A Strange Arrangement

The following morning I sat at my desk, reclining in my chair, and explaining to Sara all that happened after she dropped me off.

“So then he finally comes home about 45 minutes later and sticks to this story about him and Eric just finishing their interview. But then he also adds to the lie by telling me they actually left Brumsey's to go to some sports bar on the other side of town and watch the Flyers' game. The whole time I can't believe he's blatantly lying to my face, you know? But I didn't let him in on the fact that I knew he wasn't being truthful. I'm going to find out what's going on though, Sara. I'll tell you that much.”

“What are you going to do? Spy on him?” Sara laughed. I looked at her seriously. “Aw, come on, King! Really?! Why don't you just straight up ask him what's going on?”

“How will I even know if he's telling the truth? My best friend has obviously been perfecting the art of lying. I can't trust him right now, Sara. I'm just going to figure out what's going on on my own...and with your help.” I mumbled as I sipped my water.

“What? No! No! Absolutely not. I'm not contributing to this,” she argued.

“Please! I need you to help me out with this. It'll be like a little mystery we get to solve! You can be Sherlock and I'll be Holmes! Please, Sara!” I pleaded with her. She rolled her eyes at me.

“Stop overreacting. Fine. I'll help you.” she relented. "But you can't take it out on me if you don't like what you find out!"

“Yes! Okay, I just need you to do a bit of investigating work. You know, just see what he does, where he goes, who he meets. Nothing too crazy.”

“Yeah, this is totally not crazy at all.” she spat sarcastically. I ignored her jibe and continued on.

“He's watching the Flyers' morning skate today, allegedly, but that should be ending soon.” I looked down at the clock on my laptop. “You should definitely be getting a move on.”

-x-

Hours later I was starting to feel nervous. My text messages and calls to both Sara and Kris weren't being answered. The unsettling feeling that had formed in my stomach was beginning to grow rapidly. I decided to take a break from the work I wasn't able to focus on anyway and grab some dinner.

I rubbed the side of my face as I waited for the elevator to arrive. When the doors began to slide open my heart sunk even lower.

“Hey! Well if it isn't just the good looking girl I was searching for,” Eric flirted as he leaned in to hug me. “What are you doing right now?”

“Nothing. Just taking a breather.”

“Well, do you want to take a breather with me and get a bite to eat?” he asked with a playful grin and tilt of his head.

“Not particularly.”

“Sure.” I agreed with a nod of my head.

During the entire elevator ride to the lobby I cursed myself for my inability to say “no”.

-x-

“So then this guy says to me 'Hey, that's my girlfriend!' and I say 'Sorry, bro. I think you're going to have to change your Facebook status to single'.” Eric laughed heavily at the punchline to his long, boring story. I wasn't sure if it was because I was too preoccupied wondering how Sara's stakeout was going or because Eric genuinely disinterested me, but I was struggling to pay attention to him. “You okay? You seem a bit out of it.”

“Yeah, it's just my workload is stressing me out a little.” I lied as I scanned the surroundings of the Italian restaurant called Geno's that Eric had picked for our dinner.

“Ah, don't worry about it. We all have those weeks. Ellen's not so bad. She'll give you an extension if you really need it and considering how sick you've been the past couple days, it shouldn't be a problem.”

My phone vibrated alerting me to a new text message.

“Sorry,” I apologized to Eric as I picked my iPhone up to look at the text.

“From Sara:
Meet me at the China Taste restaurant around the corner from Brumsey's ASAP. Big developments.”

“Fuck,” I unconsciously whispered to myself.

“What? What is it? What's wrong?” Eric asked seeming genuinely worried.

“Uh, my roommate got hurt. She sprained her ankle at practice. I need to go see if she's okay.” I said getting up.

“You know, you're doing this apologize and run thing a lot to me, Alexandria. I'm starting to feel like you don't like me...or that you're secretly a super-heroine. Either one.”

“No, no. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you. I just have to get going right now.” I said hurrying off. “Thanks for dinner!” I yelled over my shoulder.

I took a cab over to China Taste where Sara was waiting patiently for me at a table near the door. I sat down nervous but excited to hear what news she had to bring. In front of her sat her camera and a notebook.

“So, what did you find out?” I nearly squealed.

“First you have to promise that you will only use the information I give you for good, not evil.” she demanded.

“Yeah, sure. Of course.” I agreed laughing in my head at her ridiculous opening line.

“King...” she looked at me sternly.

“I promise! Come on. I'm dying here.” I begged.

“Okay, well after he left the rink he went to a restaurant on the east side of town called Sali's.” she told me as she turned on her camera and showed me the progression of photos she had taken. “It's this super swanky new restaurant. Highly exclusive. You have to have serious cash if you want to dine there. He goes in and shakes hands with this guy,” she pointed to the screen, “...who clearly works there. I'm thinking he's a manager or possibly even the owner. Then they sit and talk for about 15 minutes. The guy shows him a catalog of some type as you can see here and Kris begins to select things. A short time later you see Kris write him a check, then they shake hands, and he leaves. Simple enough. In other words, he made reservations for something, but don't fret wondering what it's for because I already know.” she told me grinning widely.

She picked up her notebook and turned a few pages.

“I called the place up, pretended to be Kris' manager, and asked them to confirm the date with me to make sure it was correct. It worked like a fucking charm. Guess what day it's for,” she told me.

“I don't know. Tomorrow?” I said genuinely unsure.

“Nope.” she said raising her eyebrows with a mischievous smile and showing me a page in the notebook that had 'Valentine's Day, 7:30” scrawled on it. I looked at her trying to figure out how to react to the news. It was promising but I was skeptical about jumping to conclusions.

“That's not all though. After he left Sali's, he drove to another restaurant called Argento.” she picked up her camera again to show me the paparazzi-esque photos she had snapped, “There he meets with Cassidy Brooker. She's Philadelphia's biggest event planner. She's orchestrated events for the Flyers, the Eagles, and the mayor to name a few.” I started to feel a twinge of jealously as Sara flipped through the pictures of Versteeg having lunch with the beautiful, young blonde event planner. “But wait, check this out. He pulls out a jewelry box and shows her a necklace. Now I can't make out what's on it exactly but she admires it and then he puts it away. You know what that means?”

“What?”

“Really?” she asked me in disbelief. “He makes Valentine's Day reservations, meets with an event planner, and shows off a fancy necklace all in the same afternoon. He's obviously planning something for you, stupid!"

“Well we still don't know that.” I said not feeling the overwhelming relief I thought I would. All that this new information and these new pictures left me with were more questions. “I appreciate you doing this, Sara. Really. You're such a great friend.” I told her as I stood up to leave.

“What are you doing?” she asked me as I turned to walk away.

“I'm not sure, exactly.”

And I walked out the door.