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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 20, 2015 3:32:47 GMT
What was originally supposed to be a guy's night activity had somehow been turned into someting much bigger. The idea had come up to get together at the Penthouse and play poker instead of going out drinking again, mostly because he had still felt a little guilty for the last bender he had found himself on. After a few days of realizing that he had been completely Amber-less, he resolved to try and spend more time away from the bars and the partying. But, with Amber's insistance, he had tried to find another way to merge the best of both world. He had invited Eliot Quinn and Cooper Benson before he found that Amber had been inviting her own group of people at well. Eliot had yet to arrive, but the others had filtered their way in.
With a fully stocked bar and a poker table prepped, what should have been a small group of three men and perhaps Amber had now ebbed to include two other women that Brandon vaguely knew by name, and Adam Tyler. The latter addition did nothing to assure him that staying in was going to be better than it would have been to have just gone out. Having already poured himself a glass of scotch, he turned to Amber annoyed, "What is he doing here?"
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 20, 2015 3:43:16 GMT
Amber looked up at Brandon and took a sip of her drink. "Well, the other day Cooper had suggested I go out with Maddy and have a girl's day. She brought Riley, who's dating Adam now. And I had a feeling Riley didn't like me very much because I was spending time with her best friend and used to have a thing with her boyfriend, but she mentioned really loving poker, so I thought what better way to demonstrate that I'm not a threat and have turned over a new leaf than invite her and then I thought we could both turn over a new leaf and invite him," she said, speaking a mile a minute and then plastered a smile on her face. "I love you."
She reached for his hand and looked up at him. "I mean, Brandon, it's been ten years. And as much as you don't like him and you two didn't get along, I was pretty awful to him and I don't like that. And he seems happy now, he's seeing someone. I thought maybe it would be nice to just expand our social circle a little more. Please? Just give it a chance?" she pouted.
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Post by Cooper Benson on Aug 20, 2015 3:46:57 GMT
Cooper was happy to have been invited out by Brandon. It was rare that he had the chance to leave the suite without Melanie in tow, but he'd been able to get the nanny to agree to watch her. He had stopped by the store to pick up some extra beer before making his way to the Penthouse. When he'd arrived a few moments late, he'd entered boisterously, almost a bit like the obnoxious son of a bitch he'd once been. "Well, I'm here, the fun can start now," he announced before he realized the Penthouse was more crowded than he'd expected. Surveying the odd characters assembled, he nodded at Adam Tyler and Riley Nicholls before shooting a questioning look at Brandon. "I guess I should have gotten more beer," he muttered before spotting Madison. "Hey Maddy," he greeted her. "Do you play poker?"
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Post by Riley Tyler on Aug 20, 2015 3:55:49 GMT
Riley wasn't sure exactly what they were doing there. One moment, Maddy had invited her to join her and Amber Jacobs for a girls day. Riley had spent the majority of the time trying not to compare herself to the gorgeous blonde woman and question just what Adam, who'd once been infatuated with Amber, was doing with someone like her. It hadn't helped when Madison and Amber had fallen into an easy conversation and started bonding. It had really taken a sharp turn when Riley accidentally mentioned that she loved poker and Amber had enthusiastically invited them to help her crash Brandon Finn's boys' night. She said she was pretty sure it was only going to be Brandon and Cooper and her anyway, and then had gone so far as to suggest that Riley bring Adam because Amber was hoping to catch up with him and it could be fun. She'd informed Adam of the invitation, only somewhat enthusiastically, and somehow they'd both decided to attend.
And now, there Riley was, standing in what she assumed was one of the seven layers of hell. Perhaps not the worst layer, but definitely one of them - standing in a room of people who, save for Madison, hadn't known she existed ten years ago. And even though now, Adam was quickly becoming the most important person in her life, as she stood there with all of them, she remembered just being a silent observer when Adam Tyler would come at Amber's whim, any time she got into a fight with Brandon Finn. When Cooper had walked in, she'd felt a bit better - having previously gotten along with the man when planning a fundraiser and having reached out to him at one point to express her displeasure about his business acquaintance Parker Blye. On second thought, Cooper's brilliant suggestion of a girls' day was how this had all started. She frowned, reaching into the bag Cooper was holding and pulling out a beer. She twisted off the cap and shrugged. "I think we're all going to need to get intoxicated for this one," she muttered before turning to Brandon Finn. "Thank you for having us," she greeted with a small, hesitant smile.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 20, 2015 13:20:00 GMT
It wasn't that he didn't understand Amber's desire to become more reformed individuals. It was the fact that sometimes it was much harder to shake off the past than he would have liked to admit. The arrival of Adam hadn't but him in a particularly positive mood as the memory of all of the times that Amber had easily called him after one of their fights. Having been disconnected from the memories for long enough, the fact that he had once called Liv in the same way, or had gone out to find some woman whose name he would never remember, seemed far less memorable. It may not have been as bad, or as irksome, if she wasn't specifically asking him to give the other man a chance. It was much easier for Brandon to start out with preconceived notions of a person than to let them prove him wrong.
"I still don't have to like it," he informed Amber. When Riley turned to him and thanked him for having them, he nodded slightly. "You'll have to thank Amber for that one, it was all her idea."
For now, being nice seemed to be ignoring Adam Tyler's presence.
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 20, 2015 13:36:32 GMT
Madison didn't think that it would matter hold old she got, she was always going to feel awkward around this group of people. There had been multiple fleeting moments where she thought about canceling on girl's day with Amber, but with Riley's support and company she had followed through. It had turned out to be a positive experience as she had found that not only was Amber easier to talk to than she expected, but they also had a mutual dislike for Olivia Warren. Though for entirely different reasons. She had known that the conversation hadn't been quite as easy for Riley, considering the relationship that Adam had once had with the pretty blonde woman, but at the mention of a poker night Riley had somehow gotten them invited along.
There was a little bit of an awkward third-wheel feeling beginning to form as Riley and Adam continued to be adorable, as she knew they would be. It took the arrival to Brandon Finn's Penthouse and the arrival of Cooper Benson for her to sigh in relief. Thank goodness she was going to have someone to talk to. He wasted no time in coming to greet her and she could have thrown her arms around him in appreciation. "Hey, it's good to see you."
At his question of her poker prowess, she smiled sheepishly and shook her head. "No, I have no idea how I ended up at this thing, to be honest. But thank you for recommending that Amber and I have a girl's day. I had a really good time."
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Post by Adam Tyler on Aug 20, 2015 13:42:36 GMT
There was a very short list of places that Adam expected to never find himself. The moon, for example - but Brandon Finn's Penthouse was probably a close second. He blamed it on the beautiful redhead by his side and her ability to convince him that this would be a good idea. He had been in support of her joining Madison on their little girl's day outing with Amber, had maybe even encouraged it, but he hadn't been expecting to find himself here so soon after. In an effort to continue to put the past in the past, he had enjoyed the opportunity to reach out to Amber again - even if it had been indirect. He had flashed her a smile upon their arrival and did his best not to make eye contact with Brandon. There was a pretty decent chance that, he figured, that Brandon still held pretty strong opinions against him.
"That's for damn sure," he said softly to Riley as she mentioned needing to be intoxicated for this event.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 20, 2015 14:22:55 GMT
Riley had really only agreed to come to this thing because…well, that was two-fold. One was that she did, in fact, love poker. She was good at it. And given that she was between jobs, she figured she could stand to test her luck and maybe win a few hands before folding for the evening. But the other was that Adam had encouraged her to go out for the day with Maddy and Amber and because of that, she had stood there like an idiot while Amber mentioned what a good guy Adam was and how she was actually hoping to talk to them. And suddenly, Riley was about sixteen again waiting for the world to swallow her up. So she figured, it was only fair that Adam join her to spend some time with one of his favorite people – Brandon Finn. She brushed off Brandon’s less than warm welcome and offered him a smile in return, forced as it may be.
Cooper grinned at Madison. “Yeah, well, I figured Amber just got back to town not too long ago and she could use some more friends around here. She’s a good kid, you know? And Brandon’s not horrible. They both could use some decent friends,” he ran his hand through his hair and then smiled at her. “I’m glad you’re here though,” he nodded. “Melanie will be upset though, she was angry enough I wasn’t taking her to see Brandon and Amber, throw you on the guest list and she’s going to never forgive me for not letting her come play with HER friends,” he laughed.
Amber put her hand on Brandon’s arm before leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. “I’m going to go talk, okay?” she said gently. “Play nice. Win money,” she laughed before walking over to say hi to the rest of their guests. She nudged Cooper and greeted Maddy before walking over to Adam and Riley. “I’m glad you both could make it,” she nodded, keenly aware of the way Riley avoided eye contact and sipped her beer. “Adam, do you mind talking with me for a minute?”
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 20, 2015 15:00:22 GMT
Madison smiled softly; she couldn't say that she knew either Brandon or Amber enough to pass judgment, but she knew Cooper enough to trust his opinon. "How is Melanie? I'm sorry that I never got the chance to finish playing that little bear and doll game thing with her at the camping event."
That night, she recalled, had soured quickly. And in the end, it hadn't really mattered much anyway. She should have just let Parker go on feeling upset with Olivia and just have ignored it, continuing to playing with the adorable three-year-old. "She really is great, you know."
Smiling at Amber as she passed over to Riley and Adam, Maddy watched for a moment, uncertain exactly how that conversation was going to go. She turned back to Cooper with a smile still crossing her lips, "Melanie is very lucky to have you."
Brandon watched as Amber left, heading directly for Adam and Riley, all the while ignoring her reminder to play nice. It was difficult to play nice, he justified, when more and more of his past kept creeping back into his life in uninvited ways. And unlike the reemergance of Amber in his life, Adam had been one thing he had been happy to say goodbye for indefinitely. Some sense of rivalry was hard to let go of - no matter who had won in the end.
Adam looked at Riley for a second before answering Amber. He would have had to have been blind to miss the way that Riley's attention had been focused on anything but the blonde woman in front of them. He reached down and squeezed her hand reassuringly, flashing her a quick smile before turning back to Amber. "Sure."
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 20, 2015 15:50:32 GMT
Cooper grinned at Madison. “Melanie’s doing great. She’s too smart though, scares the hell out of me to be quite honest. I thought I’d have a few more years of her believing everything I told her, but she already questions me all the time.” Through Riley and the general grapevine, he had heard about Parker, and given the fact that he owned the hotel where Parker was staying, he also knew about the comings and goings of Olivia Warren, but he wasn’t going to say that much to Maddy, he didn’t want to upset her. “I’ve got to start looking for a better place to live for Mels though, she deserves neighbors, not hotel staff.” He grinned at her. “How’s work? Would you like a drink?”
Amber stepped aside with Adam, feeling much more awkward than she was used to feeling. “Hi,” she started, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Riley seems really nice,” she nodded, glancing at the redhead who was now standing on her own. “I just wanted to talk to you, I guess, to tell you I was sorry. I know it might seem silly, but I know I wasn’t really nice to you – back then. And I don’t like that I did that. I’ve been trying to do this thing where I’m not a horrible person and I really regret treating you the way I did. I just wanted to tell you that, and to tell you I hope that you’re happy and that I hope we can be friends, or at least…get along.”
Riley watched as Amber and Adam spoke, she took another pull from her beer bottle before her footsteps eventually took her over to Brandon, who looked as pleased about the situation as she did. “So…” she started, glancing at Adam and Amber again before looking away. “I think that you’re being misadvised on your company’s deal with Cooper’s. Because, I get it, companies have to accept a certain level of risk and make the best cost-effective decisions, but there are ways to deal with labor unions and trade organizations that will help you build relationships for the future and that will make you both look like you actually care in the press for some positive PR.” She took a long pull from her beer bottle and winced. “But, I don’t know, I was just reading the Business Section of the Times this morning and I’m really bad at small talk.”
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 20, 2015 16:13:02 GMT
Madison could not have been more thankful that he asked her about work and not other aspects of her life. As much as she loved and appreciated Riley for having been there for her over the past several days, there were only so many tears that a girl could choke down before she realized there were better ways of coping. At least more sober ways of coping as she had taken out the recycling with an embarrassingly large amount of wine bottles bagged inside. She wished for a moment that she was one of those girls who coped with chocolate and ice cream instead, but they were generally pretty ineffectual of numbing the pain. “Work’s great – keeping me busy, which is nice. And I would love a drink, actually.”
Adam’s attention lingered on Riley still as he and Amber stepped off to the side. He nodded his agreement about her being nice and thought of a dozen other adjectives he could have amended to that statement. He was going to be in trouble if he kept developing more and more feelings for the poor woman. Turning his attention to Amber’s apology he frowned slightly. “Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do. It’s just unnecessary.”
He had never thought about the possibility of ever being friends with Amber, at least not real friends, but with everything else that had been set aside over the last ten years, he didn’t think that this was something he needed to hold on to for nostalgia’s sake. “I think everyone did stupid things in high school, but I know that we’ve all grown up and moved on.” Shrugging, he wished he would have grabbed a drink before. He could have used it at the moment. “You and Finn seem happy enough, so I guess everything worked out the way it was supposed to.” It seemed to for him.
Brandon surveyed the woman who had just broken his stare on Adam and Amber, noting that she seemed to be trying to ignore it to the best of her ability. He contemplated trying that tactic for a moment before deciding that it was much easier to continue to take note of everything that was happening between the two. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Amber – because he did – it was just that this entire situation seemed to be asking for some sort of explosion of drama. Riley had started into advice on his company’s legal dealings and he pried his attention away from the pair on the other side of the room. “One day of reading the Business Section and you’ve already developed an entirely new tactic?” He sipped at his scotch, “You’ve made more actually progress on coming up with a concise strategy than anyone else had.”
He respected Eliot Quinn’s advice on all things about drinks, women, and the hottest spots for nightlife, but sometimes he felt like the legal counsel part took a backseat. At least momentarily. As Brandon’s role in the company continued to grow, so did the emphasis he tried to place on doing the right thing for everyone involved in Finn Industries. So whether she knew it or not, Riley had hit a soft spot. “You should come work for me. We could use someone like you on our legal team.”
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 20, 2015 16:44:24 GMT
Cooper smiled at Maddy, glad to hear that work was going well. While he still didn’t know her all too well, he felt like she was a nice genuine person. That in itself was alone to make him want to throttle Parker. He thought some of that reaction was because he was the father to a little girl now and God, he couldn’t wait to buy a shotgun for the day she started dating. Grinning at Maddy, he gestured for her to follow so that he could get her a drink.
Amber bit her lip and looked at Adam. “I know, I just…I guess, wanted to clear the air,” she shifted a bit and smiled at him. “I’m glad you seem happy, Adam. I mean it.” She nodded and then bit her lip. “And now I need to ask you something,” she glanced over her shoulder at Brandon before turning back to him. “You work with Eliot Quinn. He and Brandon have been spending time together lately and I…I get this feeling about him and I think Brandon thinks I’m just making assumptions based on gossip.” Her brow furrowed, “But I don’t think I am. And I know – I mean, I heard about what happened on the camping trip. Is there anything that maybe, I should know about him, since he’s apparently part of my life right now?”
Riley turned to Brandon, she let out a soft laugh and shook her head. “I also may have specialized in economics at school. And my dad’s a Union man, I know how they think – I know how people react.” She shook her head at him. “I appreciate the offer, but I can’t accept,” she nodded. “I can’t go private sector, I spent the last year of law school trying to convince Adam not to go work for a law firm and come work for the DA with me,” she nodded. “I can’t change the world as associate counsel for Finn Industries,” she explained. “But if you need advice, I do seem to have an abundance of professional free time lately,” she quipped.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 20, 2015 17:05:01 GMT
Adam could feel his hand clenching into a soft fist at the mention of Eliot's name. He had tried to continue to give the man as much professional courtesy as possible, all things considered, but considering how much he had visibility affected Riley had made it difficult. If he was being honest, he wasn’t sure that there was much love lost in their friendship, whatever it had become. It wasn’t that he had ever genuinely disliked the man, it was just that their lives had continues to grow in such dramatically different directions after law school, despite the fact that their offices shared a common wall.
“I don’t think you’re making assumptions,” he admitted. “I’ve known Eliot for a long time and I respect him for a lot of things, but I wouldn’t consider him to be one of my most trustworthy associates.” If she already knew about what happened with Riley, then she already knew the brunt of it, he figured. Depending on what kind of situations he and Brandon had found themselves in. “If he’s hanging out with Finn a lot – I would be careful.”
Brandon smirked at Riley, “Well, if in that free time you ever feel like swinging by the offices, I’d love your opinion on some of our other business dealings – see if there’s any legal loopholes we should be wary of.” He glanced over at Adam and Amber, trying to figure out what their conversation could possibly entail at this point. “So saving the world? That’s a pretty ambitious goal.”
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 20, 2015 18:33:29 GMT
Amber took a breath as she listened to Adam and then nodded. “I appreciate your honesty,” she said softly. “I don’t know how to best go about telling Brandon that one of the few friends he does have is…well, an awful human being.” She pursed her lips and lifted her drink to her lips. “I might just have to let him figure it out on his own,” she admitted. “Do you need a drink?” she asked, smiling at him, deciding that she would shrug off the idea of talking about Eliot with Brandon for another day. After all, she figured going to Brandon with Adam as her main character witness wouldn’t exactly make Brandon see the light about his friend.
Riley grinned a bit at Brandon, nodding. “I can stop in sometime, I’d be happy to take a look and give you my perspective.” She didn’t think that Finn’s current outside counsel, Eliot Quinn, was going to like that very much, but she’d be lying if she said that didn’t make it a bit more enticing to her. When he questioned her on changing the world, she took another quick swig from her beer bottle and shrugged a shoulder up. “It’s ambitious, but if everyone stopped themselves from doing something they thought was too ambitious, nothing would ever get done. And I think too many people do that, so someone’s got to pick up the slack.”
Cooper, meanwhile, was pouring Maddy a drink before he surveyed the group. “Is it time for me to take everyone’s money yet?”
Riley laughed, shaking her head at Cooper. “Not so fast, Cooper. When you all lose you can make your checks out to Riley Nicholls – that’s two L’s.”
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 20, 2015 20:36:42 GMT
Adam nodded understandingly, "Well, whatever you decide to do - just be careful." He felt that the sentiment was worth echoing. He didn't trust that Eliot wouldn't do something to get under someone else's skin, regardless of the personal relationship that he might have had with them. The entire evening was sure to turn into a trainwreck, he thought, hoping that he hadn't just given Brandon more reasons to continuously dislike him. "A drink is exactly what I think I need," he agreed.
Brandon figured that even if he went on the rest of his life hating Adam Tyler, and even if he forgot why he had hated him so much at one point, then at least he did a good deed by playing nice with Riley. She was actually the sort of person he could consider having a drink with, having an actual, professional conversation with. At Cooper's question he laughed, "Do you really think that I would have invited you had I thought you were going to win?"
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