Captivated

Eight

Ellie

“I was thinking of enrolling in a university to get an architecture’s degree,” I said to Kendra, who was busy looking through some dresses. We’re at the mall now. When Kendra discovered I was going to London, she forced me to buy some clothes that would fit London’s temperature. I heard it’s cold there, and I have to admit, I don’t have that much winter clothes.

We went inside a boutique and started looking through the clothes there.

Kendra stopped for a while and looked at me. “Yeah, you should. You’d be a great architect for sure,” she said.

“Really?” I said to her. “Maybe you’re only saying that coz you’re my sister and that’s what I want to hear,” I said.

She sighed. “Ellie, you have talent. A talent that an architect should have. And you know me, I don’t do lies. You’re passionate and creative, all good traits for an architect. I think you should go get that degree,” she said.

“Am I not too old to go back to school?” I told her.

“Ellie,” she started. “You’re f*****g 22. There are even way older people studying in a university. But if you don’t feel like going to an actual class, you can always get online classes,” she said. “You can still get that degree even if you don’t go to a class physically,” she added. “Plus, why’d you suddenly thought of this? What gave you the idea?” she asked.

“I’ve always wanted to attend college even before. But I was more enlightened after I had the talk with Parker,” I said.

“What did you guys talk about?”

“Well, we talked about going back to school when we had dinner,” I said.

“Dinner? You guys went out?” she said, smiling.

“Yes, but, quit smiling. It was his reward to me for working so hard for the deal,” I said.

“Hmmm…. Sounds like you had fun,” she said, giving me a wink as a tease.

“Oh, quit with your teasing Kendra. It was nothing,” I said. I went on and told her Parker and I also talked about dating and relationships.

“So, you did ask him about his dating rules, huh? You are one brave lady for a secretary,” she said while going through a rack of black dresses.

I shrugged. “I was only trying to lighten things up that time,” I said.

“Right,” she said. She pulled out a dress from the rack. “Look at this! Isn’t it cute? I bet it’ll look good on you! You should buy this,” she said.

It was indeed a cute dress. It was fitted from top to hips, with wide bands of material that wrapped the dress. It was crisscrossed all over the breast that gives out a short, off-the-shoulder sleeve.

“It is nice, but that’s too inappropriate. I’ll be on a business trip, not some casual vacation,” I said.

“Oh, come on, Ellie. You will never know, maybe you’ll be needing this on the trip. Plus, it’s always good to have a black dress packed when going on a trip,” she said. “Come on, Ellie! Try it on!” she said, pulling me to the dressing room.

I love the dress; I have to admit. It was a perfect fit. I looked at my reflection and I could say, I do look good in it. It made me feel pretty and special. I went out of the dressing room for Kendra to see.

“Oh my God… Ellie,” she said. “You NEED to buy it!” she added.

“But it’s sleeveless. I might catch a cold there,” I said.

“You can match it with your jacket at home. Wear that dress when you have dinner with Parker. I bet he will forget his dating rules when he sees you in that dress,” she said, giggling.

“No, that won’t happen. Not ever,” I said. “He can keep his rules. I don’t want him to think that I’m that desperate to find my LOML,” I said.

Kendra gave out a laugh.. “Instead, he will think you’re hitting on him because you’re so interested with his dating rules,” she said.

My eyes widened and I felt a pang of embarrassment. “Oh my God, is that how it sounded to you?” I asked her.

She laughed. “Sis, chill, okay? I was just kidding,” she said and continued to look into the clothes rack.

“No, maybe you’re right,” I said, thinking. I remembered everything that Parker and I talked about last night. I couldn’t help but meltdown the boutique’s sofa. I feel so humiliated.

“I was only trying to lighten things up, nothing more. But right now, I feel like it sounded more like of a proposition,” I said. I covered my face. “Oh my God, Kendra, kill me now,” I said.

“You’re such a drama queen. Stop overreacting. Plus”, when it comes to flirting, you know I’m above you in that stage. You don’t do flirting,” she said.

Well, it was true fact. “But he doesn’t know that,” I said.

“What else did he say?” she asked.

“He didn’t have the chance to answer coz the waiter interrupted us for the bill. We just let the topic go, and then went home,” I said.

“What? He just left?” she said.

“No, not like that. He’s a gentleman. He walked me to my car of course. Then he said we’ll just see each other at the airport since today’s my day off,” I said. “Damn, this is bad. First the kiss, then this proposition. What was I thinking?” I said, covering my face in embarrassment.

Kendra stopped. “Whoa, wait, what? There was a kiss?” she said in shock. “Details. Now.”

“It was your fault. You told me to thank him for the bonus scholarship,” I said.

“You kissed him on the lips?” she asked.

“No, silly. Just a kiss on the cheek. But you’re missing the point here, Kendra!” I said.

“No, I get it. You kissed him and hit on him,” she said.

I groaned. “That’s it. I’m losing my job. And a trip to London. There, I said it. I’m so stupid,” I said.

Kendra looked at me. “Damn, he really got you f****d up. I’ve never seen you being so troubled with a guy before,” she said.

“He’s not just a guy. He’s my boss!” I said.

“Well, he’s still a guy,” she said.

“You’re really not helping right now, Kendra,” I said.

She sighed. “You wanting to know if he thinks you’re hitting on him is already an obvious fact,” she said.

I just raised my eyebrow at her.

“Then, what else did he say after? Did he talk about business again?” she asked.

“No. He just asked me about Mrs. Coleman’s birthday celebration plans and how is it going,” I said. “That’s good, right?” I asked her.

“Yeah, I think you’re safe and all good. Coz he would have talked about business if he wanted you to shut up. Maybe he just doesn’t want to talk about his love life,” she said.

“Yeah, coz there’s no love in his relationships,” I said. “Parker Coleman doesn’t do love, and that’s what his rules are about.”