The Engagement Party

Adam grinned and took a drink from the glass in his hand. Work was something that he was sure was always going to create some sort of rift between them, whether it was his argument that she never spent enough time focusing on them instead of work, or that she couldn't separate herself from work long enough to enjoy what was happening around them. That had been the biggest problem he had with their little mini-vacation to the Hamptons. It had taken her a little while to shake herself from the urge that she had to answer her emails each time the phone buzzed. Admittedly, part of what he loved about her was her dedication and tenacity, but there were times that he wanted her to set it aside long enough for them to be somewhat normal. Somewhat less focused on their careers, rather her career. Though, if her dedication to her career was their biggest problem, he figured they would be able to make it through. "I think it's worth it," he said teasingly.

Something in the way that Amber said that this was her date night made Brandon feel a little worse than he had felt before. He probably should have picked something a little more personal and romantic for their date night, instead of tugging her along to an engagement party where he was sure that the future groom would have preferred not to have them. He smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "It's true," he said to Riley. "You are actually awful at small talk. Just make sure that you remind me first thing Monday morning and I'll have my secretary schedule some time for us to meet."

Adam looked up and spotted Eliot, feeling his blood pressure instantly rise. "I don't know," he admitted. He hadn't necessarily been entirely open with his parents about the issues that had arisen with Eliot over the last few months. He hadn't been sure how to exactly phrase it, nor how to explain that his working relationship with the man had been completely shot in lieu of what had happened with Riley. "I can make him leave if you'd like me to," he offered.

The second that Eliot called the room's attention toward him, Adam could feel his stomach begin sinking. Whatever his colleague had to say was not going to be something that he wanted to hear, particularly because he kept thinking about how much it had hurt Riley when he had gone after her the last time. But, he knew that ultimately the other man's selfish desire to be the center of attention won out and so when he began his speech, Adam waited with baited breath to see who was going to fall victim to Eliot's torment this time. Unfortunately, it ultimately seemed like he still had set his sights on making Riley miserable. He looked down at her, trying to figure out what she was feeling and how he should react himself. They had never really spoken about her mother, at least not in any way that he knew what she wanted to do if she ever saw her again. He did know, however, that he was becoming more and more tempted by the idea of forcibly removing Eliot from the restaurant, or hitting him if he had the chance. "Riley," he said softly, "Do you want me to have them leave?"

After everything that had happened with Eliot over the last several months, Brandon couldn't say that he was particularly happy to see him here. He was even less thrilled to see that he still insisted on playing games with people with whom he shouldn't have been playing games with. As much as Amber was off limits, he had hoped that Eliot would have put his petty frustrations with Riley aside as well and just let her be. The problem was that he had not only caused some sort of drama in a very public setting. And even more than that, he was playing a very dangerous, very cruel game.

"Oh my God," Maddy said softly, looking over to her friend, trying to figure out whether or not she needed to wrap her arms around the other woman and comfort her, or if she needed space, or even if she just needed to get out of here. She didn't even know where to begin in terms of her sympathy for Riley, having never been in a situation where someone had just been so brutally hurtful to her on purpose. That, she justified, was the only reason to do anything like this - just the sheer pleasure that Eliot Quinn must have gotten from seeing her friend hurt. It made all of the times that Liv had gotten under her skin seem silly and childish at the most.

Adam gripped at Riley's hand, squeezing it tightly. He didn't know what to say to her to comfort her if she even needed to be comforted. Quite frankly he didn't know what to do in this situation. The biggest problem he had at the moment was that this should have been their special day, this should have been a good day for them. Regardless how they had felt about an engagement party in the first place, it was their party and they shouldn't have been made to feel as though they needed to run from their own celebration. But the truth was, there was nothing he wanted more than to get her out of there. "Let's step outside and get some air," he suggested to her, figuring that they could at least step out for a few minutes, maybe long enough for someone to escort Eliot and her mother out.

Maddy frowned, looking at her friend. "Do you need anything? I can get them escorted out, or I can get you another drink if you want." She wasn't sure what her role of maid of honor meant at the moment, but she was hurting seeing her friend so visibly hurt.

Brandon smiled softly, thanking her for asking exactly what he had been thinking of the entire time. "I'm not sure that anyone would even notice at this point," he admitted. He supposed if there ever was a time to get out of the restaurant without having to say anything to anyone, then now would be that time. "Should we head home?"

Adam followed Riley out of the restaurant, feeling himself able to breathe more easily once they were away from the crowd of people inside. He had no idea how Riley was possibly feeling at that moment, whether she needed him to make some sort of excuse to get the two of them out of here and on their way back to their apartment. Suddenly he was feeling that he shouldn't have forced her into letting his mother help with the wedding planning, somwhow allowing them to wind up at this ridiculous engagement party in the first place. He wanted to find some way to not only make it up to her, but also to apologize for what had just happened inside with her mother. "Are you okay?" he asked her softly.

Adam wrapped his arms around her and sighed softly, "I'm not sure that we could get away with that." He felt badly that he hadn't thought to let his parents know that he and Eliot had a falling out, so to speak. Or, the thought was just occurring to him, maybe Eliot had just chosen to crash their party. Either way, he wished he had thought to have made sure that something like this wouldn't have happened, that he would have been able to give Riley a night free of their usual drama. "I'm so sorry," he added, "I don't even know what I can do to make this any better." He wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about it or not, but he just wanted her to know that he was here for her.

Adam nodded, "I'm still sorry it happened." But she was right, this was probably not the sort of incident that could just be brushed under the rug and they could forget about it and continue moving down the path they had set out for their future. "Let's go inside, maybe some of the drama has died down. You find your dad and I'll just do whatever damage control needs to be done." The damage control he had planned really just consisted of him trying to get all of their guests to go back to drinking and having a good time. Ultimately, it was still their engagement party and he didn't want to just remember tonight by the bad things that had happened.