The One I Love

The ride over is full of conversation about Lila and Thomas. I can tell Ada loves her best friend dearly so it’s enjoyable to listen to her talk about her.

We pull up to the restaurant and immediately I see Savannah. My stomach turns sour and I try to keep the frown from forming on my face. Of all the people to run into at one of the most expensive restaurants in town, she was not someone I thought I’d see. She’s with an older guy, I assume a rich sugar daddy, but I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Somehow, I manage to get by her and her date without them seeing us. Thank goodness for small miracles.

As luck would have it they are meandering around waiting for a table, being we have reservations I hoping they will sweep us to our table immediately. I’m happy to give the hostess my name so we can get out of her eye line. But it seems my luck has run out.

“Please go sit at the bar and have a complimentary drink while we get your table ready Mr. Maxwell.” The hostess apologetically says our table is occupied by someone who has overstayed

their welcome. Once we’re seated at the bar and order a drink Thomas jumps right into business as I keep a side eye on Savannah hoping she doesn’t see me.

“So, I have the contract, but we can talk about all that after dinner. It covers things like percentage of money from the sales of albums, merchandise, and lots of other things.”

“Half,” Ada says surprising Thomas. I can tell because he leans back in the both with his mouth open.

“Half?”

“Yes, I’m putting myself out there if I decide to sing with Charlie. I’m giving up my privacy and who knows what else. It’s not like I’m the one desperate for this. I’m perfectly fine teaching my student’s music so in my mind it seems you need me more than I need you. So, I want half or nothing. If that contract doesn’t say I’m entitled to half then redo it. I’ll get a lawyer to look at it once you have.”

I’m a little blown away by this confidence Addy has gained. She isn’t backing down from Thomas and she is prepared to play hardball. It’s a pretty big turn on.

“That’s fine with me. If you want to sing with me, then half of it should be yours.” I add giving her a wink to bring back the pink flush on her cheeks.

“Now wait a minute Charlie, you have to look at the big picture here. This is your brand,” Thomas interjects.

“She’s going to be a part of it.”

I can tell Thomas is going to lose it. He is holding back so he doesn’t make her mad, but his face shows he doesn’t think she deserves half. It’s fucking dumb that he would be fighting her on this. He was the one that insisted I needed a partner. Hell, I was positive he was going to drop me if I couldn’t convince Addy to sing with me. So why he was being a dick didn’t make sense. I personally just want to give her whatever she wants so she’ll keep looking at me that way.

She has such admiration for me in her eyes since I said it should be hers. I want to give her the moon if she keeps thinking of me in such a great light.

We get seated fairly quickly and I’m happy to order a round of drinks for the table. The special is a wine spritzer of some sort which Thomas immediately makes fun of me for ordering, but he drinks his. The next round is on him and he gets something horrible the waitress sets on fire.

Once we’ve finished our before dinner drinks and ordered some food the conversation goes back to the contracts.

“Thomas, she said to rewrite it for her to have half. And her and I both agree she should get it so let’s talk about something else, like how we’re going to pull this off.” I’m getting impatient with his desire to wax poetic about legal issues. We want her on our team and we can figure all that out later.

He gets ready to say something back when I start shaking my head. And then it happens I see Savannah has spotted me and she’s making her way over. Nothing good will come from whatever she’s going to say and I can’t excuse myself to talk to her because it won’t look good in front of Ada. I feel like a sitting duck and I don’t even know what type of ammo is about to blow my ass up.

“Charlie, you left me hanging the other night. You know you owe me now.” She slurs making it obvious that she has gone beyond a buzz. The smell of alcohol floats in the air towards me as she leans down. I didn’t think it was possible that a person could smell like a liquor bottle.

“Now is not a great time, Savannah,” I tell her as quietly as I can. Both Thomas and Ada are looking at me with wide eyes.

“Charlie, I want what’s mine. I know I didn’t pay for it, but when you promise something, you promise it. You know what I mean. I want it.” Her voice takes on a whiny quality that I’m pretty sure she thinks is adorable instead of pathetic.

“So, give it to me and I’ll be on my way.” She’s getting louder as her words slur together. People are looking over now to see what the fuss is about. Where is her date?

“I mean it, Savannah, this is not the time.”

“Oh, I see. You’re here with the big man in a suit and another coke whore. You don’t want to give me what’s mine. That’s fine. That’s fine.” Her arms are swinging wildly as her glazed eyes fix on me.

Ada looks completely disgusted with the whole thing and I expect her to walk out any minute. I can’t believe she just called her a coke whore.

“You’re making a fool out of yourself. I’ll come by the bar, I’ll bring you what you want. Just leave me right now.”

“No,” she yells and slams her body into our table spilling drinks and making a loud noise. “I want it right now. I’ll follow you to your house for it.”

The owner of the restaurant’s making his way to the table. I know him from the times Thomas has brought us before. He takes Savannah’s arm and moves her from our table.

“I need you to calm down or you’ll not be welcome in our restaurant.”