He was her exact opposite. From time to time guilt would flood through Vanessa, but then he would call and cancel their dinner plans, or stay over night at the office, or scold her for drinking coffee on the living room couch, or make a crack about her art, and the guilt would fly straight out the window.

 

She knew it would probably be easier just to leave him. It wasn’t like they were married or had children, or anything really tying her to him anymore, but habit and nostalgia for the old days when they actually loved each other and had a good relationship, would kick in when the thoughts of leaving began to enter her head, and then she would decide to stay.

 

Vanessa padded barefoot to her room and opened the top dresser drawer looking for something comfortable to wear. She decided on a pair of old sweatpants, and a long sleeved tee, and something about the way she tugged the shirt over her head made her think again of William.

 

*****

 

Weeks had passed and she and William had grown pretty much inseparable. Fridays and weekends were reserved for Cole of course, but during the week days, Vanessa was always making plans with her new best friend.

 

One particular Thursday night, the friends were at a nearby dive bar seeing some of the local musical talent.  As the night wore on, and drinks were refilled time and time again, Vanessa’s mind became less and less clear.

 

“V, I think you’ve had enough. I’m flagging you,” William laughed, watching her trying to suck the alcohol out of a piece of ice that had been in the bottom of her drink.

 

“Silly,” she grabbed his shoulder, “you can’t flarg me. Only the bartender can do that.”

 

“Flarg?” he shook hard, and his face became brilliant red with laughter.  Vanessa joined him, realizing what she had said.

 

“Maybe we should go,” she giggled, and the proceeded to fall off of her barstool, causing another wave of laughter.

 

“Sounds good,” William put his arm around her, supporting most of her weight as they walked out of the bar.

 

They stumbled out onto the street and into the warm, early autumn air.  “Look at the stars,” Vanessa pulled William’s arm with one hand and with the other, pointed at the sky.  On the clear night, they could see everything. 

“They’re beautiful,” he murmured, but kept walking. Vanessa kept her head turned to the sky, “V, I need you to look where you’re going, sweetie. I can’t guide you completely.”

 

“But I want to look at the stars!” she whined, and pulled herself away from his body, plopping down randomly on the sidewalk and laying back so that she could continue to look up without straining her neck.

 

William stood, looking amusedly at her, and held out his hand, “C’mon Vanessa, let’s go.”

 

“No William,” she took his hand, but tugged on it, trying to pull him down, “Stop and smell the roses once in a while.” 

 

He gave into her demands and lay down next to her on the sidewalk. She smiled and moved her head so that it rested on his chest. William smiled at her closeness as he wrapped one arm around her and folded the other arm behind his head.

 

“I could fall asleep like this,” Vanessa tilted her head up to look at his face, and smiled.

 

William smiled too, “Let’s not make you too comfortable then. We don’t want you falling asleep in the middle of the sidewalk.”

 

“Will you take me to your house?” she whispered, “It’s closer and I don’t want to be home by myself. It’s too lonely.”

 

“Of course,” William moved to get up but hesitated, he hated to break the intimate moment that they were sharing.

 

“Yay!” Vanessa, suddenly full of energy, jumped up in a rush and started running drunkenly down the street towards William’s place. He smiled after her for a second before joining her.

 

“Can I borrow some shorts and a t-shirt?” Vanessa asked as William flicked on the living room light.

 

“Yeah, come on,” he led her through the apartment to his room and she sat on the bed as he rooted through his drawers looking for something that would fit her. “Here,” he handed her a pair of basketball shorts and a Blue Oyster Cult t-shirt.

 

“Thanks,” she took them, and to William’s surprise, started taking off her clothes right in front of him.  Flustered, he turned back toward the dresser and started aimlessly sorting through it again.  When he turned back around, she was sprawled on her back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, “That crack in your ceiling looks like Jesus,” she giggled, “You have a holy ceiling.”

 

William raised his eyebrows and looked up at the crack across his ceiling. It was pretty much a straight line, “And you are very drunk.”

 

“So what if I am?” Vanessa rolled onto her side and stared at him, “You’re drunk too.”

 

“Not nearly as drunk as you,” he noted that she looked really comfortable on his bed, and not wanting to be rude said, “You can sleep on my bed tonight if you want. I’ll take the couch in the other room.”

 

“Don’t be silly,” she sat up and reached her arms out for him, pulling him toward her so quickly that he stumbled, “if I wanted to sleep alone I could’ve gone to my house. I told you I didn’t want to be lonely.”

 

“Uh…okay?” William stood in front of her, not knowing what to do. He knew that Vanessa and Cole’s relationship was messed up, that they weren’t getting along, and they weren’t seeing much of each other, but he didn’t want to be the reason it was ending.

 

Vanessa stood and pressed her slim body against his, slinking her arms around his torso. She was pressed so tightly to him that he could feel her heart hammering faster and faster in anticipation, and his mind changed instantly. He didn’t care about Cole and Vanessa’s relationship issues. How could he care about the feelings of a man who had everything, and yet wasted it?

 

The next morning, before she opened her eyes against the offensive sunlight, Vanessa smiled at the warmth that she felt wrapped in William’s arms.  When she did open her eyes, she turned around and smiled at him, but her smile was met with a face full of confusion and anxiety. “What’s wrong?” she asked quietly.

 

“You’re not mad?” his expression was one of a man bracing himself against an attack.

 

“Why would I be mad?” Vanessa asked, confused.

 

“Because we had sex, and you were drunk. Aren’t you pissed at me?” He grimaced.

 

She sighed, “No, I had fun. Besides, it’s not like you forced me to have sex with you. I’m the one who initiated it.”

 

“But you were drunk,” he protested.

 

“That doesn’t mean that I regret it, William.  Didn’t you have fun?”

“Well, yeah,” he nodded sheepishly, still not letting his guard down fully, “Of course I had fun.”

 

“Good,” she smiled and climbed out of the bed, looking around her for her clothes, “I have to go now, but we should do it again sometime.”

 

William sat up, “But what about Cole? Are you going to end it with him?”

 

Vanessa looked confused, “Why would I do that?” Her voice was as innocent as a child’s.

 

“Because he’s your boyfriend! You live together!” William got out of bed and pulled on a pair of shorts, “And you just slept with me, and then said that we should do it again some time.”

 

“Oh William,” she walked over to where he stood and cupped his face in her hands, “Cole has a love affair with his job. It’s not fair to me. He spends all his time there, and even when he’s home, he’s thinking about it. So what if I want to have a little fun?”

 

“But…”

 

She cut him off, “If you don’t want to sleep with me again, that’s fine. I don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to do… but I just want to have fun.”

 

She finished putting on her clothes while he just stood there in silence. She knew that she had given him a lot to think about, and she could almost see his brain working, weighing the pros and cons.  “Call me if you decide anything,” she kissed him on the cheek before letting herself out of the apartment.

 

By the time she walked the few blocks home, there was a voicemail waiting for her on her machine. All it said was, “I’m in.”

 

*****

 

Her stomach grumbled, and Vanessa decided to check the fridge once again for food. The emptiness of it made her cringe. Everything inside it had to be prepared and she was in no mood for that tonight. She walked to a small drawer in the kitchen counter and slid it open, searching for some take out menus.  The phone rang again, but this time Vanessa was able to answer it.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Vanessa, it’s Cole. Did you get my message from before?”

 

“Mmhm,” she affirmed and nodded to herself.

 

“Well, I was talking to some of the other guys here and they feel like if we pull an all-nighter tonight and again tomorrow night, the partners will really appreciate our work.”

 

“So what exactly are you telling me?” Vanessa snapped.

 

“Well if I’m going to stay here tonight and Friday too, we’re going to have to cancel our dinner reservations for Friday night,” he said it his dull voice, and almost in a way that made her feel as if he were talking down to her.

 

Finally, her irritation won out, “What?” she spoke through clenched teeth, “Fridays and Saturdays are the only times I get to see you.”

 

“This is too important Vanessa. Why can’t you just understand that this is what’s important to me right now. This is my life! I want to make a good impression on the partners.”

 

“Why does it even make a difference?” Vanessa cried out, “You can’t even become a partner until you’ve worked there for seven years! You have six more to go. I’m sure that this one case isn’t going to shorten that length of time.”

 

“You obviously don’t understand.”

 

“No. You’re exactly right, Cole. I don’t understand. I don’t understand how you can sacrifice our relationship constantly for your piece of shit job.”

 

He laughed one little cold-hearted, sarcastic chuckle, “At least I have a real job.”

 

Vanessa couldn’t even string together a coherent response to that, and so she slammed the phone onto its hook and hung up on him. Tears streamed down her face and she sobbed quietly into her hand as she slouched against the counter. She glanced at the open drawer of menus and then at the white sofa and the plush, white carpeting, and as anger flared through her, she picked up the phone again.

 

“Uh, hey V,” William’s mellow voice answered her call, “Thought I wasn’t going to be talking to you until Monday or something like that.”

 

“Indian or Chinese?” she asked him, not offering an explanation.

 

“I don’t know,” he replied, “I tend to agree more with a lot of Indian philosophies, but there are some things I don’t agree with. And the Chinese are the same way I guess, but a little less agreeable, at least when it comes to politics. Indians have some cool movies though, so they get a point for that, but oh wait, the Chinese have the Great Wall. That’s like 20 points, but…”

 

“I wasn’t asking you whose culture you enjoy more,” Vanessa interrupted, “I was asking whose food you enjoy more.”

 

William paused for a moment, “Are you inviting me to dinner?”

 

“Yeah,” Vanessa grinned through her tears, “Take-out at my place.”

 

“What?” She could practically hear his jaw drop, “We’re never allowed to go to your place. In fact, I’ve never been to your place at all.”

 

“I think it’s time to change that,” she smirked, “Get your ass over here.”

 

“Umm, okay,” he still seemed shocked, but was about to hang up when Vanessa stopped him.

 

“William, wait!”

 

“What is it?” his heart quickened as he thought about how she had probably changed her mind already.

 

“Indian or Chinese?”

 

“Oh,” he let out a relieved sigh, “Chinese.”

 

“Good,” she smiled wide, “See you soon.”

 

By the time William showed up at her house twenty minutes later, Vanessa had changed her clothes again to something a little nicer, washed the tears off of her face, and even applied a little makeup. “I thought you were the delivery guy,” she said as she opened the door to reveal William, handsome as ever, leaning against the door frame.

 

“Disappointed?” he teased, and she stuck her tongue out at him while moving aside to let him in. “Whoa,” his breath caught as he took in his surroundings, “Sweet digs.”

 

Vanessa laughed, “Not really, but if by ‘sweet digs’ you really mean, ‘over-priced shit that I don’t like or need’ then yes, I guess so.”  William rolled his eyes at her, but didn’t say anything. “I’ll show you my room,” she started to lead him down the hall.

 

“But what about the food? Shouldn’t we wait until after dinner?” William asked.

 

“Not my bedroom,” she opened the door to her art room and stood back to let him walk in first, “my real ‘sweet digs’.”

 

Vanessa could watch William’s jaw drop this time as he looked around at the easels and the drafting tables piled with artwork. Huge photographs and painting hung in black frame around the room, and Williams couldn’t believe his eyes. He had only ever seen a few pieces of Vanessa’s artwork and he’d had no idea about how truly talented she really was. “This is fantastic,” he said, obviously in awe of her talent, “I can’t believe this. It’s amazing.” He turned and kissed her passionately, and for once, instead of breaking away and lecturing him about how their relationship was only existent in the bedroom and strictly platonic outside of it, Vanessa caved in and let herself relax against him and enjoy it.

 

The doorbell rang again, interrupting them before things could get more heated, and this time when Vanessa answered it, it really was the delivery man with four bags of Chinese food.  “Holy shit!” William exclaimed as he grabbed two of the bags and carried them to the counter, “How much food did you get?”

 

“I got a little of everything. I couldn’t decide on what I wanted, and I wasn’t sure what you would want, so I figured I’d give us lots of choices,” she reached into one of the cupboards to grab two plates, and handed one to William.  It was white china with platinum colored design etched around the lip of the plate. William looked at her like she was crazy.

 

“Are you kidding?” he raised his eyebrows, “I’m not eating off of that. It’s your fine china! What if I break it?”

 

Vanessa snorted, “Break it all you want, I don’t care,” and as if to emphasize her point, loosened her grip on her own plate, and let it slide to the ground. Porcelain shattered around her feet, and without blinking an eye, she turned back to the cupboard, grabbed another plate and started spooning General Tso’s Chicken onto it.

 

William stared at her wide eyed, “Okay then,” he started dishing up his own food and then headed into the dining room.

 

“Where are you going?” Vanessa asked him. She walked into the living room and plopped down on the impeccable white couch.

 

He stood, mid-stride, staring at her like she was crazy again, “Uh, V? Um… white sofa?” he muttered more to himself then to her. She looked at him expectantly, obviously not hearing what he had said, and then motioned impatiently at the couch. William opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again, not wanting to start anything. After a moment, his thoughts got the best of him, “V, is everything alright?”

 

Her forkful of shrimp and vegetables stopped halfway to her mouth and she looked at him with puppy eyes, “Of course everything’s alright. What do you mean?”

 

William knew she was lying, but didn’t want to pry if she didn’t want to tell him. Instead he shrugged and sat on the other end of the couch.

 

“Do you want to stay over tonight?” Vanessa asked suddenly, causing William to choke on a few pieces of fried rice.

 

“What about Cole?” he managed to choke out after about a minute of coughing.

 

“He’s at the office for the next two days and nights,” she smiled a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “So you can stay over both nights if you want. Hell, you could probably move in and he wouldn’t even notice, I’m sure.”

 

“But tomorrow night is Friday night.”

 

“And he won’t be here. Work is too important to him. This case that he’s working on is way more important then silly old me.”

 

At last William knew exactly what Vanessa was angry about; why she had dropped the plate, was eating on the sofa, even the reason why she’d invited him over. “V, I don’t know how comfortable I am with this,” he admitted, “I understand that you’re upset and hurt because of what Cole’s doing, but I don’t think it’s the best idea for me to stay over here.”

 

“I’m not upset,” Vanessa’s body opposed her words as tears pricked behind her eyes. She couldn’t stand for him to not stay the night at this point. She would see it as another rejection, and then she would be right back to the same place that she was with Cole. William was supposed to counter Cole’s rejection; it was why she had invited him over in the first place, “It’s just that it’s too stuffy in here. I want to have some fun,” and with that, she laid her plate on the rug, next to the sofa and crawled across it to William. She knew he may be able to talk himself out of staying over, but if she physically engaged him, he would never be able to leave, “Stay and have some fun with me,” she whispered against his lips before kissing him deeply.

 

*****

 

The sun shone brightly through the sheer white curtains in the bedroom and Vanessa smiled as she breathed in deeply. She relished in the feeling of being tightly held by a man for once. Usually when she slept in the same bed as Cole, he would turn his back to her, claiming that he couldn’t sleep closely to another person. When she slept in the same bed as William, they would stay on their own sides of the bed, respectful of each other’s boundaries as well as the boundaries in their own relationship. This time was different though. Vanessa had let down her boundaries and finally allowed William to hold her through the night. And now, the morning after, wrapped in his arms, she couldn’t help but smile at a revelation she’d had sometime during the middle of the night. She, Vanessa Westman, was in love with William Beckett.

 

This was new to her. Of course she’d loved men before, but never had she been in love. Never had she gotten butterflies when thinking about a man the way that she did now as she thought about William. Never had she felt nervous about what she was going to say to him when he woke up. And boy did she feel nervous. Thinking about it made her heart speed and her face flush. She wondered if he loved her too, and what she should do about it, how to find out, and if she should tell him.  A sudden noise interrupted her thoughts, and panic shot from her heart, to her brain, then right back down to her stomach as her head cleared and she realized what exactly was going on.

 

“What the…” she heard a man’s voice question in the living room, and she remembered the plates of food, abandoned on the floor next to the couch, the broken plate in the kitchen, and bags of Chinese food that they’d forgotten and left on the counter all night. “Vanessa?” the man called her name, and she slipped silently from the bed and pulled her robe on.

 

“Hi Hon,” she tiptoed out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind her, and found herself face to face with Cole.

 

“What happened in here?” he asked, “What did you do? Why is there a broken plate?”

“Because I broke it,” she answered back matter-of-factly.

 

“And why are there all these bags of food in the kitchen? And didn’t I tell you to never eat in the living room? You know how much my parents paid for the redecorating. The least you could do is show a little respect, Vanessa.”

 

“Respect?” she questioned, “Why bother? I’m a person and you don’t respect me, yet I’m supposed to respect the material goods your parents bought us?”

 

He ignored her, spotting the extra plate, “Who was here?”

 

“A friend of mine. He’s still here.” There was no point in lying or even trying to mask the truth, because she knew it was only a matter of time before Cole would walk into the bedroom and see William anyway.

 

“Where is he?” Cole looked around, obviously expecting to see someone who he’d missed sleeping on the couch or the floor.

 

“He’s in the bedroom, asleep. I was in there with him until a minute ago.”

 

Cole didn’t say anything at first. He just stood quietly and stared at her, taking in her robe and messy hair. “So you’re having an affair.” It wasn’t a question, more of a solemn statement.

 

Vanessa sighed thinking that she might as well be truthful, “Yes, if you can call it that. If you consider what we have an actual relationship.”

 

Cole grimaced, “What do you mean by that? Of course we’re in a relationship.”

 

“Cole,” Vanessa grabbed for his hand and looked into his eyes, “We live together, but that’s about the extent of the things we do together. I can’t even remember the last time we were intimate with each other. And now you’ve taken to cancelling our dates, which are the only times I get to spend real quality time with you. I’m tired of being second to your job. I need to be your first priority, even if it’s only sometimes.”

 

The bedroom door opened and William walked out of it, donning his pants from the night before, “V – what’s…” he stopped dead as he saw Cole standing squarely in front of Vanessa. They were obviously arguing and he had a feeling that his sudden appearance wasn’t going to make anything easier. “I’m sorry,” he said to Cole, “But it’s not what it looks like.”

 

“He already knows,” Vanessa said to William, and when she looked at him, he could tell that it was somehow different, that things had changed.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said quietly to Cole, “Let me just get my stuff and get out of here.” He started to head toward the bedroom when Vanessa spoke up.

 

“Wait, William. I want to come with you.”

 

“Into the bedroom?” he whispered, confused and looking at her like she was crazy.

 

“No,” she shook her head, “I want to come with you, as in home with you. Is that okay?”

 

“Are you sure?” he looked back and forth between Vanessa and Cole, “V, are you sure that’s what you want?”

 

She nodded and then turned to Cole, “I’m going to go home with William. For good.”

 

Cole didn’t say anything. He stood silently with his hands still in his coat pockets. No emotion showed on his face at all, and Vanessa had no idea what he was feeling. For all she knew, he could be ecstatic to finally be rid of her, or horribly heartbroken over the whole ordeal. She had no idea, and she didn’t know if she would ever know, because she knew that with Cole’s inability to show feelings, he certainly wasn’t about to tell her right now. And she had no idea when, or if, she would see him again after this.

 

“Vanessa,” William grabbed her arm once they walked back into the bedroom, and it surprised her to hear her full name on his lips, “I don’t want you to make a mistake here…”

 

She interrupted him, “Make a mistake? Do you not want me to come with you, because if that’s the way you feel…” she didn’t finish her sentence and just let her thoughts drift.

 

He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her fingers softly, “Of course I want you to come with me. It’s all I’ve wanted for a very long time, but I’m worried about you. This all seems so sudden. Yesterday afternoon you were telling me that you didn’t think you would call me anytime soon, and now you’re leaving your live in boyfriend to come home with me. What happened?”

 

Vanessa’s heart fluttered and she felt queasy, “I realized that I love you,” her breath caught in her chest, and the seconds that it took William to react seemed like hours.

 

“I love you too,” he leaned down, cupping her face lightly, and kissed her. It was a take-your-breath-away, loosing-track-of-time type of kiss, and he had to be the one to break it, “I don’t think it’s entirely appropriate for us to do that right now with Cole in the other room.”

 

Vanessa nodded her agreement and pulled out a suitcase from the closet, throwing everything that was hers that she could get her hands on, into it.  There wasn’t very much stuff to grab actually. None of the furniture belonged to her except for the stuff in the studio, so basically it was all clothes and accessories. Nothing was folded, nothing was even ‘placed’. Instead it was a heaping pile of clothes thrown into a suitcase in a flurry of anxiety and hope that made up her feelings for William, and anger and hurt that summed up her feelings toward Cole.

 

“Ready?” William zipped her stuffed suitcase and picked it up off the bed, giving her a little smile. He was trying to hold back on the happiness. This was, after all, a victorious moment for him, and one that he had waited for for quite some time, but he felt like the situation at hand was too solemn to feel that way. Conflicted, his emotions fluttered on the edge of excitement and anxiety.

 

“Walk of shame,” Vanessa squeezed his hand and gave him as reassuring a smile as she could muster at her pathetic joke.

William took a deep breath as he opened the bedroom door and stepped into the little hallway, but Cole wasn’t there. He wasn’t in the living room, or the kitchen, or the dining room. “He’s gone,” Vanessa whispered, looking around her.

 

“I don’t really blame him. I wouldn’t want to stick around if the situation were reversed.”

 

Vanessa nodded and turned around, taking one last look at the apartment. She didn’t know what she would do with her artwork and supplies. Perhaps she would have Cole send them to her, or she would have friends pick them up, or she would stop by when he wasn’t around. But other then that she found it surprisingly easy to let go of the world that she didn’t belong in.  She placed her key on the table by the door and locked it behind her, locking in the Vanessa that she wasn’t anymore, and stepping out into a world that she had yet to discover, where she would get to be herself with a man that she loved. She would be his girl on Fridays, and every day.