I literally didn’t see Brady all week until Thursday because he worked late Monday, I traveled Tuesday and Wednesday and he worked late Wednesday night. When I got back on Wednesday, Preston called me and wanted to get drinks to tell me about the latest drama in his life. I felt like I hadn’t seen or talked him in forever so I couldn’t wait to catch up.
I squealed when I saw him waiting outside his boutique for me to pick him up.
“Hey princess,” he said, getting into the passenger seat. We hugged quickly and then pulled apart.
“What’s this?” Preston asked, tugging on the sleeve of my jacket.
“Free People,” I explained.
“Oh. Chic.”
We drove to Wicker for pizza and drinks and gossip. While we waited for our skinny veggie pizza to get to our table, Preston said, “I have so fucking much to tell you.”
“Spill.”
“I met up with this sexy man from Grindr on Sunday. He was visiting from LA and we went to dinner. An hour later, his dick was down my throat.” Preston sipped his beer with a straw.
“Preston.”
“I know. Anyway, we had so much fun that he’s already booked me a flight to LA for the end of February.”
“I’m jealous,” I said.
“You should be. Also, I’ve been talking to Mr. Murphy. Before you say anything, he reached out to me and wanted to apologize for everything that happened.”
I nodded.
“Apparently he realized what a manipulative twat Dillon is so he came crawling back. Obviously.”
“And you’re going to take him back after all that?”
“I didn’t fucking say that, Reese.” Preston rolled his eyes dramatically at me. “But I’m willing to hear him out. And if he gets me a good enough gift, I’ll consider rekindling things with him. I was thinking a Rolex. I found one I love and it’s only $15,000.”
“Ooo, let me see!” I enthused.
We spent the next twenty minutes looking at possible watches for Mr. Murphy to buy him.
“But I don’t know, I kind of love being single. So much freedom,” Preston said, putting his phone down. “But I also need to settle down after that pregnancy and STD scare.”
“What scare?” I asked.
“Well, I was hooking up a lot and not always using condoms. I was starting to see…symptoms so I went to the clinic. Thank Ariana Grande it turned out to be strep throat.”
I laughed. I can’t tell you how many STD scares Preston has had. The first time he had one, he came to my office on his lunch break in complete shambles. We holed up in one of the bathrooms for two hours trying to figure out what to do. Finally, he set up an appointment with a clinic in the suburbs (so no one would see him, obviously) to get tested for everything, specifically HIV/AIDS. He was so nervous and vowed not to ever have unprotected sex or hook up with random guys on Grindr for money again. The results took a week to come back and when everything came back negative, he texted me saying, “I need a hot boy to fuck tonight.”
“Anyway,” Preston said. “How’s that man of yours? Have you talked him in to marrying you yet?”
“Not yet,” I said. “But we are toooooootally going to. Did I tell you he asked me to move in with him?”
Preston gasped. “No! Are you going to?”
“Well, I didn’t say yes or no. Would that be weird if I did?”
“Yes! Does he know how messy you are?”
“No,” I admitted. “But I’m getting a lot better. I can turn into a housewife. I think it might be fun.”
“Reese, if you’re ready to become a housewife then do it. I love you guys together. I can’t wait to be your bridesmaid.”
At that point Brady and I hadn’t even talked about me moving in since the first night he brought it up so I wasn’t even sure if he still wanted me to. Maybe he was just saying that to make me feel better after our fight. I told myself I would bring it up the next time I saw him.
Which turned out to be after work on Thursday. We got off around the same time and I made us glasses of wine to unwind.
“How was work?” I asked, sipping my wine.
We were sitting on the couch with our wine and my feet were in Brady’s lap but he was hunched over, trying to type on his laptop on the coffee table.
“It was fine. I’m trying to this done now so I don’t have to stay late tomorrow.”
“K, I’ll wait,” I said.
Brady kind of laughed. “How was work for you?”
“Fantastic because I didn’t hear from Andrew all day. It makes such a difference. I really feel like his main goal in life is to annoy me. Sometimes I wonder if he ever does any other work.”
“Perhaps if you prove to him that you have everything under control, he will leave you alone.”
“Perhaps.” For some reason, I just don’t feel like that’s the case.
“Did you find out if you’ll be able to take off for Mexico?” I asked.
“With the way things are going now, I won’t,” Brady said and my face fell. “But things will be better by then so we should be good.”
“It better be. This trip is non-refundable.”
“Don’t worry.” Brady patted the top of my head like I’m a puppy.
“Plus I bought of ton of new cute stuff to wear. Let me show you!” I grabbed his laptop from the table so I could show him all the stuff I recently bought online. I love showing Brady my new purchases because he says things like, “The color of that dress will complement your skin very nicely,” and “Your legs will look amazing in that.” He has no idea what he’s talking about but it’s so cute that he tries.
I went to Gmail so I could pull up my sales receipt, but Brady was already logged in. I went to sign him out because I didn’t want to snoop or be caught snooping, but before I could I saw an email from Cartier.com.
Holy shit.
I quickly signed him out before I could read what it was about. The first thing I thought of was Arianna’s blog when Lukas proposed to Liz with a Cartier ring (these fictional blogs are becoming a part of my life lol) so I thought Brady was proposing. It’s not like he wears any jewelry or anything so I didn’t know why else Cartier would be emailing him.
I showed him the new bathing suits, coverups and dresses I ordered and he obviously loved everything. Then he got up and headed to his room and before I followed, I texted my mom saying, “Is Brady proposing?”
I told him that he had to get my parents permission before proposing to me so if he was, she would have to know. Although, I’m not sure when he would’ve gotten the chance to ask them.
My mom immediately replied, “He is? OMG I’m so happy, I can’t wait to help you plan!”
And I was like, “No mom, I’m asking you. Is he?”
She said, “Oh idk.”
Ugh.
Even though my mom knew nothing about it, I was still convinced that Brady was proposing and I was so excited. I skipped to his room where I found him in just his undershirt and pants.
“Hiiiii,” I sang to my soon-to-be fiancé. I stopped in front of him and kissed him before dropping to my knees. Time to give bae the best blow job ever so he knows I’m the one.
After he came, we got in bed and he tried to keep fooling around, but I wanted to ask him about me moving in.
“Hey,” I said, taking my shirt off. “Were you serious about me moving in here?”
Brady shrugged. “It’s up to you. I don’t mind.”
I wanted to be like, “Of course you don’t mind, it was your idea!”
But instead I said, “Do you want me to?”
“Um, sure. I wouldn’t make you sign or lease or anything so it wouldn’t be as conplicated if it didn’t work out.”
“Heyyyyy!” I swatted his shoulder. “Why wouldn’t it work out? Why would you even say that?”
“I don’t know. I just wanted to throw that out there in case that is what you are having reservations about that.”
“I’m not worried about a lease or anything like that. I’ve just never lived with a guy. Not even a gay guy,” I said
He laughed. “I’ve never lived with a woman either. Except my mother but I don’t imagine that counts.”
I rolled my eyes at him mentioning his mom. “What if we live together and hate each other?”
“Then we probably shouldn’t get married,” he smirked. “I don’t see why we would hate each other though. You are here quite frequently anyway.”
I love conversations like that with Brady. It was fun/funny, but we were still being honest and opening up to each other. I decided that I think I will do it. I just don’t know what kind of fights we might get in to living with each other, but I know it will happen.
On Friday, Andrew was in Chicago and we spent the majority of the day at the store and on conference calls. He treated me to lunch and told me that some of the NYC bigwigs will be visiting the new store in Tennessee next month so we need to prepare. By the end of lunch I had a twenty seven item to do list written. God, he stresses me out.
Andrew told me he was staying in the city for the weekend and asked where the good places to go out at night were. I told him that my friends and I usually stick to River North/Streeterville and named a few of the bars I like. I thought nothing of it.
I stayed at work so late on Friday night that I was too tired to do anything except go home, shower and get in bed.
I called my mom on Saturday morning. Before I could even say anything she started complaining about my dad. Apparently she ordered something really expensive online (wouldn’t tell me what it was) and when it came my dad signed for it, realized what it was, and sent it back. My mom was rightfully pissed and complained to me about every little thing that my dad does and she puts up with. So she thinks he should put her with a “little” shopping.
Once she was done venting, she said, “Anyway, how are you, babe?”
I immediately told her what I saw in Brady’s email.
“Ooo, Cartier!” she gasped. She pronounced it “carty-air.” She acts like such a poor person sometimes. “Your dad still always gets me Tiffany. Cartier is way better!”
“What if Brady got me an engagement ring, Mom? What will I do?” I asked.
“You love him. You’ll say yes. I was already married with a toddler by the time I was your age. If he is willing to marry you, you need to accept.”
I think my mom is afraid that no man is ever going to wife me because I’m so crazy. She’s crazier than me and my dad married her so.
On Saturday night, Brady and I went out for dinner and drinks in River North. The plan was to eat then go to the bar and get drunk.
We walked in and as the host was seating us, I glanced to the back. It was pretty empty for a Saturday night (probably because of the impending snow storm) and I saw a group of really good looking tall men standing near one of the pool tables. I thought one of them looked like Andrew at first, but I was like, “Nah,” but then he waved.
“Oh Godddd,” I groaned.
“What?” Brady looked at me quizzically after we sat down.
“My boss is over there,” I said in a hushed voice. “Don’t look. Maybe he will think it’s not me.”
“Okay,” Brady whispered, but one second later he looked up at Andrew who making a beeline for us.
“Heyyy Reese buddy!” he bellowed.
“Oh hi!” I said pretending to be surprised. I stood up to give him a really fake one armed hug and Brady stood up too because he’s polite.
They introduced themselves to each other before I got the chance to.
“Brady!” Andrew said really loudly. “The one with the inconvenient birthday right in the middle of holiday season?”
We both kind of looked at him puzzled. I didn’t understand what he meant at the time, but later on I realized that he was talking about how I told him I couldn’t go to Tennessee because of Brady’s birthday. Rude.
Brady and I both sat down without saying anything and Andrew sank into an empty chair at our table.
“Is your girlfriend here tonight? I would love to meet her,” I said sweetly.
Andrew’s brow furrowed like he was confused for a brief moment then he said, “Oh, no. She stayed home. It’s just me and the guys tonight.” He gestured back to his smokeshow of friends who honestly all looked like a fucking hot ass baseball team.
“So Brady,” Andrew said turning toward him. “What is it that you do?”
I know for a fact that Andrew and I had already talked about this. But I figured maybe he asked just for conversation.
Brady had taken a drink of water so we waited a second for him to finish. “I work in a hospital as a pharmacist.”
“A pharmacist, huh?” Andrew was smiling devilishly. “So you owe more than you make?”
Brady laughed uncomfortably. “Fortunately for me, no.”
At that moment I wished we would have bailed out of there when we had the chance. I was honestly so embarrassed and Andrew didn’t even stop there.
“One of my guys couldn’t get into medical or dental school so he signed up for pharmacy school. Graduated with 150k debt and can’t find a job in his field. He’s working in business to business sales in New York now.”
Brady laughed again.
“But yeah!” Andrew said, sounding satisfied with the awkwardness he caused. “Feel free to come have a drink with us when you’re finished eating.”
Once he was out of earshot I whispered, “Ohmygod, I’msosorryabouthim, nowdoyouseewhatIdealwitheveryday?”
Brady assured me that it was fine and he wasn’t offended. I was though. After we ate we got the fuck up out of there before Andrew could shove his foot further in his mouth.
We headed out and decided to walk down to another bar. It had started to snow a bit and a Hispanic couple stopped us and asked if I spoke Spanish (do I look like I do?). Brady told them that he did and they asked for directions to get to Union Station. He told them the best way to get there and they were really, really grateful. It was really sweet how thankful they were. It made me want to learn another language. You never know who you’ll might need to communicate with! Maybe I’ll do French.
I told Brady how cool I thought it was and he told me the awful, racist things his parents said about Spanish speaking people. I literally gasped and said, “That’s disgusting.”
Remember when his dad asked me how I felt about what was going on at the US/Mexico border? Now it makes sense. He said when he told his mom he wanted to go to South America for six months, she told him not to and gave a list of completely unjust reasons why he would be unsafe. I can see why he kind of resents them. I think a lot of times children share the same views as their parents (because that’s what they’re taught) so it’s cool that Brady was smart enough to not let them influence him. His parents are so gross. I look at them completely different now.
Anyway, our night was uneventful other than that. When I woke up I was in a winter wonderland lol so I’ve stayed in bed all day and made my boyfriend bring me food. We are having a Super Bowl party and everyone’s invited! Seriously. Come party with us.