She distracts me

Arrival

Lacy McDaniels

On the way through grueling LA traffic Paul kept her entertained by singing along to hilarious songs on the radio, telling her stories of his shenannigans when he was a younger man living in LA and how he and Roman became friends in college. 

“So did you always want to be a sports manager, or was that just a product of your friendship?” Lacy asked Paul curiously, the sun setting and the traffic thinning in the direction they were headed. Lacy was surprised Roman didn’t live closer to downtown with all the travelling he had to do. 

“Uh, both I guess you could say. I have always loves sports, but let’s be honest, I also love to eat, drink, party and sleep. All things that didn’t really fit well into pro sports. Roman is the total opposite, guy lives and breathes soccer. He has the discipline I don’t.” Paul shrugged, not seeming to mind sharing that side of himself with her even though they just met. 

“Hey, I know what I’m good at, and Roman knows what he is good at. Just so happens I make a great manager for a cranky soccer player!” He laughed good naturedly, but Lacy checked off another mental note that he had mentioned Roman’s moodiness quite a bit. Perhaps he was trying to prepare her. 

Murmuring a slight “mmmm…” in response to his statement, she smiled and nodded, her gaze drifting to the scenery passing them by. They were getting closer to the water, the salt beginning to permeate even the smoggish air. 

“I didn’t expect him to live so far from downtown?” She queried aloud her earlier thought. Paul nodding as he took a right turn. “Yeah, Roman likes his privacy, like I said. And when you have a personal driver to take you to the airport you really don’t care much about the traffic.” 

He shrugged and Lacy’s eyes widened a little. Wow, a personal driver? Why that surprised her of the billionaire was hard to say. It just sounded a bit ridiculous to a normal person like her. 

After what seemed like an eternity Paul pulled up to a private gated drive, without a word the wrought iron gates swung inward granting them passive to the long winding drive that would lead to the private villa. There were plenty of trees to block the view of the building from the road or the driveway, but once you passed those the home opened up like a beautiful white washed castle. It was beautiful with the matte black accents of the iron rails, light fixtures and door handles. Almost austere in it’s presentation, it brought a touch of a smile to her lips and she spoke her thoughts aloud, a bad habit of hers. 

“You did say Roman liked his life in black and white…. “ She breathed the words softly, the excited exhale hard to miss as she took in the sight of the home. A home so few probably ever saw if the rumors were true. 

Paul laughed loudly, pulling up faster than necessary, a slight squeak to the brakes as he slammed the car into park, clearly excited. 

“Well then, let’s get your things and get you inside. Sooner I get you two acquainted, the sooner I can go back to raising hell downtown.” 

Lacy laughed. “You live downtown?” Paul shook his head. “Hell no, I have an apartment down there in case I get too drunk to come home, I live just down the road from here. Smaller place obviously, but makes life simpler to be closer to Roman. Now, quit your stalling, let’s go!”

She smirked at the fact that he had seen through her ruse to stay outside for just another moment. Breathing in deeply to her core to calm herself, she tried to exhale her nerves and followed Paul inside as he pulled her two bags behind himself,  yelling Roman’s name as he entered the home.