Chapter 9

Luna

"This is gonna be fun!" Anna smiles at me as I pull down the sleeves of my sweater. I shrug at her and grab my phone from the charger. Anna grabs ahold of my shoulders and shakes them a bit. "You need to loosen up. You can't be boring your whole life."

"I think I'm perfectly fine," I pout. "I'm not boring."

"All you do is read."

"I like reading! It's fun!" I defend as we exit the hotel room. We make our way toward the elevator and ride it down to the lobby. Anna leads me to, what I assume is, our Uber and we get inside. It isn't long before we're arriving in front of a loud place with a long line of people standing outside of the door. Anna drags me over to the line and we wait for a while before we're actually let in. "No drinking," I say as we walk inside. I look around at the amount of people dancing, most of them drunk and falling over.

"What's the fun in that?" Anna asks as she pull me over to the bar. "Loosen up a bit, Luna. Tonight is supposed to be fun."

"Can't it be fun without alcohol?" I mumble to myself as I watch her talk to the bartender. It isn't long before he hands her two clear drinks. She hands me one as she gulps down the other one. "Anna, you know I don't drink alcohol."

"Just taste it," Anna rolls her eyes. "It's good I promise."

I place my lips on the glass and take a small sip, immediately tasting the bitterness of the drink. Anna giggles and watches my face twist up in disgust. "It's gross!" I whine, feeling the slight burning sensation in my chest.

"You get used to it," she shrugs and orders another drink. The bartender hands her a glass that is this time filled with a deep red liquid.

"I don't want anymore," I shake my head and place the glass on the bar. Anna quickly grabs it and chugs it down. "What is that anyway?"

"That was vodka," she tells me and sips her new drink. She holds up the glass. "This one is a Bloody Mary. Taste it."

Stupidly, I take a small sip of her drink. Almost immediately, I spit it out into a napkin due to the horrible taste. "Anna! How can you drink this stuff?"

"I like it," she shrugs again. "Like I said, you get used to it."

"I'd rather not," I take a seat at the bar.

"Why are you sitting? It's time to dance!" She says to me, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"I'll meet you over there," I say and give her a small smile. She kisses my cheek and walks away. I sigh as I lose her into the crowd of sweaty people. As I'm watching the crowd, I feel a presence near me. I look up to see that a couple was standing next to me, doing inappropriate things to each other. "May I have a water?" I ask the bartender.

"Sparkling or regular?" he responds as he reaches for a fresh glass.

"Sparkling, please," I smile politely. He hands me a glass of sparkling water and I immediately take a large gulp of it.

A couple of hours later, I'm still sitting in the same spot at the bar. Except now, there are two couples sitting next to me and I'm on my seventh glass of sparkling water. It's been a while since I last spotted Anna. The last time I'd seen her, she was making out with random man near the back of the dance floor. I groan as I feel my bladder getting smaller and smaller. With a sigh, I stand from my stool and head down to the bathroom. I enter the men's room and immediately hear loud grunting and moaning.

"Oh, Steve," I hear a woman's voice say from one of the stalls as I use the restroom. My eyes widen and I quickly wash my hands, trying to leave as fast as possible. As soon as I'm back in my seat at the bar, I pull out my phone to see a text on the screen.

Anna: I found a hotd guy and he taking me to his aparmrnt so see you tomorrodsk

I roll my eyes at her drunk text and begin typing out a reply.

Me: how am I supp

"Oh come on!" I groan as I watch darkness take over my phone screen. Great. Now I'm alone and my phone is dead.

I sigh and gulp down the last of my water before exiting the horrible place. I make my way past the long line of people trying to get into the club and stand on the sidewalk. A cold gust of wind blows as I try my best to hail one of the many cabs that past by. Just my luck, none of them stop to give me a ride. After about ten minutes of trying, I decide to walk back to the hotel.

Tears build up in my eyes as I head down the street. "Don't cry, Luna," I whisper to myself. "You're an adult. Stop being a baby..." I bite my lip to keep from crying and gently wipe my eyes. As I make my way down the road, I make the decision that I never want to go out again. I shiver and hug myself as I walk through the cold night.

Lost in my thoughts, I become unaware of the world around me. "Why can't my life ever just go as planned?" I grumble. "I just wan– ah!" I jump as I hear a car horn honk. I freeze in place as I see a fancy black car pull over next to where I'm walking. I squeeze my eyes shut when I notice the window being rolled down. "Please don't kill me!"

I hear a chuckle before a familiar voice speaks. "I'm not gonna kill you." I peek open one eye and sigh in relief as I realize that I recognize the man. It was the handsome architect that my parents hired. What was his name again?

"Oh...Mr. Architect Man. You scared me," I say before I'm able to stop myself. I look down as I feel my cheeks heat up. I'm such an embarrassment! When I glance back up, I see him motion me to his car. Get in the car? With a handsome man like him? Alone? No way. I'd fall apart. I pause and shake my head. "My parents told me to be wary of strangers," I tell him. What a lie.

He gives me a strange look. "I'm not a stranger."

"Yes you are. I've only met you once."

"Twice, if you count the time when you ruined my shoes," he smirks.

My cheeks heat up even more as I remember that humiliating moment at the park. I avoid his gaze. "I said I was sorry!" I pout. I notice him climb out of his car causing me to instantly become cautious. He may be handsome but that doesn't mean he won't kill me. Handsome men are serial killers too.

He looks at me strange again and leans against his vehicle. "Why are you so scared?"

"I don't know. You're kind of intimidating. You might try to kill me," I say, truthfully.

"I promise I'm not trying to kill you," he speaks and opens the door to the fancy car. I almost shake my head when he motions for me to enter but reconsider my answer when another gush of cold wind blows past me. After a short discussion, I'm entering his vehicle. Without his permission, I plug my phone into his car charger. I look around at the black leather seats and LED lights that decorate the interior of the car. I guess his company makes a lot of money.

We make small talk as he drives me to my hotel. He reminds me of his name, which I have no recollection of, and we talk a little bit about my night. It isn't long before he pulls up in front of my hotel. As I'm about to exit the vehicle, he grabs my phone from the charger and types something into it. "Next time, hit me up if you need a ride somewhere. You're too cute to be walking around so late," he says with a wink. My eyes widen as I feel another hard blush coming onto my face. Not knowing what to say, I swallow and quickly enter my hotel. When I hop on the elevator, I release a breath I didn't realize I was holding. Handsome architect man called me cute? Never even dreamed of that happening.

Once in my hotel room, I get ready for bed and climb in. I check my phone to see that Adrian had given me his phone number. Handsome architect man calling me cute and giving me his number? Definitely never dreamed of that happening!

I realize that I never thanked him for a ride due to me being too flustered over his compliment. I quickly type a thank you text to him and send it. I wait for his response before drifting off to sleep with a small smile on my face. I guess this night wasn't so bad after all.

***

A couple of days later, I wake up to the sound of someone knocking on my bedroom door. I groan and wipe the sleep from my eyes, sitting up. Anna cracks open the door and pokes her head in. "I'm heading out, okay?"

"Where are you going?" I whisper, furrowing my brows.

"I'm grabbing brunch with a guy I met," she smirks and pulls a thread from her shirt.

I smile at her. "Is it the guy that you left me for at the club?" I ask.

She nods at me with a frown. "I'm still sorry for that Luna. I was really drunk."

"It's okay," I assure her. "Go have fun with him. I have a meeting today, anyway."

"What time?"

"Noon."

She raises an eyebrow at me and glances at her gold watch. "Don't you wanna get up then? It's almost 12:15."

My eyes widen and I instantly hop out of bed. "I'm never taking melatonin again! Bye Anna!" I screech and run into the bathroom. I quickly do my hygiene routine and change into a white t shirt, black pants, and tan cardigan. I slip on my black converse and request an Uber while I finish getting ready. By the time I'm done, my Uber is waiting for me outside of the hotel. I grab a water bottle from the fridge and head down. At around 1:05, I pull up outside of the glass building that is Haf Architectural Services.

Adrian

"Are you sure you scheduled the meeting for noon?" Tia raises an eyebrow as she sits across from me.

"I'm positive," I sigh. "I entered it into my schedule when we planned it," I say as I glance at the clock. 1:06. "I guess he's not coming."

"Are you gonna go on your lunch break? This is your only free time of the day," Tia reminds me.

I nod and stand up. "I'm probably gonna go out for lunch today. You can stay and do whatever."

"I'm gonna head down to the staff cafeteria. Have a nice break," she smiles at me and leaves. I grab my jacket off of the back of my chair put it on. As I'm exiting my office, I spot Luna climbing off of the elevator. When he sees me locking up my office, his eyes widen.

"Oh no..." he says quietly. I cross my arms over my chest and give him a hard glare. He walks up to me. "Are you leaving?"

"Well I had a meeting scheduled but my client didn't show up so I'm going on my lunch break," I retort, playfully.

"I-I'm sorry!" he squeaks. "I couldn't sleep last night so I took some melatonin and it made me wake up late! I wasn't late on purpose!" As he speaks, I notice his brown eyes becoming a little bit watery. "I messed up! I'm so sorry!"

I immediately grab his small hands. "Hey...calm down. It's okay. I was just joking around," I say, stroking the back of his hand. I notice him look down and calm down a bit before he look back up.

"Can we reschedule since you're leaving?" He asks, pulling his hands away to play with the sleeves of his cardigan.

"No need. We can just meet over lunch," I shrug. He nods and follows me over to the elevator. I lead him down to my car and we entered. "What type of food are you in the mood for?"

He looks down at his pants and bites his lip. "I can go for anything as long as it's not too expensive."

"Sure thing," I nod and head out of the parking garage. It isn't long before we arrive at a cafe that's only a few blocks away from his hotel. I climb out of the car and open his door causing him to blush. We enter the cafe and are almost immediately seated. "So..." I start. "Mr. Tardy..."

"Mr. Architect Man..." he replies. I smile at his remark.

"How did your parents like the design?" I ask as I flip through the menu.

His face lights up at my question. "Mama loved it! She thought it was super cute!" he grins.

"And your dad?"

"Well papa is kinda hard to please so he tried to pretend like it was just 'okay' but I can tell he really liked it."

"And what about yourself?" I look up at him.

His cheeks become a rosy color. "Well you already know I love it. I already told you that..."

"I'm just making sure you didn't change your mind over the weekend," I chuckle as our waiter comes over. We order our food; me getting some pasta while Luna gets a salad. Not long after, the waiter is bringing us our drinks. "What is that?" I ask, glancing at his bubbly drink.

"La Croix," he replies and takes a sip.

I frown my nose up as I remember my sister forcing me to drink that. "Gross."

"You're gross," Luna sticks out his tongue.

"You're very mature," I say to him with a laugh.

"Thank you," he flashes me a gorgeous smile.

"How old are you anyway?" I question, raising an eyebrow.

"Twenty one," he replies. "What about you, Mr. Architect Man? How old are you?"

"Twenty six," I respond. His eyes widen. "What?"

"You don't look that old."

"I'm not old."

"Yes you are. Twenty six?" Luna teases. "You're ancient. Do you need a wheelchair?"

My jaw drops as he bursts into a fit of giggles. "Maybe you're just young. Did your parents sign your permission slip before you came here? Do you need a babysitter?"

"Hey!" he pouted. "I'm gonna be twenty two soon!"

"Really? When's your birthday?"

"In two months," he grins.

"What are you gonna do?"

"I'm not sure. I'm probably gonna spend it with my par–" he cuts himself off with a gasp. "My parents aren't here! I'm gonna be alone on my birthday!"

"You don't have any friends?"

"I have one friend here but she found has this new boy friend so she's probably gonna be with him..."

I frown at him. "I'll be your friend and spend your birthday with you."

He raises an eyebrow at me as the waiter comes with our plates. "And what makes you think I wanna spend my precious birthday with an elder?"

"I'm not that old!" I laugh and dig into my pasta.

"You should be mummified by now," Luna jokes and takes a bite of his salad.

"And this is why you shall spend your birthday alone," I smirk.

"Meanie..." he frowns. I smile at him and we continue eating. Eventually we start talking about more details for the restaurant and everything that goes into it. It's not long before both of our plates are empty and we are heading back to my car.

"That was kinda gross," I complain as I begin driving toward's his hotel. "I don't know why I ordered that..."

"It's pasta. Everyone loves pasta."

"Not me," I shake my head. "I've only had one good pasta in my life."

Almost instantly, Luna gasps and places his hand over his heart. "That's because you haven't had my pasta...or my mama's."

"Do you make good pasta?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I make the best pasta!" Luna boasted. I smile at his excitement as I pull up in front of his hotel.

"Do you?" I question. He nods. "Well you'll have to cook some for me then."

"Sure thing, Mr. Architect Man."

"How about Wednesday at 2? I'm off that day."

"Sure thing," Luna nods with a smile planted onto his face as he gets out of the car. He turns around and looks at me with curious eyes. "Wait a minute..."

"What's up?"

"Did you just ask me out?"

I flash him a bright grin. "Talk to you later, Luna," I say and pull off.