Tales of a sour baby

Chapter 4

They were sipping their wine on the couch, chatting. He had put on some music on the TV, and he was relaxing deeper into the sofa, his gaze burning into her body. She knew where he was going with this, but she did her best to act oblivious, smiling and laughing as he told her about his life, how he went to law school, became a successful lawyer, then a judge and retired before turning forty thanks to some clever investments. He also hinted that he had opened multiple doors to his ex-wife in the legal business and Guinness resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She was trying to act the opposite of what he expected of her while still seeming to be genuine. She looked full of energy, like she was having fun at a party and was far from a relaxed or cuddling mood. In truth, though, she was exhausted. Between the lack of sleep, and the role she was playing, all she wanted was to be in her bed, alone, to sleep the liquor away.

Guinness was playing with the dog to keep herself composed despite the wooziness and alcohol that were trying to bring her confidence and mind down. Kevin was still chatting, rambling about his ex-wife who was apparently trying to milk him out of his money. He was comparing her to his ex-girlfriend, another sugar baby, whom he liked and was still friends with. Guinness thought it was weird that he was trying to seduce her by talking about his exes.

Both their phones started buzzing at the same time, giving her an escape from this uncomfortable conversation – and situation.

She looked at her phone and saw a message from Cynthia, her coworker, asking about an issue with paint. She pretended to look worried and stood up from the floor she was sitting on. She told Kevin she only sat there to play with the dog. The truth though, was that she was putting distance between them, as much as possible, without raising suspicions.

“I have to answer.” She told Kevin in a serious tone.

He looked amused as he pulled out his own phone to see who was bothering him this late in the evening.

At this moment, Guinness knew this was the perfect way out she was waiting for. She started typing a text, but soon deleted it and went a little further away into the kitchen, like she wanted privacy but made sure that she was still within earshot. She knew he couldn’t help himself from eavesdropping and, even if he didn’t want to, he would end up hearing her anyway. She made sure of it.

“Don’t worry Sin” she said loudly in the microphone, “I have already asked the bosses about that and have their answer in writing. If you need it, I’ll copy and paste it in the work chat, and I’ll vouch for you. Just tell me if anyone gives you s**t, you know I’ll have your back.”

The issue wasn’t bad, to be honest, it wasn’t anything to be worried about. It was just about how much equipment the staff was allowed to share with the Residents. But she wasn’t going to miss out on such an opportunity. It was even better than an SOS text!

She came back to the living room and saw her date watching her intently. She might have overdone it this time… or not. She observed discreetly as something changed in his gaze; it was curious a second ago, but an evident glint of lust appeared in his eyes as he used them to trace her young figure.

She let herself shudder in disgust, knowing he would interpret it as being related to the message she had just sent. She sat back down on the couch and straightened her back. Now all she had to do was play her part for a short while. She was responding to his advances with short, almost dry answers. She tried to only meet his eyes sheepishly, giving him the agency and the illusion of choice in the situation. She even fidgeted with her hands a little for good measure.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, only broken by the faint music on the TV that she was secretly enjoying, he started to speak again.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, and Guinness had to restrain herself from gloating. She was usually much better at controlling her emotions, but by now, she was pretty drunk. Since he had broken the silence first, he would feel obligated to her. She didn’t know why, but it always worked.

“Oh…” she sighed. “It’s just…” she paused like she didn’t want to bother him with that, but she saw in his expression that he was eager to know how he could come to her rescue. She smiled internally before she continued. “My coworker, no, my friend, actually. Her name is Sin, and she got herself in a bit of trouble at work and the bosses are not going to be happy with her. I have what she needs to get her out of it, but it’s on my laptop at home.” It wasn’t an outright lie; the bosses probably wouldn’t appreciate having to deal with something as insignificant as equipment from a cupboard, but it was greatly exaggerated.

She could see how Kevin’s expression tensed for a second when he understood what she was implying, before he realized that it was his time to shine, and he could be her knight in shining armor tonight. He took her hand and said:

“Would you like me to drop you home, my dear? I know that you are worried about your friend.”

She pretended to be surprised, and a grateful smile spread on her face.

“Really?” she asked, and he nodded. “Thank you so much! You're a lifesaver. I'm so sorry, I know you wanted to show me the garden, you were so excited about it.”

“Don’t worry, my dear, we’ll have plenty of time in the future.” He promised, and she smiled knowingly.

As they went back to the garage, Guinness was smiling triumphantly with her back to Kevin while he was sulking in silence. However, the second they faced each other when they were about to step into the car, they composed themselves.

The drive home was long, boring, and fortunately uneventful. It took almost an hour, even without any traffic due to the late night. Guinness was desperately trying to stay alert as she didn’t trust the man she was stuck in a car with. She knew he would never try anything drastic; she could tell that he didn’t have it in him, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Luckily for the girl, Kevin was talking her ear out the whole time. If she could, she would’ve ordered an Uber. She didn’t care that it would be ridiculously expensive, but she couldn’t. Ubers didn’t go that far in the country. The other solution could’ve been to get a local taxi that would drop her off at the city’s limit, then another one to get to the CBD, but this late at night, it would be more than complicated. So she went with the next best thing, Kevin’s Mercedes.

She needed to be careful as to not send him the wrong message. She wanted him to feel in control of the situation. He was the kind of sugar daddy to want a damsel in distress. He wanted to be her knight in shining armor who would take her away from the ghetto into his castle, so to speak. Helping what he deemed to be poor, innocent, worthless girls become proper ladies was what turned him on and made him feel better about himself. That was his justification for the lifestyle he had chosen, his way of rationalizing dating girls who could be his daughters. What she didn’t want was him thinking he was doing her this huge favor that would make her owe him. That was why he had to offer it to her himself, and why he had to take the lead on this one. If she asked him, she would be in his metaphorical debt. If he asked, he was being a caring gentleman, and that was on and for him.

“We’re here” he said softly as he touched her shoulder.

Guinness’s eyes fluttered open. She was lost in her thoughts for about half an hour and hadn’t realized that she had fallen asleep. She tried her best not to, but the faint sound of the radio mixed with Kevin’s voice rambling about something boring, plus the fatigue she already felt, coupled with the alcohol, she had succumbed to Morpheus’ call. She shook her head a couple of times to chase the drowsiness away and raised her head to meet her daddy’s gaze.

“Thank you” she muttered, still half asleep.

He reached for a hug, and she didn’t stop him. She placed her hands on his large back, awkwardly, but he couldn’t tell due to their positions. When he pulled away, she held a grateful smile on her lips and alighted from the car.

“That was lovely, my dear. I hope we can do that again soon.”

She nodded her head and waved him goodbye as she closed the car door. She waited for him to be out of sight before she dropped her smile and let out the deep sigh she had been holding since he touched her.

She pulled out her phone to look at the time. It wasn’t even that late for a Saturday night, close to one in the morning.

She reached for her keys in her purse and strode towards the gate. Her steps were uneasy, she didn’t think she had drunk that much, but then again, she hadn’t drunk much alcohol for a few months at that point, and she was exhausted. She also hadn’t had a lot to eat since they only shared a plate of appetizers.

The building was dark and quiet. People were either out in town or sleeping, and she didn’t see anyone in the hallways or the courtyard. As she reached her studio, she felt her hands shaking slightly, struggling to open the door. It was at that point that she realized she was lucky to have been able to keep her mind sharp and her thought process straight. She came close to doing something she probably would have regretted later.

She locked the door behind her, took off her shoes and walked straight to the bathroom. The sudden bright light was too much for her eyes, which had gotten used to the darkness of the night and she was getting a headache. She didn’t know whether it came from the light or from her being drunk, and she couldn’t care less at that moment. She just needed it to stop. She quickly took off her contacts and put on her glasses. With her eyes closed, she turned off the bathroom lights and fell onto the bed. She remembered to charge her phone before she felt herself falling deep into the mattress and her eyes closing on their own agency.

As of that moment, two things were sure. One, she was way too tired to think about removing her makeup or doing her skincare routine, those things would wait for the morning, and she would deal with the consequences on her skin during the next week. And two, she was finally back home, in her own bed, and most importantly, alone.