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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 13, 2015 15:06:48 GMT
It was the sort of place that they would have gone in high school. It was modern in a minimalistic way, with chrome and glass accents and large round globe lights hanging from the ceiling by a wire. The seating was a combination of rich, plush couches and metallic high top tables. A wide glass bar filled half the room, with more of the dimly lit lights hanging overhead. The music was loud enough to ensure that each party had a private conversation, but it also provided enough of a beat to get people onto the small, overcrowded dancefloor in the center of the room.
Brandon led Amber to the bar and greeted the bartender by name before ordering them each a gin martini. "Still take them dry with three olives?" He asked her, not even waiting for a response before passing the information off to Sam, the bartender.
As Sam set to work mixing up their drinks, he looked over at her and smiled. "Have I mentioned that you're looking well?"
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 13, 2015 15:35:38 GMT
It was almost too easy to find familiarity in a dimly lit bar with him. She was not surprised that they’d walked easily past the line and by the bouncer, nor that he knew the staff by name, nor that he remembered her drink. Upon his compliment, she shrugged a shoulder up. “You have, but I never tire of hearing it, Brandon.” The crowd around the bar created the perfect circumstances for her to stand a little closer than was required, to lean up a bit closer towards his ear to make sure he heard her, and to brush her arm up against him.
Amber may have been out of the game for a bit longer, but it was a song and dance she still remembered vividly. And maybe she was more willing to play because she wanted to prove a point. What point that was, exactly, she wasn’t exactly sure. But familiar circumstances bred a familiar need to make sure she was the winner.
When a martini was placed in front of her she flashed a flirtatious grin at the bartender and leaned in to thank him before turning her gaze back up to Brandon. “You’re looking well, too, Brandon. And there went my ego, letting me think you’d all waste away without me,” she teased, as if she hadn’t thought maybe it was 10% true.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 13, 2015 15:56:54 GMT
It might have just been the collective heat radiating from the crowd, but he felt accutely aware of her body being closer to him now. He remembered doing this before as part of their routine. Over the course of the night they would find their bodies inching closer and closer to each other, ending with the crescendo and the crash of cymbals. Sometimes they didn't even make it out of the bar. But, he reminded himself, this wasn't then. A lot of things had changed over the past ten years, and while not all of the changes were visible, one in particular kept catching the light, casting a quick flash of brightness in the otherwise dim room. Picking up his drink he nodded in the direction of one of the vacant couches. "Shall we?" |
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 13, 2015 16:27:08 GMT
Amber looked up at Brandon and nodded before taking her drink and following him towards the couch. She settled down onto it, idly tugging on the hem of her dress to make sure it didn’t ride up to the point of complete indecency. When Brandon sat beside her, she grinned, turning her body slightly so that she could give him her full attention. She leaned her elbow on the back of the couch and rested her head on her hand as she took in the sight of him. “Just like old times,” she grinned.
“I do like this place,” she noted. “It reminds me of that place that we used to go to…I can’t remember the name of it. We went to the opening and Erin got mad because I started dancing on the bar with this MBA student from Columbia so she left and made you promise you’d make sure I got home. I don’t remember the name,” she waved the thought off flippantly. “They had the same lighting fixtures.”
Taking a sip of her drink, she peered out around the crowd before smiling at him. She reached out with her hand, gently grazing the side of his face. “I like the scruff,” she admitted, biting her lip.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 13, 2015 16:43:15 GMT
There was something to be said about the state of modern attire. For one, it allowed for a completely indecent amount of skin to show in a way that no one batted an eyelash at. Secondly, that much skin showing as he sat down on the couch beside her did absolute wonders for the view.
While she had tugged at the hem of her dress, it did nothing to stop him from drawing back on the memories of her body. There were a lot of memories resurfacing tonight, a lot more nostalgia for things the way that they were. He hadn't been expecting to start missing it so much. All things considered, it wasn't like his life was in any way bad now - just a little different.
She grazed the side of his face and he smirked before taking a drink from his glass. "So see, not everything's the same." And while he was directly responding to her comment about his facial hair, he caught himself glancing quickly at her left hand. Not everything was the same.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 13, 2015 17:13:31 GMT
Amber grinned at Brandon and even though she knew she shouldn’t, she immediately found herself wanting to fall back into old habits. Familiar settings had her thinking of how their nights would normally end. “No, you’re right. Something don’t stay the same,” she admitted, playing idly with her hair. “But not everything’s changed, has it?” she bit her lip and shrugged. “Because there were some things I was really very fond of.”
She leaned in a bit, hand reaching and running along his forearm. “Not that change is completely awful. I just…” she shrugged her shoulder. “It’s silly, I guess.”
“What else has changed that I should know about?” she asked with a small grin, fingers still tracing light patterns over his arm.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 13, 2015 17:32:07 GMT
He felt her fingers moving over his arm, even through the layers of his shirt and suit jacket. He was ridiculously aware of each move she made which brought them one step closer to where they had been.
What kind of change was she hoping to learn? Was he supposed to tell her about the other women? Or was she looking for something more? The way that she had started to say something and cut herself off made him wonder if they both had something they wanted to say and just couldn't. It felt like it was impossible to have a casual conversation with someone who had such an impact on his life. Who had - who does - mean more to him than he would ever admit to her.
"What sort of change do you think you should know about? My job... My place... The city itself?"
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 13, 2015 18:16:54 GMT
Amber bit her lip and shrugged a bit. “I don’t really know, Brandon. Anything that might be interesting or exciting,” she laughed. “Though, if your place has changed that might be a bit depressing. I was very fond of it,” she admitted with a coy smile. “After all, we spent a lot of time there.”
She shifted slightly on the couch and felt her dress inch very slightly up her thigh. She’d decided, in an instant, that it would maybe be easier for her to default to the way things were rather than try to figure out what had gone wrong. She’d spent long enough wondering what she could have done differently or what would have gone differently had she stayed on her own.
She leaned in a bit, closer to his ear and smiled. “If anything has changed too drastically I might require a new tour,” she suggested.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 13, 2015 18:37:41 GMT
They had spent an awful lot of time at his penthouse. And while the location of it had remained the same, over the last ten years it had seen numerous remodels and three almost-residence. Brandon supposed that was really the elephant in the room. It wasn't his place, or even his job that was very different, it was his love life.
The last time they had spent any real time together had been in the recent glow of relationships and "I love you"s. And now, what? They were supposed to be catching up as old friends, and yet he couldn't pull his eyes away from her as her dress rode up a bit more indecently on her body.
He smiled at her, "Well, most of it I'm sure you already know. Working at Finn Industries, living in the same penthouse as before - just a different interior designer now. It's much more... rustic now? There's a significant abundance of wood furnishings and plush furniture. I think the designer called it cottage something or other. I don't know, you'll have to see it. It must just go with the beard."
Taking a gulp from his glass he shrugged nonchalantly, "And then there's the failed engagements. But I'm sure you don't want to hear about those."
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 13, 2015 19:12:16 GMT
Amber listened to him, laughing softly as he described his new décor. When he mentioned his previous engagements, her fingertips on his arm stilled and she pursed her lips for a moment. “Let’s see, there was Alexa, Rhiannon, and Alayna, right?” she asked and took a sip of her drink. "I paid attention."
“I think that if Jim’s heart hadn’t failed, our marriage would have anyway. I had a meeting with a lawyer scheduled for the week that he passed away. No one knows that except for the lawyer, myself, and now you,” she admitted. “And Jim. Jim knew it was coming. I think he always knew it was coming.”
“I think people get married or engaged because they think it’s time for them to or so that they won’t be lonely. And too often, it’s the wrong person,” she sipped her drink and glanced down at her lap. “I don’t know, maybe I was never meant to marry.”
She took a breath and shrugged. “I will say I read a quote from Rhiannon on a page in the Post and you could do much better. I bet she dotted the I in her name with a smiley face,” she teased but then shook her head. “But I suppose you can’t help who you love. I’m sorry they didn’t work out, Brandon.”
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 13, 2015 19:25:14 GMT
He couldn't help but prickle hearing their names. It bothered him in a way that he hadn't expected, especially when she listed them in order. It wasn't that he missed any of the previous women in his life, nor that he ever saw himself truly marrying anyone for that matter. No, it because he should have known that she would have kept tabs. He was embarassed. All of them models or something of the sort, all of them younger than he is, and all of them vapid.
"Regardless of how it would have worked out, I am sorry for your loss." He looked over at her cautiously, trying to gauge where they had found themselves in this conversation. And trying to figure out where it was supposed to go next.
He was stuck on what she said, though. About loving these women and he laughed softly. "Ah, love. Yes, well, I don't think any of them were ever really love-based relationships. It's only too easy to get wrapped up in parties and trips to the Caribbean, and then suddenly find yourself engaged to a 20-year-old underwear model."
Downing the rest of his drink he set the empty glass on the small table in front of them. "Just because your first marriage didn't work out doesn't mean it won't happen again. Second time's the charm, or something like that."
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 13, 2015 20:02:31 GMT
"I appreciate that," she said softly. "He was a nice man, but he wasn't...I shouldn't have actually said yes when he asked."
She wasn't sure why it was such a relief to hear that he wasn't in love with those women. In a way, she'd always known that was the case but a small nagging voice in the back of her head hadn't been sure. She bit her lip and glanced away for a moment. "I have a confession," she admitted. "There were several models that would have been perfect for shoots I was organizing in California that I didn't give the jobs to. All of whom were women whose name turned up next to yours in the paper."
Picking up the plastic toothpick in her drink, she carefully used her teeth to tug an olive off of it, she ate it with a thoughtful expression on her face before smiling at him. "Tell me something less serious now," she requested.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 13, 2015 20:29:33 GMT
Asking her why she had said yes seemed like it was too intimate of a question for their current status. Though he had shared with her more information that he had shared with anyone else on the subject of his love life, he still didn’t feel as though he could cross that line. At least not yet.
He laughed at her confession and waved over the nearest server to order them another round of drinks. So much for just one.
“Maybe you should stop reading the paper then.”
He figured it must have been the combination of his continued patronage and the understanding of who he was that allowed the server to bring them their new round with such prompt service. Flashing her a grin he passed a new martini over to Amber, hardly caring whether or not she was ready for another one.
“Less serious changes? Or less serious conversation topics? Regardless, I’m happy to see you again. If that counts as less serious.”
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 13, 2015 20:54:11 GMT
Amber laughed when he handed her a new drink, despite her previous insistence that they only have one, she more or less assumed that wouldn't be the case. She thanked him and took a sip before nodding. "You're happy to see me again?" she asked, feigning surprise. "That's incredibly sweet," she nodded, touching his arm again and scooting in a bit closer.
She took a long sip of her drink. She had to admit that there was a small part of the old Amber that, after confirming he hadn't loved any of those other women, also wanted to prove that he hadn't enjoyed their company nearly as much as he enjoyed hers. It was a petty part of her. The old eighteen year old version of her that would deliberately interrupt him when he was out with another girl so that he'd find his way into her bed that night, just to ensure that girl told anyone else worth telling exactly how it would go from then on. If he objected to it, he never really told her so. When the desire struck him, and they were in the 'off' face of their on-again off-again, he'd venture out again and she'd repeat the process whenever she could.
Her thigh pressed against his as she settled in now, closer to him, feeling the heat radiate off of his body. "I'm happy to see you again, too. Here I was, worried that after all this time you might have forgotten about me," she teased.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 13, 2015 22:02:18 GMT
It was all too familiar, and way too easy to fall back into. He grinned at her and placed his hand on her thigh, running his thumb lightly against her skin. "I think it would take a lot more than you moving away for me to forget about you."
Not that he had ever tried. Part of him figured that she was always going to be the girl that he compared everyone else to. At least on a subliminal level. Alexa had been quick witted, as Amber was, but in a way that was hollow and the most like a game. But it was one where he didn't seem to win anything. Sure, the physical aspect of their relationship had been enjoyable, but there was a dry, sarcastic nature about her that eventually just grew tiresome. It was like she couldn't laugh at herself, and she certainly didn't laugh with him. And so he ended it.
In what was probably the most idiotic, he called her and told her that he was going out of town on business and he wouldn't be calling her when he returned. But, he was barely out of college and had no real plans to make their nearly year long relationship into something more than it was. He had felt that as he worked his way into his role at the company that getting engaged would have been the next step in his life. He just couldn't stomach spending the rest of his life with that woman.
Even though Amber had only moved marginally closer to him, he could feel his body relaxing into her more. Brandon fixed his gaze directly into hers before letting it fall to her lips. He moved closer to her to close the space between them entirely, knowing that he was potentially walking a very thin line.
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