Chapter 24

“Excuse me sir but you can’t sleep here,” a coiffed hotel employee announced as he shook Ben awake.Ben let out a weary sigh and rubbed his eyes. “Sorry, this wasn’t my intention,” he added as he pulled himself to a sitting position. “I’ll, uh, go back to my room in a minute when I’ve woken up enough to use elevator buttons.” He managed smile convincing enough that hotel employee wandered off back to the check in desk, confident Ben wasn’t a vagrant.Ben dropped his head into his hands as the evening’s events replayed themselves in his now-sobering brain. His drinking. The fight with Joaquin. The fact he felt guilty yet hurt all at once. Reluctantly he got to his feet and headed back to the hotel room. He stopped at the door and took a deep breath, not sure what state he’d find the easily startled woman inside. He kicked himself again for not having more restraint, he should know well enough that Joaquin was not the type of woman who could handle a screaming match. He slid the key into the lock and entered the room. It was dark aside from the weak light coming in from the street. He assumed the lump amongst the bed sheets was Joaquin. Ben peeled off his clothes and draped them over a chair. He hesitated slightly before pulling back the covers and sliding into bed. He could feel Joaquin stiffen immediately and curl herself a little tighter away from him. He lay on his back a moment before turning toward her and feeling for her body. Ben’s fingers found Joaquin’s hip and then crept across her stomach as he pulled her to him.“I’m sorry,” he whispered and dropped a kiss on her shoulder. “We’ll talk like rational adults in the morning.” He kissed her shoulder again and was surprised when Joaquin turned in his arms and buried her face in the warmth of his chest.

“Oh my god,” Adele panted as she lay gasping at the ceiling. “You are very, very good at that.” She dropped a slightly shaking hand on Aidan’s chest as he caught his breath.“I did tell you sex is one of my pro-skills,” Aidan laughed breathlessly.“What are your others?”“Bourbon-induced blackouts, drawing my year 10 French teacher’s calves in great detail, and mastering at least three baked bean-based dishes.”Adele giggled as she rolled onto her side, her leg slipping between his as her arm wrapped around his torso. “It’s lucky I like baked beans.”“If you’re good I’ll make you the fanciest of the three,” Aidan mused as he interlaced his fingers with hers and brought them to his lips, kissing them gently. “You’ll get sourdough toast instead of no-name store brand white bread.”“You treat me like a princess,” Adele chided, propping herself up to kiss him and then sinking back down against him as the kissing became deeper. “I know sex is one of your pro-skills,” she breathed against his lips and moved to straddle him beneath the sheets, Aidan’s hands eagerly moving to her hips and rear. “But baby, I’ve got a masters degree in love making too,” she added and began to gently nip at his throat.“I’m all for professional development,” Aidan managed in a husky voice as their lips found each other again.

Joaquin woke early and glanced at Ben who was clearly still in a boozy coma. She felt a stab of guilt as she watched his chest rise and fall. Not only was she the worst person in the world who was so self-absorbed that she didn’t show interest in people she genuinely liked, but then she felt pleased that he didn’t hate her for doing so. She gently slid out of bed and quietly sorted some clothes to wear which she took into the bathroom, dressed and then left as quickly as she could. Once outside, Joaquin found the nearest cafe and ordered a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and a very strong coffee before heading to the seminar. The morning session was on protest posters which she thought was possibly the dumbest thing ever. She noticed her new group of pretentious friends were huddled in their clique near the back. Deciding she wasn’t quite prepared for that, she took her sandwich and found a quiet stairwell to sit in as she pulled out her phone.

Adele woke to find herself still snuggled into Aidan and allowed herself a pleased sigh. She sleepily kissed his cheek and watched a small smile appear on his lips. She would’ve kissed those lips had she not heard her phone ringing from the next room.“Ignore it,” Aidan mumbled into her neck.“What if my grandmother has fallen picking fruit and broken her neck,” Adele remarked as she reluctantly pulled herself from the warmth of the bed.“Does your grandmother often pick fruit?” Aidan asked sleepily.“No, she’s been dead ten years,” She mused and grabbed her knickers and Aidan’s jumper before hurrying into the living room. She found her phone in her bag which was being pawed aggressively by October. “Hello.”“I’m a terrible person.”“Good morning, Bliss,” Adele sighed as she headed into the kitchen. “What’s happened?”“I had a big fight with Ben, like the biggest, stupidest fight.”“What about?” Adele asked as she found a glass and filled it with water. “He’s not a secret Republican?”“No,” Joaquin sighed through mouthful of sandwich. She swallowed quickly. “I thought he was a jock and didn’t want him to feel intimidated by the college grads.”“Right,” Adele took a mouthful of water. “So he’s not a jock?”“He yelled at me to tell him what he does for a living.”“And what does he do?”“I have no goddam idea.”“So did you ask him?”“No.”“Jo.”“I freaked out.”“Did you hide and cry?”“He was so angry.”“Well you could’ve just asked him and averted the whole thing,” Adele said matter-of-factly as she felt Aidan slide up behind her and wrap his arms around her waist.“You know I’m not good under that amount of pressure.”Aidan helped himself to Adele’s water as she sighed into the phone. “So what happened after your fight? Is he fleeing Sydney hoping you’ll drown in the harbour?”“Worse, he forgave me and wants to talk like adults.”“This does not sound worse,” Adele chided. “This sounds like the best possible outcome.”“Del, I can’t adult. This is not going to end well,” Joaquin groaned as she took a long drink of her coffee.“Look Bliss, it won’t break you to say, ‘Sorry I’m insane, please do tell me what you do for work, Mr Saxon.”“I might have an aneurysm with the amount of anxiety control required to get to ‘sorry’.”“If you do I promise not to let your parents come to your funeral.”“You’re a good friend.”“I’m your only friend.”“Hey!”“Look, Ben seems like a pretty nice guy, so just try to have a proper conversation and I’m sure you’ll be fine for the cocktail party.”“Oh shit, I forgot about that.”“Get your hair done by a professional.”“You’re really set on that, aren’t you?” Joaquin huffed. “Well that’s my crisis, what have you been doing since I left?”Adele looked at her shoulder where Aidan’s head was resting. “What have I been doing?”Aidan smiled and raised his eyebrows as he slid one of his hands under the jumper in search of Adele’s naked breasts. She had to stifle a pleased squeak. “Not much, I went to bed early.”They were interrupted by a muffled conversation. “Ugh I have to go and learn about protest posters.”“Oh, well you have fun now,” Adele mused and ended the conversation before throwing her phone beside the toaster. She turned to press herself against Aidan. “You’re so naughty,” she purred.“I think you like me naughty,” he grinned, pushing her back against the sideboard.“What if Jo was to find out,” she gasped, wrapping a leg around his hip. “I’m not quite prepared for that.”“We’ll get group therapy or something,” Aidan breathed as he kissed her lustily.Adele was almost on top of the sideboard with Aidan’s hands lost beneath the jumper when they were interrupted by a “woah!”“Joel!” Adele yelped, clutching Aidan.“Cricket boy,” Aidan smirked allowing only one of his hands to slip to Adele’s hip. “Do you ever knock?”“Not normally,” Joel blinked, fighting a smile. “You guys just carry on and I’ll leave,” he added turning back to the living room. He paused and turned back. “Jo hasn’t been gone 24 hours and it’s taken you two how long to start rooting?”“Probably half of that,” Adele chided, biting her lip.“Oh, and I assume this means you won’t be in to work today?”“I’m having a terrible period,” Adele said blankly. “Horrible cramps,” she added as she heard Joel chuckling as he saw himself out. “Oh god you should be at work,” she gasped, turning her attention back to Aidan.“It’s ok, I called in sick before I found you in here,” Aidan shrugged, “I hope whoever gets my year 10s has fun,” he added pressing Adele against the sideboard again as he smiled and started pulling off the jumper.

Joaquin headed back into the seminar room and saw her ex-friends were still deep in conversation, most likely about something pretentious and madly stroking their own egos. She decided to take a seat near an older woman who looked relatively normal in comparison to some of the other attendees.“I’m not sure I understand the purpose of this one,” the woman remarked screwing up her nose at the brochure.“It can’t be worse than the two hours we spent yesterday discussing how to use fonts.”“Yes, yes that was entirely useless,” the woman agreed and she sipped her latte.“God morning folks,” a far too jovial presenter announced as he appeared on stage and began setting up his powerpoint. A picture of Vietnam War protesters waving placards appeared on the large white screen. “War, what is it good for, am I right?” he chucked.Joaquin groaned and slid further down in her chair. It was going to be a long morning.

“So why are we rescuing Degs from Dale’s place?” Adele asked as she an Aidan walked hand in hand toward Dale’s warehouse apartment.“I took precautionary measure and asked him to dog sit,” Aidan shrugged and then clutched the cardboard tray of beverages he was holding closer as a teen on a skateboard whizzed past. “Little shit.” The teen swivelled alarmingly quickly on his board then went wide eyed.“Mr Murdoch!” the teen gasped. “Shouldn’t you be at school?”“TJ!” Aidan reeled. “Shouldn’t you be in my class right now?”They both studied each other a moment.“Well I won’t tell if you don’t,” TJ shrugged.“Deal.” Aidan nodded.“By the way,” TJ grinned, “high five for banging the fox, sir!” He held up his hand expectantly.“TJ, really,” he shook head as Adele looked vaguely mortified. TJ grinned wider and Aidan reciprocated the high five before the teen rode off.“Precautionary?” Adele glanced at him deciding to ignore whatever had just happened. “You did not know we’d end up spending the night together.”Aidan fought a smile. “Well, no, but if you hadn’t turned up at my class I was sure as hell turning up at your place with sad eyes and pocket full of hope.”“I’m not sure if I’m horrified or touched.”“You’ve definitely been touched,” Aidan grinned as he stopped at a very run down looking wooden door and pulled Adele into his side. He passed her the beverage tray and knocked loudly. There was a cacophony of excited barking, the clunking of a bolt and Dale appeared in plaid pyjamas and a satin dressing gown. Degas bolted out and began to bounce at Aidan’s legs.“Well good morning,” Dale smirked. “I see the sex happened and this makes your stinky mutt sleeping on my head worth it.”“Maybe we just cuddled,” Adele countered, raising an eyebrow.“Oh honey, I know his ‘I’ve had all the sex’ face,” Dale chided as he stepped aside to let them in.“I don’t have a sex face,” Aidan scorned and looked at Adele. “I don’t,” he added, taking the drinks and pastries Adele had been carrying and putting them on the coffee table.“Yes you do,” Dale snorted as he slid into an armchair. Adele and Aidan sat snuggled on the couch. “When you were dating that awful screamer, what was her name?”“Mate,” Aidan pleaded. “Not the time for ex-girlfriend stories.”“What? You didn’t tell Adele you were a virgin did you?”Aidan closed his eyes and dropped his head. “Why are we friends?”“Because I babysat your dog so you could hook up with this lovely lady,” Dale chided as he helped himself to a coffee and a blueberry danish. “I hope my friend satisfied you accordingly.”“On multiple occasions,” Adele nodded as she took a bite from her chocolate croissant.“Why is this conversation happening?” Aidan frowned and sipped his latte.“Because I have a vested interest in your love life, darling,” Dale cooed and reached over to pat Aidan’s knee. “It’s been so long since you’ve been this happy.”Aidan shook his head as Degas appeared with one of Dale’s loafers. “It’s not a duck and I don’t want it,” he mused, scratching the top of Degas head. Degas dropped the loafer and went in search of a better choice of gift.“So who was the screamer?” Adele piped up as she scrunched her empty bakery bag into a ball.“What? No,” Aidan gasped as Dale let out an excited squeal.“Tamara! That was her name,” he enthused. “So Ade was staying with me at the time an my god that girl would shriek so loud the walls vibrated. Just between you and me, I’m sure at least 70% of it was fake but it was like some crazy porn circus in his room.”Aidan buried his face in is hands. “This isn’t happening.”“You’ve never been in my room,” Adele laughed as she squeezed Aidan’s thigh and he looked shamefully through his fingers.“Come on then sweetheart,” Dale sat forward and crossed his legs. “Last sex you had before the gorgeous man beside you?”“Package delivery man in the supplies cupboard at work,” Adele giggled and blushed.“Scandalous!” Dale cackled.“Really?” Aidan looked at Adele surprised.“I don’t always have the greatest self-esteem,” she shrugged. “Don’t judge me for bad decision making.”“Never,” Aidan said softly and brushed his lips against hers.“You two are so adorable it’s nauseating,” Dale teased, sitting back in the armchair again. “We should celebrate this lovely thing.”“Oh, we’ve celebrated,” Aidan mused as Degas reappeared with a sock and then tried to bark with it still in his mouth. “Degs, you’ll choke,” he added and removed the sock from Degas mouth.“Ooh, I know, we should do 80s karaoke!” Dale declared as he moved back to the front of the armchair.“No,” Aidan said bluntly.“80s karaoke?” Adele raised her eyebrows and looked at Aidan questioningly.“He’s very good.”“No I’m not.”“He was in an 80s cover band at uni,” Dale grinned devilishly in Aidan’s direction and Aidan narrowed his eyes and muttered under his breath at Dale.“Oh really,” Adele laughed. “Then we definitely need to go to 80s karaoke.”

By late afternoon Joaquin had decided she couldn’t bare another session of the stupid seminar. There were far more pressing things on her mind like having to eventually go back to her hotel room and talk to Ben and the stupid cocktail party. She broke a piece from the giant apple cinnamon muffin she’d bought and crumbled it onto the plate. Life was so much easier when she was avoiding feelings like ‘Ben is lovely,’ and ‘snuggling up to his warm, bare chest is something that would be nice to try on a regular basis,’ and finally ‘crap, I really want to get all kinds of naked with him’. Joaquin pondered calling Adele again but decided that wasn’t fair on Adele and decided to suck it up and head back to the hotel. She was a couple of doors down when she noticed a hair salon. She did need to get her hair in order for the cocktail party and it seemed a plausible way to avoid dealing with everything Ben just a little bit longer.“Um hi, I don’t have an appointment,” Joaquin swallowed as she approached the counter where a young woman with blue streaks in her dark, teased hair was reading a computer screen. “But I’m going to a cocktail party this evening and I really need to do something with my hair. If its totally inconvenient that’s fine I’ll go back to the hotel and brush it.”“You’re in luck, I’ve had a couple of cancellations,” the hairdresser smiled. “Come through,” she added and led Joaquin to the basin where she pulled a cape around her and rested a towel on her neck. The hairdresser began using a number of sweet smelling shampoos and treatments on Joaquin’s hair as she made small talk. “A cocktail party huh? Whats the occasion?”“A stupid work do,” Joaquin sighed enjoying the warm water and massaging fingers. “I work for a graphic design firm,” she added.“Oh cool,” the hairdresser enthused. “So what type of style are you looking for?”“I’ve no idea, I don’t hair in general,” Joaquin replied. “I’d prefer something simple I guess,” she added.“Hmm,” the hairdresser turned off the water and got Joaquin to sit up as she wrapped her hair in a towel. “Come over and sit in front of the mirror,” she smiled and led Joaquin to one of the leather chairs. She squeezed another magic hair potion onto her hands and ran it through Joaquin’s hair before combing it and then began to dry it using the biggest round brush Joaquin had ever seen. As her long locks fell into soft curls she felt reassured that she was not getting some sort of crazy, headache inducing up do. Once Joaquin’s hair was full of soft curls, the hairdresser then pinned back the front, making it look fuller at the back. She then stood back and pondered a moment. “Needs something else. What colour are you wearing?”“Black with oxblood accessories,” Joaquin flinched hoping it came out as someone who was familiar with cocktail fashion and not someone who hated everything about it.“Got it,” the hairdresser smiled and scurried off. She reappeared seconds later with an oxblood coloured flower that she clipped in the back of Joaquin’s hair. “Perfect,” she gasped grabbing the mirror from her trolley and showed Joaquin the results.“Oh, that looks quite lovely,” Joaquin breathed. It really did and she wanted to throw all her money at the girl for being able to make that happen.Joaquin left the salon feeling marginally brighter and then realised she definitely had to go back to the hotel now and the feeling of dread reformed in her stomach. She stepped into the foyer and her legs felt leaden. It felt like a chore to get to the elevator and her hand shook as she pressed the floor number. As she approached the door, Joaquin was almost catatonic and forced herself to take a very deep breath. She could absolutely do this and if she couldn’t and instead dropped dead from the sheer stress of it all at least she had nice hair. Feeling for the key in her bag, it became very apparent she didn’t have it because of course, Ben had taken it the night before. Joaquin swore under her breath and then knocked with shaking fingers. She glanced up and down the corridor, almost tempted to leap into a passing laundry trolley as the door opened and Ben stood there in smart black pants and crisp white shirt, an untied bowtie around his neck.“I got adult hair,” she managed to breathe as he stepped aside to let her in.“It suits you,” he nodded as he strode back across the room and sat forlornly on the end of the bed. Joaquin stood just inside the door for a moment torn between grabbing her dress and hiding in the bathroom or speaking to Ben. She took a deep breath, dropped her bag on a chair and sat herself on the bed next to him.“Sorry I was a jerk last night,” he said softly as he slid the bowtie off his neck and began toying with it in his hands. “I’m not usually the kind of guy who gets drunk and yells at people.”“I have that affect on people,” she shrugged. “Mostly you.”He gave a small laugh. “Yeah, you do.”“Which is probably a sign that after this we should probably never see each other again,” Joaquin declared matter-of-factly as she got up and moved toward the dress that was hanging from a light fitting.“Are you kidding?” Ben mused. “I love your quirks, even if I do want to shake you every so often.”“Thanks.” She paused a moment, before sitting back down. She pondered a moment and then extended her hand to him. “Hi. My Name is Joaquin Bliss Owen. I’m an artist and graphic designer.”Ben smiled and shook her hand. “And I’m Benajah Dweezil Saxon, and I’m lawyer and lover of sports.”“What happened to the football scholarship?”“The girls like an athlete more than a lawyer in my experience.”“Clearly you attract the wrong kind of women,” she frowned as he wrinkled his nose at her.“I don’t know what assumption you’re making about the women I attract.”“Harpies,” she shrugged. “Hooters waitresses. That kind of thing.”Ben’s mouth fell open as Joaquin got to her feet again. “Except you I suppose?”“I’m all class,” she chided, backing into the bar fridge. “Ouch.”He giggled and she tried to regroup and retrieve her dress. She flailed a moment before Ben got to his feet and unhooked the hanger from the light fitting and passed it to her.“Thank you,” she breathed. “What did your parents think of the lawyer thing? I mean at least mine were pleased at me expressing my soul through art.”“Well it’s their fault really,” he mused as he slipped the bowtie back around his neck. “I spent so much of my youth bailing them out of jail for whatever ridiculous stand they’d decided to take that I decided I might as well get paid for the privilege.”“I might have to employ you to rescue mine next time they get in trouble for some sort of naked, blood-smeared PETA protest.”“I’d be only too happy to help.” Ben smiled so warmly that Joaquin felt herself blush, stumbled into the ensuite door and tangled herself in the dress. “You ok?” he called, peering toward the doorway.“Yep,” she managed as she wrestled herself out of the plastic dress bag. “Missed impaling myself on the corner of the vanity.” She heard him laugh and smiled to herself, surprised how easily things sorted themselves. If that was dealing with things like an adult, then she’d be up for more of that.

“Give me that,” Adele scorned as she retrieved her feathery earring from October’s clutches. She checked herself in the mirror as she slipped the earring into place and decided her skinny jeans, stiletto boots, black low cut shirt and pastel pink leather jacket were appropriate for 80s karaoke,She took a deep breath as she reached for her perfume and spritzed some in as many places as possible. Her mind was still racing for everything that had happened in, what? Twenty-four hours? Was she actually dating Aidan now, was that it? This was Joaquin’s dream guy and now she was feeling hopelessly obsessed with him. There was a knock at the door which startled October who darted under the bed. Adele strode out of the room and down the hall, her heart pounding. When did she become this person? Another deep breath was needed before she opened the door.“I approve of everything,” Aidan smiled as he stepped into the apartment and pulled her into his arms.“Is that a genuine Pseudo Echo tour shirt?” she mused, smoothing the front of his shirt a little.“Of course,” he purred. “It’s gonna look great on your floor later,” he added and brought his lips lustily to hers as she giggled.“I like your assumption that we’ll be getting naked later,” she mused, their lips still tentatively close.“Well we could just get naked now,” he grinned and raised an eyebrow. “We could just avoid the karaoke thing and spend more time ravishing each other,” he added as he felt one of her hands give her rear a squeeze.“Ooh, did I make your phone ring,” Adele chided as she felt the device vibrate. She slipped Aidan’s phone from his back pocket and handed it to him,“It’s a gift you have,” he laughed as he answered the call.“Hello?”“Will you stop groping your girlfriend and get down here,” Dale declared exasperated. “I mean this taxi is costing a fucking fortune.”“I’ll have you know I was doing nothing of the sort,” Aidan mused as he dropped a kiss just above Adele’s cleavage and she bit her lip to avoid laughing. She gave his butt another squeeze and Aidan sniggered.“You’re a dirty boy,” Dale scolded with a huff.“I know,” Aidan chided. “We’re coming…but not literally,” he added and hung up. “We better go before my sponsor friend from the LGBTI community has a meltdown.”“Aww bless, let’s club together and get him a rainbow goat for Christmas.”Aidan snorted with laughter and they kissed again before Adele grabbed her bag and they headed out to join Dale in the waiting taxi.