Only One Chance (Only One 2)

“Twenty-five thousand!” I hear shouted, and gasps fill the room. My eyes look at the table right in the front. I spot Ralph and Candace, who are both looking over at Layla with their mouths hanging open. Layla isn’t even sure what is going on as she realizes that the words came out of her mouth. The other women look over at her, and all she can do is stare at me. The room erupts in applause and cheers. The other guys who were on the stage with me are now clapping their hands and laughing hysterically.

“Sold,” Nico says, pointing at Layla. “That has to be a record,” he says, laughing, and then looks at me. “For that price, you better go get that woman a drink.” Everyone laughs, and I walk down the step toward her. What is going on here? I think to myself. What did she just do, and why? Why would she just do this? She literally hates me. I mean, she tells me this all the time. She’s pushed me away at every single advance for the last, I don’t know, four years, and now this? My head spins with all the questions, but all I do is paste a smile on my face.

I can’t help but smile, putting my hands to my chest. “Be still my heart,” I say, joking, and she groans. “That was so romantic, gorgeous. I knew there was something between us. I just felt it.” I pretend to make light of the situation, but my head swims with questions. Why would she do this? Can she even afford that? My heart starts to speed up, thinking that she just might have wasted all her savings on me, and I’m not okay with this. Do I want to date her? Damn straight I do, but not if it’s going to put her into debt. I’m going to go to Nico and just pay it off.

“Oh my God.” She puts her hand to her mouth and then looks over at Candace. “What did you just do?”

“What did I just do?” She laughs at her friend. “What did you just do?”

“God.” Manning’s wife gets up. “How desperate can one woman be that she has to buy herself a date?” She looks over at Layla with disgust all over her face, and I have to admit she might be hot as fuck in a totally fake way, but her attitude just makes her ugly.

“I’ll give you fifty thousand dollars not to come home,” Manning says to her and pushes away from the table. “Fuck, I’d give you a million dollars to never talk to me again.” He walks off, leaving her with her mouth hanging open, and the four of us just looking at her. She straightens her shoulders and turns and walks away in the other direction.

“Well, that was weird,” Layla says, grabbing her empty champagne glass and bringing it to her lips for the last drop. “I wonder if I won the All-Star tickets?” she says, looking around.

“Well, there she is.” I hear Nico now and turn to look at him as he walks to the table. He holds out his hand for Layla, who smiles and takes it, and I want to hit his hand away, but instead, I put my hands in my pockets. “We need a picture of the happy couple. Twenty-five thousand dollars.”

“About that,” Layla says, now standing up. “How bad would it be if I took the bid back?” she asks, looking around.

“Take it back?” I say, shaking my head and laughing. “Now, why would you do that?” I start to panic, thinking that she’ll take it back and I won’t get my only shot with her.

“Because the thought of going on a date with you,” she starts to say, and I look down at her hand still in Nico’s. I look over at him, raising my eyebrows, and he drops her hand. Now that her hand is free, she throws it up in the air. “The thought of going on a date with you,” she repeats herself. “It’s preposterous.”

“You just bid twenty-five thousand dollars to go out with me.” I point at myself. “Now forgive me if I’m wrong, but I think that just tells you how much you want me.” I smirk. “At least twenty-five thousand times.”

“Oh, I want you all right,” she says. “I want you to go fly a kite naked over a cactus farm.” She winks. Nico and Ralph both wince and put their hands over their junk.

“This is perfect.” A woman comes over with a camera hanging from around her neck. “Could we get a couple of pictures of the big-ticket item with the woman who shut it down?” She smiles and then motions with her hand to follow her.

“If you don’t go with her,” Nico says, “she’ll just come back.”