Abstract Sincerity

Kennedy woke to hear her phone ringing on the bed stand besides her. She reached over and saw that her boss was calling her. Alex flopped over on his stomach and put her pillow over his head to silence the ringing.
Kennedy reached over and flipped open her phone, “Hello?” she answered, trying to sound like she’d been up for hours.
“Kennedy?” her boss asked over the other line. Apparently her attempt at sounding awake didn’t work as well as she’d hoped.
“Yes, can I help you?” she asked.
“Yeah, I need a special favor from you,” he told her slowly.
“Okay, what kind of special favor?” she asked, waking up a little.
“Okay, we have a potential client and it’s a big deal. I can’t disclose any of his information to you, but he lives in Maryland and he can’t make it to New York. I was wondering that since you’re already down there, if you’d be willing to do this and close the deal. Everything’s been arranged and all the documents have been made up, all he needs to do is sign the papers and I can fax those to you. Will you please do this for us? We’ll pay you time and a half for over time,” he told her, talking rapidly.
Kennedy thought about it. Of course she knew she would say yes, but she likes to play around with the thought of saying no. “Yeah, of course I’ll do it. Fax me the papers right away and give me his number and name and I’ll call to set up an appointment,” she told him.
“Thank you so much, Kennedy. You have no idea how much this means for the company,” he told her.
“No problem,” she swallowed her sore throat and looked over at Alex. He had fallen back asleep while she’d been talking and was snoring lightly.
“I’ll fax those papers to you right away,” he told her and they said their goodbyes and hung up.
Kennedy walked downstairs in a t-shirt that fell a few inches below her butt and found the fax machine with all the documents laying neatly on it. She rummaged through them to see what it basically was that she was dealing with but it didn’t seem like too much out of the ordinary.
She let out a sigh and dialed the number that had been faxed over to her. “Hello, Mr. Brian’s office. How can I help you?” a woman with an unusually cheery voice asked from the other end of the phone.
“Hi, my name is Kennedy – I work for K&L Gates law firm in New York City. I was wondering if I could make an appointment to meet with Mr. Brian today.” Kennedy asked, trying to sound professional, but sounding professional and early in the morning don’t usually go together.
“Well, unfortunately, Mr. Brian is unable to make it to New York so –” the secretary started, but Kennedy cut her off.
“Actually, I’m in Maryland right now, so I would like to set up an appointment with him for today… if you don’t mind,” Kennedy said in her best lawyer voice.
“Of course. Does 5 o’clock at the Charleston work for you?” the secretary asked her.
“Yes, that should work perfectly, thank you,” Kennedy told her.
“You know where the Charleston is, right?” the secretary asked.
“I think I’ll manage to find it,” Kennedy told her then hung up.
Kennedy let out a sigh and bit her bottom lip. She looked at the time and for the first time comprehended that it was already 2 o’clock in the afternoon, which meant that in three hours she’d be having a drink with some random person she had no idea what he looked like.
She flopped her head back and the door opened wide. Kennedy let out a little gasp, but in the door way stood Lisa, Jack, Matt, and Zack.
“Why are you half naked?” Matt asked, eyeing her up and down.
She scowled at him. “I just woke up and I had to get a fax because… you know what? I don’t need to explain any of this to you,” she told him and stuck her tongue out.
“Why’s that?” Jack asked.
“Because it is work related and I owe you no explanation,” she told him.
“So you slept with someone from work last night?” Zack asked.
“Why would you ever think that?!” Kennedy exclaimed.
“Um… probably because you’re standing in front of us half naked,” Jack told her.
“That does not mean I had sex with anybody – do you guys remember hanging out with me at all? I used to walk around in my skivvies all the time,” she told them and they all laughed.
“That’s true. You were very against clothes, weren’t you?” Jack asked and she snickered along with them.
“Where’s Alex?” Lisa asked in a delicate way and cocked her head gently to the side.
“Um, I don’t know. I think he’s in his room,” she lied. She was hoping that Lisa wouldn’t venture up there to find out for herself, but she did. “Actually, I’m going to head upstairs with you because now that I’ve been sufficiently made fun of, I’m going to put some pants on,” she told them and followed Lisa up the stairs.
Kennedy turned into her room while Lisa continued on down the hall to Alex’s room. Kennedy was surprised to see that Alex was no longer in her bed, but she figured that he’d gotten up when he heard all the noise and decided to skedaddle.
She shut her door and slid on a pair of black leggings and took off her t-shirt in favor of a white knit sweater with cable knit stitches that fell about four inches below her butt. She threw her hair up in a messy pony tail and walked out of her room.
She walked back downstairs to join the guys and saw Lisa sitting alone on the love seat in the living room with her arms crossed across her chest.
“Was Alex not in his room?” Kennedy asked as she rubbed her eyes and yawned.
“No, he was. He was showering. Told me he’d be down in a minute,” Lisa told her and went back to looking out of the window. Jack, Zack, and Matt were all in Alex’ kitchen and Kennedy followed suit. “Oh my god!” Jack exclaimed at the sight of her.
“What?” Kennedy asked, looking down at herself.
“First of all, I can’t believe you’re one of those girls that wear leggings with no pants and second of all, you’ve gotten so thin! It looks kind of weird on you,” Jack told her and she chuckled.
“I’m supposed to be thin – I’m short,” she told him and shook her head.
“Okay, that makes sense, but please explain the leggings,” Matt asked her, rummaging through Alex’s fridge.
“Um, have you ever worn leggings? They are one of the most comfortable pieces of clothing on the planet,” she told him and they all laughed at her. She jumped up on the island in the middle of the kitchen and watched all the boys eat.
Alex came down, towel in hand and shirtless. He was running the towel through his hair, getting the water out of it. “Are you guys eating all my food again?” Alex asked with a chuckle. After Alex entered the kitchen, soon after Lisa popped in as well.
Alex looked at Kennedy and knitted his eyebrows together, “What’s with the leggings?” he asked, also surprised to find her wearing them.
“What is your guys’ problem with leggings?! They are one of the most comfortable pieces of clothing in the world and I don’t understand why you guys are making fun of me for wearing them,” Kennedy exclaimed at them.
“I don’t know, it’s just weird to see you in them,” Alex told her with a shrug of his shoulders.
“That’s what I said,” Jack agreed, grabbing a carton of apple juice of Alex’s fridge and drinking from the jug.
“You guys don’t make fun of me when I wear leggings,” Lisa pointed out, clutching on to her purse that was on the side of her.
“That’s because we expect you to wear leggings. We grew up with Kennedy being anti-skirt and anything that didn’t make her look like a boy, pretty much. She always wore tank tops, jeans, and flip flops so to see her wearing leggings is a little strange for us,” Jack explained to Lisa, putting the jug of apple juice back.
They kept talking until Kennedy looked at the clock.
“Shit, sorry guys, but I got to go get ready,” she said as she jumped off the island and into the middle of the kitchen.
“Ready for what?” Alex asked as she walked past him.
“I have a meeting today with a potential client and I got to go seal the deal. Meeting him for drinks at five at the Charleston,” she told him.
“Isn’t that restaurant freakily expensive?” Matt asked.
“Not if you work at a law firm,” Kennedy told him. She started walking toward the stair case when something dawned on her. “FUCK!” she yelled at the top of her lungs and hit the banister.
“What? Are you okay?” Alex asked and rushed towards her.
“I’m fine, I just realized that I don’t have a goddamn car to fucking get there,” she told him and he chuckled at her.
“You can borrow mine,” he told her and looked at his car keys sitting on the table in the hallway.
She gave him “the eyes”. “Are you sure?” she asked and he nodded.
“You need it,” he told her as though that were answer enough. “I’ll be here all night away, so it doesn’t even matter,” he told her.
“Thank you, Alex,” she told him, stood on her tippy toes and gave him a hug. She kissed him on the cheek and then bolted up the stairs.
Kennedy hopped in the shower and started getting ready; she did her hair up in a French braid twist, she wore dramatic brown eye shadow, and a pair of nude four inch heels with a nude skirt, nude nylons, and a white oxford shirt.
By the time she was done getting ready it was already four forty and she ran down the stairs. All of the boys and Lisa were in the living room, taking turns playing video games. Kennedy ran by them and grabbed her purse which was sitting on the coffee table in the middle of the living room.
“Thanks again, Alex, for letting me borrow your car,” Kennedy told him.
“You look smokin’, Kennedy!” Jack exclaimed at her.
“Knock ‘em dead!” Matt threw out there.
She smiled and ran out the door.
She jumped in the car and got to the Charleston with three minutes to spare until her appointment actually started. She strutted up into the restaurant and got a seat at a table for two.
“Can I get you something?” the waiter asked.
“I’m actually meeting someone, so could you wait a little bit?” she asked and he nodded then walked away briskly.
Kennedy sat in silence for a few minutes, wishing that she’d had the guts to say no and that she wasn’t here at this very moment, but she knew that doing things like this were detrimental to her career.
“Hello, are you Kennedy?” a tall man with short brown hair and green eyes asked her.
“Yes, are you Mr. Brian?” she asked, trepedaciously. There’s no way a guy this good looking could run an empire as big as his was.
“Yes, I am.” He smiled and nodded then sat across from her.
The waiter came back over almost immediately.
“Are you guys ready to order something?” he asked and had his little pad out in front of him.
“We’ll just be getting drinks tonight,” Mr. Brian told him. “I’ll have whatever red wine you think is best,” he told him.
“I’ll just have a cape cod, thanks,” Kennedy ordered and then the waiter nodded once and walked off.
“Cape cod? Really?” Mr. Brian asked.
“Yeah, what do you have against my cape cod?” she asked, joking around.
“Nothing, it’s just so… blah,” he told her.
She smiled. “I have the papers with me but you should feel free to not have to sign them right now. You can take them, have your current lawyer look them over and then give me a call and I’ll take them off your hands,” she told him.
“Really?” he asked, surprised that she wasn’t going to try a sales pitch to get him to sign the papers.
“Absolutely. I want you to take your time and make sure that we’re the right company for you,” she told him.
“How old are you?” he asked her, tilting his head to the side.
“I’m 23 years old,” she told him.
“You’re not that much younger than I am,” he told her.
“How old are you?” she asked.
“I am 27,” he told her.
“No, I guess I’m relatively close to your age,” she agreed with a nod. “Why did you want to know?” she asked, now curious.
“You seem really mature and I just thought you’d be older than 23,” he told her with a dazzling smile. “I assume you live in New York and are just here on vacation?” he asked, taking a sip of his drink after it had been delivered.
“Yeah, I do live in New York,” she told him with a nod.
“So where are you staying, then?” he asked, leaning forward. He looked like he was actually interested in what she had to say. He was wearing a suit with a black coat, a charcoal colored tie, and a white button down shirt. All Kennedy could think about was what his body looked like under that shirt.
“I’m staying with a friend of mine I knew back in high school,” she told him.
“Oh, really? Where does she live?” he asked.
“He lives over near the park on 4th,” she told him. If he’d really lived there a long time then he should know exactly where it was.
“Oh, yeah. I know where that is. Which house is it?” he asked.
“The one with the fence,” Kennedy told him.
Neither of them said anything for a minute.
“Can I tell you something completely and totally unprofessional?” he asked her, running his hands through his hair making it look disheveled.
She smiled, “Sure,” she told him with a nod and a sip of her drink.
“You are extremely beautiful. I’d love to take you out some time,” he told her, looking at her with his emerald colored eyes.
“Oh yeah?”
“Would that be okay?”
She bit her lip. “Maybe,” she answered coyly.
Neither of them said a word but eyed each other, each wondering what the other would be like in bed, what they looked like without all their business attire on, and if they would actually date.
“So, I guess I’ll take these, have a look at them and then give you a call and we can meet again,” he told her, and she bit her lip. She found him very attractive and wished that he wasn’t trying to leave.
“You can call me to meet you whether or not it’s for the document,” she told him, biting her bottom lip seductively.
She gave her a crooked smile and eyed her up and down, “I may take you up on that,” he told her, taking a step closer to her, shooting the rest of this drink, and then taking her hand and kissing it. “Goodnight,” he told her as he stepped away. He talked to the waiter on his way out then was out of sight.
Kennedy flagged down the waiter and he came rushing to her side, “What can I get for you ma’am?” he asked.
“I need the check, please,” she told him, grabbing her purse.
The waiter gave a sly smile, “The man you were with already paid for it,” he told her then walked away.
Kennedy shook her head, grabbed her purse, and walked out of the Charleston. She got in her car and pulled out of the drive way and drove back to Alex’s house.
All of the lights were still on and there were still three cars sitting in front of his house so he assumed everybody was still there. She got out of the car and made her way up to the porch and into the house. She let out an exhausted sigh and threw Alex’s car keys back down on the table in the hallway before strutting into the living room where everybody was still hanging out.
“How was your night?” Jack asked, trying to kick Zack’s ass at some fighting game.
“It was good,” she responded, wanting to run her fingers through her head but having to refrain since it was up.
“Did you seal the deal?” Jack asked.
Kennedy smiled and bit her bottom lip, “Let’s hope so,” she said.
“Who were you meeting with?” Lisa asked, looking up at her from underneath her brown curls and she had her legs draped over Alex’s lap.
“His name is Mr. Brian. Apparently he’s some big-wig and he’ll have a huge impact on our company,” Kennedy told her with a shrug of her shoulders.
“That’s good. Was he nice?” Matt asked just as Lisa was about to say something.
“Yeah, he was really nice. Really cute, too. I was surprised at how young he was, though,” she told him.
“How old was he?” Matt asked.
“He said he was 27,” Kennedy told him.
Matt nodded and everybody stopped talking. She looked at Alex and he was staring at her intently. He was jealous. She could see it in his eyes that he was jealous because she found another guy attractive.
“I’m going to go grab some water,” Kennedy announced to the room.
Alex got up from his spot next to Lisa and grabbed the four cups sitting on the coffee table before following Kennedy into the kitchen. “Everybody wants refills?” he yelled at them only to hear a chorus of ‘yes’s back.
Alex pinned Kennedy up against the fridge and started kissing her neck and running his hands up and down her legs. “Alex, what are you doing?” she asked, breathlessly, but urgently.
He pulled back slightly, “I’m sick of waiting, Kenne,” he told her.
“I’ve been here less than a week. I think you’ll be fine,” she told him, raising her eyebrows.
“I’ve missed you, Kenne. I need to be with you again,” he told her, looking at her with hungry eyes. His brown hair fell in front of his eyes.
She stroked his hair away from his face and kissed his cheek just as the doorbell rang.
Jack answered the door but Kennedy and Alex walked out of the kitchen to see who it was.
Kennedy smiled, “What are you doing here?” she asked as she saw Mr. Brian looking around the house and at Jack, Matt, and Zack especially.
His eyes lit up when he saw her. “At first I thought you’d lied to me about where you were staying,” he told her, smiling.
Jack looked back at Alex who looked furious and Jack shook his head because he knew all too well what was going on in Alex’s head.
“Nope. Here I am,” she said and threw her arms out to the side.
Alex stepped forward and wrapped his arm around Kennedy’s shoulders. “Sorry man, but I think you’d better go. Kennedy and I have plans for tomorrow and it’s already pretty late, so I think everybody ought to get going,” he told him.
“It’s eight o’clock,” Matt said and rolled his eyes.
Lisa looked dumbfounded and hurt at the same time as she gave Alex her big doe eyed look.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize that Kennedy was seeing someone,” Mr. Brian apologized as he started backing away.
“I’m not,” Kennedy jumped in.
“Actually, she is, but thanks for your concern. Bye bye,” Alex said and gave a condescending wave. Mr. Brian rolled his eyes and gave Kennedy a little wave before leaving.
“I think we’d better go,” Matt said and he and Zack got up.
“Me, too. Like Alex said, it’s getting pretty late,” Jack agreed and left with Matt and Zack after giving Kennedy a hug.
“I’m going up to my room,” Kennedy told everybody and detached herself from Alex before heading up the stairs. She shut her door but didn’t go in her room. She sat at the top of the stairs to listen to Lisa’s and Alex’s fight.
“What the fuck was that?” Lisa exclaimed as soon as everybody was gone.
“What was what?” Alex asked, playing dumb.
“You pretended to be her boyfriend, got all defensive when someone who liked her came over… it’s like you’re still in love with her,” Lisa accused.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Alex dismissed.
“I’m sick of this, Alex,” Lisa told him in a more steady voice. Kennedy wished that she could be down there to see all the gestures so she could better read their body language.
“Sick of what?” Alex asked. He sounded totally indifferent and like he was distracted – like he didn’t care about Lisa.
“First you had that fling with that girl, Janelle, last summer. I forgave you because I love you, but now you’re parading around with Kennedy like she’s the girlfriend you lost – well news flash, but Kennedy chose New York over you, several times if I remember correctly. Get over it. She’s not in love with you anymore and you’re just holding on to a pipe dream!” she yelled at him.
“A pipe dream?” Alex asked.
“I get that she was your first love, but you’ve gotten over her. It’s been five years, Alex,”
“I haven’t gotten over her,” Alex let the words slip out and Kennedy cringed when she heard them only because she knew that they would cause a massive fight between Lisa and Alex.
Lisa remained silent but Kennedy heard her talk at a much lower volume. “You still love her?” Lisa asked and sounded like she was about to cry.
“Lisa…” Alex started but didn’t finish.
“I have to go,” Lisa said suddenly and next thing Kennedy knew, she heard the door slam close.
Kennedy got up and walked down the hallway and walked into Alex’s room. Kennedy stripped off all her clothes; heels, nylons, skirt, shirt, bra, and underwear. She went to Alex’s closet and found a few button down shirts but grabbed the white one and put it on before climbing into his bed.
She let down her French braid twist and it sent her hair in a curl frenzy, framing her face perfectly.
Kennedy let out a sigh and rested her head on the head board while waiting for Alex to come into his room.
Kennedy couldn’t stop thinking about the weird protective way Alex had just stood up for Kennedy, calling her his girlfriend when it obviously wasn’t true.
Kennedy ran her fingers through her hair and Alex’s door swung open. Alex looked completely disheveled and upset. He was surprised by Kennedy’s presence, but that was kind of the point.
“What are you doing here?” he asked as he shut his door.
Kennedy stood up to show him that she was practically naked. He stood where he was, admiring her body. Kennedy slowly unbuttoned the button down shirt, slowly revealing a few more inches of skin before she stripped off the whole thing entirely and displayed her naked body in front of him.
Alex looked at her and smiled. “You always did know how to cheer me up,” he told her jokingly.
“I’m all yours, Alex,” she told him, then tried to slide back into his bed.
“Go to your room, Kennedy,” he told her, looking at the ground.
“What?”
“Go to your room,”
“No,” she told him stubbornly.
“Kennedy, why are you doing this?” he asked, finally looking up at her.
“Because I love you. I want to be with you – I’ve missed us and obviously you have, too. I didn’t think you were serious all this time when you were telling me that you still had feelings for me until tonight. You got so protective and jealous and in front of your girlfriend nonetheless.” She walked over to where Alex stood and looked into his eyes. “I love you,” she told him and bit her lip.
He gave her a crooked smile, “I love you, too,” he told her and bent down and kissed her before starting to strip off his own clothes.