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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 14, 2015 16:50:11 GMT
Somewhere down the line from all of the history that had shaped any former animosity, Brandon has come to a quick realization. As part of the busy and competitive corporate world of New York, it was better to maintain a working relationship with someone than miss the opportunity to do business with them. Or rather, to keep your friends close and your potential business rivals closer. It was that thought that had been the catalyst for some sort of regular lunch appointment with Parker Blye.
Admittedly, the first appointment had not gone swimmingly. Mostly because Brandon supposed he had a hard time letting the past stay in the past considering the malicious way that they had attacked not only each other, but the company they kept. But technology wasn't something that any company could do without in this day and age, and so it was easier to power through the meeting and move on to the next one.
After a few months of forced meetings, he started falling into a more casual routine. Not everything always had to be about business, and not everything had to be construed as an attack. And so instead these lunch meetings became much more about maintaining a civil enough relationship for it to be mutually beneficial for all involved parties, but also to give Brandon an opportunity to establish some sort of odd friendship.
And now with Cooper Benson in attendance, it was almost like they had built an strange little trio.
The waitress came over to take their drink orders and he ordered a scotch. It was a lunch sort of drink, he figured. While Cooper hadn't been in attendance at the reunion, the fact that it had been the starting point for this thing with Amber had been at the forefront of his mind all morning. It was the last time he had been in the same room with Parker anyway.
"You missed one hell of a reunion, Benson." He said, taking a drink from his newly delivered glass.
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Post by Cooper Benson on Aug 14, 2015 17:01:33 GMT
If Cooper Benson had never believed he'd be having a civil conversation with Brandon Finn, but time changed men. And while he wasn't exactly sure what he felt about Parker Blye, other than the fact that he easily out lifted him any time they were both working out in the hotel gym, he found that sometimes needing to do serious business changed a man. Ten years ago, he would have never really felt prepared to take over for his father at the head of their company, but after spending several years in Austin Texas running that division of their properties and now raising a 3 year old little girl on his own, he believed that if he could dress her for pre-school before his morning coffee, he could do anything.
He grinned at Brandon at the mention of the reunion. "I gave the nanny the night off and couldn't find a sitter. Heard that it was quite the affair though," he acknowledged. After all, it had gone on in the hotel he owned and lived in. There wasn't much he didn't already know about it. He contemplated asking Brandon about the return of Amber Jacobs, but decided against it. "Did I miss anything interesting?" he asked with a smirk before asking the waitress for a new drink.
"I mean, I did hear that I came incredibly close to missing a cat fight at the bar," he pointed out. "Which is all well and good as I might have been liable for that happening on hotel property."
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 14, 2015 17:12:58 GMT
Parker cringed a bit at the mention of the reunion. He cast a slightly apologetic glance up at Brandon Finn, knowing that in retrospect he'd gone for the jugular with Amber Jacobs without any provocation. "Olivia is...decidedly the same as when I last saw her. Save for the fact that she's probably gone a considerable amount of time without anyone to go toe-to-toe with of equal measure. Amber's return, I suppose, changed that."
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I did hear that the night dissolved into karaoke once the majority of anyone of note left," he joked. He sipped from his drink and eyed both men. To some degree he felt as though he was on uneven footing. Even though he was doing quite well for himself, he was representing an less established company and had been out of the city for a considerable period of time before returning. Though he realized Cooper himself had just returned in the wake of his father's passing, Parker still felt as though it was different. But after all, he'd always felt like a newcomer and an outsider.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 14, 2015 17:29:41 GMT
He had nearly forgotten about the altercation between Parker and Amber. In the aftermath that followed, he supposed he had forgotten a lot of what really had occurred at the reunion. It also came back to him sharply that he thought he might have brought a date - who he then promptly left to follow the stunning blonde in the much-too-tempting black dress.
So much had really changed in the last decade and it had taken the reunion for Brandon to not only realize it, but come to terms with it. Amber was different in so many ways, and she had pointed out his differences too, but it had taken the mention of Cooper's daughter to realize that nobody had been untouched by change.
At Amber's name he had felt the compulsion to stifle any words that made have dared to cross his lips with another drink from his glass. Yes, her return had certainly changed things as well, for more than just Olivia.
"It definitely brought back memories seeing them going at it like that," he agreed, nodding slightly. He turned to Parker, "Can't you tell her to retract her claws every now and then?"
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 14, 2015 17:45:35 GMT
Parker stared at Brandon for a long moment, "Honestly Finn, I imagine you've had more contact with Liv in the past ten years than I have so perhaps you could try. Though for all of the years I've known her I believe I can still safely say that it won't do very much good."
Cooper snorted a bit at Parker and rolled his eyes. "Thirty years in a city with literally millions of women, droves of them all desperate for attention and someone to buy them a drink. You'd think we would have added new ones into the cycle by now," he took a sip of his drink, checked his phone to make sure he had no new messages and pocketed it again. It was just around the time that his daughter would return home with the nanny, and he typically received a text once she was safely seated in the kitchen with a snack in front of her and Sesame Street on somewhere in the background.
Parker chuckled. "I would try to incorporate some new faces, but I don't quite feel like sacrificing them to the women we already have around." Parker didn't mind dealing with Cooper, in terms of real estate he stood the chance of being the golden investor for Parker's start-up, and Brandon was about to step into one of the most important roles in the city of Manhattan whenever his father stepped down from his company. Although he wouldn't have chosen either of these men ten years ago to sit for lunch with, he had to admit, they were fair company now.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 14, 2015 19:16:46 GMT
Tilting his glass to watch the amber liquid press against each side of the glass, he used the idle moment to try and shake the thought of Olivia Warren from his head. Fair point, he admitted to himself, he probably had seen her more than Parker had. The problem he had always had with Liv was that she was easy - and not just in the way that some women tend to be around men, but easy in the sense that he thought that he understood her. Getting to know who she was as a person was easy, calling her after a former fiancee had left had been easy, sleeping with her had been easy. But it had also been easy to forget. Thankfully she had never been the type to call, wondering what their plans were for the weekend and if they were going to get drinks later.
And that had been easy too. No strings attached - nothing but calling it was it was.
Not being one to spend much time perusing the gossip column, he wasn't sure if their names had ever made the paper linked together. Though he supposed it would have made sense. It was possible that Brandon Finn and socialite Olivia Warren being spotted leaving an event together had been big news. He wondered, momentarily panicked, if Amber had ever seen it.
"No," he said, agreeing with Parker. "It probably wouldn't do much good at all."
At Cooper's statement of their cycle of women, he had to smirk. "Just because you, gentlemen, have not been able to break the cycle, doesn't mean that's always been true for all of us." And while he knew that his night probably consisted of calling Amber and asking her out for dinner later that evening, he felt he had a reputation to protect. After all, how were these men to know that having her back in his life had already changed his ways?
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Post by Cooper Benson on Aug 14, 2015 20:29:25 GMT
Cooper eyed Brandon for a moment before chuckling and shaking his head. He could have guessed quite easily that Brandon was lying, primarily and only because his cousin Erin - who'd years ago moved to Paris and sworn up and down the Thames that she wasn't going to return, had dealt with Brandon Finn and Amber Jacobs more than anyone else on the Upper East Side. And now, armed with wisdom that aging and fatherhood taught him, he smelt bullshit. He knew that Melanie was lying when she told him she wasn't the one who drew with marker on his cabinets and he knew that Brandon undoubtedly was entangled with Amber yet again. But he let it go.
Parker shook his head and took a sip of his drink. "You know, though, I do owe Amber an apology," he stated. "You know her better than anyone else at this table, any ideas on how to get onto her good side?" In truth, Parker was less concerned about Amber's feelings and more about getting some positive press for the company he represented. But that was neither here nor there, especially when only the other night he had been telling Maddy that he was making an effort to be a better person.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 14, 2015 20:40:58 GMT
There were dozens of ways that he knew to get on her good side, and not one of them was he going pass along to any of the men at the table. He thought of her, lounging in his penthouse in his dress shirt, looking down at the crossword puzzle in front of her. He probably would have given just about anything to be there instead of here now, but such were the pains of adulthood.
"I might have known her better once, but it's been a long time," and while he still liked to think that he did know her better than anyone else, the reality was that they had both changed. It was the one constant that they kept coming back to. Who knew if he was still able to charm her the same way that he had before? He had been able to charm her into his bed, and to stay in his penthouse, but he didn't know how far that power really extended.
"Try the cliches?" He suggested. "Maybe flowers and a hand-written note?"
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 14, 2015 22:06:13 GMT
Parker's eyebrow arched up and when he glanced at Cooper, a man with whom he had no particularly strong relationship to speak of, it was as if their thoughts connected and Parker was suddenly eager to push Brandon's limits. It wasn't mean-spirited, the way it would have been ten years ago, so much as fun. After all, Parker wasn't an idiot. He'd watched Amber leave the reunion, and watched Brandon follow shortly after, and hours later watched Brandon's date pathetically throw in the towel and go home with some Wall Street investor that Parker remembered having trigonometry with.
"Flowers and a note?" Parker echoed before humming thoughtfully to himself. "That might be an all right place to start. But this is Amber we're talking about. One might believe that she'd require the extra mile. Perhaps I'll give her office a call and see if she might join me for dinner. Placement in Glamour would make great publicity for work, I could use the good karma of burying the hatchet with her and, well really, I'd have to be blind not to notice that she's possibly even more lovely than the last time I saw her." Parker nodded and then smiled up at Brandon. "I mean you're right, things have changed obviously for both she and I. Perhaps it's time we become better acquainted."
Cooper had summoned over a waitress and asked for the wine list, if only to have something to cover his face to keep from laughing as he periodically peered over it to watch Brandon Finn's facial expressions and body language change.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 14, 2015 22:15:18 GMT
Entertaining the thought of Parker and Amber getting dinner together served to both amuse and irk him. Amuse in the sense that he knew he could lure her away. If he were the one to deliver his own flowers and note he was sure he could make her forget all about any offers from Parker.
"I'm sure she's incredibly busy. What with having just moved back."
He hesitated for a moment, ordering a second drink. This time a double. "But please, by all means, give it a try."
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 14, 2015 22:24:38 GMT
Parker grinned a bit at Brandon, nodding thoughtfully. "That's true, then again I'm well aware that coming back to town isn't easy by any means. I mean after all, I'm still living out of a hotel room myself. Perhaps I could offer to even pick up some take out and offer her a hand in unpacking. You know, really extend that olive branch and try to get on her good side."
Cooper coughed to cover up what was almost a giggle.
"I think it could be quite a lovely idea, actually. I think I'll send my assistant Nina a note right now to get a gift over to the Glamour office for her," Parker nodded, pulling out his phone. "The note needs to be charming enough to get her to respond. How about 'Amber, I deeply regret my words the other night and hope you'll consider allowing me to take you to dinner to make up for it.' Or something more impressive than that. She really is quite extraordinary." Parker nodded, furrowing his brow in concentration as he typed a fictitious note on his phone.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 14, 2015 22:37:25 GMT
Brandon glared at the other man. "What do you know?" He asked, assuming that there had to be a good reason for the overzealous planning of Parker's evening with Amber. An evening he wasn't planning on letting happen.
Unless he truly meant to attempt and charm her. But Brandon was highly suspicious of that idea.
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 14, 2015 22:46:37 GMT
Cooper chuckled and placed down his menu, eying the two men. He hadn't expected Brandon to get so irritated so quickly, and if anything that in itself told volumes.
Parker held up his hands defensively, "Relax, Brandon. I was just having a bit of fun seeing what I could get you to own up to. I think Amber would rather swim with sharks than actually have a meal with me, but if you could put in a good word about the company with her for the magazine it'd be appreciated. You should also, probably, call her and ask her to the dinner you obviously didn't want me to take her on." Parker laughed.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 14, 2015 23:23:18 GMT
Brandon looked between the two men, shaking his head at the whole thing. Perhaps he shouldn't have gotten so defensive. It was just an unappealing thought to imagine her sitting through dinner with another man.
"We just have a lot of a lot of history. It's a little difficult to let that go." He hadn't even convinced himself of that for a moment. Whatever it was that was compelling him to want to keep her from other men was borderline an emotion he didn't want to make.
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Post by Cooper Benson on Aug 15, 2015 0:12:34 GMT
Parker regarded Brandon for a moment before clearing his throat. "Right, well, I'm quite sorry if I did overstep my bounds. Though, I do want to apologize to her for the other night and possibly have a meeting for someone at my company to speak to her about any sort of mention in the magazine," he nodded. "If you'll excuse me, I'm just going to use the restroom," he nodded before getting up and heading in that direction.
Cooper, however, was far less apologetic and he'd let out a full fledged laugh. After a moment though, he became serious and reached for his glass. "If you want my advice, which I'm sure you don't, don't let it go unless you absolutely have to." He took a breath and drained the liquor from his glass before nodding. "But what do I know, I just came here to sell you on investing on my newest development."
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