Heartless and Heartbroken

"Amelia, come out here, please."

Friday afternoon, another day at the record shop. It has been exactly two days, one hour and thirteen minutes since Rachel convinced me to help her. Well maybe the minutes weren’t exactly accurate but whatever.

For two days she has been constantly nagging me on how we should plan everything out and what should happen this night, it’s like she thought I had nothing else to do.

I couldn’t help and be nervous. What if he doesn’t even look at me? What if he thinks I’m not good enough for him? What if he doesn’t lik- whoa, Amelia stop it right there! What the hell is going on with you? Ever since they broke up I’ve done nothing else other than to think about it: first it was because I was pissed at him and I wanted to rip his balls out; then it was because I was scared of Rachel and what she’d do; and now it’s because of this stupid plot against him.

"Amelia!" I heard Mike shouting at me. Jesus freaking Christ, does he want me to have a heart attack?

"What, Mike?" I yelled back watching him by the door. "I mean, what is it Mike?" I said more calmly.

"I need your help with these records, are you available or are you still visiting Mars?" His face showed a bit of distaste for me - or something similar, probably it’s just me overreacting - so I decided to just help him and keep my mouth shut.

"Mia, are you okay?" Mike asked me, a little while after, with a worried look in his eyes while I was setting some records up on the shelves.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Mike”

“Are you sure? You look… tired. If you want to you can leave earlier today, Jeanette should get here in a while to help so it’s fine.”

“Michael, seriously, there’s no need for that. I’m fine.”

“Ok, if you say so. Just know that if you want to you can go home earlier today. Just give me a warning if you do so, ok?”

“Will do, Sir.” I stated smirking at him.

About four hours later I decided to take up on Mike’s offer since I was feeling a little tired and I knew that I had to stay up later, for Rachel’s scheme would start today.

~~**~~

After a relaxing bath and almost falling asleep in the bathtub, being now 5 o’clock, I went outside for some grocery shopping since my fridge had almost nothing eatable at the moment, the shop was just around the corner.

Thirteen minutes I had all the groceries picked, and once again I would be eating the house's special: Mac and cheese and a chocolate cake just for me! Why did I not pay attention when my mum decided to teach me how to cook? My job doesn’t exactly cover for all the money I spend on frozen food, thankfully my parents still give me allowance, even after I told them that it wasn’t necessary their answer was simply “Don’t be silly Amelia, you’re going to have expenses and your money won’t cover all of it”. Even though they still put money on my account I try not to use it as much as I can, only if really necessary.

“Hey Amelia, here for more of that awful frozen food?” Mr. Scott (Henry), the owner of the grocery store, asked. Being the kind and funny man he is, he’s always making fun of my mac and cheese routine.

“You know it, Henry.” I said, smiling at the joyful man in front of me.

“I told you already, anytime you feel like eating a good home cooked meal you should pass by the house and do so. All this frozen junk will kill you one day, sweetie.”

“I will do that someday, Henry. I miss Mary’s amazing cooking skills and that mouth-watering blueberry pie.” I stated smiling at him. Mary is Henry’s wife, they’ve been married for over thirty years, almost forty. They’re like my extended family, two of the kindest people I’ve met, actually.

Henry laughed and proceeded to check my groceries. "Well, don’t you forget it. Mary’s been talking a lot about you, she misses you."

"Tell her I said hi and that I miss her too. I have to go now though, goodnight Henry" I paid and left the store waving at him.

"Good night, Amelia."

~~**~~

At ten p.m. Rachel knocked on my door so she could choose something for me to wear because, in her words, "You don’t exactly know what to wear for night outs. You can never be apart from jeans” Well excuse me if they’re comfortable.

"Come on Mia, I brought some things for you to try on."

"Should I be frightened?" I asked her in a sarcastic way.

"Ha ha, funny." she said rolling her eyes. "You know I’m good with these things, love. Let’s try this one first."

It was a simple really short black dress but since I’m a bit taller than Rach it showed my private parts so a definite no for number one. The second dress was a little more sophisticated, even though it was really gorgeous it made me feel uncomfortable. Finally there was one dress that caught my eye, it was black, it came to my mid thigh and it had long sleeves; It was adorned with four blues stripes in the chest area and if I didn’t knew better, I’d think Rachel never wore it thinking that it covered her “goods”. I’m even surprised she’s letting me use it.

“We don’t want him to see everything just yet. Your long ass legs will cover it for the night. Not to mention your ass is a nice enough view.” She mumbled that last part trying, but failing, for me not to hear it. I knew there had to be a justification for the choice in dress.

The shoes were simple black ankle booties and a black clutch complemented the look. She decided that I should have my hair straightened instead of the unruly wavy/curly chocolate brown mop of hair.

"So, you know where he’s going to be right?" she asked.

"Yes. I just don’t know how you found that out."

"Mia, I told you already, that’s where he spends all his Friday nights."

"Ok then, let’s get this over with."

~~**~~

Inside the taxi on my way to the club the nerves started kicking in again. What if everything goes wrong, what if I can’t do this? Or worse, what if I can? Rachel will never let me go then; I’ll be held hostage and she’ll demand that I do everything she wants! And now I’m just being overdramatic. Ay, caramba.

The cab pulled over and as I watched the line to enter the club, my heart started going crazy. Calm down, everything was planned. The main point is: Leave him wanting more. That's all you have to do. Simple... I hope.

As I made my way to the line I heard some, probably sex-deprived, men cat-calling all women that passed by. I started analyzing everyone on the line and I stopped when I saw this very handsome guy just in front of me with some, I’d say, friends?

He was about 5'10, light brown hair and a sculptural body. If only I had X-ray vision. He must have felt someone watching him because he turned around and beautiful blue eyes stared right at me.

“Hello.”

British!

"Hi" I whispered. Oh no, Amelia come on, do not make a full out of yourself. Breathe in, breathe out. "I mean, Hi." I said more confidently.

"I’m William. You can call me Will. You?" He asked stretching his hand out for me to shake.

"I’m Amelia. My friends call me Mia though." I stated shaking his hands.

"Are you from around here?" He asked in that sexy British accent of his.

"Yeah, I was born in Brooklyn actually. I moved to this side of the bridge a couple years ago to go to College. You’re British though, right?"

"Yes, I’m from Edinburgh in Scotland actually."

"I knew I recognized the accent. I've been there once, fell in love with it."

He smirked, making him look even more attractive, "Yes, it’s really nice over there."

"So… If you don’t mind me asking, are you in new York for business or pleasure?” Now I sound like a crazy ass woman. Business or pleasure? And the award for worst flirting techniques ever goes to...

"I came for a bachelor party. One of my mates has been living here for a while and he’s getting married in a week.”

"Oh, who’s the groom?”

"His name is Mark. He’s the one by that short guy over there." He pointed to a man with glasses.

"Well have fun then.”

"Thank you, Mia, is it ok if I call you that?"

"Of course" I answered smiling.

A few minutes passed by and we talked for a little while longer, unfortunately breaking apart when we entered the club. I had a 'mission' today and I couldn’t spend the rest of the night with William, though we did exchange phone numbers - I couldn’t flirt with him tonight but nothing could stop me from doing so another day.

I went straight to the bar and ordered a vodka tonic: I needed all the courage I could get tonight.

I turned around, desperately trying to look for Nathan, because in the middle of this crowd it was hard to see where he was or if he was even here. Rachel assured me that he would be here already so I just had to keep looking.

I looked around for a little while longer, spotting all kinds of people. When I was about to turn around and call Rachel telling her that he wasn’t here, I saw a familiar face next to the dance floor talking to a few guys and looking at the women next to them.

I always thought that Nathan was good looking by the photographs Rachel showed me, but I never thought he would look that good in person, it’s like he doesn't even have to try and look good, he just does! It was natural to him. He’s a jackass, Amelia. My rational side was being silenced by the Hot damn, he is sexy even if he’s an asshole side. I saw him looking around the club and after a few second, his eyes landed on me and he started smirking once he saw me looking back at him.

I couldn't contain the blush that started appearing on my cheeks by the embarassement of beeing caught looking.

But as he kept looking at me I just kept thinking: What have I gotten into...