Love for Love

After that, I removed myself from Tom and sat on the couch opposite him. I left my belt on the other couch with Tom, not really caring for it. It was black and practically blended in with the couches so I had no fear in someone seeing it from a distance.

I crossed one leg over the other and cleared my throat as Tom stared at me from where he sat with a seductive expression. I tried not to let myself be drawn into his beauty and put myself into my professional mindset.

At that moment, Audrey walked into the room with a cup of tea she handed to Tom. He thanked her for it and she left the room, eyeing him as she did so. Before she left, she mouthed to me, He's cute. This made me smile.

I looked back over to Tom as he took a sip from his tea and set it down on the practically empty coffee table that separated us. It was as if Audrey's appearance had changed something in Tom and he instantly became professional. He crossed one leg over the other and and looked at me inquisitively.

"So," he said, filling the silence that filled the space between us. "Do you have any ideas for what my party could be like."

"Umm," I said as I looked down at my blank piece of paper. "I was thinking it could be themed."

"What kind of theme?" he quickly asked.

"Masquerade," I said, thinking off the top of my head. He gave me an unimpressed look. "Or your favourite comic book hero."

"How about...what do you American's call it," Tom said, thinking out loud. "Prom night."

"Oh God," I whined. "There is no way in the seven hells will I be reliving that night."

"Uhh, I think this is my party your planning, not yours," Tom retorted, waving his finger around as he destroyed my comment with a few words.

"Sorry," I apologised. "You were saying?"

"Prom...night," Tom continued. "That will be the theme for the night. Has to be black tie. The guys have to come in suits while the ladies have to come in ball gowns."

I noticed how when he said 'ladies', he eyed me. I knew that I would have to attend the party that I was helping organise but I didn't really expect Tom to make me dress up in a fancy ball gown. If anything, when I went to these kind of events, I usually dressed down and in something that not many people would notice me in.

"Are you saying that I'll have to dress up for this thing?" I said, voicing my suspicions.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Tom said. "You're going to be my date for the night. I wouldn't expect anything less of my girlfriend."

"Girl...girlfriend?" I said, completely stunned.

"Yes, you're my girlfriend, are you not?" he questioned me, his expression confused.

To be totally honest, I had no gotten used to the word yet. Especially used in reference to me, by one celebrity hunk of a man in Tom. I just continued to stare at him in surprise, shocked at his use of the phrase.

Shaking my head to bring me back to my senses, I said to Tom, "Yes. Sorry. I am your girlfriend, as you are my boyfriend. It's just..."

"It's just what?" Tom said after a moment or two of silence.

"I've...never really had a boyfriend before," I commented. A sympathetic look crossed his face. "But let's not talk about that. We have a party to organise."

"If you say so," Tom said, moving past the subject of being practically a virgin in almost everything.

The rest of the meeting with Tom went really smoothly. I wrote down everything that was suggested and highlighted later all the things that needed to be organised. Tom suggested a venue in central London for the amount of people that he wanted to invite.

It happened to be a bar in which the interior suited the theme that he had decided upon. We agreed to attend the bar the following day to confirm the booking with the owner and put a deposit on the alcohol tab.

I asked him if he wanted a band and suggested a small time indie band that didn't have as much exposure as they deserved. I had no idea who they were but wrote them down anyway. Hopefully there was enough room in this bar for this band that Tom had suggested.

I then asked Tom to write up a guest list in which I would be delighted if he could forward on to me. He laughed at something I must have said that I didn't realise was funny before we continued to talk about various other things in relation to his party.

We ran through some other logistics before I closed the meeting. I stood up to walk Tom out when I decided to ask him, "Do you happen to play the piano?"

"No, not the piano," Tom said as we reached the door and Audrey looking up at us as we arrived. "The guitar. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I was just wondering," I said with a smile in which he returned.

"I will find out the real reason you asked, Ms. Livingston," Tom said as he leaned down to kiss me lightly on the lips.

He then turned to leave without another word. Audrey and I watched him as he left, only turning to each other when he had completely disappeared from sight. Audrey instantly stood up from her seat and ushered me into my office where I took my seat behind my desk.

"Tell me everything," she demanded, her eyes wide.

"I don't think I want to," I said, setting out my notes for me to type up in a report to send to Missy.

"If you tell me anything, tell me this," Audrey said, her movements setting the scene for her question. "Are you like...dating him or something?"

"I thought that was obvious," I replied, gaining a small laugh in return.

"I so wish I was you right now," Audrey said as she left my office for her desk.

"No you don't!" I said as I began to type up a report for Missy.

I completed the report about an hour later and sent it off to my boss in New York. I then moved on to make a reservation at the bar that Tom had suggested and organised a time to meet tomorrow.

I then set out in search of the band that he wanted to play at his party. It took me a while before I eventually found them. It took me even longer before i found their contact details and got through to the number that they provided.

I made an offer to them and they gladly accepted for a handsome fee. Totally overpriced, I thought to myself as I hung up my office phone. I filed away all the notes that I had made in the meeting that I had with Tom and looked around my empty room.

I checked the clock on my phone to see that it was only 2pm and I still had time before all the stores closed at 5pm. I packed up my laptop and bag before leaving the office, pausing by Audrey's desk. She was on the phone when I arrived at her desk and I waited until she had finished the call before speaking to her.

"I'm done for the day," I said to her. "You don't have to stay any longer if you don't want to."

"Oh...okay," she said hesitantly.

I was about to leave when I turned back around and said to Audrey, "What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing," she said, looking to me expectantly. "Why?"

"I need someone to help me choose out some stuff for my apartment," I said. "And since my best friend is still over in New York, I need an honest opinion on a dress for Saturday."

"And you're asking me for help?"

"Why not?" I replied. "Come on, get your things. We're going shopping."

__________________________________________________________________________

Audrey and I went passed my apartment where we dropped off my belongings before catching a taxi to where she considered the best place to by furniture from. By the end of it, I had enough food to last me at least two weeks and enough furniture to make my apartment look new again.

All the furniture I bought I got delivered and I would be receiving in the next seven days. Audrey and I returned home with what we could carry as well as the groceries in which she helped me pack into the fridge. She complimented me on my apartment when she entered, saying that she never had the chance to say so before when we first went through.

We flung out a large rug in the lounge room and changed the material on the blinds. I gave the old material to Matilda. She graciously accepted it, saying that she's been meaning to get some more material for her own blinds but didn't have the money to do so.

Audrey helped me hoist the old television out onto the sidewalk and together, we managed to build a stand for the television that Mum would be sending over from the states. I connected the telephone that I had bought against the wall and was happy to find that it had a dial tone.

I offered Audrey to stay for dinner and she accepted my offer as I began to make dinner for two.